TPM lifecycle timelines on Gantt chart

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 5 minutes to read
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    Summary of TPM lifecycle timelines on Gantt chart

    Technology Portfolio Management (TPM) in ServiceNow displays business applications and their related application services—including associated hardware models and software products—in a hierarchical structure on a Gantt chart. This visualizes the lifecycle timelines of application services as bars, showing key TPM phases such as End of Support, End of Extended Support, and End of Life.

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    Note: Lifecycle data for software products appears only if the Software Asset Management (SAM) Foundation or Professional plugin is installed.

    Key Features

    • Lifecycle phases displayed: End of support, end of extended support, and end of life phases are shown as timeline bars. Hovering over a bar reveals detailed phase information.
    • Data source: Application column values come from the TPM Discovered Technology table. Multiple versions of software products are grouped, with unique lifecycle records per product/version/edition combination.
    • Lifecycle end-date logic: The end date of one lifecycle phase aligns with the start date of the next. If only one phase exists, a system property (snapm.endRangeofTPMLifecycle) defines the end date by adding a set time range to the current date.
    • Aggregation of timelines:
      • Application service timeline start dates are derived from the earliest TPM phase start date among its software products and hardware models.
      • Business application timelines roll up from the earliest TPM phase start date of any associated application service.
    • TPM risk calculation: Risks for application services are calculated based on lifecycle dates by running the Populate Technology Lifecycle Risks scheduled job. Risk scores from hardware models and software products roll up to application services, and then to business applications, with the highest risk level prevailing.
    • Color coding: Gantt chart bars are color-coded by TPM phase (end of support, end of extended support, end of life). TPM risks also have color-coded indicators accessible via a legend button.

    What This Enables You to Do

    ServiceNow customers can use the TPM Gantt chart to visually track the lifecycle stages of their technology portfolio across software products, hardware, application services, and business applications. This helps in proactive planning by identifying upcoming support phase changes and associated risks, facilitating informed decision-making for technology investments and risk mitigation.

    Expected Outcomes

    • Clear visualization of TPM lifecycle phases across hierarchical technology assets.
    • Accurate lifecycle phase timelines with calculated end dates consistent across phases.
    • Aggregated risk assessments at the application service and business application levels, highlighting priority areas.
    • Improved ability to anticipate technology end-of-support events and plan upgrades or replacements accordingly.

    For Technology Portfolio Management (TPM), the business applications and their related application services (associated hardware models and software products) are displayed in a hierarchical structure. The corresponding timelines of the application services are displayed as bars on the Gantt chart.

    Figure 1. TPM Gantt chart view
    TPM view of the Gantt chart.
    Note:
    The lifecycle data for software products is displayed only when the Software Asset Management (SAM) Foundation or Software Asset Management (SAM) Professional plugin is installed.
    It displays the following TPM phase-related information:
    • End of support
    • End of extended support
    • End of life

      You can point to an individual bar in the Gantt chart to view the phase information.

    The Application column values are populated from the TPM Discovered Technology table (sn_apm_tpm_discovered_technology).

    All versions of a particular software product are grouped. For each software product having a unique combination of product name, product version, and product edition, their lifecycle record is created and the timelines are displayed on the Gantt chart.

    Lifecycle end-date calculation logic

    For each TPM lifecycle phase, the end date of one phase is the start date of the next phase. Assuming that there are three TPM phases that are end of support, end of extended support, and end of life, the respective phase end dates are as follows:
    • The end of support phase end date will coincide with the start date of the next phase, end of extended support.
    • The end of extended support phase end date will coincide with the start date of the next phase, end of life.

    For example, Product A has two TPM phases that are End of Support and End of Extended Support. The start date for the End of Support phase is 12/01/2023 and the start date for the End of Extended Support phase is 12/30/2023. No phase end date has been mentioned for the End of Support phase. In such a scenario, the end date of the End of Support phase will be considered as 12/30/2023.

    If only one TPM phase is available for a TPM product, then the TPM phase lifecycle end date is calculated by adding the time value as defined in the system property sn_apm.endRangeofTPMLifecycle with the current date. This time value enables the Gantt chart to display only known lifecycle dates.

    For example, today is 12/01/2023 and the end date value as defined in the system property sn_apm.endRangeofTPMLifecycle is three years from the current date. Then, the end date of the phase will be 12/01/2026.

    Application service and business application timelines

    The application services (composed of software products and hardware models) have lifecycle timelines determined for them. On the Gantt chart, the earliest TPM phase start date of either the software products and hardware models are rolled up to calculate the TPM phase start date of the overall application service. That is, the earliest TPM phase start date of any software product or hardware model is taken as the TPM phase start date of the application service, overall.

    For example, let's assume that all hardware models and software products have lifecycle dates for the TPM phases that are end of support, end of extended support, and end of life. Now, application service A consists of one software product and one hardware model. The end of support start date phase of the software product is 12/01/2023 and the end of support start date of the hardware model is 12/15/2023. In this scenario, the end of support start date of the software product that is 12/01/2023 will be considered as the TPM phase start date of that application service and accordingly the Gantt chart bar for that application service will start from 12/01/2023.

    Similarly, the TPM phase start date of the business application is considered as the earliest TPM phase start date of any of its associated application services. For example, application X has two application services, A and B. The end of support start date of application service A is 12/01/2023 and of application service B is 12/12/2023. In this scenario, the end of support start date of application service A that is 12/01/2023 will be considered as the TPM phase start date of the business application and the Gantt chart bar for that business application will start from 12/01/2023.

    TPM risk calculation

    The TPM view also displays the upcoming TPM risks associated with any application services, based on their lifecycle dates. To calculate the risk associated with an application service, run the Populate Technology Lifecycle Risks scheduled job. For more details, see Schedule a job to generate TPM technology risk. To learn more about technology lifecycle risk, see Technology risk calculation.

    The hardware model and software product risk scores are derived from the TPM Technology Risk table (sn_apm_tpm_technology_risk). The risk values are rolled up to the application service level. The highest risk value of hardware models and software products associated with a single application service is considered the risk value of that application service. For example, application service A consists of two hardware models and three software products. The two hardware models have moderate risk while the two software products have low risk. However, one software product has high risk. In this scenario, the risk value of the application service is considered high.

    Similarly, the risk values of the application services are rolled up to the business application level. The highest risk value of an application service associated with a business application is considered the risk value of that business application. For example, business application X has three application services associated with it. The three applications services have risk values as high, moderate, and low respectively. In such a scenario, the risk value of the business application is considered as high.

    Color coding

    The colors of the bars on the Gantt chart are based on their TPM phase. The TPM phase and its corresponding colors are as follows.
    Color TRM Phase
    Lavender color. End of support
    Pink color. End of extended support
    Azalea color. End of life

    To see the colors associated with each TPM risk type in the Upcoming TPM risk column, select the legend button (Legend button.).