Managing the Technology Reference Model in Enterprise Architecture Workspace

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Managing the Technology Reference Model in Enterprise Architecture Workspace

    The Technology Reference Model (TRM) feature in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace enables organizations to establish standards for approved software and hardware products while managing unapproved products. This is crucial for mitigating risks such as security vulnerabilities, delivery challenges, and legal issues associated with unapproved software usage.

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    Key Features

    • View TRM Products: Access a comprehensive list of TRM products organized by category.
    • Request Management: Initiate requests for adding new TRM products and managing their life cycles.
    • Approve/Reject Requests: Review and manage approval or rejection of TRM product and lifecycle requests.
    • Lifecycle Phases: Each product has defined lifecycle phases (e.g., approved, unapproved, divest) to manage its status effectively.
    • Integration with SAM: Use the Software Asset Management (SAM) plugin for seamless product selection and management.
    • Wildcard Management: Update multiple TRM product lifecycles simultaneously using wildcards.
    • Technical Debt Management: Identify and manage technical debts for unapproved products.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the TRM module, organizations can enhance their technology standards, reduce technical debt, improve security posture, and lower costs. The module provides visibility into software usage across business applications, allowing for proactive management of compliance and risk associated with unapproved software. This structured approach not only safeguards the organization's operations but also aligns technology use with business objectives.

    You can use the Technology Reference Model (TRM) feature in Enterprise Architecture Workspace to define the standards for your software and hardware products and manage unapproved products in your organization.

    Overview and benefits of a TRM

    In your business enterprise, using an unapproved software can create a risk to the organization. The risks can include the following:
    • Security risks: The software might be exposed to security issues.
    • Delivery risks: There might not be sufficient knowledge on how to support the software.
    • Legal risks: A business application might use the software in illegal ways.

    You need to define the standards for the software that is to be used and the software versions that are permitted for use in your organization. Also, you need a way to explore when a non-permitted software is being used within the organization and in which business applications.

    You can use the TRM module in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace to perform the following:
    • View a list of all available TRM products. You can also view the list of TRM products grouped by product category.
    • Request a TRM product
    • Request a TRM product lifecycle
    • Create a TRM product
    • Create a TRM product lifecycle
    • Approve or reject TRM product and product lifecycle requests.

    Using the TRM module, you can manage the standards of the technology and set the right guardrail for technology usage. Setting the standards can improve the technical debt, security posture and save costs for the organization.

    TRM Product Lifecycle

    Each product in the TRM library is associated with a set of life-cycle phases with a start and end date. The life-cycle phases could be approved, unapproved, approved with constraints, Divest, and evaluation.

    The TPM home page fetches all the business applications that are being used in your organization. It helps to review the status of the software that is being used. You can understand if any business application is using the software that is not part of the TRM or a software version that is not approved for production. For more information, see TRM lifecycle timelines on Gantt chart.

    The TRM module uses a similar module to TPM to search in the TRM library. You can view the software that is part of the TRM library, and initiate a request to add the software or software version to the TRM library.

    You can also use the TRM with the Software Asset Management (SAM) plugin. This plugin helps you to fetch or select the products and versions for the TRM library. You can also define your own software products when the Software Asset Management integration module isn’t available for your instance.