Enterprise Architecture (formerly Application Portfolio Management)

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Enterprise Architecture (formerly Application Portfolio Management)

    ServiceNow's Enterprise Architecture solution integrates strategic and operational teams to help organizations meet business objectives through informed decision-making. It combines comprehensive modeling with the management of business capabilities, application portfolios, information portfolios, and technology portfolios. The solution supports enterprise architects in managing business applications strategically by focusing on planning, rationalization, and transformation.

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    Enterprise Architecture enables decisions on whether to invest, sustain, migrate, or retire applications based on business needs aligned with organizational goals. It addresses common challenges such as redundant applications, rising maintenance costs, upgrade demands, conflicts between legacy and vendor applications, and performance issues due to outdated software.

    Key Features

    • Enterprise Modeling and Visualization: Create diagrams and model future IT states to show relationships between applications and the business landscape. These visual models support better decision-making.
    • Application Rationalization: Evaluate and categorize business applications using interactive bubble charts and list views that display indicator scores. This helps prioritize investment, sustaining, migration, or retirement of applications.
    • Gantt View for TPM and TRM Lifecycles: Visualize and track the lifecycle timelines of Technology Portfolio Management (TPM) and Technology Reference Model (TRM) components, including applications, software products, and hardware models.
    • Enterprise Architecture Workspace: A centralized interface to manage portfolios, requests, certifications, assessments, and visualize application hierarchies and architectural artifacts.
    • Application Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Configuration: Configure and analyze the total cost of ownership for applications to support financial decision-making.

    Key Outcomes

    • Improved alignment of IT assets and business objectives through strategic application portfolio management.
    • Reduced redundancy and optimized cost by rationalizing applications based on clear criteria.
    • Enhanced visibility into technology lifecycles, facilitating better planning and transformation strategies.
    • Empowered enterprise architects and decision makers with visual tools and data-driven insights.
    • Streamlined management of technology portfolios and related application services for more efficient operations.

    The ServiceNow® Enterprise Architecture unites strategic and operational teams, enabling organizations to achieve their business objectives. It serves as a powerful decision engine, combining robust modeling with the management of business capabilities, application portfolios, information portfolios, and technology portfolios.

    Enterprise Architecture helps enterprise architects manage business applications as part of an enterprise architecture practice focused on strategic planning, rationalization, and transformation.

    Enterprise Architecture helps you decide whether to invest, sustain, or replace applications based on the business need aligned towards the organization goal.

    You can address business challenges such as:
    • Redundant applications for similar functions.
    • Increasing cost of owning and maintaining applications.
    • Increasing demand to upgrade the existing applications for new functions.
    • Conflict between in-house legacy applications and that of the vendors.
    • Inadequate performance because of outdated applications.

    Overcome these challenges, improve business functions in an efficient and smooth manner, and optimize cost with these Enterprise Architecture processes.

    Enterprise Architecture Workspace.

    Enterprise Modeling and Visualization

    Create diagrams and model the future state of your IT and its relationship to the business landscape.

    Enterprise Architecture Workspace.

    Rationalization of business applications

    Rationalize all business applications in a category and decide whether to invest, sustain, migrate, or retire an application.

    Enterprise Architecture Workspace.

    Gantt view of TPM and TRM lifecycle timelines

    Use the Gantt chart to view and track Technology Portfolio Management (TPM) and Technology Reference Model (TRM) lifecycle timelines.

    Enterprise Modeling and Visualization in the EA Workspace

    Modeling page

    Enterprise Architect can use the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization [com.snc.apm_modelling_tool] functionality in EA Workspace to create diagrams for their applications hierarchy and associate them with architectural artifacts. These diagrams enable decision makers to make informed decisions.

    Rationalization of business applications

    Bubble chart viewList view

    As an Enterprise Architect, you can use application rationalization to evaluate your business applications.

    Bubble charts are interactive graphs that position applications in different quadrants, based on their indicator scores. Based on the position of the business application in the quadrants, enterprise architects can take decisions to invest in, sustain, migrate, or retire the business applications.

    The List view enables you to see high-level information on all your business applications and all the indicator scores that are attached to them.

    Gantt view of TPM and TRM lifecycle timelines

    TPM Gantt chart viewTRM Gantt chart view

    A Gantt chart in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace is a visual representation of the Technology Portfolio Management (TPM) and Technology Reference Model (TRM) timelines of business applications, and their associated application services like software products and hardware models.

    Applications and features