Most enterprises have more software than they realize. Conducting an inventory is the first step in gaining a "big picture” view of the entire portfolio and analyzing its overall health.

The sole core tool in this stage is OptimizeIT’s Application Inventory tool. Use it to document all applications in the enterprise, their primary users, and each one’s impact on the business and IT systems.

Larger enterprises with multiple IT organizations or "shadow” IT groups (staff who are doing IT-related activities but do not report into the IT organization) should consider using Info-Tech’s advanced tool, "Irregular IT Staff Inventory."

The inventory process will reveal not only active applications, but also those that are not being utilized, are redundant, or are no longer adequately supporting current business processes. Set a strategy to clean, simplify, and eventually augment the application portfolio.

Apply OptimizeIT’s Application Status Rationalization Tool. This advanced tool provides a series of questions that will help you determine if an application is adequately serving current business needs and is still affordable to maintain. Clear recommendations are provided as to whether an assessed application should be maintained, phased out, or retired outright.

To gain an overview of the software maintenance process, take a core survey to determine current processes and define the organization’s standing using the OptimizeIT Application Maintenance Self-Assessment Tool.

OptimizeIT’s advanced Release Management Practice ROI tool can also be used to make a business case for optimizing IT’s maintenance through the use of well-managed application releases.

Once the organization’s application maintenance maturity has been assessed, the Application Maintenance Improvement Opportunities Template provides enterprises with a documented road-map for improvement opportunities.

Change management spans all aspects of IT management – its impact cannot be underestimated.

The core Change Management Maturity Tool provides a series of "yes” or "no” questions that help to define the maturity of the organization’s change management practices as they relate to five aspects of change management. The tool will also provide appropriate recommendations for improvement within each of the five areas related to change management.

Once change management maturity has been defined, the enterprise can rely on a series of advanced tools to help establish a formal change process.

OptimizeIT’s Change Management Policy is a thorough policy template that addresses the process of leading change management, and can be customized to define formal change management processes within the enterprise. The Change Advisory Board (CAB) Charter presents some suggested procedures for forming and running a CAB to approve and manage proposed application changes. Finally, the Routine COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) Software Maintenance Policy covers policy for maintenance and patch installation for COTS and customized commercial software.

Most organizations (and application maintenance departments for that matter) do not record and/or monitor key application maintenance metrics. There is almost always maintenance going on within an organization; nonetheless, it’s important to track and measure maintenance processes, requests, and changes to understand and evaluate progress and to confirm and provide insight into the organization’s actual maintenance process and efficiency.

Use Info-Tech’s OptimizeIT Request Trend Analysis Tool to assist in recording and organizing key application maintenance metrics.

For many enterprises, recording and analyzing key application maintenance metrics is new. More important than simply collecting data is the ability to understand the metrics, and interpret their impact on application maintenance and the enterprise as a whole.

Use OptimizeIT’s Guide to Understanding and Reporting Application Maintenance Metrics and Trends for definitions, impact analysis, and interpretation as they pertain to each key metric that you collect as part of sub-step 4.1.

Most enterprises have more software than they realize. Conducting an inventory is the first step in gaining a "big picture” view of the entire portfolio and analyzing its overall health.

The sole core tool in this stage is OptimizeIT’s Application Inventory tool. Use it to document all applications in the enterprise, their primary users, and each one’s impact on the business and IT systems.

Larger enterprises with multiple IT organizations or "shadow” IT groups (staff who are doing IT-related activities but do not report into the IT organization) should consider using Info-Tech’s advanced tool, "Irregular IT Staff Inventory."

The inventory process will reveal not only active applications, but also those that are not being utilized, are redundant, or are no longer adequately supporting current business processes. Set a strategy to clean, simplify, and eventually augment the application portfolio.

Apply OptimizeIT’s Application Status Rationalization Tool. This advanced tool provides a series of questions that will help you determine if an application is adequately serving current business needs and is still affordable to maintain. Clear recommendations are provided as to whether an assessed application should be maintained, phased out, or retired outright.

To gain an overview of the software maintenance process, take a core survey to determine current processes and define the organization’s standing using the OptimizeIT Application Maintenance Self-Assessment Tool.

OptimizeIT’s advanced Release Management Practice ROI tool can also be used to make a business case for optimizing IT’s maintenance through the use of well-managed application releases.

Once the organization’s application maintenance maturity has been assessed, the Application Maintenance Improvement Opportunities Template provides enterprises with a documented road-map for improvement opportunities.

Change management spans all aspects of IT management – its impact cannot be underestimated.

The core Change Management Maturity Tool provides a series of "yes” or "no” questions that help to define the maturity of the organization’s change management practices as they relate to five aspects of change management. The tool will also provide appropriate recommendations for improvement within each of the five areas related to change management.

Once change management maturity has been defined, the enterprise can rely on a series of advanced tools to help establish a formal change process.

OptimizeIT’s Change Management Policy is a thorough policy template that addresses the process of leading change management, and can be customized to define formal change management processes within the enterprise. The Change Advisory Board (CAB) Charter presents some suggested procedures for forming and running a CAB to approve and manage proposed application changes. Finally, the Routine COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) Software Maintenance Policy covers policy for maintenance and patch installation for COTS and customized commercial software.

Most organizations (and application maintenance departments for that matter) do not record and/or monitor key application maintenance metrics. There is almost always maintenance going on within an organization; nonetheless, it’s important to track and measure maintenance processes, requests, and changes to understand and evaluate progress and to confirm and provide insight into the organization’s actual maintenance process and efficiency.

Use Info-Tech’s OptimizeIT Request Trend Analysis Tool to assist in recording and organizing key application maintenance metrics.

For many enterprises, recording and analyzing key application maintenance metrics is new. More important than simply collecting data is the ability to understand the metrics, and interpret their impact on application maintenance and the enterprise as a whole.

Use OptimizeIT’s Guide to Understanding and Reporting Application Maintenance Metrics and Trends for definitions, impact analysis, and interpretation as they pertain to each key metric that you collect as part of sub-step 4.1.