Your Challenge
- Almost two thirds of organizations report that they have too many or far too many applications due to sprawl from poorly managed portfolios, and application managers are spending too much time supporting non-critical applications and not enough time on their most vital ones.
- The necessary pieces of rationalization are rarely in one place. You need to assemble the resources to collect vital rationalization criteria.
- There is a lack of standard practices to define the business value that the applications in a portfolio provide, and without value rationalization, decisions are misaligned to business needs.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
There is no “one size fits all.” Applying a rigid approach to rationalization with inflexible inputs can delay or prevent you from realizing value. Play to your strengths and build a framework that aligns to your goals and limitations.
Impact and Result
- Define the roles, responsibilities, and outputs for application rationalization within your application portfolio management practice.
- Build a tailored application rationalization framework (ARF) aligned with your motivations, goals, and limitations.
- Apply the various application assessments to produce the information that your dispositions will be based on.
- Initiate an application portfolio roadmap that will showcase your rationalization decisions to key stakeholders.
Guided Implementations
This guided implementation is a twelve call advisory process.
Guided Implementation #1 - Lay your foundations
Call #1 - Define the motivations and goals for rationalization and the metrics to gauge success.
Call #2 - Define “application” in your organization.
Call #3 - Identify rationalization activities, outputs, and the core APM team who will execute them.
Call #4 - Identify your first iteration.
Guided Implementation #2 - Plan and test your ARF
Call #1 - If required, adapt Info-Tech’s dispositions.
Call #2 - Define an initial AFR.
Call #3 - Understand how to use Info-Tech’s Application Rationalization Tool.
Call #4 - Apply the application assessments for business value, TCO, and technical health.
Call #5 - Perform a retrospective for your first iteration, and adapt AFR.
Guided Implementation #3 - Initiate your roadmap
Call #1 - Determine and prioritize your dispositions.
Call #2 - Roadmap your dispositions.
Call #3 - Build an action plan for next iterations and ongoing activities.

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Application Portfolio Management
Support your ongoing business objectives with a rationalized application portfolio while remaining aligned with your current and future technology needs.
This course makes up part of the Applications Certificate.
Course information:
- Title: Application Portfolio Management
- Number of Course Modules: 4
- Estimated Time to Complete: 1-1.5 hours
- Featured Analysts:
- Ben Mackle, Senior Research Analyst, Application Practice
- Allison Straker, Research Director, Application Practice
- Now Playing: Academy: Application Portfolio Management | Executive Brief
Book Your Workshop
Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Lay Your Foundations
The Purpose
- Define the goals, scope, roles, and responsibilities of your rationalization effort.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Defined motivations, long and short-term goals, and metrics for your rationalization effort.
- Definition of application.
- Defined roles and responsibilities for your rationalization effort.
Activities
Outputs
Define motivations and goals for rationalization.
- Goals, motivations, and metrics for rationalizations
Define “application.”
- Definition of “Application”
Identify team and responsivities.
Adapt target dispositions.
- Defined dispositions
Initiate Application Rationalization Framework (ARF).
- Defined core APM team and handoffs
Module 2: Assess Business Value
The Purpose
- Review and adapt Info-Tech’s methodology and toolset.
- Assess business value of applications.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Tailored application rationalization framework
- Defined business value drivers
- Business value scores for applications
Activities
Outputs
Review Application Rationalization Tool.
- Application Rationalization Tool
Review focused apps, capabilities, and areas of functionality overlap.
- List of functional overlaps
Define business value drivers.
- Weighed business value drivers
Determine the value score of focused apps.
- Value scores for focused application
- Value Calculator
Module 3: Gather Application Information
The Purpose
- Continue to review and adapt Info-Tech’s methodology and toolset.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Tailored application rationalization framework
- TCO values for applications
- Technical health review of applications
- Recommended dispositions for applications
Activities
Outputs
Determine TCO for focused apps.
- TCO of focused applications
- TCO Calculator
Determine technical health of focused apps.
- Technical health of focused apps
Review APA.
Review recommended dispositions.
- Defined rationalization criteria
- Recommended disposition for focused apps
Perform retrospective of assessments and adapt ARF.
Module 4: Gather, Assess, and Select Dispositions
The Purpose
- Review and perform high-level prioritization of dispositions.
- Build a roadmap for dispositions.
- Determine ongoing rationalization and application portfolio management activities.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Application Portfolio Roadmap
- Prioritized Dispositions
Activities
Outputs
Determine dispositions.
Prioritize dispositions.
- Disposition Prioritization Tool
Initiate portfolio roadmap.
- Application portfolio roadmap
Build an action plan for next iterations and ongoing activities.
- Action plan for next iterations and ongoing activities
Finalize ARF.
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this Blueprint, and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Darling Ingredients
Guided Implementation
7/10
$14,643
9
HONDA NORTH AMERICA INC.
Workshop
10/10
$12,733
20
Government Employees Health Association Inc
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
MCS Healthcare Holdings LLC
Guided Implementation
9/10
$127K
20
Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency
Guided Implementation
9/10
$127K
50
Motor Oil Hellas Corinth Refineries S.A.
Guided Implementation
9/10
$14,002
5
Sherritt International Corporation
Guided Implementation
8/10
$13,000
10
Parsons Inc
Guided Implementation
10/10
$636K
10
Fast Planet Consulting
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Bauer Hockey LLC
Guided Implementation
8/10
$12,733
10
Victorinox AG
Guided Implementation
9/10
$6,366
5
Debswana
Guided Implementation
10/10
$127K
20
LiveBetter
Workshop
9/10
$200K
10
City Of Charlotte
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
State of Hawaii
Workshop
8/10
$63,667
9
HONDA NORTH AMERICA INC.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,733
20
United Federal Credit Union
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
90
Botswana Railways
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
18
University of Johannesburg
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
5
Department of Energy- Richland Operations Office
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Cengage Learning
Guided Implementation
7/10
N/A
5
Dollar General
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
1
Uganda Revenue Authority
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
75
Impact Assessment Agency of Canada
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
5
Sedgwick Cms
Workshop
8/10
N/A
10
Real Estate Council of Ontario 1
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
2
Bob Barker Company, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,733
10
CBRE Pte Ltd.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$1.27M
120
University of Ottawa
Guided Implementation
8/10
$2,000
20
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
N/A