Application

Intro

An Application is an operational piece of software supporting business capabilities and processes. In EA, applications are catalogued to manage dependencies, lifecycle, and investment.

Key points:

• Represents functionality serving business capabilities
• Enables portfolio management and rationalisation decisions
• Common use cases: application inventory, lifecycle tracking, interface mapping, dependency analysis, cost allocation
• Pitfall: unclear boundaries between applications and services cause duplication

Examples:

• CRM application supporting sales and customer service
• Billing application producing invoices and payment records
• HR application managing employee data and workflows

In practice:

Maintain a clear inventory, lifecycle policies, and interface mappings to guide investment.

Related terms: Application Portfolio Management; Service; Integration

FAQs:

Q: How do I define an application boundary?
A: By its business purpose, data it owns, and interfaces it exposes/consumes.

Q: Why maintain an application inventory?
A: To manage risk, cost, and change across the technology landscape.

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