Should all business applications have an application service

[Steven Barber]

Hello

Can someone tell me if all business applications should have an application service?

We are using Prod, Test, and Dev for our application services.
We have some cloud-based business applications, and some believe those applications won't have an application service.

I believe even if they are cloud-based they still need to be attached to an application service even if it is just Prod.

Thank you for the help in advance

[Barry Kant · Accepted solution]

Hi Steven,

in the application context an Application Service is a deployment of a Business Application. 
So, if there is a deployment of a Business Application, then there is an Application Service (per deployment in general). 
Business Application in life cycle design, retired etc, that has no deployments, might have no Application Services either for the same reason. 
The Business Application level is a non-operational level, so even a cloud-based application is operational and therefore is an Application Service. 

Hope this gives clarity,

Barry

[Barry Kant · Accepted solution]

Hi Steven,

in the application context an Application Service is a deployment of a Business Application. 
So, if there is a deployment of a Business Application, then there is an Application Service (per deployment in general). 
Business Application in life cycle design, retired etc, that has no deployments, might have no Application Services either for the same reason. 
The Business Application level is a non-operational level, so even a cloud-based application is operational and therefore is an Application Service. 

Hope this gives clarity,

Barry

[AndersBGS · Accepted solution]

Hi @Steven Barber ,

 according to my best knowledge there should be. a business application is a representation of one or more installed instances eg. Dev, test and prod. Furthermore, when looking at it from a CSDM perspective, it’s the application service that is mapping out all together.

[Mathew Hillyard]

In fact the answer is not always.

A Business Application is not a representation of installed instances, but a record of application technology to be categorised and associated with various application parameters, such as architecture type, application type, application category, number of business users, age, and more. Obviously the intention is usually to deploy it into infrastructure, but it is a design object, so would typically appear before the deployments occur, and stay operational right up until the last element of infrastructure is retired.

If we think of the lifecycle of a CSDM service, it's likely that an organisation will have new or emerging technologies and use cases for capabilities they wish to exploit. They can and will explore application technology before it is ever deployed. Therefore it is perfectly acceptable to have an evaluation Business Application that does not have a deployed environment. The status of this Business Application is not operational, however. Think of this like the pipeline section of the service portfolio.

However, as soon as a working environment is available, be that Development, Test, or some other pre-production instantiation, then change management should consider the path to live for that Business Application as part of the service(s) it will underpin.

I hope this helps!
Mat