Tracking non-enterprise applications

[cbaser]

In the past my company’s approach to APM was to dump any and all software into the system (not ServiceNow).  The result was that alongside enterprise managed strategic applications were freeware programs installed on single PC’s (out of 30,000 give or take total PC’s).  APM was also used to store/track operating systems, browsers, admin utilities, etc., that were not used to deliver a business capability per se.  So our APM repository is very bloated.  I’ve tried to clean it up, but the question that comes to me is “if you’re not tracking my software/OS/utility in APM, where is it being tracked?”

In the ServiceNow vision of things, where should PC based, single or small scale installed applications be tracked?  I suspect those things are picked up by SAM and can be augmented with things like support team, support status, etc.  And what of the desktop OS, where is it tracked in ServiceNow?

I’m thinking of three categories.

• Category A includes IT supported, enterprise applications that provide or contribute to a business capability.
• Category B includes software installed on individual PC’s on a small scale, not IT supported, may or may not be contributing to a business capability.
• Category C includes operating systems and things that are part of the OS like default browsers, as well as admin utilities used by IT support staff.

Of those three categories, it’s clear to me category A fits in APM/EA (Business Applications table).  But what about the category B and C items?  It’s easy to say we’re not going to track and manage things in categories B and C, but then in the event of M&A activity, management is going to want to know about all applications and software, who’s responsible for it, where it’s at, etc., so they’ll know what goes and what stays so to speak.

Sorry for rambling on.  I’ve done a lot of reading on ServiceNow APM and CSDM already, but haven’t arrived at a clear answer yet.  Wondering how/where others are tracking the cat A/B/C items?  Best practice?

[Jonathan Schnei]

The new EA product (formerly APM) team is coming out with a lot of good articles and documentation on this very subject. You can find their Mark Castoe's latest 'what is a business app' guidance here: https://www.servicenow.com/community/apm-articles/what-is-a-business-application/ta-p/3071106

Once you've followed the advise in the article - it's important to ask yourself one last qualifier - Is it strategically worth having the Business App record? If it won't be maintained or the cost of having the record exceeds the value, then perhaps it is not worth tracking.

Category A is clear, but for your specific examples:

• Category B - single client-side installs, ideally your SCCM/Discovery are finding those and populating them into SAM as SW models. If they are applications that provide a Business Cap, then they are probably Business Apps (that is to say, client-side apps can be Business Apps). The longer journey of resolving these in your inventory is 2-part - the first being to identify approved SW products (you can use TRM in the Enterprise Architecture to help with this), and the second is to change the governance of end-user devices so that only approved SW or IT-pushed packages can be installed and you can start removing unauthorized products from devices. In general (notwithstanding the more detailed advise in the article linked), if an application provides a business capability, it should be a Business Application.
• Category C - OS/Browsers: You do track that you have Office 365 and Edge as Business Apps as they provide Business Capabilities. Similarly, if a utility is providing a Business Cap and satisfies the guidance in the link, it can also be considered a Business App.

Hope that helps get you started in the right direction. Good luck!

[mcastoe]

@cbaser ,

You have the right mindset and we have tips on this to support your thinking in this article, 

What is a Business Application?.    Under our Enterprise Architecture best practice, all of this software belongs in the Technology Standards catalog which we call Technology Reference Model (TRM).  it is there where we track the software deemed allowable for use within the organization.  All software, und use, OS and enterprise shoudl be managed there.   See this article: Manage Software Technology Standards with APM's Technology Reference Model (TRM).

The key is that an "Enterprise System" or Business Application, is not Software but a Design layer representative of the deployment of software/hardware/service that make that system and a unique deployments are the Application Services.  Even if its SaaS, there are still App Services.  

The software in use by those systems can be discovered by Technology Portfolio Management's (TPM) job and where the software discovered does not have an approval in TRM, we call out the "technical debt" and risk.  
Technology Portfolio Management - Getting Started

 

[Community Alums]

Thanks Mark, and i believe with an ability to Model , Categorize and/or classify any CI,  your product (homegrown), can fall under Business App, Software, etc.. portfolio