Considerations for Application Scoring Profiles for Enterprise Architecture/Application Portfolio Ma

[dan_linton]

The foundation of effective application scoring relies on maintaining minimal scoring profiles while ensuring comprehensive evaluation criteria. While specific use cases may require distinct profiles (e.g., separate frameworks for on-premises versus cloud applications), consolidation enables meaningful cross-portfolio comparison.

The real benefit when implemented is that ServiceNow enables trended analysis across historical scores as well as a single pane of glass, providing visibility into how strategic initiatives and investments impact both individual applications, portfolio and the overall landscape.

Note: The intent of this post is not to show you how to build scoring profiles but to provide a perspective on the approach and potential areas of focus. For a how-to please see the EA/SPM documentation.

Building the Scoring Framework

Data Quality Controls

Implement controls to ensure scoring accuracy:

• Establish data certification process and cycle prior to scoring ensuring key field are included in certification.
• Define mandatory fields for completion on business application records.
• Deploy exception reporting to identify data gaps
• Link business applications to operational data (incidents, changes) for scoring metric accuracy

Stakeholder Integration

Develop structured processes for stakeholder input:

• Engage business in validation of business value.
• Engage with IT leaders to determine strategic alignment.

Financial

Utilize a Financial Impact analysis to determine:

• Project costs and benefits over 3–5-year horizons
• Factor in scalability costs
• Calculate legacy system retirement savings
• Assess impact on overall IT spending

Industry and Architecture Alignment

• Factor industry-specific regulations into scoring with appropriate weighting
• Reference target architecture in the evaluation of business application to ensure alignment with standards set by enterprise architecture team.
• This can leverage the Technology Reference Model (TRM).

Scoring cycle preparation

Before a scoring cycle data should be as accurate as possible:

1. Complete data certification tasks for business applications.
2. For assessments, revisit definitions for assessment questions to minimize bias
3. Validate accuracy of underlying metrics and indicators. Review business application health metrics.
4. Verify completeness of application portfolio data