Application Portfolio Management at a Leading Energy Company Improves IT Governance Through Portfolio Visibility
Challenges
Map and document its full application portfolio in one place.
Manage application architecture more consistently.
Connect applications to the business processes they support.
Create a reliable basis for assessing change, risk, and investment priorities.
Results
- A single, centrally managed view of the application portfolio.
- More effective IT governance.
- Clearer understanding of each application’s business relevance.
- Better collaboration across IT and architecture teams.
"Adopting Bizzdesign Application Portfolio Management has allowed us to work in a more structured way. The solution uses a central repository, and it has helped us map our entire application portfolio, providing clearer visibility into our IT resources," –– Application Architecture, Innovation and Quality Assurance Manager at a Leading Energy Company
The Challenge: From Enterprise Architecture to Application Portfolio Management
A large energy company operating across multiple European markets had built a mature enterprise architecture practice using Bizzdesign's solutions to model business processes and IT infrastructure. As the organization continued to grow, however, managing its expanding application portfolio remained challenging. The company recognized an opportunity to extend its enterprise architecture capabilities to gain greater control and visibility over that portfolio.
Before implementing Application Portfolio Management, the organization lacked visibility into which applications supported which business processes. In addition, the rapid adoption of cloud and SaaS applications had created information silos. Application data was stored and managed in different locations, and the same application was often known by different names.
To strengthen IT governance, the organization introduced an application perspective into its central enterprise architecture repository. The objective was to integrate lower enterprise architecture layers, such as infrastructure, with higher layers tied to business activities, and to better understand how applications supported business processes.
A key goal was to assess applications based on technical efficiency, business relevance, and value.
The Approach: Mapping the Application Portfolio
A significant effort was dedicated to gathering application data, including IT-related information such as deployment and hosting, functional scope, and lifecycles. Applications were then associated with business processes to clarify how each application supported the business.
Once this initial phase was complete, the organization was able to compare the actual application portfolio with its assumed state, leading to a clearer and more accurate understanding of IT resources.
The most complex part of the project — creating a complete application inventory — also proved to be the most valuable.
Creating a complete inventory of applications was challenging, as the same application often existed under different names and was used in different ways. The organization had also experienced the effects of “shadow IT,” particularly through the independent purchase of SaaS applications to meet specific business needs.
Even when IT was not directly involved in these purchases, it was still essential to include these applications in the inventory, especially when making decisions about whether to retain or retire them.
The Impact: Improved IT Governance Through Application Portfolio Management
Adopting Application Portfolio Management enabled a more structured way of working. The Bizzdesign solution uses a single repository for application information, making it significantly easier to manage the application landscape.
This level of centralized insight would have been impossible to achieve using spreadsheets alone. The project also helped standardize application naming, map the full IT portfolio, and provide clearer visibility into IT resources.
By linking applications to business processes, the organization can now better identify which applications are critical to the business. The solution also enabled the creation and sharing of reports across the organization, including with stakeholders outside of IT, improving transparency and alignment.
The organization has also reduced storage and infrastructure costs. With a clearer view of the application portfolio, decision-making around future IT investments has improved.
Why Bizzdesign?
Bizzdesign was selected for its strong expertise in enterprise architecture and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC).
The organization needed an independent vendor that continues to invest in solutions designed to support enterprise-wide governance.
Equally important was the partnership model. The organization sought a long-term partnership rather than a transactional vendor relationship. The Bizzdesign team has consistently demonstrated high availability and commitment, exceeding basic vendor expectations.
Looking Ahead
The next step is to maintain up-to-date application lifecycle information. As application lifecycles continue to shorten, stronger governance is required to ensure timely replacement and transformation decisions.
Another key initiative is to centralize Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) data, replacing multiple spreadsheets currently used across the organization.
Finally, the organization plans to provide access to line-of-business managers to further improve collaboration and decision-making.
A large energy company operating across multiple European markets, with activities spanning energy procurement, production, and supply. The organization serves a large customer base and operates in a highly regulated environment, requiring strong governance and architectural discipline.