Software Technologies Inventory and Attributes - Strategic attributes for the Software Technologies Inventory
Software Technologies Inventory and Attributes
Chapter 15. Strategic attributes for the Software Technologies Inventory
Executive Summary: Chapter Overview
IF4ITThe Bottom Line
Core Concepts
| Concept | Definition & Strategic Role |
|---|---|
| Strategic Disposition | The enterprise’s stated intent for the technology, which sets the default answer to every future question about investing in it. |
| Rationalization Candidate | The flag identifying technologies that duplicate capability others already provide, which is where consolidation savings actually live. |
| Strategic Rationale | The recorded reasoning behind a disposition, so the decision survives the departure of whoever made it. |
Quick Q&A
Question: Why record a rationale rather than just the disposition?
Read More Below
Strategic attributes record where each software technology is headed: whether the enterprise intends to invest in it, hold it steady, tolerate it, or remove it.
| Attribute Name | Maturity | Description and Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Strategic Disposition | Walk | Description — The enterprise's intent for the technology over the planning horizon. Benefit(s) — Sets the default answer to every future investment question and lets the whole portfolio be viewed as a set of intentions rather than a list of facts. Source — Manual. Examples — Invest, Maintain, Tolerate, Eliminate Notes — Distinct from Lifecycle State, which records where the technology is now; this records where the enterprise wants it to go. |
| Rationalization Candidate | Run | Description — Whether the technology duplicates capability already provided by another technology in the portfolio. Benefit(s) — Identifies where consolidation savings actually exist, which is rarely obvious without a governed inventory to compare across. Source — Manual or Derived. Notes — At Run maturity this can be derived by comparing subcategory groupings — several technologies sharing one subcategory is the usual signal. |
| Modernization Priority | Run | Description — The relative urgency of modernizing or replacing this technology. Benefit(s) — Sequences a modernization programme by importance rather than by whichever team asks loudest. Source — Manual or Calculated. Examples — High, Medium, Low Notes — Most usefully calculated from end-of-support proximity, criticality tier, and the number of dependent applications rather than assessed in isolation. |
| Strategic Rationale | Run | Description — The recorded reasoning behind the technology's strategic disposition. Benefit(s) — Lets a decision survive the departure of whoever made it, and lets it be deliberately revisited rather than silently re-litigated. Source — Manual. Notes — Two or three sentences is usually enough. The value is in there being a reason on record at all. |
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