Application Portfolio Management
Apps Collective is a lightweight Application Portfolio Management (APM) service for IT organizations
Features
Application Portfolio Management
Apps Collective is a lightweight Application Portfolio Management (APM) solution for organizations that do not want to pay for large and fancy systems or cannot afford them. This offers an easy first step to managing a portfolio of software applications without a lot of complexity and that lets you leave cumbersome spreadsheets behind.
Application Tracking
If you track everything of significance about each application you support in your organization, you will soon realize there is a lot of detail to get your arms around. You will also realize this information lives in many different places and capturing it and keeping it organized can be a challenge. Apps Collective helps you organize the information is logical groups - such as vendor contact information, sponsor and local support contacts, domains and versions, install and upgrade history, maintenance windows and more.
Maintenance Windows
Every application will require maintenance at some time. With many software packages being supported, you may have very specific constraints on when each application can be taken offline and updated. If your organization is 7x24, it can get even more complicated. This raises the challenge of identifying and coordinating outages for many stakeholders. Apps Collective collects these requirements and helps you identify the best windows and coordinate with stakeholders.
Outage Communication
Planned or unplanned, outages require communication with your enterprise stakeholders. Outages, especially unplanned ones greatly impact the productivity of the organization. People want to know details, estimates for a restoration of services and regular status updates. Apps Collective make these notifications much easier. No more mass emails with numerous “FWD:” email updates. Tailor your communication with Apps Collective. One email triggered from Apps Collective sends the enterprise a link to an outage page that provides a robust view of the outage. Interested parties can follow this page until its final resolution.
Upgrade Planning
Apps Collective is the place to track the various versions in use, especially if each application has more than one domain in use. Every application has a production domain. Some will have development, testing. staging and training for larger more complex systems. It becomes significant when an upgrade is planned and each domain must be updated in a very specific sequence. Apps Collective will display the domains and versions in use and your planned upgrade dates and times.
Future Integration with RACI Connect
RACI Connect is a companion product also under development. Initially, RACI Connect and Apps Collective will launch separately with Apps Collective being first. Later, Apps Collective will link to the RACI Connect engine to increase the value by associating stakeholders and support to roles and individuals to specific software applications. For more on RACI Connect, check out https://raciconnect.com/.
Advantages
It is Organized!
Apps Collective organizes data that is rarely organized in most IT organizations and removes the annoyance of tracking down the myriad of details
Easy Access
Provides quick access to information and details needed to plan downtimes and upgrades, Your Service Desk will appreciate the wealth of data at their easy reach. Unplanned outages often require access to vendor and application data. Incident response is easier for the responding team
Replaces the Spreadsheet
Replaces large and unwieldy spreadsheets of application data. If you are using a spreadsheet now, you can appreciate the challenge as the spreadsheet grows and grows.
Benefits
One Less Thing to Worry About
One Less Thing to Worry About
One Less Thing to Worry About
In those moments when you are in a hurry, having this data immediately available will make management easier.
Kick back, go home early!
Budgeting Made Easier
One Less Thing to Worry About
One Less Thing to Worry About
You are ready to plan better for budgets related to system upgrades and possible acquisitions to replace legacy systems
Planning and Sharing
One Less Thing to Worry About
Planning and Sharing
You can easily share details of your IT organization with your organization (management as well as all stakeholders), vendors, and IT related associations