Technology · Technical debt and renewal · Component

Application portfolio assessment

Each system rated for business fit and technical condition, with the resulting course: tolerate, invest, migrate or eliminate.

The deliverable

What it is

The TIME model, associated with Gartner’s application portfolio work, sorts systems on two axes into four courses of action. Its usefulness is that it forces a verdict for every system, including the unglamorous ones that would otherwise continue by default.

The assessment rates the entries of the system landscape and does not keep a list of its own. The replacement dates and costs of held assets are recorded under Business Assets as lifecycle; this assessment decides what should happen to each system architecturally.

One level in

What it is made of

Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.

  1. Business fit score

    How well the system supports what the business needs now and in its planned future, as judged by the owner.

    3 attributes: Fit score · Assessed by · Basis

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  2. Technical condition score

    Supportability, security, ease of integration and vendor support status, judged by the people who maintain it.

    3 attributes: Condition score · End of support · Assessed from

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  3. TIME verdict

    The resulting course of action — tolerate, invest, migrate or eliminate — with the date of the next review.

    3 attributes: Verdict · Departure from grid · Next review

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Every eliminate verdict needs a date. Without one, it returns unchanged next year.