By: Evan Orgel
When migrating to a new Operating System such as Windows 7, one of the most time consuming tasks is making sure your applications will work with the new platform. Gartner recommends 12-18 months of effort to prepare for the migration.
Many companies are taking the opportunity to perform an Application Rationalization project at the same time. My colleague Gwen Lyons discusses the benefits of Application Rationalization in her blog post: http://blogs.flexerasoftware.com/elo/2012/10/understanding-the-drivers-behind-application-rationalization-critical-to-success.html.
Some of the key goals of Application Rationalization are:
- Reduce the number of applications by
- eliminating software no longer used
- consolidating versions
- eliminating duplicate functionality
- Prioritize applications based on criticality
- Match applications to Departments/Users
Since a great deal of effort goes into the process, it is imperative for companies to make sure that the information collected during this massive effort is not treated as a one-time project, but stored in a repository that can be leveraged as part of the ongoing day-to-day operations. Collecting this information as part of the everyday application packaging/deployment process is vital to making sure that the repository is kept current.
Among the information that should be collected:
- Application Owner/Contact
- Departments/Business Units/Locations
- Criticality
- Classification
- Dependent Applications
Many companies are treating the migration effort separately from the ongoing packaging process. These are often done by different teams that tend to work independently of each other with different process and procedures. It is incumbent on the company to make sure that once the bulk of the migration project has been completed, the operational team is able to maintain the repository.
A well maintained repository containing your applications and all of the relevant information will significantly reduce future migration costs and the amount of time needed.
