So you’ve collected your inventory, now what? Gathering your application inventory is pretty straightforward. It may not be easy, depending on your organizational structure and management systems, but it can be done. The second step can be a bit more time consuming, especially in larger environments. Now you need to find out who owns, and who uses, your applications. This is called “application mapping”.

In determining the value of your apps, there are several pieces of information that you can use to reach your rationalization decisions. First, you need to find out if anyone is using the application. What business functions or processes do the applications fulfill? You may find that some of your applications are not really being used for anything anymore, as new apps have replaced their functionality.  Mapping your applications back to business processes and functions will reveal overlap and redundancy in your portfolio. If your organization doesn’t have a mature Enterprise Architecture program in place, you could be starting from scratch here, but don’t let that intimidate you. You don’t need to over complicate this exercise but it’s important that you put in the effort. There is a good chance that you are running underutilized and/or redundant software, and the removal of those applications has the potential to save you thousands or even millions of dollars.

Original post found here: http://futurestateit.com/2012/08/27/the-second-step-in-application-rationalization/

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