Best Practices Webinar | Milestones Roadmap to Success (Jul 2nd)

Thanks @Zane Ross and looking forward to this session.

Can you also, touch base on how APM scorecard needs to be derived or drive this initiative and it’s related quantifiable KPIs.

I will pass the request on to @Niral Mehta, who will be hosting this session. Also make note of the new registration link, the old one was having issues. 

Thanks @Zane Ross , registered using new link.

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for joining today’s webinar. We really appreciate the collaboration, and you joining to learn about the best ways to maximize the efficacy of LeanIX. I wanted to recap some of the questions that were asked on the webinar:

• What does CASB stand for?
  • CASB stands for Cloud Access Security Broker which is an out-of-the-box integration available today for SaaS Discovery: https://docs-eam.leanix.net/docs/netskope-v2
• How to use LeanIX as a resource catalog?
  • The LeanIX Portal enables employees with IT Self-Services by providing an overview of software that is approved and available to order. Thereby, it offers users more opportunities to troubleshoot problems autonomously, and can be configured by admins quickly and with a variety of filters, while reducing the number of support requests: https://docs-eam.leanix.net/docs/self-service-portal

High-Level recap of the presentation:

• Milestone #1: Application Portfolio Management 

  • Application Portfolio Management (APM) is a practice that organizations use to identify, evaluate, and manage an enterprise's software applications. The portfolio showcases all the applications that the company uses, their interactions, costs, benefits, and risks. The fundamental objective of APM is to optimize the value of an organization's technology investments. Below are some key aspects involved in APM:

    1. Inventory Management: APM involves maintaining a comprehensive list of all applications used within the enterprise, including all custom and off-the-shelf software.

    2. Business Alignment: APM ensures that each application aligns with the business objectives and contributes to the organization's goals.

    3. Rationalization: It involves the process of examining the entire application portfolio and being able to identify redundancies, underused or outdated applications, and those that can potentially be converted into a more modern architecture or even outsourced to a cloud solution.

    4. Lifecycle Management: APM monitors the lifecycle of each application, from its inception and development to its maintenance and eventual retirement.

    5. Decision Making: APM assists in decision making when upgrading, consolidating, or retiring applications.

    6. Cost Management: By monitoring the cost, business value, and risks associated with each application, APM helps in managing IT cost reduction strategies effectively.

• Milestone #2: Application Rationalization

  • Application Rationalization is the process of systematically reviewing an organization's software applications to determine which ones should be kept, replaced, retired, or consolidated. Its primary goal is to improve efficiency and reduce complexity to contribute to cost savings, better productivity, and increased business agility. Here's a deeper dive into its core functions:

    1. Streamlining the Application Portfolio: By identifying redundant, obsolete or underutilized applications, businesses can reduce the complexity and size of their software footprint.
    2. Cost Savings and Efficiency: Maintaining, licensing, and training users for different applications can be expensive. Rationalizing applications can lead to cost savings, not just in direct IT costs but also by boosting productivity and operational efficiency.
    3. Risk Reduction: Outdated or little-understood applications can present a business risk, especially in areas like security compliance. Recognizing and removing such applications mitigates this risk.
    4. Business and IT Alignment: The process can help ensure IT infrastructure aligns more closely with business objectives by identifying whether applications still meet the needs of the organization.
    5. Supporting Strategic Initiatives: Application Rationalization can support strategic initiatives such as digital transformations, cloud migrations, and infrastructure modernizations, where the organization would want to only retain and upgrade applications that add business value.
    6. Lifecycle Management: It involves understanding the lifecycle stage of each application, helping in decision making like whether to invest in updates and maintenance, or retire and replace the software.

• Milestone #3: Leveraging SaaS Discovery
  • The 4 different phases that encompass the whole processes behind enabling SaaS discovery are Connect, Discovery, Build Repository, and Track.
  • 1. To Connect, choose the right integration platform based on the available options.
  • 2. Discovery is going to be the next phase that will give you the ability to link your current standing fact sheets to the SaaS catalog fact sheets for information linking. The benefit of linking will mean whenever an update to the SaaS Catalog is implemented, you will automatically be the beneficiary and it creates the optimal scenario as no manual intervention on your side is needed once the linkage occurs.
  • 3. Building the repository  does not have to be a challenge or difficult, the layers of functionality and automation LeanIX offer can make it simple to maintain an effective portfolio. As organizations grow, merge, adapt, and transform, there will be more applications to keep up with business growth. Companies can acquire hundreds of applications over the years, therefore, it's easy to lose track of what is in use. Another key benefit to maintain a robust inventory is preventing over-purchases or managing shadow IT. Keeping all applications in one place allows easy access for IT, finance, or any other business units. A comprehensive application portfolio prevents repurchases of similar software by accident. This can help keep cost compression at a manageable level as company growth increases.
    4.Tracking the changes, tracking growth, and tracking the current state of portfolio will be crucial as management will could ask for reporting, tangible data metrics.

• Milestone #4: Leveraging AI Capabilities 
  • Inventory AI prompt leverages generative AI to provide a natural language interface for querying data, generating documentation, and obtaining insights in the inventory.
  • AI-assisted text simplifies and standardizes text creation by analyzing content and context. Additionally, it transforms and enriches existing text to ensure clarity and accuracy. It is accessible in various areas, including fact sheet descriptions and other documentation.
  • AI-generated context aids users in understanding the tasks better by providing additional details and explanations. It is accessible, for example, in to-do tasks and surveys, assisting users in completing tasks efficiently.
  • AI-supported translation enables you to translate labels and help texts for fact sheet attributes in the meta model configuration.

Link to the recording: Best Practices | Milestones Webinar

Link to the deck: Best Practices | Achieving Milestones with LeanIX

Thank you again everyone!

Best,

Niral Mehta

@satishbyali - Regarding your earlier question: Can you also, touch base on how APM scorecard needs to be derived or drive this initiative and it’s related quantifiable KPIs?

Depending on the use case and how granular you would like to proceed forward with KPIs, LeanIX offers an out-of-the-box function around KPIs that are pre-defined. The KPIs can be accessed via Admin → KPIs. These KPIs can also be generated in the dashboard view for easier accessibility and consumption. The KPIs are going to be driven by the meta data, and if the meta data is complete and accurate, the KPIs will reflect that. Documentation on how to configure KPIs: KPIs

In terms of an APM scorecard, the data completion % that is related to each fact sheet could be a great way to evaluate subscribers performance around data population.

Phase 1: Understand how you would like to have the different weightings be exposed with the data completeness score. This documentation outlines how the scoring and weightings can be calculated: Data Completeness. The meta model configuration gives you the ability to modify the scoring of each fact sheet type:

Phase 2: Once the data completion % is configured to your preferences. The inventory table view can be imported into a dashboard, which will show you an overall view of how each application stacks against the data completeness score:

I hope the above helps! If you have any questions, please feel to reach out to myself or your CSM, and we would be happy to assist.

Thanks,

Niral Mehta

Thank you @Niral Mehta for your presentation yesterday. 

Will review the details and follow-up with additional Qs, if any.

Can the webinar link be updated to grant everyone access?

@JustSmitty Hello! Everyone should have access to the recording. Please see the link below, and please let us know if you face any issues: Best Practices Webinar Milestones Roadmap to Success

Thank you,

Niral Mehta