The What are our architectural dependencies? business question enables you to quickly understand the dependencies that applications have to other applications based on their information flows. The visualization helps you to understand connected applications and their data exchange. By knowing the information dependencies, you can reduce complexity and mitigate risk when transitioning the application landscape.
information flow
An information flow describes the exchange of business data between source and target applications.
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The visualization may be empty the first time you go to the What are our architectural dependencies? business question. You must set the mandatory Application field in the filter settings to show data.
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The application selected in the Application filter field is in the center of the visualization. Incoming information flows are visualized as arrows that start with a source application and point to the selected application. Outgoing information flows start with the selected application and point to the target application. The source and target information flows are colored based on the object state. Point to an information flow to show a tooltip with the following information: Souce application > Target application.
object state
An object state describes the operational status of an object in the enterprise. The object state indicates whether an object is actively used, planned to be used, or has been used in the past. Because an object’s start and end dates specify the planned period of activity for the object, the object state should be changed from Plan to Active once the object's start date is reached. Equally, the object state should be changed from Active to Retired when the object's end date is reached.
To understand the information flows for planned applications:
Select a Plan in the Object State filter field to show only the source and target applications that are planned for the future.
Recommendation: Assess the information flows between the planned applications. Review whether planned applications with no information flows are relevant for the to-be landscape, or whether information flows need to be specified for those applications.
To understand how the architectural dependencies evolve over time:
Select a date in the Active Date filter field to understand which applications are actively running on the specified date. These applications will have a start date before and an end date after the specified active date.
Recommendation: To support planning the future application landscape, identify applications that do not have information flows. Review whether the applications can be sundowned in the future or replaced with applications that transfer relevant business data.
To understand the potential impact to the data transferred by the information flows:
Select Business Data in the Information Flow Attribute filter field to add the business data transferred by information flows to each information flow. Select Recommendation in the Color Rules field to color the applications based on the recommendation to invest, tolerate, or migrate the application.
Recommendation: Review the business data that is transferred by information flows and consider the impact for potential
To determine which applications may be relevant for cloud migration based on their frequency of use:
Select Connection Frequency in the Information Flow Attribute filter field.
Recommendation: Review which information flows have a high connection frequency in order to understand which applications might be grouped for migration to the cloud.
Go to the Data Source tab to view the information flows and applications relevant for this business question. You can do the following:
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To understand the information flows used for the report:
Go to the Information Flow Data Workbench to view all information flows specified for the applications used for the report. You can filter the information flows on their connection information or other attributes.
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To understand the applications used for the report:
Go to the Application Data Workbench to view the applications used for the report:
- Add the Is Strategic and Business Relevant columns to the dataset to understand the importance of the applications in the application architecture. Add the Recommendation column to understand whether the application is recommended for migration or sundowning.
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To understand which information flow have been defined for a selected application
Click an application to navigate to its object profile, click Information Portfolio, and open the Information Flows view. All information flows are displayed for which the selected application is either a source or target application.