Microsoft Teams Cookbook

Recipes for best practices and use cases for Microsoft Teams.

Table of contents

Executive Brief

Section 1: Teams for IT

Section 2: Teams for End Users

Executive Summary

Situation

Remote work calls for leveraging your Office 365 license to utilize Teams – but IT is unsure about best practices for governance and permissions.

Without a framework or plan for governing the rollout of Teams, IT risks overlooking secure use of Teams, the phenomenon of “teams sprawl,” and not realizing how Teams integrates with Office 365 more broadly.

Complication

Teams needs to be rolled out quickly, but IT has few resources to help train end users with Teams best practices.

With teams, channels, chats, meetings, and live events to choose from, end users may get frustrated with lack of guidance on how to use Teams’ many capabilities.

Resolution

Use Info-Tech’s Microsoft Teams Cookbook to successfully implement and utilize Teams. This cookbook includes recipes for:

• IT best practices concerning governance of the creation process and Teams rollout.
• End-user best practices for Teams functionality and common use cases.

Key Insights

Teams is not a standalone app

Successful utilization of Teams occurs when conceived in the broader context of how it integrates with Office 365. Understanding how information flows between Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business, for instance, will aid governance with permissions, information storage, and file sharing.

IT should paint the first picture for team creation

No initial governance for team creation can lead to “teams sprawl.” While Teams was built to allow end users’ creativity to flow in creating teams and channels, this can create problems with a cluttered interface and keeping track of information. To prevent end-user dissatisfaction here, IT’s initial Teams rollout should offer a basic structure for end users to work with first, limiting early teams sprawl.

The Teams admin center can only take you so far with permissions

Knowing how Teams integrates with other Office 365 apps will help with rolling out sensitivity labels to protect important information being accidentally shared in Teams. Of course, technology only does so much – proper processes to train and hold people accountable for their actions with data sharing must be implemented, too.

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Section 1: Teams for IT

Governance best practices and use cases for IT

From determining prerequisites to engaging end users.

IT fundamentals

• Creation process
• Teams rollout

Use cases

• Retain and search for legal/regulatory compliance
• Add an external user to a team
• Delete/archive a team

Overview: Creation process

IT needs to be prepared to manage other dependent services when rolling out Teams. See the figure below for how Teams integrates with these other Office 365 applications.

Which Microsoft 365 license do I need to access Teams?

• Microsoft 365 Business Essentials
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Office 365 Enterprise, E1, E3, or E5
• Office 365 Enterprise E4 (if purchased prior to its retirement)

Please note: To appeal to the majority of Info-Tech’s members, this blueprint refers to Teams in the context of Office 365 Enterprise licenses.

Assign admin roles

You will already have at least one global administrator from setting up Office 365.

Global administrators have almost unlimited access to settings and most of the data within the software, so Microsoft recommends having only two to four IT and business owners responsible for data and security.

Info-Tech Best Practice

Configure multifactor authentication for your dedicated Office 365 global administrator accounts and set up two-step verification.

Once you have organized your global administrators, you can designate your other administrators with “just-enough” access for managing Teams. There are four administrator roles:

Prepare the network

There are three prerequisites before Teams can be rolled out:

• UDP ports 3478 through 3481 are opened.
• You have a verified domain for Office 365.
• Office 365 has been rolled out, including Exchange Online and SharePoint Online.

Microsoft then recommends the following checklist to optimize your Teams utilization:

• Optimize calls and performance using the Call Quality Dashboard.
• Assess network requirements in the Network Planner in the Teams admin center.
• Ensure all computers running Teams client can resolve external DNS queries.
• Check adequate public IP addresses are assigned to the NAT pools to prevent port exhaustion.
• Route to local or regional Microsoft data centers.
• Whitelist all Office 365 URLs to move through security layers, especially IDS/IPS.
• Split tunnel Teams traffic so it bypasses your organization’s VPN.

Info-Tech Best Practice

For online support and walkthroughs, utilize Advisor for Teams. This assistant can be found in the Teams admin center.

Team Creation

You can create and manage Teams through the Teams PowerShell module and the Teams admin center. Only the global administrator and Teams service administrator have full administrative capabilities in this center.

Governance over team creation intends to prevent “teams sprawl” – the phenomenon whereby end users create team upon team without guidance. This creates a disorganized interface, with issues over finding the correct team and sharing the right information.

Prevent teams sprawl by painting the first picture for end users:

1. Decide what kind of team grouping would best fit your organization: by department or by project.
2. Start with a small number of teams before letting end users’ creativity take over. This will prevent initial death by notifications and support adoption.
3. Add people or groups to these teams. Assign multiple owners for each team in case people move around at the start of rollout or someone leaves the organization.
4. Each team has a general channel that cannot be removed. Use it for sharing an overview of the team’s goals, onboarding, and announcements.

Info-Tech Best Practice

For smaller organizations that are project-driven, organize teams by projects. For larger organizations with established, siloed departments, organize by department; projects within departments can become channels.

Integrations with SharePoint Online

Teams does not integrate with SharePoint Server.

Governance of Teams is important because of how tightly it integrates with other Office 365 apps, including SharePoint Online.

A poor rollout of Teams will have ramifications in SharePoint. A good rollout will optimize these apps for the organization.

Teams and SharePoint integrate in the following ways:

• Each team created in Teams automatically generates a SharePoint team site behind it. All documents and chat shared through a team are stored in that team’s SharePoint document library.
• As such, all files shared through Teams are subject to SharePoint permissions.
• Existing SharePoint folders can be tied to a team without needing to create a new one.
• If governance over resource sharing in Teams is poor, information can get lost, duplicated, or cluttered throughout both Teams and SharePoint.

Info-Tech Best Practice

End users should be encouraged to integrate their teams and channels with existing SharePoint folders and, where no folder exists, to create one in SharePoint first before then attaching a team to it.

Permissions

Within the Teams admin center, the global or Teams service administrator can manage Teams policies.

Typical Teams policies requiring governance include:

• The extent end users can discover or create private teams or channels
• Messaging policies
• Third-party app use

Chosen policies can be either applied globally or assigned to specific users.

Info-Tech Best Practice

If organizations need to share sensitive information within the bounds of a certain group, private channels help protect this data. However, inviting users into that channel will enable them to see all shared history.

External and guest access

Within the security and compliance center, the global or Teams service administrator can set external and guest access.

External access (federation) – turned on by default.

• Lets you find, call, and chat with users in other domains. External users will have no access to the organization’s teams or team resources.

Guest access – turned off by default.

• Lets you add individual users with their own email address. You do this when you want external users to access teams and team resources. Approved guests will be added to the organization’s active directory.

If guest access is enabled, it is subject to Azure AD and Office 365 licensing and service limits. Guests will have no access to the following, which cannot be changed:

• OneDrive for Business
• An organization’s calendar/meetings
• PSTN
• Organization’s hierarchical chart
• The ability to create, revise, or browse a team
• Upload files to one-on-one chat

Info-Tech Best Practice

Within the security and compliance center, you can allow users to add sensitivity labels to their teams that can prevent external and guest access.

Expiration and archiving

To reduce the number of unused teams and channels, or delete information permanently, the global or Teams service administrator can implement an Office 365 group expiration and archiving policy through the Teams admin center.

If a team has an expiration policy applied to it, the team owner will receive a notification for team renewal 30 days, 15 days, and 1 day before the expiry date. They can renew their team at any point within this time.

• To prevent accidental deletion, auto-renewal is enabled for a team. If the team owner is unable to manually respond, any team that has one channel visit from a team member before expiry is automatically renewed.
• A deleted Office 365 group is retained for 30 days and can be restored at any point within this time.

Alternatively, teams and their channels (including private) can be archived. This will mean that all activity for the team ceases. However, you can still add, remove, and update roles of the members.

Retention and data loss prevention

Retention policies can be created and managed in the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center or the security and compliance center PowerShell cmdlets. This can be applied globally or to specific users.

By default, information shared through Teams is retained forever.

However, setting up retention policies ensures data is retained for a specified time regardless of what happens to that data within Teams (e.g. user deletes).

Info-Tech Best Practice

To prevent external or guest users accessing and deleting sensitive data, Teams is able to block this content when shared by internal users. Ensure this is configured appropriately in your organization:

• For guest access in teams and channels
• For external access in meetings and chat

Please note the following limitations of Teams’ retention and data loss prevention:

• Organization-wide retention policies will need to be manually inputted into Teams. This is because Teams requires a retention policy that is independent of other workloads.
• As of May 2020, retention policies apply to all information in Teams except private channel messages. Files shared in private channels, though, are subject to retention policies.
• Teams does not support advanced retention settings, such as a policy that pertains to specific keywords or sensitive information.
• It will take three to seven days to permanently delete expired messages.

Teams telephony

Teams has built-in functionality to call any team member within the organization through VoIP.

However, Teams does not automatically connect to the PSTN, meaning that calling or receiving calls from external users is not immediately possible.

Bridging VoIP calls with the PSTN through Teams is available as an add-on that can be attached to an E3 license or as part of an E5 license.

There are two options to enable this capability:

• Enable Phone System. This allows for call control and PBX capabilities in Office 365.
• Use direct routing. You can use an existing PSTN connection via a Session Border Controller that links with Teams (Amaxra).

Steps to implement Teams telephony:

1. Ensure Phone System and required (non-Microsoft-related) services are available in your country or region.
2. Purchase and assign Phone System and Calling Plan licenses. If Calling Plans are not available in your country or region, Microsoft recommends using Direct Routing.
3. Get phone numbers and/or service numbers. There are three ways to do this:
   • Get new numbers through the Teams admin center.
   • If you cannot get new numbers through the Teams admin center, you can request new numbers from Microsoft directly.
   • Port or transfer existing numbers. To do this, you need to send Microsoft a letter of authorization, giving them permission to request and transfer existing numbers on your behalf.
4. To enable service numbers, including toll-free numbers, Microsoft recommends setting up Communications Credits for your Calling Plans and Audio Conferencing.

Overview: Teams rollout

1. From Skype (and Slack) to Teams
2. Gain stakeholder purchase
3. Employ a phased deployment
4. Engage end users

Skype for Business is being retired; Microsoft offers a range of transitions to Teams.

Combine the best transition mode with Info-Tech’s adoption best practices to successfully onboard and socialize Teams.

From Skype to Teams

Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021. Choose from the options below to see which transition mode is right for your organization.

Skype for Business On-Premises will be retired in 2024. To upgrade to Teams, first configure hybrid connectivity to Skype for Business Online.

Islands mode (default)

• Skype for Business and Teams coexist while Teams is rolled out.
• Recommended for phased rollouts or when Teams is ready to use for chat, calling, and meetings.
• Interoperability is limited. Teams and Skype for Business only transfer information if an internal Teams user sends communications to an external Skype for Business user.

Teams only mode (final)

• All capabilities are enabled in Teams and Skype for Business is disabled.
• Recommended when end users are ready to switch fully to Teams.
• End users may retain Skype for Business to join meetings with non-upgraded or external parties. However, this communication is only initiated from the Skype for Business external user.

Collaboration first mode

• Skype for Business and Teams coexist, but only Teams’ collaboration capabilities are enabled. Teams communications capabilities are turned off.
• Recommended to leverage Skype for Business communications yet utilize Teams for collaboration.

Meetings first mode

• Skype for Business and Teams coexist, but only Teams’ meetings capabilities are enabled.
• Recommended for organizations that want to leverage their Skype for Business On-Premises’ Enterprise Voice capability but want to benefit from Teams’ meetings through VoIP.

From Slack to Teams

The more that’s left behind in Slack, the easier the transition. As a prerequisite, pull together the following information:

• Usage statistics of Slack workspaces and channels
• What apps end users utilize in Slack
• What message history you want to export
• A list of users whose Slack accounts can map on to required Microsoft accounts

Test content migration

Your Slack service plan will determine what you can and can’t migrate. By default, public channels content can be exported. However, private channels may not be exportable, and a third-party app is needed to migrate Direct Messages.

Files migration

Once you have set up your teams and channels in Teams, you can programmatically copy files from Slack into the target Teams channel.

Apps migration

Once you have a list of apps and their configurations used in Slack’s workspaces, you can search in Teams’ app store to see if they’re available for Teams.

User identity migration

Slack user identities may not map onto a Microsoft account. This will cause migration issues, such as problems with exporting text content posted by that user.

Info-Tech Best Practice

Avoid data-handling violations. Determine what privacy and compliance regulations (if any) apply to the handling, storage, and processing of data during this migration.

Gain stakeholder purchase

Change management is a challenging aspect of implementing a new collaboration tool. Creating a communication and adoption plan is crucial to achieving universal buy-in for Teams.

To start, define SMART objectives and create a goals cascade.

Sample list of stakeholder-specific benefits from improving collaboration

Use these activities to define what pain points stakeholders face and how Teams can directly mitigate those pain points.

Employ a phased deployment

Info-Tech Best Practice

Deploy Teams over a series of phases. As such, if you are already using Skype for Business, choose one of the coexistence phases to start.

1. Identify and pilot Teams with early adopters that will become your champions. These champions should be formally trained, be encouraged to help and train their colleagues, and be positively reinforced for their efforts.
2. Iron out bugs identified with the pilot group and train middle management. Enterprise collaboration tool adoption is strongly correlated with leadership adoption.
   1. Top-level management
      Control and direct overall organization.
   2. Middle management
      Execute top-level management’s plans in accordance with organization’s norms.
   3. First-level management
      Execute day-to-day activities.
3. Use Info-Tech’s one-pager marketing template to advertise the new tool to stakeholders. Highlight how the new tool addresses specific pain points. Address questions stemming from fear and uncertainty to avoid employees’ embarrassment or their rejection of the tool.

1. Extend the pilot to other departments and continue this process for the whole organization.

(Source: Rationalize Your Collaboration Tools (coming soon), Tools:GANTT Chart and Marketing Materials, Activities: 3.2A – 3.2B)

Info-Tech Insight

Be in control of setting and maintaining expectations. Aligning expectations with reality and the needs of employees will lower onboarding resistance.

Engage end users

Short-term best practices

Launch day:

• Hold a “lunch and learn” targeted training session to walk end users through common use cases.
• Open a booth or virtual session (through Teams!) and have tool representatives available to answer questions.
• Create a game to get users exploring the new tool – from scavenger hunts to bingo.

Launch week:

• Offer incentives for using the tool and helping others, including small gift cards.
• Publicize achievements if departments hit adoption milestones.

Long-term best practices

• Make available additional training past launch week. End users should keep learning new features to improve familiarity.
• Distribute frequent training clips, slowly exposing end users to more complex ways of utilizing Teams.
• Continue to positively reinforce and recognize those who use Teams well. This could be celebrating those that help others use the tool, how active certain users are, and attendance at learning events.

Info-Tech Best Practice

Microsoft has a range of training support that can be utilized. From instructor-led training to “Coffee in the Cloud” sessions, leverage all the support you can.

Use case #1: Retain and search data for legal/regulatory compliance

Scenario:

Your organization requires you to retain data and documents for a certain period of time; however, after this period, your organization wishes to delete or archive the data instead of maintaining it indefinitely. Within the timeframe of the retention policy, the admin may be asked to retrieve information that has been requested through a legal channel.

Purpose:

• Maintain compliance with the legal and regulatory standards to which the organization is subject.

Jobs:

• Ensure the data is retained for the approved time period.
• Ensure the policy applies to all relevant data and users.

Solution: Retention Policies

• Ensure that your organization has an Office 365 E3 or higher license.
• Set the desired retention policy through the Security & Compliance Center or PowerShell by deciding which teams, channels, chats, and users the policies will apply to and what will happen once the retention period ends.
• Ensure that matching retention policies are applied to SharePoint and OneDrive, since this is where files shared in Teams are stored.
• Be aware that Teams retention policies cannot be applied to messages in private channels.

Solution: e-Discovery

• If legally necessary, place users or Teams on legal hold in order to retain data that would be otherwise deleted by your organization’s retention policies.
• Perform e-discovery on Teams messages, files, and summaries of meetings and calls through the Security & Compliance Center.
• See Microsoft’s chart on the next slide for what is e-discoverable.

Content subject to e-discovery

E-discovery does not capture audio messages and read receipts in MS Teams.

Since files shared in private channels are stored separately from the rest of a team, follow Microsoft’s directions for how to include private channels in e-discovery. (Source: “Conduct an eDiscovery investigation of content in Microsoft Teams,” Microsoft, 2020.)

Use case #2: Add external person to a team

Scenario:

A team in your organization needs to work in an ongoing way with someone external to the company. This user needs access to the relevant team’s work environment, but they should not be privy to the goings-on in the other parts of the organization.

Jobs:

This external person needs to be able to:

• Attend meetings
• Join calls
• Chat with individual team members
• View and collaborate on the team’s files

Solution:

• If necessary, set a data loss prevention policy to prevent your users from sharing certain types of information or files with external users present in your organization’s Teams chats and public channels.
• Ensure that your Microsoft license includes DLP protection. However:
  • DLP cannot be applied to private channel messages.
  • DLP cannot block messages from external Skype for Business users nor external users who are not in “Teams only” mode.
• Ensure that you have a team set up for the project that you wish the external user to join. The external user will be able to see all the channels in this team, unless you create a private channel they are restricted from.
• Complete Microsoft’s “Guest Access Checklist” to enable guest access in Teams, if it isn’t already enabled.
• As admin, give the external user guest access through the Teams admin center or Azure AD B2B collaboration. (If given permission, team owners can also add guests through the Teams client).
• Decide whether to set a policy to monitor and audit external user activity.

Use case #3: Delete/archive a team

Scenario:

In order to avoid teams sprawl, organizations may want IT to periodically delete or archive unused teams within the Teams client in order to improve the user interface.

Alternately, if you are using a project-based approach to organizing Teams, you may wish to formalize a process to archive a team once the project is complete.

Delete:

• Determine if the team owner anticipates the team will need to be restored one day.
• Ensure that deletion does not contradict the organization’s retention policy.
• If not, proceed with deletion. Find the team in the Teams admin center and delete.
• Restore a deleted team within 30 days of its initial deletion through PowerShell.

Archive:

• Determine if the team owner anticipates the team will need to be restored one day.
• Find the relevant team in the Teams admin center and change its status to “Archived.”
• Restore the archived team if the workspace becomes relevant once again.

Info-Tech Best Practice

Remind end users that they can hide teams or channels they do not wish to see in their Teams interface. Knowing a team can be hidden may impact a team owner’s decision to delete it.

Section 2: Teams for End Users

Best practices for utilizing teams, channels, chat, meetings, and live events

From Teams how-tos to common use cases for end users.

End user basics

• Teams, channels, and chat
• Meetings and live events

Common use cases: Workspaces

• WS#1: Departments
• WS#2: A cross-functional committee
• WS#3: An innovation day event
• WS#4: A non-work-related social event
• WS#5: A project team with a defined end time

Common use cases: Meetings

• M#1: Job interview with an external candidate
• M#2: Quarterly board meeting
• M#3: Weekly recurring team meeting
• M#4: Morning stand-up/scrum
• M#5: Phone call between two people

Overview: Teams, channels, and chat

Teams

• Team: A workspace for a group of collaborative individuals.
  • Public channel: A focused area where all members of a team can meet, communicate, and share ideas and content.
  • Private channel: Like a public channel but restricted to a subset of team members, defined by channel owner.

Chat

• Chat: Two or more users collected into a common conversation thread.

For any Microsoft Teams newcomer, the differences between teams, channels, and chat can be confusing.

Use Microsoft’s figure (left) to see how these three mediums differ in their role and function.

Best practices: Workspaces 1/2

When does a Group Chat become a Channel?

• When it’s appropriate for the conversation to have a gallery – an audience of members who may not be actively participating in the discussion.
• When control over who joins the conversation needs to be centrally governed and not left up to anyone in the discussion.
• When the discussion will persist over a longer time period.
• When the number of participants approaches 100.

When does a Channel become a Team?

• When a team approaches 30 private channels, many of those private channels are likely candidates to become their own team.
• When the channel membership needs to extend beyond the boundary of the team membership.

Best practices: Workspaces 2/2

When does a Team become a Channel?

• When a team’s purpose for existing can logically be subsumed by another team that has a larger scope.

When does a Channel become a Group Chat?

• When a conversation within a channel between select users does not pertain to that channel’s scope (or any other existing channel), they should move the conversation to a group chat.
• However, this is until that group chat desires to form a channel of its own.

Create a new team

Team owner: The person who creates the team. It is possible for the team owner to then invite other members of the team to become co-owners to distribute administrative responsibilities.

Team members: People who have accepted their invitation to be a part of the team.

NB: Your organization can control who has permission to set up a team. If you can’t set a up a team, contact your IT department.

Create a new team

Decide from these two options:

• Building a team from scratch, which will create a new group with no prior history imported (steps 4.1–4.3).
• Creating a team from an existing group in Office 365, including an already existing team (steps 4.4–4.6).

NB: You cannot create a team from an existing group if:

• That group has 5,000 members or more.
• That group is in Yammer.

Decide if you want you new team from scratch to be private or public. If you set up a private team, any internal or external user you invite into the team will have access to all team history and files shared.

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Create a new team

Decide from these two options:

• Building a team from scratch, which will create a new group with no prior history imported (steps 4.1–4.3).
• Creating a team from an existing group in Office 365, including an already existing team (steps 4.4–4.6).

NB: You cannot create a team from an existing group if:

• That group has 5,000 members or more.
• That group is in Yammer.

Configure your new team settings, including privacy, apps, tabs, and members.

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Create a new channel

	On the right-hand side of the team name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Add channel.”	Name your channel, give a description, and set your channel’s privacy.
	To manage subsequent permissions, on the right-hand side of the channel name, click “More options.” Then, from the drop-down menu, click “Manage channel.”	Adding and removing members from channels: Only members in a team can see that team’s channels. Setting channel privacy as “standard” means that the channel can be accessed by anyone in a team. Unless privacy settings for a channel are set as “private” (from which the channel creator can choose who can be in that channel), there is no current way to remove members from channels. It will be up to the end user to decide which channels they want to hide.

Link team/channel to SharePoint folder

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Create a chat

Overview: Meetings and live events

Teams Meetings: Real-time communication and collaboration between a group, limited to 250 people.

Teams Live Events: designed for presentations and webinars to a large audience of up to 10,000 people, in which attendees watch rather than interact.

Depending on the use case, end users will have to determine whether they need to hold a meeting or a live event.

Use Microsoft’s table (left) to see what license your organization needs to perform meetings and live events.

Best practices: Meetings

When should an Ad Hoc Call become a Scheduled Meeting?

• When the participants need time to prepare content for the call.
• When an answer is not required immediately.
• When bringing a group of people together requires logistical organizing.

When should a Scheduled Meeting become an Ad Hoc Call?

• When the participants can meet on short notice.
• When a topic under discussion requires creating alignment quickly.

When should a Live Event be created?

• When the expected attendance exceeds 250 people.
• If the event does not require collaboration and is mostly a presenter conveying information.

Create a scheduled meeting

Create an ad hoc meeting

Tip: Use existing channels to host the chatrooms for your online meetings

When you host a meeting online with Microsoft Teams, there will always be a chatroom associated with the meeting. While this is a great place for meeting participants to interact, there is one particular downside.

Problem: The never-ending chat. Often the activity in these chatrooms can persist long after the meeting. The chatroom itself becomes, unofficially, a channel. When end users can’t keep up with the deluge of communication, the tools have failed them.

Solution: Adding an existing channel to the meeting. This ensures that discussion activity is already hosted in the appropriate venue for the group, during and after the meeting. Furthermore, it provides non-attendees with a means to catch up on the discussion they have missed.

In section two of this cookbook, we will often refer to this tactic.

Don’t have a channel for the chat session of your online meeting? Perhaps you should!

If your meeting is with a group of individuals that will be collaborating frequently, they may need a workspace that persists beyond the meeting.

Guests can still attend the meeting, but they can’t chat!

If there are attendees in your meeting that do not have access to the channel you select to host the chat, they will not see the chat discussion nor have any ability to use this function.

This may be appropriate in some cases – for example, a vendor providing a briefing as part of a regular team meeting.

However, if there are attendees outside the channel membership that need to see the meeting chat, consider another channel or simply default to not assigning one.

Meeting settings explained

Show device settings. For settings concerning audio, video, and whether viewing is private.

Show meeting notes. Use to take notes throughout the meeting. The notes will stay attached to this event.

Show meeting details. Find meeting information for: a dial-in number, conference ID, and link to join.

Enter full screen.

Show background effects. Choose from a range of video backgrounds to hide/blur your location.

Turn on the captions (preview). Turn on live speech-to-text captions.

Keypad. For dialing a number within the meeting (when enabled as an add-on with E3 or as part of E5).

Start recording. Recorded and saved using Microsoft Stream.

End meeting.

Turn off incoming video. To save network bandwidth, you can decline receiving attendee’s video.

Click “More options” to access the meetings settings.

Screen share. In the tool tray, select “Share” to share your screen. Select particular applications if you only want to share certain information; otherwise, you can share your whole desktop.

System audio share. To share your device’s audio while screen sharing, checkbox the “Include system audio” option upon clicking “Share.”

If you didn’t click that option at the start but now want to share audio during screen share, click the “Include systems audio” option in the tool tray along the top of the screen.

Give/take control of screen share. To give control, click “Give control” in the tool tray along the top of the screen when sharing content. Choose from the drop-down who you would like to give control to. In the same spot, click “Take back control” when required.

To request control, click “Request control” in the same space when viewing someone sharing their content. Click “Release control” once finished.

Start whiteboarding

1. You’ll first need to enable Microsoft Whiteboard in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Ask your relevant admin to do so if Whiteboard is not already enabled.
2. Once enabled, click “Share” in a meeting. This feature only appears if you have 3+ participants in the meeting.
3. Under the “Whiteboard” section in the bottom right, click “Microsoft Whiteboard.”
4. Click the pen icons to the right of the screen to begin sketching.

NB: Anonymous, federated, or guest users are currently not supported to start, view, or ink a whiteboard in a Teams meeting.

Will the whiteboard session be recorded if the meeting is being recorded?

No. However, the final whiteboard will be available to all meeting attendees after the meeting, under “Board Gallery” in the Microsoft Whiteboard app. Attendees can then continue to work on the whiteboard after the meeting has ended.

Create a live event

As the organizer, you can invite other people to the event who will be the “producers” or “presenters.” Producers: Control the live event stream, including being able to start and stop the event, share their own and others’ video, share desktop or window, and select layout. Presenters: Present audio, video, or a screen.

Live event settings explained

When you join the live event as a producer/presenter, nothing will be immediately broadcast. You’ll be in a pre-live state. Decide what content to share and in what order. Along the bottom of the screen, you can share your video and audio, share your screen, and mute incoming attendees. Once your content is ready to share along the bottom of the screen, add it to the screen on the left, in order of viewing. This is your queue – your “Pre-live” state. Then, click “Send now.” This content will now move to the right-hand screen, ready for broadcasting. Once you’re ready to broadcast, click “Start.” Your state will change from “Pre-live” to “Live.” Along the top right of the app will be a tools bar.

Workspace #1: Departments

Scenario: Most of your organization’s communication and collaboration occurs within its pre-existing departmental divisions.

Conventional communication channels:

• Oral communication: Employees work in proximity to each other and communicate in person, by phone, in department meetings
• Email: Department-wide announcements
• Memos: Typically posted/circulated in mailboxes

Solution: Determine the best way to organize your organization’s departments in Teams based on its size and your requirements to keep information private between departments.

Option A:

• Create a team for the organization/division.
• Create channels for each department. Remember that all members of a team can view all public channels created in that team and the default General channel.
• Create private channels if you wish to have a channel that only select members of that team can see. Remember that private channels have some limitations in functionality.

Option B:

• Create a new team for each department.
• Create channels within this team for projects or topics that are recurring workflows for the department members. Only department members can view the content of these channels.

Option C:

• Post departmental memos and announcements in the General channel.
• Use “Meet now” in channels for ad hoc meetings. For regular department meetings, create a recurring Teams calendar event for the specific department channel (Option A) or the General channel (Option B). Remember that all members of a team can join a public channel meeting.

Workspace #2: A cross-functional committee

Scenario: Your organization has struck a committee composed of members from different departments. The rest of the organization should not have access to the work done in the committee.

Purpose: To analyze a particular organizational challenge and produce a plan or report; to confidentially develop or carry out a series of processes that affect the whole organization.

Jobs: Committee members must be able to:

• Attend private meetings.
• Share files confidentially.

Solution:

Ingredients:

• Private team

Construction:

• Create a new private team for the cross-functional committee.
• Add only committee members to the team.
• Create channels based on the topics likely to be the focal point of the committee work.
• Decide how you will use the mandatory General channel. If the committee is small and the work limited in scope, this channel may be the main communication space. If the committee is larger or the work more complex, use the General channel for announcements and move discussions to new topic-related channels.
• Schedule recurring committee meetings in the Teams calendar. Add the relevant channel to the meeting invite to keep the meeting chat attached to this team and channel (as meeting organizer, put your name in the meeting invite notes, as the channel will show as the organizer in the Outlook invite).
• Remember that all members of this team will have access to these meetings and be able to view that they are occurring.

Workspace #3: An innovation day event

Scenario: The organization holds a yearly innovation day event in which employees form small groups and work on a defined, short-term problem or project.

Purpose: To develop innovative solutions and ideas.

Jobs:

• Convene small groups.
• Work toward time-sensitive goals.
• Communicate synchronously.
• Share files.

Solution:

Ingredients:

• Public team
• Channel tabs
• Whiteboard
• Planner

Construction:

• Create a team for the innovation day event.
• Add channels for each project working group.
• Communicate to participants the schedule for the day and their assigned channel.
• Use the General channel for announcements and instructions throughout the day. Ensure someone moderates the General channel for participants’ questions.
• Pre-populate the channel tabs with files the participants need to work with. To add a scrum board, refer to M#4 (Morning stand-up/Scrum) in this slide deck.
• For breakouts, instruct participants to use the “meet now” feature in their channel and how to use the Whiteboard during these meetings.
• Arrange to have your IT admin archive the team after a certain point so the material is still viewable but not editable.

Workspace #4: A non-work-related social event

Scenario: Employees within the organization wish to organize social events around shared interests: board game clubs, book clubs, TV show discussion groups, trivia nights, etc.

Purpose: To encourage cohesion among coworkers and boost morale.

Jobs:

• Schedule the event.
• Invite participants.
• Prepare the activity.
• Host and moderate the discussion.

Solution:

Ingredients:

• Public team
• Private channels
• Screen-sharing

Construction:

• Create a public team for the social event so that interested people can find and join it.
• Example: Trivia Night
  • Schedule the event in the Teams calendar.
  • Publish the link to the Trivia Night team where other employees will see it.
  • Create private channels for each trivia team so they cannot see the other competitors’ discussions. Add yourself to each private channel so you can see their answers.
  • As the host, begin a meeting in the General channel. Pose the trivia questions live or present the questions on PowerPoint via screen-sharing.
  • Ask each team to post its answers to its private channel.
• To avoid teams sprawl, ask your IT admin to set a deletion policy for the team, as long as this request does not contradict your organization’s policies on data retention. If the team becomes moribund, it can be set to auto-delete after a certain period of time.

Workspace #5: A project team with a defined end time

Scenario: Within a department/workplace team, employees are assigned to projects with defined end times, after which they will be assigned to a new project.

Purpose: To complete project-based work that fulfills business needs.

Jobs:

• Oral communication with team members.
• Synchronous and asynchronous work on project files.
• The ability to attend scheduled meetings and ad hoc meetings.
• The ability to access shared resources related to the project.

Solution:

If your working group already has its own team within Teams:

• Create a new public or private channel for the project. Remember that some functionality is not available in private channels (such as Microsoft Planner).
• Use the channel for the project team’s meetings (scheduled in Teams calendar or through Meet Now).
• Add a tab that links to the team’s project folder in SharePoint.

If your workplace team does not already have its own team in Teams:

• Determine if there is a natural fit for this project as a new channel in an existing team. Remember that all team members will be able to see the channel if it is public and that all relevant project members need to belong to the Team to participate in the channel.
• If necessary, create a new team for the project. Add the project members.
• Create channels based on the type of work that comprises the project.
• Use the channel for the project team’s meetings (scheduled in Teams calendar or through Meet Now)
• Add a tab to link to the team’s project folder in SharePoint.

Info-tech Best Practice

Hide the channel after the project concludes to de-clutter your Teams user interface.

Meeting #1: Job interview with external candidate

Scenario: The organization must interview a slate of candidates to fill an open position.

Purpose:

• Select the most qualified candidate for the job.

Jobs:

• Create a meeting, ensuring the candidate and other attendees know when and where the meeting will happen.
• Ensure the meeting is secure to protect confidential information.
• Ensure the meeting is accessible, allowing the candidate to present themselves through audio and/or visual means.
• Create a professional environment for the meeting to take place.
• Engender a space for the candidate to share their CV, research, or other relevant file.
• The interview must be transcribed and recorded.

Solution:

Ingredients:

• Private Teams meeting
• Screen-sharing
• Microsoft Stream

Construction:

• Create a Teams meeting, inviting the candidate with their email, alongside other internal attendees. The Teams meeting invite will auto-generate a link to the meeting itself.
• The host can control who joins the meeting through settings for the “lobby.”
• Through the Teams meeting, the attendees will be able to use the voice and video chat functionality.
• All attendees can opt to blur their backgrounds to maintain a professional online presence.
• The candidate can share their screen, either specific applications or their whole desktop, during the Teams meeting.
• A Teams meeting can be recorded and transcribed through Stream. After the meeting, the transcript can be searched, edited, and shared

NB: The external candidate does not need the Teams application. Through the meeting invite, the external candidate will join via a web browser.

Meeting #2: Quarterly board meeting

Scenario: Every quarter, the organization holds its regular board meeting.

Purpose: To discuss agenda items and determine the company’s future direction.

Jobs:

• Attendance and minutes must be taken.
• Votes must be recorded.
• In-camera sessions must occur.
• External experts must be included.

• Follow-up items must be assigned.
• Reports must be submitted.

Solution:

Ingredients:

• Teams calendar invite
• Planner; Forms
• Private channel
• Microsoft Stream

Construction:

• Guest Invite: Invites can be sent to any non-domain-joined email address to join a private, invitation-only channel within the team controlled by the board chair.
• SharePoint & Flow: Documents are emailed to the Team addresses, which kicks off an MS Flow routine to collect review notes.
• Planner: Any board member can assign tasks to any employee.
• Forms/Add-On: Chair puts down the form of the question and individual votes are tracked.
• Teams cloud meeting recording: Recording available through Stream. Manual edits can be made to VTT caption file. Greater than acceptable transcription error rate.
• Meeting Log: Real-time attendance is viewable but a point-in-time record needs admin access.

NB: The external guests do not need the Teams application. Through the meeting invite, the guests will join via a web browser.

Meeting #3: Weekly team meeting

Scenario: A team meets for a weekly recurring meeting. The meeting is facilitated by the team lead (or manager) who addresses through agenda items and invites participation from the attendees.

Purpose: The purpose of the meeting is to:

• Share information verbally
• Present content visually
• Achieve consensus
• Build team morale

Jobs: The facilitator must:

• Determine participants
• Book room
• Book meeting in calendar

Solution:

Ingredients:

• Meeting Place: A channel in Microsoft Teams (must be public) where all members of the meeting make up the entirety of the audience.
• Calendar Recurrence: A meeting is booked through Teams and appears in all participants’ Outlook calendar.
• Collaboration Space: Participants join the meeting through video or audio and can share screens and contribute text, images, and links to the meeting chat.

Construction:

• Ensure your team already has a channel created for it. If not, create one in the appropriate team.
• Create the meeting using the calendar view within Microsoft Teams:
  • Set the meeting’s name, attendees, time, and recurrence.
  • Add the team channel that serves as the most appropriate workplace for the meeting. (Any discussion in the meeting chat will be posted to this channel.)

NB: Create the meeting in the Teams calendar, not Outlook, or you will not be able to add the Teams channel. As meeting organizer, put your name in the meeting invite notes, as the channel will show as the organizer in the Outlook invite.

Meeting #4: Morning stand-up/scrum

Scenario: Each morning, at 9am, members of the team meet online.

Purpose: After some pleasantries, the team discusses what tasks they each plan to complete in the day.

Jobs: The team leader (or scrum master) must:

• Place all tasks on a scrum board, each represented by a sticky note denoting the task name and owner.
• Move the sticky notes through the columns, adjusting assignments as needed.
• Sort tasks into the following columns: “Not Started,” “In Progress,” and “Done.”

Solution:

Ingredients:

• Meeting Place: A channel in Microsoft Teams (must be public) where all members of the meeting make up the entirety of the audience.
• Scrum Board: A tab within that channel where a persistent scrum board has been created and is visible to all team members.

Meeting Place Construction:

• Create the meeting using the calendar view in Teams.
• Set the meeting’s name, attendees, time, and work-week daily recurrence (see left).
• Add the channel that is the most appropriate workplace for the meeting. Any meeting chat will be posted to this channel rather than a separate chat.

Scrum Board Construction:

• Add a tab to the channel using Microsoft Planner as the app. (You can use other task management apps such as Trello, but the identity integration of first-party Office 365 tools may be less hassle.)
• Create a new (or import an existing) Plan to the channel. This will be used as the focal point.

Meeting #5: Weekly team meeting

Scenario: An audio-only conversation that could be a regularly scheduled event but is more often conducted on an ad-hoc basis.

Purpose: To quickly share information, achieve consensus, or clarify misunderstandings.

Jobs:

• Dial recipient
• See missed calls
• Leave/check voicemail
• Create speed-dial list
• Conference call

Solution:

Ingredients:

• Audio call begun through Teams chat.

Construction:

• Voice over IP calls between users in the same MS Teams tenant can begin in multiple ways:
  • A call can be initiated through any appearance of a user’s profile picture: hover over user’s profile photo in the Chat list and select the phone icon.
  • Enter your last chat with a user and click phone icon in upper-right corner.
  • Go to the Calls section and type the name in the “Make a call” text entry form.
• Voicemail: Voicemail, missed calls, and call history are available in the Calls section.
• Speed dial: Speed dial lists can be created in the Calls section.
• Conference call: Other users can be added to an ongoing call.

NB: Microsoft Teams can be configured to provide an organization’s telephony for external calls, but this requires an E5 license. Additional audio-conferencing licenses are required to call in to a Teams meeting over a phone.

Bibliography 1/4

Section 1: Teams for IT › Creation Process

Overview: Creation process

• “How do I get access to Microsoft Teams?” Microsoft, n.d., support.office.com/en-us/article/how-do-i-get-access-to-microsoft-teams-fc7f1634-abd3-4f26-a597-9df16e4ca65b. Accessed 11 May 2020.
• “Logical architecture for Microsoft Teams and related services.” Microsoft, 6 Mar. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-architecture-solutions-posters. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Plan for governance in Teams.” Microsoft, 10 Aug. 2018, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/plan-teams-governance. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.

Assign admin roles

• “Use Microsoft Teams administrator roles to manage Teams.” Microsoft, 19 Sep. 2018, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/using-admin-roles. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Prepare the network

• “Prepare your organization's network for Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 28 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/prepare-network. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Team creation

• “Best practices for organizing teams in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 13 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/best-practices-organizing. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Create your first teams and channels in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/get-started-with-teams-create-your-first-teams-and-channels. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Integrations with SharePoint Online

• “Configure Teams with three tiers of protection.” Microsoft, 7 May 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/solutions/configure-teams-three-tiers-protection?view=o365-worldwide. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “File collaboration in SharePoint with Microsoft 365.” Microsoft, 21 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/deploy-file-collaboration. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Permissions

• “Manage app permission policies in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 21 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-app-permission-policies. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Manage messaging policies in Teams.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/messaging-policies-in-teams. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.
• “Sensitivity labels for Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 22 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/sensitivity-labels. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Bibliography 2/4

Section 1: Teams for IT › Creation Process (cont'd.)

External and guest access

• “Add a guest to Teams.” Microsoft, 22 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/add-guests. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.
• “Communicate with users from other organizations in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 22 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/communicate-with-users-from-other-organizations. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.
• “Guest access in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 22 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/guest-access. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Manage external access in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 22 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/manage-external-access. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Microsoft Teams guest access checklist.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/guest-access-checklist. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.
• “Turn on or turn off guest access to Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/set-up-guests. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “What the guest experience is like.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/guest-experience. Accessed 4 May 2020.

Expiration and archiving

• “Archive or delete a team in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/archive-or-delete-a-team?view=o365-worldwide. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.
• “Microsoft 365 group expiration policy.” Microsoft, 6 May 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/create-groups/office-365-groups-expiration-policy?view=o365-worldwide. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Team expiration and renewal in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 6 Feb. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/team-expiration-renewal. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Retention and data loss prevention

• “Data loss prevention and Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 21 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/dlp-microsoft-teams?view=o365-worldwide. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Retention policies in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 5 May 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/retention-policies. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Teams telephony

• “Here's what you get with Phone System in Office 365.” Microsoft, 26 Feb. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/here-s-what-you-get-with-phone-system. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• O’Donnell, J.P. “The killer feature in Microsoft Teams your business should be using.” Amaxra, n.d., www.amaxra.com/blog/the-killer-feature-in-microsoft-teams-your-business-should-be-using. Accessed 4 May 2020.
• “Set up Phone System in your organization.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/deploy-audio-conferencing-teams-landing-page. Accessed 4 May. 2020.
• “What is Phone System in Office 365?” Microsoft, 29 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/what-is-phone-system-in-office-365. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Bibliography 3/4

Section 1: Teams for IT › Teams Rollout

From Skype to Teams

• “FAQ — Upgrading from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/faq-journey. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Teams and Skype interoperability.” Microsoft, 21 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-skype-interop. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• “Understand Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business coexistence and interoperability.” Microsoft, 3 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-and-skypeforbusiness-coexistence-and-interoperability. Accessed 9 May 2020.

From Slack to Teams

• “Migrate from Slack to Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 14 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/migrate-slack-to-teams. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Teams adoption

• “365 adoption guide” Microsoft, 22 Jan. 2020, query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RWqTOD. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Section 1: Teams for IT › Use Cases

• Acharya, Ansuman. “Microsoft Teams launches eDiscovery for calling and meetings.” Microsoft Tech Community, 2 Jul. 2018, techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/microsoft-teams-launches-ediscovery-for-calling-and-meetings/ba-p/210947. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.
• “Conduct an eDiscovery investigation of content in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/ediscovery-investigation?view=o365-worldwide#overview, Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.
• “Teams cloud meeting recording: Compliance and eDiscovery for meeting recordings.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/cloud-recording#compliance-and-ediscovery-for-meeting-recordings. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.

Bibliography 4/4

Section 2: Teams for End Users › Teams, Channels, Chat

• “Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 29 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/limits-specifications-teams. Accessed 4 May 2020.
• “Location of data in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 27 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/location-of-data-in-teams. Accessed 4 May 2020.
• “Manage the Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 1 Oct. 2019, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/manage-whiteboard. Accessed 9 May 2020.
• [Microsoft Teams admin documentation.] Microsoft, n.d., docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/teams-overview. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.
• “Overview of teams and channels in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 9 Mar. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/teams-channels-overview. Accessed 4 May 2020.
• “Private channels in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 24 Feb. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/private-channels. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.

Section 2: Teams for End Users › Meetings and Live Events

• “Admin quick start – Meetings and live events in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 7 Apr. 2020, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/quick-start-meetings-live-events. Accessed 21 Apr. 2020.
• “Get started with Microsoft Teams live events.” Microsoft, n.d., support.office.com/en-us/article/get-started-with-microsoft-teams-live-events-d077fec2-a058-483e-9ab5-1494afda578a#bkmk_roles. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.
• “Schedule a Teams live event.” Microsoft, n.d., support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/schedule-a-teams-live-event-7a9ce97c-e1cd-470f-acaf-e6dfc179a0e2. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.
• “Search the audit log for events in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, 12 Mar. 2018, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/audit-log-events?view=o365-worldwide. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.

Section 2: Teams for End Users › Use Cases

• “Understand calling in Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft, n.d., docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/tutorial-calling-in-teams. Accessed 9 May 2020.

Application Portfolio Management Foundations

Ensure your application portfolio delivers the best possible return on investment.

Analyst Perspective

You can’t outsource accountability.

Many lack visibility into their overall application portfolio, focusing instead on individual projects or application development. Inevitably, application sprawl creates process and data disparities, redundant applications, and duplication of resources and stands as a significant barrier to business agility and responsiveness. The shift from strategic investment to application maintenance creates an unnecessary constraint on innovation and value delivery.

With the rise and convenience of SAAS solutions, IT has an increasing need to discover and support all applications in the organization. Unmanaged and unsanctioned applications can lead to increased reputational risk. What you don’t know WILL hurt you.

You can outsource development, you can even outsource maintenance, but you cannot outsource accountability for the portfolio. Organizations need a holistic dashboard of application performance and dispositions to help guide and inform planning and investment discussions. Application portfolio management (APM) can’t tell you why something is broken or how to fix it, but it is an important tool to determine if an application’s value and performance are up to your standards and can help meet your future goals.

Hans Eckman
Principal Research Director
Info-Tech Research Group

Is this research right for you?

Research Navigation

Managing your application portfolio is essential regardless of its size or whether your software is purchased or developed in house. Each organization must have some degree of application portfolio management to ensure that applications deliver value efficiently and that their risk or gradual decline in technical health is appropriately limited.

Executive Summary

Info-Tech Insight: You can’t outsource strategy.

Modern software options have decreased the need for organizations to have robust in-house application management capabilities. Your applications’ future and governance of the portfolio still require a centralized IT oversight to ensure the best return on investment.

The top IT challenges for SE come from app management

A hidden and inefficient application portfolio is the root cause of so many pains experienced by both IT and the business.

• Demand/Capacity Imbalance
• Overspending
• Security and Business Continuity Risk
• Delays in Delivery
• Barriers to Growth

APM comes at a justified cost

The benefits of APM

APM identifies areas where you can reduce core spending and reinvest in innovation initiatives.

Other benefits can include:

• Fewer redundancies
• Less risk
• Less complexity
• Improved processes
• Flexibility
• Scalability

APM allows you to better understand and set the direction of your portfolio

Application Inventory

The artifact that documents and informs the business of your application portfolio.

Application Rationalization

The process of collecting information and assessing your applications to determine recommended dispositions.

Application Alignment

The process of revealing application information through interviewing stakeholders and aligning to business capabilities.

Application Roadmap

The artifact that showcases the strategic directions for your applications over a given timeline.

Application Portfolio Management (APM):

The ongoing practice of:

• Providing visibility into applications across the organization.
• Recommending corrections or enhancements to decision makers.
• Aligning delivery teams on priority.
• Showcasing the direction of applications to stakeholders.

Create a balanced approach to value delivery

Enterprise Agility and Value Realization

Product Lifecycle Management

Align your product and service improvement and execution to enterprise strategy and value realization in three key areas: defining your products and services, aligning product/service owners, and developing your product vision.

• Make the Case for Product Delivery
• Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision
• Build a Better Product Owner

Product Delivery Lifecycle (Agile DevOps)

Enhance business agility by leveraging an Agile mindset and continuously improving your delivery throughput, quality, value realization, and adaptive governance.

• Agile/DevOps Research Center
• Implement Agile Practices That Work
• Spread Best Practices With an Agile Center of Excellence
• Implement DevOps Practices That Work
• Perform an Agile Skills Assessment
• Define the Role of Project Management in Agile and Product-Centric Delivery

Application Portfolio Management

Transform your application portfolio into a cohesive service catalog aligned to your business capabilities by discovering, rationalizing, and modernizing your applications while improving application maintenance, management, and reuse.

Every organization experiences some degree of application sprawl

Causes of Sprawl

• Poor Lifecycle Management
• Turnover & Lack of Knowledge Transfer
• Siloed Business Units & Decentralized IT
• Business-Managed IT
• (Shadow IT)
• Mergers & Acquisitions

Problems With Sprawl

• Redundancy and Inefficient Spending
• Disparate Apps & Data
• Obsolescence
• Difficulties in Prioritizing Support
• Barriers to Change & Growth

Application Sprawl:

Inefficiencies within your application portfolio are created by the gradual and non-strategic accumulation of applications.

You have more apps than you need.

Only 34% of software is rated as both IMPORTANT and EFFECTIVE by users.

Source: Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision

Build your APM journey map

Application rationalization provides insight

Directionless portfolio of applications	Info-Tech’s Five Lens Model					Assigned dispositions for individual apps
	Application Alignment	Business Value	Technical Health	End-User Perspective	Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)	Maintain: Keep the application but adjust its support structure. Modernize: Create a new initiative to address an inadequacy. Consolidate: Create a new initiative to reduce duplicate functionality. Retire: Phase out the application. Disposition: The intended strategic direction or implied course of action for an application.
	How well do your apps support your core functions and teams?	How well are your apps aligned to value delivery?	Do your apps meet all IT quality standards and policies?	How well do your apps meet your end users’ needs?	What is the relative cost of ownership and operation of your apps?
Application rationalization requires the collection of several data points that represent these perspectives and act as the criteria for determining a disposition for each of your applications.

APM is an iterative and evergreen process

APM provides oversight and awareness of your application portfolio’s performance and support for your business operations and value delivery to all users and customers.

Repeat according to APM cadence and application changes

Executive Brief Case Study

INDUSTRY: Retail

SOURCE: Deloitte, 2017

Info-Tech’s application portfolio management methodology

Blueprint deliverables

Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals.

Application Portfolio Management Foundations Playbook	Application Portfolio Management Snapshot and Foundations Tool
This template allows you to capture your APM roles and responsibilities and build a repeatable process.	This tool stores all relevant application information and allows you to assess your capability support, execute rationalization, and build a portfolio roadmap.

Key deliverable:

Blueprint Storyboard

This is the PowerPoint document you are viewing now. Follow this guide to understand APM, learn how to use the tools, and build a repeatable APM process that will be captured in your playbook.

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Guided Implementation

What does a typical GI for on this topic look like?

Note: The Guided Implementation will focus on a subset or group of applications depending on the state of your current APM inventory and available time. The goal is to use this first group to build your APM process and models to support your ongoing discovery, rationalization, and modernization efforts.

A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our right-sized best practices in your organization. A typical GI, using our materials, is 3 to 6 calls over the course of 1 to 3 months.

Workshop Overview

Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

Note: The workshop will focus on a subset or group of applications depending on the state of your current APM inventory and available time. The goal is to use this first group to build your APM process and models to support your ongoing discovery, rationalization, and modernization efforts.

Workshop Options

Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

Blueprint Pre-Step: Get the right stakeholders to the right exercises

APM Lead/Owner (Recommended) ☐ Applications Lead or the individual responsible for application portfolio management, along with any applications team members, if available Key Corporate Stakeholders Depending on size and structure, participants could include: ☐ Head of IT (CIO, CTO, IT Director, or IT Manager) ☐ Head of shared services (CFO, COO, VP HR, etc.) ☐ Compliance Officer, Steering Committee ☐ Company owner or CEO Application Subject Matter Experts Individuals who have familiarity with a specific subset of applications ☐ Business owners (product owners, Head of Business Function, power users) ☐ Support owners (Operations Manager, IT Technician) Delivery Leads ☐ Development Managers ☐ Solution Architects ☐ Project Managers

Understand your APM tools and outcomes

1.Diagnostic	5. Foundations: Chart
2. Data Journey	6. App Comparison
3. Snapshot	7. Roadmap
4. Foundations: Results

Examples and explanations of these tools are located on the following slides and within the phases where they occur.

Assess your current application portfolio with Info-Tech’s APM Diagnostic Tool

One of the primary purposes of application portfolio management is to get what we know and need to know on paper so we can share a common vision and understanding of our portfolio. This enables better discussions and decisions with your application owners and stakeholders.

APM worksheet data journey map

Interpreting your APM Snapshot results

Interpreting your APM Foundations results

Interpreting your APM Foundations chart

Compare application groups

Group comparison can be used for more than just redundant/overlapping applications.

Apply Info-Tech’s 6 R’s Rationalization Disposition Model

Disposition Description Reward Prioritize new features or enhancement requests and openly welcome the expansion of these applications as new requests are presented. Refresh Address the poor end-user satisfaction with a prioritized project. Consult with users to determine if UX issues require improvement to address satisfaction. Refocus Determine the root cause of the low value. Refocus, retrain, or refresh the UX to improve value. If there is no value found, aim to "keep the lights on" until the app can be decommissioned. Replace Replace or rebuild the application as technical and user issues are putting important business capabilities at risk. Decommission application alongside replacement. Remediate Address the poor technical health or risk with a prioritized project. Further consult with development and technical teams to determine if migration or refactoring is suited to address the technical issue. Retire Cancel any requested features and enhancements. Schedule the proper decommission and transfer end users to a new or alternative system if necessary.

TCO, compared relatively to business value, helps determine the practicality of a disposition and the urgency of any call to action. Application alignment is factored in when assessing redundancies and has a separate set of dispositions.

Populate roadmap example

ARE YOU READY TO GET STARTED?

Phase 1

Lay Your Foundations

This phase involves the following participants:

Applications Lead

Key Corporate Stakeholders

Additional Resources

• Build a Value Measurement Framework

APM supports many goals

Building an APM process requires a proper understanding of the underlying business goals and objectives of your organization’s strategy. Effectively identifying these drivers is paramount to gaining buy-in and the approval for any changes you plan to make to your application portfolio.

After identifying these goals, you will need to ensure they are built into the foundations of your APM process.

“What is most critical?” but also “What must come first?”

Assess your current application portfolio with Info-Tech’s APM Diagnostic Tool

One of the primary purposes of application portfolio management is to get what we know and need to know on paper so we can share a common vision and understanding of our portfolio. This enables better discussions and decisions with your application owners and stakeholders.

1.1 Assess your current application portfolio with Info-Tech’s diagnostic tool

Estimated time: 1 hour

1. This tool provides visibility into your application portfolio and APM practices.
2. Based on your assessment, you should gain a better understanding of whether the appropriate next steps are in application discovery, rationalization, or roadmapping.
3. Complete the “Data Entry” worksheet in the Application Portfolio Management Diagnostic Tool (Excel).
4. Review the “Results” worksheet to help inform and guide your next steps.

Download the Application Portfolio Management Diagnostic Tool

1.1 Understanding the diagnostic results

Managed Apps are your known knowns and most of your portfolio. Unmanaged and Unsanctioned Apps are known but have unknown risks and compliance. Bring these under IT support. Unknown Apps are high risk and noncompliant. Prioritize these based on risk, cost, and use.		APM is more than an inventory and assessment. A strong APM program provides ongoing visibility and insights to drive application improvement and value delivery. Use your Sprawl Factors to identify process and organizational gaps that may need to be addressed.
Your APM inventory is only as good as the information in it. Use this chart to identify gaps and develop a path to define missing information.		APM is an iterative process. Use this state assessment to determine where to focus most of your current effort.

Understand potential motivations for APM

The value of APM is defined by how the information will be used to drive better decisions.

Different motivations will influence the appropriate approach to and urgency of APM or, specifically, rationalizing the portfolio. When rationalizing is directly related to enabling or in response to a broader initiative, you will need to create a more structured approach with a formal budget and resources.

1.2 Determine narrative

Estimated time: 30 minutes-2 hours

1. Open the “Narrative” tab in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool.
2. Start by listing your prevailing IT pain points with the application portfolio. These will be the issues experienced predominantly by the IT team and not necessarily by the stakeholders. Be sure to distinguish pain points from their root causes.
3. Determine an equivalent business pain point for each IT pain point. This should be how the problem manifests itself to business stakeholders and should include potential risks to the organization is exposed to.
4. Determine the business goal for each business pain point. Ideally, these are established organizational goals that key decision-makers will recognize. These goals should address the business pain points you have documented.
5. Determine the technical objective for each business goal. These speak to the general corrections or enhancements to the portfolio required to accomplish the business goals.
6. Use the “Narrative - Matrix” worksheet to group items into themes if needed.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

Connect your pains to what the business cares about to find the most effective narrative

1.3 Define goals and metrics

Estimated time: 1 hour

1. Determine the motivations behind APM. You may want to collect and review any of the organization’s strategic documents that provide additional context on previously established goals.
2. With the appropriate stakeholders, discuss the goals of APM. Try to label your goals as either:
   1. Short term: Refers to immediate goals used to represent the progress of APM activities. Likely these goals are more IT-oriented
   2. Long term: Refers to broader and more distant goals more related to the impact of APM. These goals tend to be more business-oriented.
3. To help clearly define your goals, discuss appropriate metrics for each goal. Often these metrics can be expressed as:
   1. Leading indicators: Metrics used to gauge the success of your short-term goals and the progress of APM activities.
   2. Lagging indicators: Metrics used to gauge the success of your long-term goals.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

1.3 Define goals and metrics: Example

“Application” doesn’t have the same meaning to everyone

	Code: A body of code that's seen by developers as a single unit.
	Functionality: A group of functionality that business customers see as a single unit.
	Funding: An initiative that those with the money see as a single budget.
	?: What else?

“Essentially applications are social constructions.”

Source: Martin Fowler

APM focuses on business applications.

“Software used by business users to perform a business function.”

– ServiceNow, 2020

Unfortunately, that definition is still quite vague.

You must set boundaries and scope for “application”

Set boundaries on what is an application or the individual unit that you’re making business decisions on. Also, determine which categories of applications are in scope and how they will be included in the activities and artifacts of APM. Use your product families defined in Deliver Digital Products at Scale to help define your application categories, groups, and boundaries.

1.4 Define application categories

Estimated time: 1 hour

1. Review the items listed on the previous slide and consider what categories provide the best initial grouping to help organize your rationalization and dispositions. Update the category list to match your application groupings.
2. Identify the additional categories you need to manage in your application portfolio.
3. For each category, establish or modify a description or definition and provide examples that exist in your current portfolio.
4. For each category, answer:
   1. Will these be documented in the application inventory?
   2. Will these be included in application rationalization? Think about if this item will be assigned a TCO, value score, and, ultimately, a disposition.
   3. Will these be listed in the application portfolio roadmap?
5. If you completed Deliver Digital Products at Scale, use your product families to help define your application categories.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

1.4 APM worksheet data journey map

1.4 Define application categories: Example

The roles in APM rarely exist; you need to adapt

Corner-of-the-Desk Approach

• No one is explicitly dedicated to building a strategy or APM practices.
• Information is collected whenever the applications team has time available.
• Benefits are pushed out and the value is lost.

Dedicated Approach

• The initiative is given a budget and formal agenda.
• Roles and responsibilities are assigned to team members.

The high-level steps of APM present some questions you need to answer

Build Inventory

Create the full list of applications and capture all necessary attributes.

• Who will build the inventory?
• Do you know all your applications (Shadow IT)?
• Do you know your applications’ functionality?
• Do you know where your applications overlap?
• Who do you need to consult with to fill in the gaps?
• Who will provide specific application information?

Collect & Compile

Engage with appropriate SMEs and collect necessary data points for rationalization.

• Who will collect and compile the data points for rationalization?
• What are the specific data points?
• Are some of the data points currently documented?
• Who will provide specific data points on technical health, cost, performance, and business value?
• Who will determine what business value is?

Assess & Recommend

Apply rationalization framework and toolset to determine dispositions.

• Who will apply a rationalization tool or decision-making framework to generate dispositions for the applications?
• Who will modify the tool or framework to ensure results align to the goals of the organization?
• Who will define any actions or projects that result from the rationalization? And who needs to be consulted to assess the feasibility of any potential project?

Validate & Roadmap

Present dispositions for validation and communicate any decisions or direction for applications.

• Who will present the recommended disposition, corrective action, or new project to the appropriate decision maker?
• Who is the appropriate decision maker for application changes or project approval?
• What format is recommended (idea, proposal, business case) and what extra analysis is required?
• Who needs to be consulted regarding the potential changes?

1.5 Determine APM steps and roles (SIPOC)

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

1. Begin by comparing Info-Tech’s list of common APM roles to the roles that exist in your organization with respect to application management and ownership.
2. There are four high-level steps for APM: build inventory, collect & compile, assess & recommend, and validate & roadmap. Apply the SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer) model by completing the following for each step:
   1. In the Process column, modify the description, if necessary. Identify who is responsible for performing the step.
   2. In the Inputs column, modify the list of inputs.
   3. In the Suppliers column, identify who must be included to provide the inputs.
   4. In the Outputs column, modify the list of outputs.
   5. In the Customers column, identify who consumes the outputs.
3. (Optional) Outline how the results of APM will be consumed. For example, project intake or execution, data or platform migration, application or product management, or whichever is appropriate.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

1.5 Determine steps and roles

Planning your APM modernization journey steps

Phase 2

Improve Your Inventory

This phase involves the following participants:

• Applications Lead
• Applications Team

Additional Resources

Document Your Business Architecture

Industry Reference Architectures

Application Capability Template

Pre-step: Collect your applications

1. Consult with your IT team and leverage any existing documentation to gather an initial list of your applications.
2. Build an initial working list of applications. This is just meant to be a starting point. Aim to include any new applications in procurement, implementation, or development.
3. The rationalization and roadmapping phases are best completed when iteratively focusing on manageable groups of applications. Group your applications into subsets based on shared subject matter experts. Likely this will mean grouping applications by business units.
4. Select a subset to be the first group of applications that will undergo the activities of rationalization and roadmapping to refine your APM processes, scoring, and disposition selection.

Info-Tech Best Practice

The more information you plan to capture, the larger the time and effort, especially as you move along toward advanced and strategic items. Capture the information most aligned to your objectives to make the most of your investment.

If you completed Deliver Digital Products at Scale, use your product families and products to help define your applications.

Learn more about automated application discovery:
High Application Satisfaction Starts With Discovering Your Application Inventory

Discover your applications

2.1 Populate your inventory

Estimated time: 1-4 hours per group

1. Review Info-Tech’s list of application inventory attributes.
2. Open the “Application Inventory Details” tab of the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool. Modify, add, or omit attributes.
3. For each application, populate your prioritized data fields or any fields you know at the time of discovery. You will complete all the fields in future iterations.
4. Complete this the best you can based on your team’s familiarity and any readily available documentation related to these applications.
5. Use the drop-down list to select Enabling, Redundant/Overlapping, and Dependent apps. This will be used to help determine dispositions and comparisons.
6. Highlight missing information or placeholder values that need to be verified.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

2.1 APM worksheet data journey map

Why is the business capability so important?

For the purposes of an inventory, business capabilities help all stakeholders gain a sense of the functionality the application provides.

However, the true value of business capability comes with rationalization.

Upon linking all the organization’s applications to a standardized and consistent set of business capabilities, you can then group your applications based on similar, complementary, or overlapping functionality. In other words, find your redundancies and consolidation opportunities.

Important Consideration

Defining business capabilities and determining the full extent of redundancy is a challenging undertaking and often is a larger effort than APM all together.

Business capabilities should be defined according to the unique functions and language of your organization, at varying levels of granularity, and ideally including target-state capabilities that identify gaps in the future strategy.

This blueprint provides a simplified and generic list for the purpose of categorizing similar functionality. We strongly encourage exploring Document Your Business Architecture to help in the business capability defining process, especially when visibility into your portfolio and knowledge of redundancies is poor.

For a more detailed capability mapping, use the Application Portfolio Snapshot and the worksheets in your current workbook.

What is a business capability map?

A business capability map (BCM) is an abstraction of business operations that helps describe what the enterprise does to achieve its vision, mission, and goals. Business capabilities are the building blocks of the enterprise. They are typically defined at varying levels of granularity and include target-state capabilities that identify gaps in the future strategy. These are the people, process, and tool units that deliver value to your teams and customers.

Info-Tech’s Industry Coverage and Reference Architectures give you a head start on producing a BCM fit for your organization. The visual to the left is an example of a reference architecture for the retail industry.

These are the foundational piece for our Application Portfolio Snapshot. By linking capabilities to your supporting applications, you can better visualize how the portfolio supports the organization at a single glance. More specifically, you can highlight how issues with the portfolio are impacting capability delivery.

Reminder: Best practices imply that business capabilities are methodologically defined by business stakeholders and business architects to capture the unique functions and language of your organization.

The approach laid out in this service is about applying minimal time and effort to make the case for proper investment into the best practices, which can include creating a tailored BCM. Start with a good enough example to produce a useful visual and generate a positive conversation toward resourcing and analyses.

We strongly encourage exploring Document Your Business Architecture and the Application Portfolio Snapshot to understand the thorough methods and tactics for BCM.

Why perform a high-level application alignment before rationalization?

Having to address redundancy complicates the application rationalization process. There is no doubt that assessing applications in isolation is much easier and allows you to arrive at dispositions for your applications in a timelier manner.

Rationalization has two basic steps: first, collect and compile information, and second, analyze that information and determine a disposition for each application. When you don’t have redundancy, you can analyze an application and determine a disposition in isolation. When you do have redundancies, you need to collect information for multiple applications, likely across departments or lines of business, then perform a comparative analysis.

Most likely your approach will fall somewhere between the examples below and require a hybrid approach.

Benefits of a high-level application alignment:

• Review the degree of redundancy across your portfolio.
• Understand the priority areas for rationalization and the sequence of information collection.

2.2 Align apps to capabilities and functions

Estimated time: 1-4 hours per grouping

The APM tool provides up to three different grouping comparisons to assess how well your applications are supporting your enterprise. Although business capabilities are important, identify your organizational perspectives to determine how well your portfolio supports these functions, departments, or value streams. Each grouping should be a consistent category, type, or arrangement of applications.

1. Enter the business capabilities, from either your own BCM or the Info-Tech reference architectures, into the Business Capability column under Grouping 1.
2. Open the “Group 1 Alignment Matrix” worksheet in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool.
3. For each application’s row, enter an “X” in the column of a capability that the application supports.
4. Optionally, repeat these steps under Grouping 2 and 3 for each value stream, department, function, or business unit where you’d like to assess application support. Note: To use Grouping 3, unhide the columns on the “Application and Group Lists” worksheet and unhide the worksheet “Grouping 3 Alignment Matrix.”

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

2.2 APM worksheet data journey map

2.2 Aligning applications to groups example

Alignment Matrix: Identify applications supporting each capability or function.

In this example:

BC 1 is supported by App A

BC 2 is supported by App B

BC 3 is supported by Apps C & D

BCs 4 & 5 are supported by App E

BC 6 is supported by Apps F-G. BC 6 shows an example of potential redundancy and portfolio complexity.

The APM tool supports three different Snapshot groupings. Repeat this exercise for each grouping.

Align application to capabilities – tool view

Phase 3

Rationalize Your Applications

This phase involves the following participants:

• Applications Lead
• Application SMEs

Additional Resources

• Build a Value Measurement Framework
• Value Calculator
• Application Portfolio Assessment Diagnostic
• Application TCO Calculator
• Application Rationalization Tool

Phase pre-step: Sequence rationalization assessments appropriately

Use the APM Snapshot results to determine APM iterations

• Application rationalization requires an iterative approach.
• Review your application types and alignment from Phase 2 to begin to identify areas of overlapping or redundant applications.
• Sequence the activities of Phase 3 based on whether you have a:
  • Redundant Portfolio
    • Use the APM Snapshot to prioritize analysis by grouping.
    • Complete the application functional analysis.
    • Use the “Application Comparison” worksheet to aid your comparison of application subsets.
    • Update application dispositions and roadmap initiatives.
  • Non-Redundant Portfolio
    • Use the APM Snapshot to prioritize analysis by grouping.
    • Update application dispositions and roadmap initiatives.

Phase pre-step: Are the right stakeholders present?

Make sure you have the right people at the table from the beginning.

• Application rationalization requires specific stakeholders to provide specific data points.
• Ensure your application subsets are grouped by shared subject matter experts. Ideally, these are grouped by business units.
• For each subset, identify the appropriate SMEs for the five areas of rationalization criteria.
• Communicate and schedule interviews with groups of stakeholders. Inform them of additional information sources to have readily available.
• (Optional) This phase’s activities follow the clockwise sequence of the diagram to the right. Reorder the sequence of activities based on overlaps of availability in subject matter expertise.

Rationalize your applications

One of the principal goals of application rationalization is determining dispositions

Disposition: The intended strategic direction or course of action for an application.

Directionless portfolio of applications	Assigned dispositions for individual apps High-level examples:
	Maintain: Keep the application but adjust its support structure. Modernize: Create a new project to address an inadequacy. Consolidate: Create a new project to reduce duplicate functionality. Retire: Phase out the application.

Application rationalization provides insight

Directionless portfolio of applications	Info-Tech’s Five Lens Model					Assigned dispositions for individual apps
	Application Alignment	Business Value	Technical Health	End-User Perspective	Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)	Maintain: Keep the application but adjust its support structure. Modernize: Create a new initiative to address an inadequacy. Consolidate: Create a new initiative to reduce duplicate functionality. Retire: Phase out the application. Disposition: The intended strategic direction or implied course of action for an application.
	How well do your apps support your core functions and teams?	How well are your apps aligned to value delivery?	Do your apps meet all IT quality standards and policies?	How well do your apps meet your end users’ needs?	What is the relative cost of ownership and operation of your apps?
Application rationalization requires the collection of several data points that represent these perspectives and act as the criteria for determining a disposition for each of your applications. Disposition: The intended strategic direction or implied course of action for an application.

3.1-3.4 APM worksheet data journey map

Assessing application business value

First, the authorities on business value need to define and weigh their value drivers that describe the priorities of the organization.

This will then allow the applications team to apply a consistent, objective, and strategically aligned evaluation of applications across the organization.

In this context…business value is the value of the business outcome that the application produces and how effective the application is at producing that outcome.

Business value IS NOT the user’s experience or satisfaction with the application.

Review the value drivers of your applications

	Financial vs. Human Benefits Financial benefits refer to the degree to which the value source can be measured through monetary metrics and are often quite tangible. Human benefits refer to how an application can deliver value through a user’s experience. Inward vs. Outward Orientation Inward orientation refers to value sources that have an internal impact and improve your organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in performing its operations. Outward orientation refers to value sources that come from your interaction with external factors, such as the market or your customers.

3.1 Assess business value

Estimated time: 1 -4 hours

1. Review Info-Tech’s four quadrants of business value: increase revenue/value, reduce costs, enhance services, and reach customers. Edit your value drivers, description, and scoring on the “Rationalization Inputs” worksheet. For each value driver, update the key indicators specific to your organization’s priorities. When editing the scoring descriptions, keep only the one you are using.
2. (Optional) Add an additional value driver if your organization has distinct value drivers (e.g. compliance, sustainability, innovation, and growth).
3. For each application, score on a scale of 0 to 5 how impactful the application is for each value driver. Use the indicators set in Phase 1 to guide your scoring.
4. For each value driver, adjust the criteria weighting to match its relative importance to the organization. Start with a balanced or low weighting. Adjust the weights to ensure that the category score matches your relative values and priorities.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

3.1 Weigh value drivers: Example

For additional support in implementing a balanced value framework, refer to Build a Value Measurement Framework.

Understand the back end and technical health of your applications

Technical health identifies the extent of technology risk to the organization.

MAINTAINABILITY (RAS)

RAS refers to an app’s reliability, availability, and serviceability. How often, how long, and how difficult is it for your resources to keep an app functioning, and what are the resulting continuity risks? This can include root causes of maintenance challenges.

• Optimize Systems Management to Improve IT Resilience and Proactivity and Establish a Program to Enable Effective Performance Monitoring

SECURITY

Applications should be aligned and compliant with ALL security policies. Are there vulnerabilities or is there a history of security incidents? Remember that threats are often internal and non-malicious.

• Build an Information Security Strategy

ADAPTABILITY

How easily can the app be enhanced or scaled to meet changes in business needs? Does the app fit within the business strategy?

• Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision

INTEROPERABILITY

The degree to which an app is integrated with current systems. Apps require comprehensive technical planning and oversight to ensure they connect within the greater application architecture. Does the app fit within your enterprise architecture strategy?

• Design an Enterprise Architecture Strategy

BUSINESS CONTINUITY/DISASTER RECOVERY

The degree to which the application is compatible with business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) policies and plans that are routinely tested and verified.

• Create a Right-Sized Disaster Recovery Plan

Unfortunately, the business only cares about what they can see or experience. Rationalization is your opportunity to get risk on the business’ radar and gain buy-in for the necessary action.

3.2 Assess technical health

Estimated time: 1-4 hours

1. Review Info-Tech’s suggested technical health criteria. Edit your criteria, descriptions, and scoring on the “Rationalization Inputs” worksheet. For each criterion, update the key indicators specific to your organization’s priorities.
2. For each application, score on a scale of 1 to 5 on how impactful the application is for each criterion.
3. For each criterion, adjust the weighting to match its relative importance to the organization. Start with a balanced or low weighting. Adjust the weights to ensure that the category score matches your relative values and priorities.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

End users provide valuable perspective

Your end users are your best means of determining front-end issues.

Data Quality

To what degree do the end users find the data quality sufficient to perform their role and achieve their desired outcome?

Effectiveness

To what degree do the end users find the application effective for performing their role and desired outcome?

Usability

To what degree do the end users find the application reliable and easy to use to achieve their desired outcome?

Satisfaction

To what degree are end users satisfied with the features of this application?

What else matters to you?

Tune your criteria to match your values and priorities.

Info-Tech Best Practice

When facing large user groups, do not make assumptions or use lengthy methods of collecting information. Use Info-Tech’s Application Portfolio Assessment to collect data by surveying your end users’ perspectives.

3.3 Assess end-user perspective

Estimated time: 1-4 hours

1. Review Info-Tech’s suggested end-user perspective criteria. Edit your criteria, descriptions and scoring on the “Rationalization Inputs” worksheet. For each criterion, update the key indicators specific to your organization’s priorities.
2. For each application, score on a scale of 1 to 5 on how impactful the application is for each criterion.
3. For each criterion, adjust the weighting to match its relative importance to the organization. Start with a balanced or low weighting. Adjust the weights to ensure that the category score matches your relative values and priorities.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

Consider the spectrum of application cost

An application’s cost extends past a vendor’s fee and even the application itself.

LICENSING AND SUBSCRIPTIONS: Your recurring payments to a vendor.

Many commercial off-the-shelf applications require a license on a per-user basis. Review contracts and determine costs by looking at per-user or fixed rates charged by the vendor.

MAINTENANCE COSTS: Your internal spending to maintain an app.

These are the additional costs to maintain an application such as support agreements, annual maintenance fees, or additional software or hosting expenses.

INDIRECT COSTS: Miscellaneous expenses necessary for an app’s continued use.

Expenses like end-user training, developer education, and admin are often neglected, but they are very real costs organizations pay regularly.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT: Perceived value of the application related to its TCO.

Some of our most valuable applications are the most expensive. ROI is an optional criterion to account for the value and importance of the application.

Info-Tech Best Practice

The TCO assessment is one area where what you are considering the ”application” matters quite a bit. An application’s peripherals or software components need to be considered in your estimates. For additional help calculating TCO, use the Application TCO Calculator from Build a Rationalization Framework.

3.4 Assess total cost of ownership

Estimated time: 1-4 hours

1. Review Info-Tech’s suggested TCO criteria. Edit your criteria, descriptions, and scoring on the “Rationalization Inputs” worksheet. For each criterion, update the key indicators specific to your organization’s priorities.
2. For each application, score on a scale of 1 to 5 on how impactful the application is for each criterion.
3. For each criterion, adjust the weighting to match its relative importance to the organization. Start with a balanced or low weighting. Adjust the weights to ensure that the category score matches your relative values and priorities.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

Phase 4

Populate Your Roadmap

his phase involves the following participants:

• Applications Lead
• Delivery Leads

Additional Resources

• Disposition Prioritization Tool
• Application Rationalization Tool

Review your APM Snapshot

4.1 Review your APM Snapshot results

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

1. The APM Snapshot provides a dashboard to support your APM program’s focus and as an input to demand planning. Unhide the “Group 3” worksheet if you completed the alignment matrix.
2. For each grouping area, review the results to determine underperforming areas. Use this information to prioritize your application root cause analysis and demand planning. Use the key on the following slide to guide your analysis.
3. Analysis guidance:
   1. Start with the quartile grouping to find areas scoring in Remediate or Critical Need and focus follow-up actions on these areas.
   2. Use the lens/category heat map to determine which lenses are underperforming. Use this to then look up the individual app scores supporting that group to identify application issues.
   3. Use the “Application Comparison” worksheet to select and compare applications for the group to make your review and comparison easier.
   4. Work with teams in the group to provide root cause analysis for low scores.
   5. Build a plan to address any apps not supported by IT.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

Interpreting your APM Snapshot

4.1 APM worksheet data journey map

Review your APM rationalization results

4.2 Review your APM Foundations results

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

The APM Foundations Results dashboard (“App Rationalization Results” worksheet) provides a detailed summary of your relative app scoring to serve as input to demand planning.

1. For each grouping, review the results to determine underperforming app support. Use this information to prioritize your application root cause analysis using the individual criteria scores on the “Rationalization Inputs” worksheet.
2. Use guidance on the following example slides to understand each area of the results.
3. Any applications marked as N/A for evaluation will display N/A on the results worksheet and will not be displayed in the chart. You can still enter dispositions.
4. Use the column filters to compare a subset of applications or use the “App Comparison” worksheet to maintain an ongoing view by grouping, redundancy, or category.
5. Any applications marked as N/A for evaluation will display N/A on the results worksheet and will not be displayed in the chart. You can still enter dispositions.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

4.2 APM worksheet data journey map

Interpreting your APM Foundations results

Interpreting your APM Foundations chart

Modernize your applications

Apply Info-Tech’s 6 R’s Rationalization Disposition Model

Disposition Description Reward Prioritize new features or enhancement requests and openly welcome the expansion of these applications as new requests are presented. Refresh Address the poor end-user satisfaction with a prioritized project. Consult with users to determine if UX issues require improvement to address satisfaction. Refocus Determine the root cause of the low value. Refocus, retrain, or refresh the UX to improve value. If there is no value found, aim to "keep the lights on" until the app can be decommissioned. Replace Replace or rebuild the application as technical and user issues are putting important business capabilities at risk. Decommission application alongside replacement. Remediate Address the poor technical health or risk with a prioritized project. Further consult with development and technical teams to determine if migration or refactoring is suited to address the technical issue. Retire Cancel any requested features and enhancements. Schedule the proper decommission and transfer end users to a new or alternative system if necessary.

TCO, compared relatively to business value, helps determine the practicality of a disposition and the urgency of any call to action. Application alignment is factored in when assessing redundancies and has a separate set of dispositions.

4.3 Determine dispositions

Estimated time: 1-4 hours

1. The Recommended Disposition and Priority fields are prepopulated from your scoring thresholds and options on the “Disposition Options” worksheet. You can update any individual application disposition or priority using the drop-down menu and it will populate your selection on the “Roadmap” worksheet.
2. Question if that disposition is appropriate. Be sure to consider:
   1. TCO – cost should come into play for any decisions.
   2. Alignment to strategic goals set for the overarching organizational, IT, technology (infrastructure), or application portfolio.
   3. Existing organizational priorities or funded initiatives impacting the app.
3. Some dispositions may imply a call to action, new project, or initiative. Ideate and/or discuss with the team any potential initiatives. You can use different dispositions and priorities on the “App Rationalization Results” and “Roadmap” worksheets.
4. Note: Modify the list of dispositions on the “Disposition Options” worksheet as appropriate for your rationalization initiative. Any modifications to the Disposition column will be automatically updated in the “App Rationalization Results” and “Roadmap” worksheets.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

4.3 APM worksheet data journey map

Redundancies require a different analysis and set of dispositions

Solving application redundancy is a lot more complicated than simply keeping one application and eliminating the others.

First, you need to understand the extent of the redundancy. The applications may support the same capability, but do they offer the same functions? Determine which apps offer which functions within a capability. This means you cannot accurately arrive at a disposition until you have evaluated all applications.

Next, you need to isolate the preferred system. This is completed by comparing the same data points collected for rationalization and the application alignment analysis. Cost and coverage of all necessary functions become the more important factors in this decision-making process.

Lastly, for the non-preferred redundant applications you need to determine: What will you do with the users? What will you do with the data? And what can you do with the functionality (can the actual coding be merged onto a common platform)?

Compare groups of applications

4.4 Assess redundancies (optional)

Estimated rime: 1 hour per group

This exercise is best performed after aligning business capabilities to applications across the portfolio and identifying your areas of redundancy. At this stage, this is still an information collection exercise, and it will not yield a consolidation-based disposition until applied to all relevant applications. Lastly, this exercise may still be at too high a level to outline the full details of redundancy, but it is still vital information to collect and a starting point to determine which areas require more concentrated analysis.

1. Determine which areas of redundancy or comparisons are desired. Duplicate the “App Comparison” worksheet for each grouping or comparison.
2. Extend the comparison to better identify redundancy.
   1. For each area of redundancy, identify the high-level features. Aim to limit the features to ten, grouping smaller features if necessary. SoftwareReviews can be a resource for identifying common features.
   2. Label features using the MoSCoW model: must have, should have, could have, will not have.
   3. For each application, identify which features they support. You can use the grouping alignment matrix as a template for feature alignment comparison. Duplicate the worksheet, unlock it, and replace the grouping cell references with your list of features.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

4.4 Assess redundancies (optional)

4.5 Determine dispositions for redundant applications (optional)

Estimated time: 1 hour per group

1. Based on the feature-level assessment, determine if you can omit applications if they don’t truly overlap with other applications.
2. Make a copy of the “App Comparison” worksheet and select the applications you want to compare based on your functional analysis.
3. Determine the preferred application(s). Use the diagram to inform your decision. This may be the application closest to the top right (strong health and value). However, less expensive options or any options that provide a more complete set of features may be preferable.
4. Open the “App Rationalization Results” worksheet. Update your disposition for each application.
5. Use these updated dispositions to determine a call to action, new project, or initiative. Ideate and/or discuss with the team any potential initiatives. Update your roadmap with these initiatives in the next step.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

Compare application groups

Group comparison can be used for more than just redundant/overlapping applications.

Roadmaps are used for different purposes

Roadmaps are used for different communication purposes and at varying points in your application delivery practice. Some use a roadmap to showcase strategy and act as a feedback mechanism that allows stakeholders to validate any changes (process 1). Others may use it to illustrate and communicate approved and granular elements of a change to an application to inform appropriate stakeholders of what to anticipate (process 2).

The steps between selecting a disposition and executing on any resulting project will vary based on the organization’s project intake standards (or lack thereof).

This blueprint focuses on building a strategic portfolio roadmap prior to any in-depth assessments related to initiative/project intake, approval, and prioritization. For in-depth support related to intake, approval, prioritization, or planning, review the following resources.

Determine what makes it onto the roadmap

A roadmap should not be limited to what is approved or committed to. A roadmap should be used to present the items that need to happen and begin the discussion of how or if this can be put into place. However, not every idea should make the cut and end up in front of key stakeholders.

4.6 Prioritize initiatives

Estimated time: 1-4 hours

1. This is a high-level assessment to provide a sense of feasibility, practicality, and priority as well as an estimated timeline of a given initiative. Do not get lost in granular estimations. Use this as an input to your demand planning process.
2. Enter the specific name or type of initiative.
   1. Process Initiative: Any project or effort focused on process improvements without technical modification to an app (e.g. user migration, change in SLA, new training program). Write the application and initiative name on a blue sticky note.
   2. App Initiative: Any project or effort involving technical modification to an app (e.g. refactoring, platform migration, feature addition or upgrade). Write the application and initiative name on a yellow sticky note.
   3. Decommission Initiative: Any project and related efforts to remove an app (e.g. migrating data, removal from server). Write the application and initiative name on a red sticky note.
3. Prioritize the initiative to aid in demand planning. This is prepopulated from your selected application disposition, but you can set a different priority for the initiative here.
4. Select the Initiative Phase in the timeline to show the intended schedule and sequencing of the initiative.

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

4.6 APM worksheet data journey map

Populate roadmap example

Create a recurring update plan

• Application inventories become stale before you know it. Build steps in your procurement process to capture the appropriate information on new applications. Also, build in checkpoints to revisit your inventory regularly to assess the accuracy of inventory data.
• Rationalization is not one and done; it must occur with an appropriate cadence.
  • Business priorities change, which will impact the current and future value of your apps.
  • Now more than ever, user expectations evolve rapidly.
  • Application sprawl likely won’t stop, so neither will shadow IT and redundancies.
  • Obsolescence, growing technical debt, changing security threats, or shifting technology strategies are all inevitable, as is the gradual decline of an app’s health or technical fit.
• An application’s disposition changes quicker than you think, and rationalization requires a structured cadence. You need to plan to minimize the need for repeated efforts. Conversely, many use preceding iterations to increase the analysis (e.g. more thorough TCO projections or more granular capability-application alignment).
• Portfolio roadmaps require a cadence for both updates and presentations to stakeholders. Updates are often completed semiannually or quarterly to gauge the business adjustments that affect the timeline of the domain-specific applications. The presentation of a roadmap should be completed alongside meetings or gatherings of key decision makers.
• M&A or other restructuring events will prompt the need to address all the above.

Build your APM maturity by taking the right steps at the right time

Info-Tech’s Build an Application Rationalization Framework provides additional TCO and value tools to help build out your portfolio strategy.

APM is an iterative and evergreen process

APM provides oversight and awareness of your application portfolio’s performance and support for your business operations and value delivery to all users and customers.

Repeat according to APM cadence and application changes

4.7 Ongoing APM cadence

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

1. Determine how frequently you will update or present the artifacts of your APM practice: Application Inventory, Rationalization, Disposition, and Roadmap.
2. For each artifact, determine the:
   1. Owner: Who is accountable for the artifact and the data or information within the artifact and will be responsible for or delegate the responsibility of updating or presenting the artifact to the appropriate audience?
   2. Update Cadence: How frequently will you update the artifact? Include what regularly scheduled meetings this activity will be within.
   3. Update Scope: Describe what activities will be performed to keep the artifact up to date. The goal here is to minimize the need for a full set of activities laid out within the blueprint. Optional: How will you expand the thoroughness of your analysis?
   4. Audience: Who is the audience for the artifact or assessment results?
   5. Presentation Cadence: How frequently and when will you review the artifact with the audience?

Record the results in the APM Snapshot and Foundations Tool

4.7 Ongoing APM cadence

Appendices

• Additional support slides
• Bibliography

The APM tool provides a single source of truth and global data sharing

The table shows where source data is used to support different aspects of APM discovery, rationalization, and modernization.

Common application inventory attributes

Common application inventory attributes

Bibliography

”2019 Technology & Small Business Survey.” National Small Business Association (NSBA), n.d. Accessed 1 April 2020.
“Application Rationalization – Essential Part of the Process for Modernization and Operational Efficiency.” Flexera, 2015. Web.
“Applications Rationalization during M&A: Standardize, Streamline, Simplify.” Deloitte Consulting, 2016. Web.
Bowling, Alan. “Clearer Visibility of Product Roadmaps Improves IT Planning.” ComputerWeekly.com, 1 Nov. 2010. Web.
Brown, Alex. “Calculating Business Value.” Agile 2014 Orlando, 13 July 2014. Scrum Inc. 2014. Web.
Brown, Roger. “Defining Business Value.” Scrum Gathering San Diego 2017. Agile Coach Journal. Web.
“Business Application Definition.” Microsoft Docs, 18 July 2012. Web.
“Connecting Small Businesses in the US.” Deloitte Consulting, 2017. Accessed 1 April. 2020.
Craveiro, João. “Marty meets Martin: connecting the two triads of Product Management.” Product Coalition, 18 Nov. 2017. Web.
Curtis, Bill. “The Business Value of Application Internal Quality.” CAST, 6 April 2009. Web.
Fleet, Neville, Joan Lasselle, and Paul Zimmerman. “Using a Balance Scorecard to Measure the Productivity and Value of Technical Documentation Organizations.” CIDM, April 2008. Web.
Fowler, Martin. “Application Boundary.” MartinFowler.com, 11 Sept. 2003. Web.
Harris, Michael. “Measuring the Business Value of IT.” David Consulting Group, 2007. Web.
“How Application Rationalization Contributes to the Bottom Line.” LeanIX, 2017. Web.
Jayanthi, Aruna. “Application Landscape Report 2014.” Capgemini, 4 March 2014. Web.
Lankhorst, Marc., et al. “Architecture-Based IT Valuation.” Via Nova Architectura, 31 March 2010. Web.
“Management of business application.” ServiceNow, Jan.2020. Accessed 1 April 2020.
Mauboussin, Michael J. “The True Measures of Success.” HBR, Oct. 2012. Web.
Neogi, Sombit., et al. “Next Generation Application Portfolio Rationalization.” TATA, 2011. Web.
Riverbed. “Measuring the Business Impact of IT Through Application Performance.” CIO Summits, 2015. Web.
Rouse, Margaret. “Application Rationalization.” TechTarget, March 2016. Web.
Van Ramshorst, E.A. “Application Portfolio Management from an Enterprise Architecture Perspective.” Universiteit Utrecht, July 2013.
“What is a Balanced Scorecard?” Intrafocus, n.d. Web.
Whitney, Lance. “SMBs share their biggest constraints and great challenges.” Tech Republic, 6 May 2019. Web.

Build Your IT Cost Optimization Roadmap

Improve cost-to-value in a sustainable manner.

Analyst Perspective

Optimize your cost sustainably.

Whether the industry is in an economic downturn, or your business is facing headwinds in the market, pressure to reduce spending across organizations is inevitable. When it comes to the IT organization, it is often handled as a onetime event. Cost optimization is an industry standard term, but it usually translates into cost cutting. How do you manage this challenge given the day-to-day demands placed on IT? Do you apply cost reduction equally across the IT landscape, or do you apply reductions using a targeted approach? How do you balance the business demands regarding innovation with keeping the lights on? What is the best path forward?

While the situation isn't unique, all too often the IT organization response is too shortsighted.

By using the Info-Tech methodology and tools, you will be able to develop an IT cost optimization roadmap based on your specific circumstances and timeline.

A well-thought-out strategy should help you achieve three objectives:

1. Reduce your unwarranted IT spending.
2. Optimize your cost-to-value.
3. Sustain your cost optimization.

This blueprint will guide you to understand your mandate, identify your cost optimization journey (reactive, proactive, or strategic), and assess your IT spend across four levers (assets, vendors, project portfolio, and workforce).

Finally, keep in mind that cost optimization is not a project to be completed, but an ongoing process to be exercised.

Bilal Alberto Saab
Research Director, IT Financial Management
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Info-Tech Insight
Cost optimization is not just about reducing costs. In fact, you should aim to achieve three objectives: (1) reduce your unwarranted IT spending, (2) optimize your cost-to-value, and (3) sustain your cost optimization.

Your challenge

IT leaders are often asked to cut costs.

• Cost management is a long-term challenge. Businesses and IT departments look to have a flexible cost structure focused on maximizing business value while maintaining the ability to adapt to market pressure. However, businesses must also be able to respond to unexpected events.
• In times of economic downturn, many CEOs and CFOs shift their thinking from growth to value protection. This can force a round of cost cutting across all departments focused on short-term, immediate, and measurable objectives.
• Many IT departments are then faced with the challenge of meeting cost cutting targets. No one knows exactly how markets will behave, but the effects of rising inflation and increasing interest rates, for example, can manifest very quickly.

When crisis hits, does IT's hard-won gains around being seen as a partner to the business suddenly disappear and IT becomes just a cost center all over again?

In times of economic slowdown or downturn, the key challenge of IT leaders is to optimize costs without jeopardizing their strategic and innovative contribution.

Common obstacles

The 90% of the budget you keep is more important than the 10% of the budget you cut.

• While the business responds to fluctuating economic conditions, IT must ensure that its budget remains fully aligned with business strategy and expected business value.
• However, in the face of sudden pressures, a common tendency is to make quick decisions without fully considering their long-term implications.
• Avoid costly mistakes with a proactive and strategic mindset. Put in place a well-communicated cost optimization strategy rather than hastily cutting back the biggest line items in your budget.

How can IT optimize costs to achieve a corporate impact, but not cut so deep that the organization can't take advantage of opportunities to recover and thrive?

Know how you will strategically optimize IT costs before you are forced to cut cost aggressively in a reactive fashion.

What is cost optimization?

It's not just about cutting costs

• While cost optimization may involve cutting costs, it is more about making smart spend and investment decisions.
• At its core, cost optimization is a strategic decision-making process that sets out to minimize waste and get the most value for money.
• Cost optimization encompasses near-term, mid-term, and long-term objectives, all of which are related and build upon one another. It is an accumulative practice, not a onetime exercise.
• A sound cost optimization practice is inherently flexible, sustainable, and consequence-oriented with the positive goal of generating net benefit for the organization over time.

Change your mindset ...

An Info-Tech survey of IT staff reveals that while most agree that cost optimization is an important IT process, nearly 20% fewer of them agree that it's being managed well.

Info-Tech IT Management & Governance Diagnostic, 2022.

A starting point for cost optimization improvement is adjusting your frame of mind. Know that it's not just about making difficult cuts - in reality, it's a creative pursuit that's about thriving in all circumstances, not just surviving.

Slow revenue growth expectations generate urgency

Many IT organizations will be directed to trim costs during turbulent times.

• Cost optimization implies continuous cost management, which entails long-term strategic initiatives (i.e. organizations and their IT departments seek flexible cost structures and practices focused on maximizing business value while maintaining the ability to adapt to changes in the broader economic environment). However, organizations must also be able to respond to unexpected events.
• During times of turmoil – poor economic outlook expected to negatively impact an organization's bottom line – CEOs and CFOs think more about survival than growth, driving cost cutting across all departments to create short-term, immediate, and measurable financial benefits.
• In such situations, many IT departments will be hard-pressed to meet cost cutting targets at short notice. If not planned correctly, with a tunnel vision focus instead of a strategic one, you can end up hurting yourself in the not-so-distant future.

Insight summary

Sustain an optimal cost-to-value ratio across four levers:

1. Assets
2. Vendors
3. Project Portfolio
4. Workforce

Cost optimization is not just about reducing costs

In fact, you should aim to achieve three objectives:
(1) reduce your unwarranted IT spending, (2) optimize your cost-to-value, and (3) sustain your cost optimization.

Reduce unwarranted IT spending

Stop the bleeding or go for quick wins
Start by reducing waste and bad spending habits while clearly communicating your intentions to your stakeholders – get buy-in.

Optimize cost-to-value

Value means tradeoffs
Pursue value but know that it will lead you to make tradeoffs between cost, performance, and risk.

Sustain cost optimization

Think about tomorrow: reduce, reuse, recalibrate, and repeat
Standardize and automate your cost optimization processes around a proper governance framework. Cost optimization is not a onetime exercise.

Info-Tech's methodology for building your IT cost optimization roadmap

Blueprint deliverables

Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

IT Cost Optimization Roadmap Samples and Templates
Templates including an abbreviated executive presentation and a final communication presentation based on a 12-month cost optimization roadmap.

IT Cost Optimization Workbook
A workbook generating a 12-month cost optimization roadmap.

Measure the value of this blueprint

Maintain an optimal IT cost-to-organization revenue ratio.

This blueprint will guide you to set cost optimization goals across one to three main objectives, depending on your identified journey (reactive, proactive, or strategic):

• Reduce unwarranted IT spending.
• Optimize cost-to value.
• Sustain cost optimization.

In phase 1 of this blueprint, we will help you establish your goals to satisfy your organization's needs.

In phase 3, we will help you develop a game plan and a roadmap for achieving those metrics.

Once you implement your 12-month roadmap, start tracking the metrics below over the next fiscal year (FY) to assess the effectiveness of undertaken measures.

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.

Guided implementation

What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

A typical GI will include multiple calls over the course of one to two months.

IT cost analysis and optimization workshop overview

Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

Phase 1

Understand Your Mandate and Objectives

Phase 1
Understand Your Mandate and Objectives

Phase 2
Outline Your Cost Optimization Initiatives

Phase 3
Develop Your IT Cost Optimization Roadmap

Phase 4
Communicate and Execute

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

• Business context and cost optimization journey
• Cost constraints and parameters
• Cost optimization goals

This phase involves the following participants:

• CIO/IT director
• IT finance lead

1.1 Gain consensus on the business context and IT cost optimization journey

60 minutes

• Using the questions on slide 20, conduct a brief journey assessment to ensure consensus on the direction you are planning to take.
• Document your findings in the provided template.

See the next three slides for guidelines and the journey assessment questions and template.

Distinguishing between three journeys

By considering business objectives without forgoing your IT mandate.

Questions to help determine your journey

Template & Example

Journey assessment

1.2 Review internal and external benchmarking reports

60-90 minutes

1. Review the IT spend and staffing results, summarized in your Info-Tech IT Spend & Staffing Benchmarking report.
2. Identify areas where your IT spend is disproportionately high or low in comparison with your industry peers.
3. Review and document any causes or rationales for high or low spend in each area identified. Do not be specific about any actual optimization targets or actions at this stage - simply make notes.
4. Start a list of potential cost optimization initiatives to be further analyzed and investigated for feasibility at a later stage (see next slides for guidance, example, and template).

Info-Tech's approach

Our IT cost model maps your IT spending and staffing according to four key views, putting IT spend in language that stakeholders across the organization can relate to.

Template & Example

Potential cost optimization initiatives list

Brainstorm and list potential cost optimization initiatives at a macro level.

Want help with your IT spend transparency and benchmarking efforts?

Let us fast-track your IT spend journey.

The path to IT financial management maturity starts with knowing exactly where your money is going. To streamline this effort, Info-Tech offers an IT Spend & Staffing Benchmarking service that provides full transparency into where your money is going without any heavy lifting on your part.

This unique service features:

• A client-proven approach to meet your IT spend transparency goals.
• Spend and staff mapping that reveals business consumption of IT.
• Industry benchmarking to compare your spending and staffing to that of your peers.
• Results in a fraction of the time with much less effort than going it alone.
• Expert review of results and ongoing discussions with Info-Tech analysts.

If you'd like Info-Tech to pave the way to IT spend transparency, contact your account manager for more information - we're happy to talk anytime.

1.3 Identify your overarching constraints

30 minutes

1. Assess where spend change opportunities are currently limited or nonexistent due to organization edict or policy, industry regulatory requirements, or active contracts. Ask yourself:
   1. Where do IT spend bottlenecks exist and what are they?
   2. What IT spend objectives and practices are absolutely mandatory and nonnegotiable from both a business and an IT perspective?
   3. Are there areas where spend change is possible but would be very difficult to execute due to the stakeholders involved, governance processes, time frames, or another constraining factor?
2. Identify where reduction or elimination of an IT service would negatively affect required service levels and business continuity or recovery.
3. List constraints as negotiable or nonnegotiable on the template provided.
4. Remove areas of focus from your cost optimization scope that land outside achievable parameters, and flag those that are difficult but still possible.

See the next slides for additional guidance and a constraints assessment template.

Acknowledge your limitations

By recognizing your constraints, which will lead you to define your cost optimization scope.

We define a constraint as a restriction controlling the behavior of any of your stakeholders, hence preventing a desired outcome.

In our context, constraints will determine your playing field: the boundaries of your cost optimization scope.

Distinguish between constraints

Negotiable vs. nonnegotiable to delimit your cost optimization scope.

Template & Example

Constraints assessment

List high-level limitations that hinder your cost optimization options.

1.4 Establish overarching cost optimization goals

60-90 minutes

1. Establish specific IT cost optimization goals. Depending on your journey, step 1.1. You will have one to three overarching cost optimization goals, as follows:
   1. Reactive: Cost-cutting goal to reduce unwarranted IT spending.
   2. Proactive: Cost-to-value optimization goal.
   3. Strategic: Cost optimization sustainability goal.
   Consider amounts and time frames, as well as likely/suitable approaches you plan to employ to achieve these goals.
2. Document your final cost optimization goals in the IT Cost Optimization Workbook.
3. Revisit your goals after outlining your initiatives (phase 2) to ensure feasibility depending on your journey.

Download the IT Cost Optimization Workbook

Template & Example

Document your overarching goals

Excel Workbook: IT Cost Optimization – Set Optimization Goals Worksheet

Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to document your goals based on your journey:

Complete the following fields for each goal depending on your journey in the Excel Workbook as per guidelines:

1. Navigate to the Set Cost Optimization Goals tab.
2. Identify your journey and objective for each goal.
3. Document your goal(s).

Download the IT Cost Optimization Workbook

Template & Example

Break down your goals per quarter

Excel Workbook: IT Cost Optimization - Set Cost Optimization Goals Worksheet

Refer to the example and guidelines below on how to break down your goals per quarter and track your progress:

Complete the following fields for each goal depending on your journey in the Excel Workbook as per guidelines:

1. Navigate to the Set Cost Optimization Goals tab.
2. Determine your target per quarter for every goal.
3. Document your targets.

Download the IT Cost Optimization Workbook

1.5 Identify inputs required for decision making

60-90 minutes

1. Each of the optimization levers (assets, vendors, project portfolio, and workforce) will require specific and unique sources of information which you will need to collect before moving forward. Examples of important sources of information include:
   1. Latest iteration of the IT strategy.
   2. List of IT assets (hardware, software).
   3. List of IT services or IT service catalog.
   4. List of current and planned IT projects and their resourcing allocations.
   5. List of largest vendor contracts and their key details, such as their expiration/renewal date.
   6. IT department organizational chart and salaries (by role).
2. Review and analyze each of the documents.
3. Continue to list potential cost optimization initiatives (step 1.2) to be further analyzed and investigated for feasibility at a later stage.

Prepare all pertinent sources of information

And start drafting your cost optimization laundry list.

Phase 2