Application Services Library
The Application Services Library ( ASL ) is a public domain collection of guidelines for the application management of existing software applications or the entirety of applications in a company. Software applications are usually given maintenance as soon as they are introduced. Maintenance means here (similar to other technical constructions, such as a car) that the software has to be maintained or further developed for new professional or technical requirements (see also software life cycle ). All associated processes are summarized under the term "(operational) application management".
The Application Services Library also describes the necessary processes in the organization performing application management, i.e. the company's internal IT department or the external IT service provider (management and further development of the APM organization).
overview
Definition of "application management" according to ASL
“Care, maintenance and expansion of applications” as an operational and strategic task; d. H. both the support of an application during ongoing operations, maintenance in the sense of further technical developments and the expansion of applications in the sense of new technical components and development of a long-term IT strategy suitable for the respective organizational strategy.
history
ASL was developed in the Netherlands in the late 1990s and has been freely available under a public domain license since 2002. As a foundation, the ASL-BiSL-Foundation takes care of the (uniform) further development and the compilation of successful methods ( best practices ) for the implementation of application management.
Application management as part of IT management
The Application Services Library arranges the application management or the APM organization between the departments of the company (or business information management ) and the operation of the applications in the data center ( IT infrastructure management ).
The company expects process support from IT and places requirements on IT, on the software applications available in the company (application landscape) or on a specific software application, and in APM it finds the contact person who knows both the current (existing) applications professionally and technically and understand, as well as the process needs of the department or the respective industry.
On the other hand, there is the operation of the applications in the data center (IT infrastructure management). Here this application is made available to the user for use, ie a corresponding service (“operation of the application”) is made available as a service. Accordingly, the ASL has interfaces to the technical management of the company (e.g. via BiSL ( Business Information Service Library )) and to operating the application (e.g. via ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)).
The application management can be carried out both internally (i.e. by departments of the company) and externally (by an IT service provider). Due to the separation into process areas, mixed forms are also possible, such as B. IT strategy in the company, operational application management at the IT service provider.
ASL and ITIL
ASL was developed because the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is aimed at IT infrastructure management (and thus the operation of an application in the data center). ASL focuses on the individual software application and the application portfolio, while ITIL concentrates on IT service and IT infrastructure management (providing a defined operational IT service). ASL is the counterpart to ITIL on the application or application development side. ASL is connected to ITIL via defined process interfaces.
criticism
The ASL is (like many) framework concepts on a high level of abstraction. The individual process groups must first be broken down to the respective needs in their own work. This can also lead to different interpretations and misunderstandings.
Although the ASL is in the public domain, most of the information can be found in the literature. Likewise, no status of development or further development can be identified; Overall, the "ASL application" itself lacks application management, so to speak.
The ASL is still relatively new and could in parts mature even further.
The process areas
Operational application management
The application and the associated specialist area or the specialist users of the system are looked after by the operational application management. All issues from the ongoing operation of the application must be resolved (operationally), if necessary in the further development of the application including the associated release management processes . Operational application management therefore requires great technical and professional proximity to the application (knowledge of the source text of the program and knowledge of the technical environment).
Strategic application management
In terms of a long-term strategy of the company, the strategic application management considers the life cycle of the application, i. H. timely migration to new software. Or the phasing out of the application and the integration of the technical requirements into other applications.
The strategic application management arranges each application in relation to other applications in the company ( IT landscape ) and thus also manages the application portfolio of a company. This also includes strategic topics for the further development of all applications in the company, such as B. Java or no Java, Cobol / mainframe or no Cobol / mainframe , Monolith vs. Client / server etc.
Analogous to the strategy of the applications (or the technology), the strategic development of the application management organization is considered in the process area "strategic application management".
Management processes
Management processes in between are the link between operational and strategic application management and have both a controlling and supporting character.
The process areas in detail
Maintenance (operational application management)
The maintenance of the application with knowledge of the source code of the program (program code) is the contact for the application operation; accordingly, the sub-process areas are analogous to ITIL: incident management , availability management, configuration management , capacity management, continuity management.
Maintenance is the central link between the operation of the application and the departments of the company. Incident management is of particular importance, i.e. the control of all requests for the application (failure, long response times, unexpected results, bugs , change requests, ...).
Extension and renewal / renovation and enhancement (operational application management)
From the above Inquiries can follow requirements for the functional (or technical) expansion or renewal of the application. Ultimately a "small project", which, however, has to be carried out in an existing environment ( release status, software development environment , version management, etc.) - also, so to speak, "open-hearted" (but there are also development, test, integration and production environments for this which also have to be managed).
Coordination processes in operational application management
The inquiries and further developments must be coordinated, especially if - as is usually the case - interfaces to other applications inside and outside the company have to be taken into account. In the area of customer, application management, IT infrastructure management, multiple clients, troubleshooting and further development releases, dependencies on other applications, etc., change management (change management) and software control & distribution (release management) are essential processes and roles in operational application management .
Application cycle management (strategic application management)
In the long term, technologies and requirements change fundamentally. IT must take this into account and, like the company, think long-term. Application cycle management considers the application portfolio, i.e. the IT landscape of a company, and plans long-term changes to the architecture (“development plan”). From a closer perspective, application cycle management is also responsible for budget management for short and long-term projects.
Organization cycle management (strategic application management)
As technologies change, so do the requirements placed on the organization that performs application management. On the one hand, external requirements are changing, and the offer to the (internal or external) market must be planned accordingly. In order to be able to meet these requirements, the correct structure and process organization are required, i. H. the right staff (especially in terms of qualification) and the processes that match the technology.
Quality management (management process)
All running processes must be quality assured in parallel. On the one hand in terms of the result, on the other hand also in the review of the selected processes. The aim should be to continuously improve application management in a continuous improvement process ( plan-do-check-act ).
Service level management (management process)
All services offered by the APM organization are ultimately services for an internal or external customer. These services are subject to a Service Level Agreement (SLA) , i.e. an agreement with the customer in which the quality of the service is regulated (times, reaction times, mutual expectations and obligations, etc.). The service level management develops SLAs (which the APM organization can also offer sensibly) and creates reports on existing services in order to identify problems in good time before SLAs are violated.
Cost management (management process)
Also (or especially) the application management is incumbent on the cost pressure and must ultimately bring added value for the customer and the APM organization, which is expressed economically as a profit (or loss <> added value).
Planning and control (management process)
This process group represents the management of the APM organization. The management plans and controls all of the above. Process areas. It is responsible for the implementation of the strategic guidelines together with the existing staff and the further development of the application management organization.
literature
- Remko van der Pols: ASL A framework for application management (German edition) . Ed .: ASL BiSL Foundation. Van Haren Publishing, Zaltbommel NL 2007, ISBN 978-90-8753-118-8 .
- Gert Heslenfeld, Michael Maicher, Gregor Sauerzapf, Hans Smorenberg: Application Services Library - a contribution to the industrialization of application maintenance . In: HMD - Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik . No. 256 . dpunkt Verlag, August 2007, ISSN 1436-3011 ( dpunkt.de ).
- Yvette Backer, Remko van der Pols: Application Services Library - A Management Guide . van Haren Publishing, Zaltbommel NL, ISBN 90-77212-03-5 .
- Lucille van der Hagen, David Hinley, Machteld Meijer, Remko van der Pols, Paul Ruijgrok .: ASL - Introduction Best Practices and Framework for Application Management . Ed .: ASL Foundation. ISBN 90-806050-1-8 ( aslbislfoundation.org [PDF; 144 kB ]).
- Machteld Meijer, Mark Smalley, Sharon Taylor: ITIL® V3 and ASL - Sound Guidance for Application Management and Application Development . In: OCG (Ed.): Best Management Practice For IT Management, Alignment White Paper . TSO, January 2008 ( aslbislfoundation.org [PDF; 4.8 MB ]).
- Ch. Bommer, M. Spindler, V. Barr: Software maintenance - basics, management and maintenance techniques . dpunkt.verlag, 2008, ISBN 3-89864-482-0 .