ALFABET WHAT S NEW IN ALFABET 9.12 Deliver the agile IT environment digital business demands Driven to get digital? You ll like the new features of Alfabet 9.12 for Enterprise Architecture (EA) management, IT planning and portfolio management. New capabilities target integration and interoperability so you can deliver the agile IT environment today s digital business demands. Why? Because only an integrated IT environment can help you maximize the benefits of automation. With Alfabet 9.12 you can: Improve risk mitigation planning and management by developing and implementing measures to control risks to business and IT operations Integrate with ServiceNow to better understand change impact on deployed IT, obtain intelligence for portfolio analysis and be assured that deployed IT follows strategy Interoperate Alfabet and CentraSite to implement effective services governance Take advantage of enhanced cloud discovery for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Better understand ARIS-Alfabet interoperability features for business assessment and to define portfolio change activities Link to external repositories, leverage new reporting features, and much more Risk mitigation planning & management Using threat management, you can identify and plan for potential risk to your enterprise IT environment by systematically capturing, categorizing and relating threats to the architecture. Greater insight into risk exposure helps you understand what IT systems carry risk, what the implications of the risk are, and what kind of mitigation measures are needed. Applications, projects and other IT objects are assessed according to their degree of risk exposure and evaluated in detail as to what the danger to the enterprise actually is be it monetary damages, degradation in customer service or legal jeopardy, for example so you know what mitigation strategy is appropriate. With Alfabet 9.12, you can develop measures to minimize or eliminate risks to business and IT operations. Risk mitigation can be associated with, for instance, an application, technology, information or project and defines the affected architecture as well as a demand for implementing the risk mitigation. An example of such a demand might be re-deployment of an application in a militarized zone or implementation of security software to target a specific threat. Publicly available information on threats, such as the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), often provides information on mitigation of the individual threat. You can put risk mitigations in various categories such as accept, avoid, limit or transfer for better oversight on how risks are being handled. Risk mitigation planning and management provides insight into the effort needed to fend off risk. This can weigh in as a factor when assessing the value of a portfolio or individual architecture element. FACT SHEET
Alfabet 9.12 closes the loop between risk assessment and any project or architectural change actions required to address identified risks by introducing risk mitigation planning and management. ServiceNow integration EA, IT planning and portfolio management tools such as Alfabet are typically the system of record for change planning of the IT environment ( change the company ). The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is the system of record for the current configuration of the IT environment ( run the company ) and the basis for operational change processes governed by IT Service Management (ITSM). By relating data from the CMDB or ITSM on IT deployments and locations, performance metrics (for example, incidents and downtime) and actual changes to Alfabet, Alfabet enables you to better understand change impact on deployed IT, gain intelligence for portfolio analysis and have the assurance that deployed IT follows strategy. In all, this improves both data and process quality. Further, by making the wealth of information in a CMDB or ITSM on the state of IT available to Alfabet, integration supports choosing the right technologies and applications for the business. Risky technologies and application dependencies become transparent leading to their elimination from the portfolio. This reduces IT risks and business risks along with it. Alfabet 9.12 uses a bi-directional web service interface to communicate with ServiceNow. The integration approach is comprised of two steps. First, the data from ServiceNow is uploaded into staging tables in Alfabet. Structuring of the tables is standardized and automated using an assistant. In the second step, users work with the Alfabet Data Integration Framework (ADIF) to define the semantic mapping of ServiceNow data into Alfabet. This leverages familiar ETL technology. Only a subset of all the CMDB or ITSM information is transferred to Alfabet to maintain high performance. Alfabet 9.12 captures data from the CMDB on IT deployments and locations, performance metrics and actual changes, providing a better understanding of change impact on deployed IT, intelligence for portfolio analysis and assurance that deployed IT follows strategy. The export of Alfabet information into ServiceNow will be provided in a later release. 2
Alfabet-CentraSite interoperability EA, IT planning and portfolio management tools such as Alfabet depend on tools like CentraSite to be the SOA registry and repository for design and runtime governance for services. SOA tools depend on tools like Alfabet to govern the service portfolio creation process. Together, they provide end-to-end service lifecycle management. In Alfabet, service requests go through a rigorous demand-to-budget process with thorough examination of service requests regarding alignment with corporate, business and IT goals, and strategy as well as redundant requests and impact to the organization s risk exposure. New services and extensions to existing ones are planned in the context of a project proposal, such as responsibilities, roles and business case. Upon approval, the business service is committed to Alfabet s repository and becomes part of the baseline architecture. This is the point where technical services are handed over to the service registry and repository, which is responsible for design, implementation, testing, deployment and tracking of services. This new release of Alfabet provides interoperability with Software AG s CentraSite product for a smooth handover. CentraSite returns information on service status to Alfabet. Using Alfabet and CentraSite together provides: A business architecture that is structured for re-usability An enterprise-wide uniform service classification Identification of services that are important to the enterprise Identification of deficiencies in the current service implementation A governed process for creation of services Alfabet and CentraSite interoperability provides a closed-loop process for planning, designing and running SOA infrastructures. Enhanced cloud discovery for AWS With Alfabet 9.10, you could capture elements deployed on AWS in Alfabet. In 9.12, this capability extends to additional AWS services in cloud discovery, namely Kinesis, ElasticSearch, Machine Learning, Redshift, ElastiCache and Elastic Load Balancing. Footprint information for the different specified services is retrieved from the relevant AWS regions and placed into temporary tables in Alfabet. The solution designer defines ADIF packages, which process the information into the main Alfabet data structures, such as devices, deployments, applications and/or components. From there, build out the business services, supports and portfolios associated with the cloud footprint. With this feature, you can make cloud-based applications and AWS services part of your architectural inventory. Once there, you can identify cloud assets, what they are used for, what critical services are not being used, and the associated risks. Alfabet 9.12 also supports discovery from multiple AWS accounts into the same Alfabet engine and the ability to create standard platforms based on AWS services as part of project solution planning. 3
ARIS-Alfabet interoperability showcase ARIS Business Process Analysis and Alfabet IT Planning and Portfolio Management comprise Software AG s solution for business and IT transformation, giving you a collaborative environment for shaping a compelling customer experience and achieving digital operations excellence. Each new release delivers a significant advancement towards ensuring that 360-degree view required for effective change. The solution provides a continuum of design, planning and management support from the highest level of business assessment and definition to the individual activities in IT planning and portfolio management. An ARIS-Alfabet Integration Showcase demonstrates the available interoperability touchpoints. The use case describes the journey taken to realize a joint venture between a car dealership and a financing company in order to accelerate the car sales process, increase the conversion rate to grow revenue and sell more cars, car insurance and maintenance contracts. The story explores assessment of strategic goals and objectives, identification of the architectural scope of a selected objective, evaluation of the capabilities related to the objective, mapping of customer journeys to pinpoint weaknesses, definition of the projects required to close the capability gap and analysis of the to-be process blueprints for solution design and implementation. Speak with your account executive to receive a demonstration of the showcase. Soft links to external repositories Efficient and reliable IT planning requires insight into all of the relevant planning elements demands, project proposals, architectural designs, human resources, corporate policies, business strategies and cost information in order to quickly understand which plans are feasible and free of conflict. Much of this information is maintained by other sources so that any tool for IT planning and portfolio management must be well integrated with external sources in order for planning and portfolio decision-making to be accurate. Alfabet 9.12 enables you to set up soft link connections to external repositories to contextualize Alfabet objects with relevant information. You can use this to link to, for example: Incident management systems to relate incidents to applications Financial management systems to relate cost objects to applications or projects Agile development management systems to relate feature requests to demands or applications The connection infrastructure is comprised of two elements: an XML object and a custom report template. It enables the user to go to the other product, select what characteristics are of interest and create a reflection of these characteristics in the context of the object for which the connection is made. 4
New chart type: circular roadmap Roadmaps express changes in the IT portfolio and help coordinate the change between interconnected portfolios. They are indispensable in large organizations with interdependent operational units. IT roadmapping provides the vehicle for ensuring that everyone relevant to the success of business and IT initiatives is informed, involved and in sync understanding the pace, required resources and milestones of enterprise change. A mainstay of Alfabet s planning and portfolio management facilities, roadmaps are available as master plan maps, application and technology lifecycle charts, migration plan flow diagrams and technology platform compliance matrices, to name a few. Alfabet 9.12 introduces the circular roadmap as a new chart type. Large organizations commonly have very many objects belonging to a particular scope of observance for example, projects, applications or technologies that are put in relation to each other according to their association with factors such as time, strategic importance, technology domain, innovation area, and lifecycle phase and planning. Circular roadmaps provide a more efficient and easily viewed representation of information. A circular roadmap consists of concentric circles that are partitioned into sectors. Items are placed into a particular circle and sector depending on their relationship to the other objects or their values for defined indicators. Circles commonly represent a timeline but can also be defined to indicate some other range such as strategic horizons or priorities. Sectors relate to each other in the context of a subject, such as technology domains, organizations, scores and capabilities, and can be sized differently from each other to demonstrate a relationship, such as strategic importance or priority. Objects are placed on the roadmap as particular shapes, like circles, triangles and squares, also possessing meaning. For example, in the case of application retirement, the shape could indicate whether the application is legacy, client server, mobile or cloud. Or in the case of projects, it could relate whether the project targets differentiation, innovation or system of record. The exact placement in the particular circle and sector is a function of the axial value and angular value typically determined by indicators on the object. Circular roadmaps are particularly effective in establishing a common means of communicating IT and business plans and improving alignment of business strategy and IT delivery. 5
Matrix map enhancements Alfabet s matrix reports show object dependencies in a matrix, for example in a platform architecture matrix or business support map. They provide a clean, quickly understood representation of object relationships. Alfabet 9.12 improves on the existing matrix reports by allowing multiple icons to be placed on cell boxes, variable sizing of boxes and connections between boxes. Icons can be used to representing indicators, such as quality, usage or strategic importance. Sizing can represent, for example, cost or strategy fulfillment. Connections can be used to show, for example, migrations, using different line styles or colors for the various migration phases. With Alfabet 9.12 matrix reports, multiple icons can be placed on cell boxes. The release also allows for variable sizing of boxes and connections between boxes. Miscellaneous report enhancements Object icons introduced in Alfabet 9.10 for application diagrams and information flow diagrams are now used in platform matrices, business support maps, location and device diagrams, and custom explorers as well as custom reports for matrix maps, rectangular tree maps, layer diagrams, lane diagrams, grid reports and cluster maps. Branch diagrams introduced in Alfabet 9.8 can now have a vertical orientation. The report can either use the object s icon to display an object or display the object as a bubble with a defined color. The report can also display titles on the connecting lines. This kind of chart is easily readable and space-efficient. This vertically oriented branch diagram shows a service product structure. 6
AQL query builder for Alfabet Cloud Enterprise If you use the Alfabet Cloud Enterprise configuration server, you can use the full functionality of the Alfabet Query Language (AQL) query builder in Expand Web. Alfabet Cloud users can easily and efficiently build queries to, for example, create custom reports by using context menus and drop-down lists to specify object characteristics, operations, and what to show in the query. The AQL query builder makes report creation easier and faster in Alfabet Cloud Enterprise. Enhanced report views in guide pages Alfabet 9.9 introduced the possibility to embed reports in guide pages by assigning a report to a topic. This feature is enhanced in 9.12 to enable topics to define sub-topics to which reports are assigned. Sub-topics can be defined to any desired depth. The guide page shows multiple reports in context providing for easily accessible status information. 7
Take the next step Learn more at www.softwareag.com/alfabet or talk to your Software AG representative. ABOUT SOFTWARE AG Software AG offers the world s first Digital Business Platform. Recognized as a leader by the industry s top analyst firms, Software AG helps you combine existing systems on premises and in the cloud into a single platform to optimize your business and delight your customers. With Software AG, you can rapidly build and deploy digital business applications to exploit real-time market opportunities. Get maximum value from big data, make better decisions with streaming analytics, achieve more with the Internet of Things, and respond faster to shifting regulations and threats with intelligent governance, risk and compliance. The world s top brands trust Software AG to help them rapidly innovate, differentiate and win in the digital world. Learn more at www.softwareag.com. 2016 Software AG. All rights reserved. Software AG and all Software AG products are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Software AG. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. SAG_What s_new_alfabet_9_12_8pg_fs_oct16