Develop and Implement an Application Portfolio Management Framework : A case study at Atlas Copco

Sammanfattning: Application portfolio management (APM) is the ongoing process of managing and optimizing the IT application portfolio to maximize its value. It has become increasingly important since large organizations today rely on hundreds, if not thousands, of applications to operate their businesses which in turn causes problems such as unused, redundant, or inefficient applications. Thus, numerous APM research has been conducted in the past to efficiently manage the application portfolio, but there is a lack of recent studies. This case study, which is a collaboration with Atlas Copco aims to contribute to both research and industry by developing and implementing a simple yet flexible APM framework that yields insightful analysis and application assessments. We propose a comprehensive APM framework consisting of the key phases: Objectives & scope definition, data type definition, data collection, process review and process adjustment. We identify the relevant information to be collected and the essential data analysis methods. To improve the flexibility of the proposed APM model, we also recommend adopting an iterative workflow by focusing on a small set of applications at a time. Our research approach consists in conducting interviews and workshops to gather input from key stakeholders and experts. Additionally, we perform a literature study to establish the theoretical foundation. In the considered case study, Power Apps and Power BI were used to collect and analyze the data. The outcomes were evaluated by the project managers and deemed successful in terms of fulfilling the main objectives. Furthermore, the evaluation reveals that the model is applicable not only within different departments of the company but potentially to other organizations as well.