| 0 Non-existent | There is no process for designing and
specifying applications. Typically, applications are
obtained based on vendor driven offerings, brand
recognition or IT staff familiarity with specific products,
with little or no consideration of actual requirements.
|
| 1 (Initial/Ad Hoc) | There is an awareness that a process for
acquiring and maintaining applications is required.
Approaches, however, vary from project to project
without any consistency and typically in isolation from
other projects. The organisation is likely to have
acquired a variety of individual solutions and now suffers
legacy problems and inefficiencies with maintenance and
support. The business users are unable to gain much
advantage from IT investments.
|
| 2 (Repeatable but Intuitive) | There are similar processes
for acquiring and maintaining applications, but they are
based on the expertise within the IT function, not on a
documented process. The success rate with applications
depends greatly on the in-house skills and experience
levels within IT. Maintenance is usually problematic and
suffers when internal knowledge has been lost from the
organisation.
|
| 3 (Defined Process) | There are documented acquisition and
maintenance processes. An attempt is made to apply the
documented processes consistently across different
applications and projects, but they are not always found
to be practical to implement or reflective of current
technology solutions. They are generally inflexible and
hard to apply in all cases, so steps are frequently
bypassed. As a consequence, applications are often
acquired in a piecemeal fashion. Maintenance follows a
defined approach, but is often time-consuming and
inefficient.
|
| 4 (Managed and Measurable) | There is a formal, clear
and well-understood system acquisition and
implementation methodology and policy that includes a
formal design and specification process, criteria for
acquisition of application software, a process for testing
and requirements for documentation, ensuring that all
applications are acquired and maintained in a consistent
manner. Formal approval mechanisms exist to ensure
that all steps are followed and exceptions are authorised.
The methods have evolved so that they are well suited to
the organisation and are likely to be positively used by
all staff, and applicable to most application requirements.
|
| 5 Optimized | Application software acquisition and
maintenance practices are in line with the agreed
processes. The approach is component based, with predefined,
standardised applications matched to business
needs. It is usual for organisation-wide approaches to be
taken. The acquisition and maintenance process is well
advanced, enables rapid deployment and allows for high
responsiveness, as well as flexibility, in responding to
changing business requirements. The application
software acquisition and implementation process has
been subjected to continuous improvement and is
supported by internal and external knowledge databases
containing reference materials and best practices. The
methodology creates computer based documentation in a
pre-defined structure that makes production and
maintenance very efficient.
|
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