INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE
Application management is a function and not a process. It will manage applications through the totality of their lifecycle. This starts with the first business ‘idea’ and completes when the application is no longer required. Application management is involved in the design, testing and continual improvement of applications and the services that the applications support.
An application is any software program or programs that support a business process. Such applications, in conjunction with data, hardware, middleware and the operating system, make up the IT infrastructure that supports a service. It is not unusual for large organisations with a diverse set of services to have a high number of application teams. These teams may be grouped together depending on the type(s) of technology used in the applications that they support.
The applications may be developed in-house or they may be bought in. Bought in applications will need varying degrees of customisation prior to release. For those teams responsible for bought-in applications, managing the ongoing relationship with the supplier (in conjunction with supplier management) is important.
Application management teams manage and support applications on a day-to-day basis. For example, they will usually be the functional escalation route used by the service desk when an incident or problem has been logged and categorised against their application.