EDL 680

Application Roadmap

Task Identity Priority Program Area Unit Application Name

1 School Finance Quickbooks
2 Assessment NWEA MAPs
3 Human Resources Navia Benefits
4 Communications Finalsite Composer
5 Fundraising/Alumni Blackbaud Raiser's Edge
6 Counseling Calm
7 Assistive Technology Learning Ally
8 Registrar Powerschool
9 Information Technology Meraki Systems Manager
10 Academic Achievement Reading Plus
 
Narrative: ​Using the TOGAF Enterprise Architecture model, Application Enterprise comes after Business
and Data Architectures. To prioritize the applications in the above spreadsheet, stakeholders should
come together to discuss the baseline and future states of the Business and Data Architectures. These
topics should drive any and all discussions of the Application Architecture for application prioritization.
Applications need to support use cases and functional specifications of the Business Architecture. The
Business priorities drive the Application priorities. Data architecture drives the outputs needed for the
Applications. Determining a future state of both of these crucial architectures is needed before prioritizing
the Application Architectures.

Then, there needs to be an audit of the aforementioned application according to 3 main topics: 1)
Understand each application and how it supports the organization, 2) Define requirements and roles for
each application, and 3) Ensure internally consistent definitions across applications to combine similar
applications and remove duplicate functionality. Once a workflow process mapping has been done and a
baseline has been completed for the applications architecture, the future state can be determined and
prioritization of the Application Architecture can be established. 
 
 
 
Task  Priority  Program Area  Application  Data Input  Data  Functional  Technical  Stand Proce Outco Cost 
Identity  Unit (Process  Name  Output  Assessment  Assessme ards  ss  mes 
(Number)  Owner)  nt  Classi Issues 
ficati
on 

  PART 1  PART 1  PART 1  Appendix B  Appendix  Appendix G  Appendix  Appe Appen Appe  
B  G  ndix  dix G  ndix 
G  G 

4  (3) low  Communicatio Finalsite  Communica Website  3 = product  2 =  DECLI Passw Websi Appr
ns  Composer  tions  informati meets the  Hardware  NING   ord  te  oxim
  department  on for  needs of  and/or  prote comm ately 
input  internal  the  operating  cted,  unica $100
and  customer  system  limite tion  /yea
external  can be  d  is  r per 
stakehold upgraded  users.    core  stud
ers  or  to the  ent  
expanded  busin
but at a  ess 
high cost  proce
  sses 
The  of the 
software  organ
is fully  izatio
Web  n. 
enabled  Ease 
  of use 
Some  is 
data  limite
Interoper d and 
ability  there 
issues  are 
duplic
ate 
functi
ng 
issues 
that 
have 
called 
for 
resea
rch 
into 
altern
ate 
applic
ations
. 

7  (1) high  Assistive  Learning  Student  Human-re 4 = product  5 = The  CORE  Requi Repla $5.5
Technology  Ally  username/p ad Audio  sometimes  software  res  ces  0/stu
assword  book with  exceeds  is the  subst two  dent 
  tracking  the  industry  antial  curre per 
Teacher  text  expectation leader for  data  nt  year 
book  s of the  this type  backe produ
assignment  customer  of  nd  cts- 
applicatio work,  best 
n  some  soluti
 teach on 
er  curre
traini ntly 
ng  on 
requir the 
ed  mark
et 
 

10  (2)  Academic  Reading  Student  Reading  2 = product  2 =  DECLI Softw Progr $32.
medium  Achievement  Plus  username/p literacy/c meets  software  NING  are is  am  90/st
assword  omprehen some of the  runs on  availa promi uden
  sion/flue needs of  the  ble on  se  t per 
Backend  ncy data  the  network,  an  more  year  
setup  customer  few  enter than   
upgrades  prise/ it  (site
available,  site  curre /ent
output  basis,  ntly  erpri
data does  but is  delive se 
not  only  rs,  licen
transport  applic but  se 
able  has  for 
and  the  all 
used  expec stud
by a  tation  ents) 
limite that 
d  it be 
grade  used 
range by all 
.  stude
(5-8)  nts 
Data  daily. 
porta Some 
bility  stude
issues nts do 
.    not 
like 
the 
forma
t.   

Priority of these three applications have been set according to their Business Architecture
use/importance, ease of transferring to a new product, and general usability/data output.
Learning Ally earns the highest priority- it is a new product to the school, and replaces two
existing products that had limitations. Learning Ally software fulfills a key function of the school
(assistive technology reading support) and at a lower cost than other solutions. Students and
teachers prefer the ease of use on this product than the existing products. Reading Plus is next
on the priority list. This is a legacy program to serve a key Business Architect purpose of the
school, but as a reading software support solution- it has been found to be applicable to
middle/high level middle school use only. Software is often judged critically by students, and
teachers need substantial training in order to use all features and access reading data. Other
products are offered on the market at lower costs that may apply to more of the student body.
Lowest priority is Finalsite Composer. Website presence and LMS (and in particular the
gradebook) are important business functions, though less direct that direct reading education.
Website Composer function works well with the Communications staff after repeated trainings.
As a whole, however, there is discussion about searching for a new solution that incorporates all
needs, or keep website and search for other solutions for the LMS/gradebook. Switching to a
new solution, of which there are many, is a substantial undertaking- data portability is an issue
here.