See the enterprise as one connected set of capabilities, information, applications and technology assets.

Para helps organizations create a connected view of this environment so leaders can understand what they have, what it supports, how it connects and where change is needed.

The resulting architecture and asset view can support application portfolio decisions, transformation planning, modernization, technology governance and investment discussions.

The objective is not to create another inventory that becomes outdated.

It is to create an architecture view that can be used to understand the estate and make decisions about it.

Perspective

Enterprise estates become difficult to change when architecture knowledge is distributed across teams, spreadsheets, project documents, diagrams and individual experience.

A diagram may show applications but not the business capabilities they support. An application inventory may identify owners but not critical dependencies. A transformation roadmap may identify initiatives without showing the technology estate they will affect.

Para brings these views together around the business capabilities and services the organization needs to deliver.

This makes architecture more useful as an input to investment, modernization, transformation and governance decisions.

The approach also recognizes that enterprise architecture is not static. Applications change, projects introduce new capabilities, technologies reach the end of their lifecycle and business priorities shift.

The architecture view therefore needs to be maintained as part of the organization's decision-making process rather than treated as a one-time documentation exercise.

Capability aligned

Organize assets around what the business does.

Connecting technology assets to business capabilities helps leaders understand the business importance of applications and platforms rather than evaluating technology in isolation.

Relationships matter

An individual asset tells only part of the story.

Capture meaningful relationships between capabilities, information, applications, integrations, platforms and responsible teams so the organization can understand dependencies and potential impact.

Govern for change

Architecture becomes valuable when it helps guide what happens next.

Keep ownership, lifecycle, standards, target-state direction and transformation decisions visible so the architecture view can support ongoing planning.

What We Help Solve

Para helps organizations address the visibility and governance problems that emerge as technology estates become larger and more interconnected.

Common situations include:

• There is no consistent inventory of applications, platforms, integrations or important information assets.
• Different teams maintain conflicting application lists, architecture diagrams or technology inventories.
• Business leaders cannot easily see which applications and platforms support a particular capability or service.
• Application ownership is unclear or has changed over time.
• Similar applications or capabilities have emerged independently across departments.
• Legacy systems remain business-critical but their dependencies are poorly understood.
• Modernization decisions are made without a complete view of upstream and downstream impact.
• Technology lifecycle information is incomplete or maintained inconsistently.
• Transformation programs spend significant time rediscovering the current estate before they can begin delivery.
• Project teams make architecture decisions without a shared baseline of existing capabilities and standards.
• Architecture governance is heavily dependent on individual knowledge.
• Integration dependencies make seemingly simple changes more difficult than expected.
• Target-state architecture is defined without a clear transition path from the current state.
• Portfolio leaders lack a consistent way to compare applications based on business fit, technical condition, lifecycle and strategic direction.
• Technology investment discussions are disconnected from the business capabilities those investments are intended to support.

What the Solution Contains

The architecture and asset view should bring together the perspectives required to understand the enterprise without attempting to document every technical detail.

Business Capability View

Map the capabilities, services and business areas the organization needs to operate and transform.

Connect capabilities to owners, strategic priorities and transformation initiatives so technology discussions remain anchored to business purpose.

The result is a way to ask questions such as:

Which applications support this capability? Where are the gaps? Where is there duplication? What needs to change?

Information & Data Assets

Identify important information domains, data owners, repositories and dependencies.

Show how important data moves through applications and processes, and where changes to one system may affect reporting, analytics or downstream services.

This creates a useful bridge between enterprise architecture and Para's broader Data & Analytics capability.

Application Portfolio

Create a structured view of applications and their relationship to the business.

Relevant attributes can include:

• Business capability supported
• Business owner
• Technical owner
• Lifecycle status
• Business criticality
• Technical condition
• Strategic fit
• Integration dependencies
• Modernization direction

The portfolio becomes a decision tool rather than simply a list of applications.

Integration & Dependency Map

Show how applications, services and platforms interact.

Understand which systems exchange information, which applications depend on shared services and where concentrated dependencies could affect change or continuity.

Dependency visibility is particularly valuable when planning modernization, application retirement or major transformation initiatives.

Technology Landscape

Capture the technology platforms, environments, standards and lifecycle information relevant to architecture decisions.

This can help identify aging technologies, unsupported components, strategic platforms and areas where technology standards need to be rationalized.

Para's broader technology portfolio includes Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Azure, Dynamics, Sitecore, Power BI and other enterprise technologies, providing a practical context for this type of technology landscape work.

Roadmap & Governance

Connect the current state to the desired direction.

Use architecture information to support target-state decisions, transition roadmaps, architecture reviews, investment discussions and transformation initiatives.

How It Works

Enterprise architecture becomes useful when information can move from discovery into actual decision-making.

1. Establish the model

Agree on the business capability model, asset categories, ownership structure and minimum information needed to support decisions.

Avoid attempting to document everything.

Focus first on the information required to answer the questions leadership, architecture and transformation teams actually need to answer.

2. Collect and normalize

Bring together existing inventories, architecture documents, project information, technology lists and subject-matter knowledge.

Normalize terminology and remove obvious duplication so different teams are no longer describing the same asset or capability in incompatible ways.

Where information is incomplete, identify gaps rather than presenting assumptions as facts.

3. Map relationships

Connect the major elements of the estate.

Link:

Capabilities → Information → Applications → Integrations → Technology

Add ownership, lifecycle and transformation information where relevant.

This creates a view of the enterprise that shows both the assets and the relationships between them.

4. Assess and classify

Use the connected view to identify areas requiring attention.

Examples include:

• Duplicate applications
• Aging technology
• Unclear ownership
• High dependency concentration
• Business-critical legacy systems
• Gaps in capability coverage
• Modernization candidates
• Potential retirement candidates
• Architecture exceptions
• Areas requiring further discovery

The assessment should provide evidence for decisions rather than automatically prescribing a particular technology outcome.

5. Use and govern

Bring the architecture view into the processes where decisions are made.

Use it during:

• Architecture reviews
• Transformation planning
• Application portfolio reviews
• Technology investment discussions
• Modernization planning
• Project initiation
• Change-impact assessment
• Governance forums

Keep the information current through defined ownership and appropriate update processes.

Business Outcomes

A connected architecture and asset view should improve the quality and speed of enterprise decisions.

Organizations can use the capability to achieve:

• A shared enterprise view that reduces repeated discovery and conflicting versions of the estate.
• Better application portfolio decisions by connecting technical information with business capability and strategic relevance.
• More informed modernization planning through clearer visibility of lifecycle and dependencies.
• Clearer ownership and accountability for important enterprise assets.
• Improved change-impact visibility by understanding relationships between systems, information and capabilities.
• More consistent architecture governance through a common baseline for project and transformation decisions.
• Better investment discussions by connecting technology assets to the capabilities and services they support.
• A stronger foundation for technology roadmaps by linking current-state conditions with target-state direction.
• Reduced reliance on individual architecture knowledge by making important enterprise information more accessible and structured.
• Better coordination between architecture and delivery teams through a shared understanding of the current environment.

The goal is not simply a more complete inventory, it is a more usable picture of the enterprise.

Typical Use Cases

Transformation Portfolio Planning

Understand which business capabilities, applications, information domains and technology platforms are affected before sequencing major transformation initiatives.

Use the architecture view to identify dependencies, potential conflicts and areas requiring additional discovery.

Application Rationalization

Identify overlapping applications, low-value assets, aging platforms, modernization candidates and potential retirement opportunities.

Compare applications against business capability, strategic direction, lifecycle and technical condition rather than evaluating each system independently.

M&A or Organizational change

Create a consolidated view of applications, technology, information and ownership following a merger, acquisition, divestment or major organizational change.

Use the view to identify duplication, integration requirements and areas where operating responsibilities need to be clarified.

Technology Modernization

Prioritize legacy platforms and understand the dependencies that surround them.

Before replacing or re-platforming a system, identify which capabilities depend on it, which applications exchange information with it and what downstream changes may be required.

Operational Resilience

Map dependencies around critical business capabilities and services.

Understand where applications, integrations, information stores or technology platforms create concentrated dependencies that could affect continuity or recovery planning.

Architecture governance

Give architecture authorities, delivery teams and project stakeholders a common baseline for reviewing proposed changes.

Use existing standards, capabilities, dependencies and target-state direction to make architecture decisions more consistent across projects and programs.

Technology Portfolio Planning

Connect lifecycle, ownership, business fit and strategic direction to the broader technology portfolio.

This can help leaders identify where investment should increase, where modernization is needed and where existing capabilities may be consolidated.

Connected Para Capabilities

Enterprise Assets & Architecture should connect naturally to the other capabilities required to act on the information.

Para's public portfolio spans enterprise portals and collaboration, custom applications, BI and analytics, automation, cloud solutions and enterprise project management, creating a broader delivery context around architecture work.

Enterprise Architecture & Roadmapping

Translate the current-state asset view into target-state architecture and transition roadmaps.

Define architectural direction while keeping the practical sequence of change visible.

IT Transformation

Turn portfolio findings into actionable transformation initiatives.

Architecture can identify where re-platforming, rationalization, modernization, integration or application change may be required; transformation delivery can then turn those findings into programs and projects.

Custom Applications

Design or modernize applications where the architecture assessment identifies a business or technology gap that cannot be addressed effectively through existing products.

Para's documented custom application capability includes native mobile applications, modern web applications, SharePoint SPFx solutions, application customization and modernization.

Data & Analytics

Connect information domains, data ownership and reporting assets to the wider enterprise architecture.

This helps ensure that data decisions are considered alongside the applications and platforms that create, store, transform and consume the information.

Para's documented analytics portfolio includes enterprise data models, data hubs, enterprise data warehousing, tabular models and Power BI dashboards.

Automation

Identify opportunities to simplify or automate processes based on the relationships between systems, people and business capabilities.

Architecture provides the context for deciding where automation should sit and which applications or integrations it needs to interact with.

Para's public portfolio includes RPA, UiPath and business process automation.

Cloud Solutions

Use the enterprise view to assess where cloud adoption, migration or modernization fits within the technology landscape.

Para's published cloud capability covers IaaS, PaaS and SaaS environments and positions cloud as part of application, infrastructure and analytics modernization.

Enterprise Project Management

Connect architecture findings to the programs and initiatives responsible for delivering change.

This helps move from an architecture observation to a governed portfolio of actions, priorities and transition activities.

Para's public portfolio identifies Enterprise Project Management as a capability alongside its broader enterprise technology services.

Need a clearer view of the enterprise before making the next transformation decision?

Transformation becomes harder when leaders cannot clearly see what they already own, how it connects or what a proposed change will affect.

Para helps organizations create a capability-aligned view of business capabilities, information, applications, integrations and technology that can support portfolio, modernization and architecture decisions.

Talk to Para about establishing an enterprise asset and architecture baseline that turns fragmented technology knowledge into a more usable foundation for change.

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