More Than a List. A Way to Drive Change.
Application Portfolio Manager catalogs every application you run, maps each one to your business capabilities, and shows the data flows you record between them. Then, when an application's disposition changes — to Pilot, Sunset, Retired — it turns that change into the real work items it requires, on a workback plan with real due dates.
Free during the beta. After the beta, plans start at $18/mo with a 30-day free trial. See pricing →
Retiring "Legacy CRM" — a scheduled workback plan
One click from the application's edit form. Every date computed backward from the target date.
Catalog. Visualize. Automate.
Application Portfolio Manager isn't a spreadsheet with a nicer skin. It's three connected capabilities most inventory tools keep separate — and connecting them is what lets the portfolio drive real work instead of just describing it.
Build the Catalog
Add applications by hand, paste a summary from an AI assistant into the JSON import, or bring your whole inventory in via CSV — matching rows update in place instead of creating duplicates. Read applications in automatically from ServiceNow or Vertice, and re-syncing never overwrites the edits you've already made.
Map and Visualize
Link each application to a primary capability and any number of supporting capabilities from your Capability Modeler map, and record which other applications it gets data from and feeds data to. A full network diagram lays out every application and data flow in the portfolio, automatically arranged to keep crossing lines to a minimum.
Drive the Change
Set an application's Disposition and click "Add related work items" to schedule its pre-configured checklist — as a workback plan from a target date, or forward from a start date. Every item lands on the shared Worklist, assignable, trackable, with recurring reviews that reschedule themselves on completion.
A Disposition Change Isn't Just a Status Update
Most portfolio tools stop at recording that an application moved from Active to Sunset. Application Portfolio Manager treats that moment as the start of real, trackable work — because retiring, piloting, or sunsetting an application always takes more than editing a field.
Configurable, per-disposition checklists
Every portfolio starts pre-populated with a best-practice checklist for each of the five dispositions — Planned, Pilot, Active, Sunset, Retired — fully yours to edit, reorder, or replace. Each item carries a workday estimate, counted from the checklist's start (or, working backward, from its end).
One click turns a checklist into a real worklist
On the application's edit form, "+ Add related work items" previews the checklist configured for its new Disposition, lets you pick the anchor date, and creates one worklist item per checklist entry — ready to assign. Completing a recurring item automatically schedules its next occurrence, counted from whenever it was actually completed, so a late review never permanently drags every future one behind it.
See it on a real disposition change →What Goes In
A real sample file — the same format the importer accepts, including the Upstream and Downstream columns that seed the data-flow diagrams described above.
Input: an application inventory spreadsheet
The first few rows of a real sample CSV (synthetic data — no real organization or application). Rows are matched to existing applications by (Short Name, Version Number); a match updates that application in place, no match creates a new one.
| Short Name | Full Name | Type | Disposition | Vendor | Upstream | Downstream |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WebCMS | Web Content Management System | saas_web_app | active | Adobe Experience Manager | APP-1001 | APP-1002;APP-1009 |
| DAM | Digital Asset Management | saas_web_app | active | Bynder | — | APP-1000 |
| WebPersonalize | Web Personalization Engine | saas_web_app | pilot | Adobe Target | APP-1000;APP-1011 | APP-1004 |
| CIAM | Customer Identity & Access Management | security | active | Okta CIAM | — | APP-1004;APP-1011 |
Where This Fits
Your inventory lives in a spreadsheet, or three
Applications tracked in a spreadsheet, a wiki page, and someone's memory. You need one catalog everyone with access sees and edits together — not another copy to keep in sync.
You need to know what a change will touch
Before you change or retire an application, you want to see what it is recorded as receiving and feeding — a single-application view for one decision, or the full network for the whole landscape — so you know whom to ask. The owners confirm the real impact.
Retirements and migrations keep slipping
A Disposition change used to mean "someone should handle that eventually." Now it means a dated checklist lands on a shared worklist with one click.
Your source of truth is ServiceNow or Vertice
Keep that system as the system of record and read its applications straight into your portfolio — matched conservatively, refreshed on demand, without clobbering the manual edits you've made since.
What Does a Healthy Application Portfolio Look Like?
Application portfolio health is decision readiness, not runtime monitoring of uptime or errors. A healthy portfolio gives leaders enough current, accountable evidence to decide where to invest, tolerate risk, modernize, consolidate or retire — not a portfolio where every application scores well.
| Dimension | The question it answers | What Application Portfolio Manager records |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory coverage | Do we know which applications are in scope? | The application catalog |
| Ownership | Is there an accountable business and technical contact? | Department and contacts, with a filter for applications missing them |
| Business context | Which capabilities depend on it? | Primary and supporting capability links |
| Evidence freshness | When was it last reviewed, and by whom? | A Last Validated date set by Review Campaign responses (Corporate accounts) |
| Assessment coverage | Do we have current value and fitness evidence? | Business value and technical fitness scores (1 to 5, or not assessed), shown together on the TIME Quadrant report, plus a five-point feature-fit score |
| Lifecycle exposure | What is approaching end of support? | Disposition and version expiration date |
| Cost coverage | Do costs use a defined basis? | An annual cost per application (no currency is stored, so keep one) |
| Dependency visibility | Are material flows recorded and reviewed? | Recorded upstream and downstream data flows |
| Decision coverage | Is there an explicit decision where one is needed? | Disposition, the Target flag, and custom fields or notes for the rationale |
| Execution | Do approved changes have owners, dates and completion? | Worklist items with assignee, due date and completion |
Keep these as separate measures rather than one blended score, so you can see whether the next step is data stewardship, ownership, modernization or unfinished change. Application Portfolio Manager records the evidence; it doesn’t calculate a health score. A named contact isn’t proof of accountability, and a recorded disposition isn’t proof the change happened. For deciding what to do with the results, see application rationalization.
Everything Above, Plus the Details
Add from JSON
Paste a summary from an AI assistant using a template built from your own custom fields. Nothing saves until you review and click Save.
Re-import safely
Export, edit in a spreadsheet, and re-import — matching (Short Name, Version Number) rows update in place instead of creating duplicates.
ServiceNow & Vertice integrations
Read applications in automatically, with conservative name-matching that flags anything ambiguous instead of guessing and merging by mistake.
Data-flow diagrams
A single-application view of direct upstream/downstream neighbors, or a full network diagram of every application and link in the portfolio.
Capability mapping
Assign a primary capability and any number of supporting capabilities from your Capability Modeler map, and filter the whole portfolio by capability group.
Worklist with recurring reviews
Schedule one-off or recurring work items per application; completing a recurring item reschedules its next occurrence automatically.
Per-disposition work item templates
Configure the standard checklist for Planned, Pilot, Active, Sunset, and Retired — starts pre-populated, fully editable.
Guided find-and-replace
Update a contact's name across every application that references it — reviewed and approved one match at a time, or apply a new contact to a whole department at once.
Custom fields & configurable columns
Add Text, Number, or Yes/No fields specific to your portfolio, then choose exactly which fields show in the list and in the printed report — independently.
Printable reports & CSV export
An application list report, a worklist report of every item — open and completed — and a full CSV export independent of your on-screen column choices.
Share with your team
Invite people at Admin, Editor, or Viewer access — one portfolio everyone with access sees and edits together.
Works with the rest of the suite
Map applications to a model you build in Capability Modeler, and link Architecture Repository elements to your applications — your landscape, capability map and repository stay connected.
What's True Right Now
Application Portfolio Manager is in beta. Here's exactly where things stand.
- Accounts are free during the beta. After the beta, every plan starts with a 30-day free trial — no charge until it ends, and you can cancel before then.
- Sign in with just an email address.
- Your connection to Application Portfolio Manager is encrypted (HTTPS).
- Export your data as CSV at any time — nothing is locked in a proprietary format.
- An integration's API key is encrypted before storage and never shown again, even to you.
- Features will change while the product is in beta and likely will continue to change as we improve. Your data will be protected so that we do not lose anything as the product evolves.
Full details in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
I am so tired of expensive Enterprise Architecture tools that don't do the things I want. I want tools that do the boring work — like laying out a model I can actually hand to someone.— Nick Malik, the Enterprise Architect building this
Application Portfolio Manager is built and operated by CTO Resources LLC, a Washington State company, as part of the Useful EA suite of tools. See the Terms of Service for the full legal details.
Common Questions
Is this just an application inventory list?
No — that's the starting point, not the whole tool. Beyond the catalog, it visualizes the upstream/downstream data flowing between applications as network diagrams, and when an application's Disposition changes, it schedules the actual work items that change requires, on dates computed forward or backward from a target date.
How does the disposition-triggered work item checklist work?
Each of the five dispositions (Planned, Pilot, Active, Sunset, Retired) has its own configurable checklist, pre-populated with a best-practice starting point. Changing an application's Disposition and clicking "+ Add related work items" creates one worklist item per checklist entry, all unassigned and ready to hand out, either chained forward from a start date or worked backward from a target completion date.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs entirely in your browser.
Can I bring in applications from ServiceNow or Vertice?
Yes — configure a source under Integrations and click "Read now." Matching is deliberately conservative: a clear match updates the linked application, an ambiguous one is flagged for you to resolve by hand rather than guessed at.
What format does my spreadsheet need to be in?
A CSV file. Export first to get a template with every supported column, including your own custom fields. Rows are matched to existing applications by Short Name and Version Number; a match updates that application, no match creates a new one.
Is Application Portfolio Manager free?
During the beta, Useful EA accounts are free; these prices apply after the beta ends. Every plan starts with a 30-day free trial. After that, Individual plans start at $18/mo — see full pricing for Individual and Corporate options.
Does this connect to the other Useful EA tools?
Yes. Each application can be mapped to a primary capability and any number of supporting capabilities from a model you build in Capability Modeler, and Architecture Repository can link its elements to your applications. Otherwise the tools keep their own data, and each exports it.
Where can I learn everything it can do?
The full user guide covers every feature in detail — the catalog, data-flow diagrams, custom fields, search and replace, the worklist, work item templates, reports, integrations, and sharing.
Catalog It. Visualize It. Drive the Change.
Accounts are free during the beta. After the beta, every plan starts with a 30-day free trial.
Open Application Portfolio Manager →