Introduction: From Insight to Influence
Communication and storytelling lie at the heart of success with Enterprise Architecture. There is little value in gaining great insights if you are unable to persuade others to take action, since the architect is more often the messenger than the one empowered to direct the response.
The visualizations in Ardoq Foundation provide the seeds of a story worth developing and telling. Your role is often that of the messenger, and success hinges on persuading others to take action. This framework helps you find those foundational stories - the valuable narratives that translate data anomalies into crucial business outcomes like cost savings and risk avoidance.
💡 Note
What's Next? Enriching and Engaging
So you've spent some time in Ardoq and collected some data. What's next? The goal is to start enriching it and growing engagement with it. This will ultimately help demonstrate the value of EA.
How to Engage? Look for the 'seeds' of a story.
The pre-built Ardoq Presentation slides are the starting point for an investigation. They are not the final answer.
Use this guide to quickly identify anomalies, the "clues you can look for" or the "Story Seeds" that persuade stakeholders to take action, securing quick wins and building the reputation of your EA practice.
* Note for Existing Customers: If you became an Ardoq customer before October 2025, you need to have ALM, OM, BCM, and BCR solutions deployed in your organization to have access to the pre-built presentations and viewpoints we are referencing in this guide.
Application Portfolio: Identifying Risk and Cost Opportunities
1. Criticality Distribution
Where it can be spotted: the pre-built Application Portfolio dashboard.
The Anomaly to Investigate: High numbers at either extreme (many score 4 or 5, or many score very low impact). If left unchecked, high numbers at either end suggest unnecessary complexity that could inflate costs.
Why It Matters:
⬆️ High volume of high-impact apps might point to inconsistent definitions or exaggerated importance.
⬇️ High volumes of low-impact apps suggest the organization is paying 'complexity tax' on tools that don't drive value.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Validate the distribution; check if IT and Enterprise leaders are aware of these proportions.
Click segments to access reports with the list of such applications and their owners to review them for any odd scores directly with the people responsible for these apps.
Value Story: Present consolidation potential to reduce both risks and costs, highlighting unnecessary complexity.
Who to reach out to:
Application Owners for apps with extreme criticality scores
IT Leadership (e.g. Head of IT, CIO delegates)
Enterprise or Business Leadership responsible for prioritization
2. Lifecycle Phase and Portfolio Growth
Where it can be spotted: the Application Portfolio dashboard.
The Anomaly to Investigate: A high volume of applications in the Implementing phase, or virtually nothing in the Retiring phase.
Why It Matters:
⬇️ Low retirement might suggest a lack of forward thinking and strategic planning.
⬆️ High implementation suggests the IT team might be attempting too much change at once.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Validate the signal against reality:
Before acting, confirm that what you see in the chart aligns with what you already know about organization’s current state and context. If there’s a mismatch, identify whether it’s a data gap, a modeling issue, or a real change underway.Assess whether senior management is aware of the high implementation volume and low retirement rate, and whether this reflects an intentional strategy or an emerging risk.
If retirements are low:
Determine whether the resulting portfolio growth (and increased cost) is deliberate or the result of oversight or stalled decommissioning.If implementations are high:
Check for overlapping tools or “shadow IT” that could be consolidated to reduce cost and risk.
Value Story: Highlight potential capacity strain or gaps in strategic forward planning that need organizational recognition.
Who to reach out to:
Application Owners of Implementing and Retiring applications
Portfolio or Program Management Office (PMO)
IT Leadership responsible for roadmap and capacity planning
3. Critical App Ownership by Org Unit
Where it can be spotted: pre-built Ardoq Viewpoint “Applications by Org Unit”
The Anomaly to Investigate:
An organizational unit that uses too many applications or very few applications.
Why It Matters:
This can point to hidden problems, such as overload, inefficiency, or gaps in support that are not easy to see at first.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Look at the dependency map and spot units that stand out.
Check if there is a clear and reasonable explanation.
Talk to the manager (owner) of those units to learn more.
View the map from the other direction (the Application -> Org Unit viewpoint) to see which applications are used by many units and which are used by only a few.
Value Story:
Find risks and improvement opportunities early, so you can reduce risks and make better decisions.
Who to reach out to:
Managers (Owners) of the organizational units that stand out
Business unit leaders responsible for application usage
EA colleagues supporting org design or operating model discussions
4. Critical App Ownership & Expertise
Where it can be spotted: pre-built Ardoq Presentation “Org Structure and Ownership - FND”
The Anomaly to Investigate: An individual is responsible for many critical applications, suggesting they may have the effect of a single point of failure.
Why It Matters: This creates a significant, often unrecognized, organizational risk.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Filter to look at the most business-critical applications.
Explore the repository further to identify potential candidates to share the burden.
Value Story: Mitigate a serious organizational risk by proposing solutions to share the burden.
Who to reach out to:
Individuals owning multiple critical applications
Their line managers
Risk management, resilience, or continuity teams
HR or workforce planning partners (if skills concentration is severe)
5. Application Portfolio Timeline
Where it can be spotted: pre-built Ardoq viewpoint “Application Portfolio Timeline - FND”
Anomaly A: Phasing Out Without a Successor
The Anomaly to Investigate: Applications marked as Phasing Out that do not have a linked successor.
Why It Matters: This often indicates a significant failure in planning; if an app is ending soon but nothing is replacing it, the business process it supports is at risk.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Determine if the successor data is simply missing or if the replacement project has stalled.
Assess if this is a delivery failure (projects didn't finish) or a communication gap between IT and the Business.
Value Story: Highlight a potential communication failure or a larger organizational design issue that the EA team can help address.
Who to reach out to:
Application Owners
Product Managers or Business Owners of the supported processes
PMO or Transformation leads responsible for replacement initiatives
Anomaly B: "Zombie" Applications (Retired but Live)
The Anomaly to Investigate (The Story Seed): Applications marked as Retired in the lifecycle but shown as still Live on the timeline.
Why It Matters: This suggests a delivery failure or a serious communication breakdown; the organization may still be paying for or exposed to risks from an app they think is gone.
Actionable Investigation Steps: Identify if the application is still live because the decommissioning project failed to execute.
Assess if this is a delivery failure (projects didn't finish) or a communication gap between IT and the Business.
Verify if the "Retired" status was prematurely set without confirming the tool was actually switched off.
Value Story: Highlight a potential communication failure or a larger organizational design issue that the EA team can help address.
Who to reach out to:
Application Owners
IT Operations / Service Management teams
Finance or Procurement (to confirm ongoing costs or contracts)
Strategic Business & IT Alignment
1. Application Importance: Business vs. IT
Where it can be spotted: the last slide of the pre-built “App Portfolio: Usage and Value - FND” Presentation.
The Anomaly to Investigate: Applications where business importance and IT service level do not match. The data should broadly follow a diagonal line from top left to bottom right. The most critical applications should be receiving the highest level of IT Service, with the levels aligned from the highest to the lowest.
Why It Matters: These contradictions often arise from communication failure between business teams and IT teams, or because simple assumptions have never been verified. Top-Right (Low Criticality / High Service) costs money. Bottom-Left (High Criticality / Low Service) represents a serious corporate risk.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Review the chart and look for applications that sit far from the expected diagonal pattern.
Focus on applications that are not very critical but receive very high service levels.
Also, check applications that are very critical but receive low service levels.
Talk to business and IT owners to confirm whether these differences are intentional or accidental.
Value Story: Quickly gain senior management attention by demonstrating potential cost savings and highlighting urgent corporate risk gaps.
Who to reach out to:
Business Owners who define application criticality
IT Service Owners responsible for service levels
IT Leadership accountable for service cost and risk decisions
2. TIME Model Bubble Chart
Where it can be spotted: the 8th slide of the pre-built “App Portfolio: Usage and Value - FND
Presentation.”
The Anomaly to Investigate: Applications positioned in the Eliminate or Migrate quadrants.
Why It Matters: This chart is a signal for where to investigate and where you could potentially save money, not what to do. Decisions require understanding the application's role in the wider IT ecosystem (integrations, users, data).
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Use internally: The chart is for investigation, not a direct presentation.
Narrow the scope; investigate the application's cost and connections before a decision is taken. Cross-reference with planned transformation initiatives. You can make use of Ardoq’s Application Integration Management, Application Hosting, IT Cost Management and Application Rationalization Solutions for just that subset of applications, allowing you to move much faster towards your goal. The chart, then, is not your outcome, but the beginning of a story that will lead you to an even bigger outcome.
Value Story: Potentially reduce unnecessary costs and uncover hidden risks by aligning IT service levels with what the business truly depends on, showing clear value from Enterprise Architecture insights.
Who to reach out to:
Application Owners of Eliminate or Migrate candidates
Architecture and Application Rationalization stakeholders
Integration, Hosting, or Cost Management teams
Transformation or Program leads (to confirm existing plans)
3. Business Capability Realization
Where it can be spotted: the second slide of the pre-built “Bus Cap and the Value of IT - FND.”
The Anomaly to Investigate (The Story Seed): High Market Differentiation combined with Low Maturity. OR High Maturity for a capability that is not differentiating.
Why It Matters: High Differentiation/Low Maturity is a strategic gap. High Maturity in a non-differentiating area may involve unnecessary cost or represent a missed revenue opportunity.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Market Differentiation should identify the things the business needs to be good at, if it is to stand out from its competition, so if maturity is low, investigate the strategic gap.
If maturity is high but non-differentiating, determine if the high cost is necessary, or if it represents a missed revenue opportunity - if your organization is so good at them, might they represent a business opportunity?
Value Story: Initiate a discussion on capability based planning and targeted investment.
Who to reach out to:
Business Capability Owners
Strategy or Corporate Planning teams
Senior business leaders responsible for differentiation and growth
4. Capability Application Support
Where it can be spotted: The last slide of the pre-built “Bus Cap and the Value of IT - FND” Presentation.
The Anomaly to Investigate: A highly Market Differentiating capability realized by problematic applications ("red" or low value). Look out also for capabilities that have a high maturity score, but contain red applications.
Why It Matters: Problematic applications are impeding the effective delivery of the business capability.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Assess if the business is achieving high maturity despite poor application support (working around it).
Determine if the capability could be even better if the application were improved.
Value Story: Drive improvement projects to address applications that are impeding effective delivery, allowing the capability to be even better.
Who to reach out to:
Business Capability Owners
Application Owners of problematic (red/low-value) systems
IT Architecture or Delivery teams responsible for improvements
5. Business Capability Experts by People
Where to spot it: the second slide of the pre-built “Bus Cap and the Value of IT - FND” Presentation.
The Anomaly to Investigate:
Business capabilities that are very important for the market but have no or too few experts.
Why It Matters:
If key capabilities depend on only a few people, the organization is at risk if those people leave or are unavailable.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Identify capabilities with high market importance but low expert coverage.
Check whether business leaders are aware of these risks.
Look for experts in related capabilities who could help fill the gap.
Propose training, hiring, or knowledge-sharing actions.
Value Story: Reduce people-related risk by strengthening expert coverage in the capabilities that matter most to the business.
Who to reach out to:
Business Capability Owners
Line managers of key experts
HR, Learning & Development, or Talent teams
Risk or Continuity stakeholders (if dependency is critical)
6. Business Capability Investment Candidates
Where it can be spotted: the last slide of the Bus Cap and the “Value of IT - FND” presentation.
Capability based planning and investment is a business planning approach that is growing in popularity. The insights here can help you buy a seat at that planning and budgeting table.
The Anomaly to Investigate:
Capabilities with low maturity or low business value.
Why It Matters:
Weak capabilities can limit business performance and growth if they are not improved over time.
Actionable Investigation Steps:
Identify capabilities with low maturity or value scores.
Explore why these scores are low.
Assess whether targeted investment could improve them.
Use these insights to support planning and budgeting discussions.
Value Story: Support smarter investment decisions by clearly showing where improvements can deliver the most business value.
Who to reach out to:
Business Capability Owners
Finance and Budgeting teams
Strategy, Transformation, or Investment Planning forums
Senior business sponsors prioritizing growth or efficiency
Summary
This article follows one simple idea: the charts, dashboards, and visualizations you start with in Ardoq are not the conclusion of the story — they are the opening scene.
The visuals surface patterns, gaps, and contradictions, but they do not explain why they exist or what should be done next. That part is up to you. As an Enterprise Architect, your value lies in turning these early signals into meaningful narratives that others can understand, trust, and act on.
We’ve shown how the out-of-the-box assets help you spot these early signals — the moments where something looks unusual, misaligned, or risky. From there, Ardoq gives you the tools to investigate further, connect perspectives, and build a story that fits your organization’s unique context.
When done well, these stories lead to outcomes that matter: clearer business insights, smarter investment decisions, reduced costs, and avoided risks. More importantly, they help stakeholders see the value of Enterprise Architecture — and leave them wanting to explore the next story with you.