Application retirement
Encyclopedia
Application retirement is the practice of shutting down redundant
or obsolete business applications while retaining access to the historical data
. Legacy applications are often maintained solely to provide infrequent or sporadic access to the data within the application database
for regulatory or business purposes. With organizations spending upwards of 75% of their application software
budgets on ongoing maintenance
, application retirement can deliver significant cost savings.
The act of application retirement usually involves relocating data
from the legacy application database
to another data repository
or archive
store that can be accessed independently using industry standard
reporting or business intelligence
tools. Application retirement allows IT
departments within companies to reduce the software, hardware and resources required to manage legacy data. Application retirement is also referred to as application decommissioning and application sunsetting.
Data redundancy
Data redundancy occurs in database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more tables. For instance, in case when customer data is duplicated and attached with each product bought then redundancy of data is a known source of inconsistency, since customer might appear with different...
or obsolete business applications while retaining access to the historical data
Data (computing)
In computer science, data is information in a form suitable for use with a computer. Data is often distinguished from programs. A program is a sequence of instructions that detail a task for the computer to perform...
. Legacy applications are often maintained solely to provide infrequent or sporadic access to the data within the application database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
for regulatory or business purposes. With organizations spending upwards of 75% of their application software
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
budgets on ongoing maintenance
Data maintenance
Data maintenance is the adding, deleting, changing and updating of binary and high-level files, and the real world data associated with those files. Data can be maintained manually and/or through an automated program, but at origination and translation/delivery point must be translated into a...
, application retirement can deliver significant cost savings.
The act of application retirement usually involves relocating data
Data migration
Data migration is the process of transferring data between storage types, formats, or computer systems. Data migration is usually performed programmatically to achieve an automated migration, freeing up human resources from tedious tasks...
from the legacy application database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
to another data repository
Software repository
A software repository is a storage location from which software packages may be retrieved and installed on a computer.- Discussion :Many software publishers and other organizations maintain servers on the Internet for this purpose, either free of charge or for a subscription fee...
or archive
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
store that can be accessed independently using industry standard
Standardization
Standardization is the process of developing and implementing technical standards.The goals of standardization can be to help with independence of single suppliers , compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality....
reporting or business intelligence
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
tools. Application retirement allows IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
departments within companies to reduce the software, hardware and resources required to manage legacy data. Application retirement is also referred to as application decommissioning and application sunsetting.