The AppScore Cloud Accelerator provides the fastest, most cost-effective way to conduct discovery.
It is a unique discovery-as-a-service offering provided under a subscription model that leverages the power of the AppScore platform together with a proven methodology underpinned by three critical success factors (covered here in detail).
In this article, we describe the service elements provided in the subscription levels, which are shown in the table below.
AppScore Platform
The AppScore platform is at the heart of the Cloud Accelerator and is provided with all subscription levels. Use of the platform (as with the Cloud Accelerator) is licensed and charged per month based on the number of servers in the instance. The number of users and applications in AppScore is unlimited.
"Application" in the AppScore context means a business application or component that makes up a business service. For example, an HR platform, a CRM, a time management application or infrastructure services like Active Directory or Exchange are considered applications. Software applications like anti-virus, monitoring tools, and so on that run on servers are not considered applications in the AppScore context.
The aim of the Cloud Accelerator is to rapidly populate the AppScore platform with information on your application estate, enabling you to quickly move through discovery and get on with migration and modernisation.
Support
AppScore Standard provides email access to support M-F 9-5 UK timezone with an 8-hour response time.
With the Cloud Accelerator, Premium support is included which has a faster response time and, if needed, direct access to an AppScore specialist to resolve support issues.
Product Training
Training is included with all AppScore subscriptions and follows a standard training plan made up of several modules covering configuration, data capture, tuning, planning and migration. Training is delivered via remote web sessions.
Technical Account Manager (TAM)
A dedicated TAM is provided with the Cloud Accelerator subscriptions. Your TAM is available M-F 9-5 to provide assistance with configurations, scoring refinements or any other product usage questions.
AppScore is the most configurable cloud migration and modernisation platform available, your TAM will help align AppScore to your specific organisational and programme requirements.
The TAM will also provide 1-1 demonstrations of new product features.
Data loading service
Data from almost any source can be loaded into AppScore by APIs or CSV.
With the Data loading service, AppScore's specialists will load any of your data into the platform. That could be CMDB extracts, application catalogues or output from discovery tools or management and monitoring platforms.
Provide the data in any standard format, such as CSV, spreadsheet or API to a discovery or management tool, and we'll process it and load it into your AppScore instance.
Application dependency mapping service
Under Cloud Accelerator Plus, we'll map your servers and databases to applications.
In some cases, this can be done through analysis of data sources but will always involve talking to infrastructure and application teams to verify the information. No discovery agent can determine dependency mapping with 100% accuracy, often these tools fail to determine different environments or assets that are used infrequently.
Cloud Accelerator Plus ensures that information is as accurate as possible and gaps in knowledge are clearly highlighted to ensure you understand the risks affecting your programme.
Application information capture service
The Application information capture service is used to answer the AppScore questionnaires, which provide 7Rs assessments with scores for risk, complexity and benefit.
Where information can be determined from data sources such as application catalogues, this will be loaded into your AppScore instance. But, as with the dependency mapping service, information will always be checked with infrastructure and application teams to complete the questionnaires.
Recognising that your teams are busy, the Cloud Accelerator methodology, together with the AppScore platform, is designed to reduce the impact on their time. Our experience is these sessions can take just 20-30 minutes per application, which can often be reduced further where a team can provide details on multiple apps on one call.
No SOWs, no change control
The Cloud Accelerator is a unique discovery-as-a-service offering provided through a monthly subscription.
You can switch between subscription levels at any time. Upgrades to a higher level take immediate effect and downgrade with effect from the start of the following month.
We don't have defined limits, instead, we apply a fair use policy. For example, if you pay for a 10-server subscription and ask us to run an Application information capture service on 500 applications, we're going to say no. But if you pay for a realistic number of servers and there are a few more applications than expected we won't charge any extra.
Proven methodology
The Cloud Accelerator is delivered using a proven methodology underpinned by the three critical success factors described here. This, combined with a monthly subscription and the option to switch between service levels to suit the needs of your programme, makes the Cloud Accelerator the fastest and most cost-effective way to complete discovery on your application estate.
To find out how the AppScore Cloud Accelerator will help your cloud migration programme deliver results book a session with our expert team here.