Documenting Your Digital Estate

As enterprises evolve and grow, the digital estate often becomes a complex web of interconnected systems and interactions. Documenting this estate is a crucial step in preparing for digital transformation. This guide will walk you through the process of using a comprehensive template to document your digital estate, exporting the data as CSV files, and importing it into the Revelation App.

Download the Workbook

To assist you in documenting your digital estate, we have prepared a workbook that contains the Systems and Interactions worksheets. You can download the workbook here.

The Systems Worksheet

The Systems Worksheet is designed to capture detailed information about each system within the enterprise. The following fields are included in the worksheet:

  • ID (mandatory): A unique identifier for each system.
  • TEXT (mandatory): The name of the system.
  • TYPE (mandatory): Indicates that the entry is a system.
  • Description: A brief description of the system.
  • Owner/Department: The department or owner responsible for the system.
  • Primary Function: The main functionalities of the system.
  • Technology Stack: Technologies used in the system.
  • Product/Vendor: The product name and vendor.
  • Number of Users: The number of users who use the system.
  • License Information: Details about the system's licensing.
  • Cost: The cost associated with the system.
  • Support Provider: Who provides support for the system.
  • Support Hours: The hours during which support is available.
  • TIME Status: Tolerate, Invest, Migrate, Eliminate (used to determine future actions for the system).
  • Issues/Challenges: Current issues or challenges faced with the system.
  • Future Improvements/Plans: Planned upgrades or improvements.
  • Compliance Requirements: Any regulatory or compliance needs.
  • Business Impact: How critical the system is to business operations.
  • User Feedback: Summary of user satisfaction or common complaints.
  • Performance Metrics: Key performance indicators like uptime, response time, etc.
  • Data Sensitivity: Level of sensitivity of the data handled by the system.
  • System of Record Data Entities: Key data entities for which this system is the system of record.

Note: Only the fields in uppercase are mandatory. All other fields are optional and fields can be added or removed to suit the needs of your transformation project.

The Interactions Worksheet

The Interactions Worksheet captures the interactions between systems, detailing how data flows through the enterprise. The following fields are included in the worksheet:

  • ID (mandatory): A unique identifier for each interaction.
  • FROMID (mandatory): The ID of the source system.
  • TOID (mandatory): The ID of the target system.
  • TYPE (mandatory): Indicates that the entry is an interaction.
  • TEXT: Description of the data or information exchanged.
  • Frequency: How often the interaction occurs.
  • Method of Integration: The method used for integration (e.g., API, ETL, Message Queue).
  • Security Measures: Security protocols in place for the interaction.
  • Issues/Challenges: Current issues or challenges faced with the interaction.
  • Future Improvements/Plans: Planned upgrades or improvements.
  • Data Entities Flowing: Key data entities involved in the interaction.

Note: Only the fields in uppercase are mandatory. All other fields are optional and fields can be added or removed to suit the needs of your transformation project.

Importing into Revelation

The easiest way to view your workbook is to open the workbook directly in Revelation. To do this:

  1. Open the Revelation App at https://revelationcore.com/app and navigate to the File menu.
  2. Select the Open option to open the file dialog.
  3. Select xlsx as the File Type and locate the file to be imported using Choose File.
  4. Click the Open button to upload the workbook into Revelation.

Alternatively, worksheets can be exported as CSV files and imported into the Revelation App.

  • Save each worksheet as a separate CSV file.
  • Systems Worksheet: Save as systems.csv.
  • Interactions Worksheet: Save as interactions.csv.

You can download the systems CSV file here.

You can download the interactions CSV file here.

To import the CSV files into Revelation:

  1. Open the Revelation App and navigate to the File menu.
  2. Select the Import option to open the import dialog.
  3. In the import dialog, select the systems.csv file for the Systems File input.
  4. Select the interactions.csv file for the Interactions File input.
  5. If you want to add this data to existing records, check the Add To Existing checkbox.
  6. Click the Import button to upload and import your CSV files into the Revelation App.

Revelation File Import Dialog