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Configuration of an Application Survey

In addition to connecting to existing data sources and manual modelling, Txture supports surveys. These can be sent to stakeholders such as application owners to gather additional data.

Before configuring a survey, we need to decide which data to request from the recipients. For example, imagine we are running a cloud transformation project with Txture's Transformation Cockpit.

To configure a survey to collect application-related data from owners, follow these steps:

  1. Define the required data
  2. Add a new asset survey
  3. Monitor the progress & review inputs

Definition of the required data​

The data requirements for a Transformation Cockpit project are composed of two parts.
The first part is the data required for the Application Assessment. Therefore, it is essential to agree on a set of Assessment Rules upon starting the data collection, as the assessment rules determine the data requirements. Additionally, a set of technical information and dependencies is required for the computation of suitable target architectures. Each asset type has specific Data Requirements for the computation of meaningful target architectures.

To start, navigate to the Assessment Preferences in the Transformation Cockpit and make sure that no application is selected in the sidebar on the left. Now open the assessment preferences and scroll down to the Considered Data section.

You will see a list of asset types, properties and links that are required to evaluate all enabled assessment rules. If you are satisfied with the set of rules, you have the option to either print the considered data or simply open Txture in another browser window. This will allow you to refer to the list while configuring the survey.

Adding a new asset survey​

Navigate to the Survey Configuration (Main Menu / Admin / Surveys). In this case, we want to collect data about Application Instances, therefore, select + Add Asset Survey.

For each tab of the survey configuration wizard, refer to the corresponding section below.

General​

In the upcoming form, type in a meaningful name, like "Detailed Application Assessment". For the time being, we can leave the introduction and finished survey text as they are. However, it would be very helpful to provide some additional guidance for survey recipients. For instance, you could link to our documentation for survey recipients.

As the Surveyed Asset Type, select Application Instance. Once you saved the general configuration, you can continue with the next tab, the configuration of the questions.

Questions​

Before adding questions, we will start by adding a few sections to the survey.

The first section could cover Business Knowledge that the application owners typically know and can respond to without the need for further investigation. The second section could contain all questions regarding Technical Specifications. A third section can be added to model the Dependencies of the business application.

Let's add some questions.

Business Knowledge section​

For the Business Knowledge section, we can refer to the considered data from our assessment rules. Click on Add Questions and select Add question for a property value. In the dialog, select all non-technical properties of the Application Instance that are required for the enabled assessment rules (see Considered Data).

Final Business Knowledge section

Technical Specifications section​

In the Technical Specifications section we add the remaining properties of the Considered Data and the Application Instance properties that are required for the computation of the cloud proposals (see Cloud Proposals > Data Requirements).

Final Technical Specifications section

Dependencies section​

The dependencies section might be the trickiest part of the survey. The goal of this section is to model the whole application stack. To get an understanding of the goal, look at the tree report below.

In this section, recipients are asked to model links to other assets of the application's deployment stack. Ideally, we will be able to generate a tree report, similar to the one above, for all surveyed application instances. Therefore, we will ask about used databases and technical components, as well as the servers the application runs on, including their storage. For the sake of simplicity, other asset types such as compute clusters or containers will not be covered in this tutorial.

Let's start with the databases.

  1. In the Dependencies section, add a question to generate links and select the link type "Application Instance uses Database"

  2. Expand the question and make the following changes:

  • Make data entry optional: true

    It is possible, that an application instance does not use a database. Therefore, the recipient should be able to leave the question empty and confirm the data accuracy of the empty response.

Repeat these two steps for the following link types:

  • Application Instance consists of Technical Component
  • Application Instance runs on Virtual Server
  • Application Instance uses Storage
tip

You can also select multiple link types at once.

Final Dependencies Section

Follow-up questions​

The Dependencies section allows the recipient to draw links between the application instance and databases, technical components, virtual servers and storages. However, as illustrated in the tree report above, there are also links between, for example, a database and a virtual server. In order to add these links, it is necessary to ask follow-up questions. The idea of follow-up questions is to ask further questions about linked assets.

Let's start with the databases again. In your Dependencies section, expand the question "Application Instance uses Database", scroll to the bottom and select Create follow-ups.

For the database, we want to ask about the virtual server it runs on. Therefore, add a link generation question for the link type "Database runs on Virtual Server".

Look again at the tree report from above and add the other missing link types using follow-up questions. Save your survey and click on Preview in the top right corner to verify your configuration.

Finally, add property questions to the asset types in the "Follow-up questions" section. Refer to the section Definition of the required data to identify relevant properties. For example, the properties "CPU Cores" and "RAM" of the asset type "Virtual Server" are crucial to compute meaningful cloud proposals. In this guide, we skip this step for the sake of simplicity, since the process is already described in the Business Knowledge section.

Assets & Recipients​

There are multiple options to define the survey recipients. In this case, the survey recipients are the application owners. We want to conduct the survey only once, so the "Manual recipients" functionality is sufficient. The recipient is the application owner, hence, we can add the recipients via the user link "Application Instance owner Stakeholder". We want to assess all application instances, therefore, add all application instance assets to the survey. You will see all added application instances and the corresponding survey recipients in the table above the "Manual recipients" settings.

Email Settings​

In the Email settings, enable Email scheduling, so that we can remind application owners if they have not completed the survey yet. Choose a reasonable interval and optionally a maximum number of emails.

Additionally, activate magic authentication to ensure a smooth login experience for survey recipients.

Send out the survey invitations​

After completing the configuration, open the survey preview via the button in the top left and review your survey. Once you are happy with the questions and the displayed text, you can send out the emails to the survey recipients. This can be done manually in the "Assets & Recipients" section or automatically via the Email scheduling once the defined start date is reached.

tip

You can also add your own user as the owner of a demo application instance to test the whole survey process.

Data review and progress monitoring​

There are multiple options to monitor the progress of the survey. In the "Assets & Recipients" section of the survey, you get an aggregated view on the progress per application instance and section. A detailed list of changes can be found in the "Changes" section of your survey.

Additionally, you can build Reports and Dashboards to monitor the data collection progress. Each asset and property has a source indicator that can also be used in queries. For example, you can enter the following query in the Query Bar in the Repository:
SourcescontainsSurvey[Detailed Application Assessment Survey]

As a result, the repository is filtered and only shows those assets, that were modified by the selected survey. Since the goal of this survey is to gather data for a Transformation Cockpit project, the Data Completeness score in the Transformation Cockpit will also reflect the progress of your surveys.