EA - IT Portfolio Management > Evaluating Application Assets > Defining Portfolio Assessment Criteria
Defining Portfolio Assessment Criteria
You can compare applications defined in a portfolio based on common criteria associated with the portfolio.
*A criterion is a reference element used to compare objects in a portfolio. Criterion values can be predefined.
To define portfolio criteria, you can:
use existing criteria in the repository,
Create new criteria and associated values.
*Criteria are defined from the MetaClass (object type) TaggedValue. Some windows use this term rather than Criteria.
Using Existing Criteria
To connect existing criteria to an application portfolio:
1. Click the Applications navigation menu.
2. Select Portfolios.
The list of application portfolios appears.
3. Display the portfolio properties.
4. In the characteristics, unfold the Portfolio Criteria section, and click Connect.
5. Select the criteria that interest you.
6. Click Connect.
Each selected criterion is displayed in portfolio characteristics.
Using Existing Criteria
Standard criteria are proposed to process costs modeled on applications.
*For more details on modeling of costs, see Managing Application and Application System Costs.
Standard criteria for analyzing the costs declared on applications according to their type and nature are the following:
For type:
Capital expenses
Operating expenses
For nature:
Infrastructure costs
Software licenses costs
Manpower costs
Service costs
The names of standard criteria enabling analysis of costs declared on applications carry the extension "Reference", for example "Reference Costs".
Given that these criteria are automatically calculated, they cannot be modified from the Inventory and Evaluation pages.
Creating a New Criterion
To create new criteria for portfolio application comparison:
1. Expand the Portfolio criteria section.
2. Click the New button.
3. Indicate the name of the site and click OK.
The new criteria appears in the list of portfolio criteria.
Defining criteria format
Specification of type and format of a criteria (or TaggedValue) is identical to that of a MetaAttribute. For more details on declaration of a criterion format, see chapter "MetaAttributes" of the Studio guide .
To define characteristics of a criteria:
1. Open the Characteristics property page of the criterion if interest.
2. In the MetaAttribute Type field, indicate the type that will take the criteria values.
 
MetaAttribute Type
Meaning
String
Alphanumeric, the value of the MetaAttribute Length attribute should then be specified
DateTime
Date
VarChar
ASCII text
VarBinary
Binary text (reserved)
Boolean
Boolean (0 or 1)
Short
Integer (0-65535)
Long
Integer (0- 4294967295)
Binary
Binary (reserved)
Double
Integer (0- 18446744073709551616)
Float
Floating number
3. In the MetaAttribute Format field, indicate the Format that will take the criteria values. Possible values are:
Standard: for character strings
Currency: for currencies
Enumeration: for a list of character strings with predefined values
Enumeration (Opened): for a list of character strings open to the user
Duration: for dates
Percent : to enter a percentage
Double : to enter a number
Object : to enter an object
Signed Number : to enter a number possibly negative. In this case, MetaAttribute Type must be Short, Long, Double or Float.
*The following formats are recognized in analysis reports: Standard, Enumeration and Signed Number.
4. Click OK.
To define values associated with a criterion of Enumeration format:
1. Open the External Values property page of the criterion.
2. Click the New to create new values.
Defining Criterion Aggregation Rules
Aggregation of a criterion enables definition of calculation rules that will be applied to application values to obtain the criterion value on a portfolio. In this way you can compare portfolios.
To define criterion aggregation rules:
1. Open the properties pages of the criterion.
2. Click the Characteristics page.
Aggregation policies proposed as standard are:
Minimum
Maximum
Average
Sum
For example, the Cost criterion associated with a portfolio can be obtained by calculating the average cost of initiatives making up the portfolio, or the sum of costs of each of the elements.
To fix more specific aggregation rules, the aggregation policy can be defined by a Macro. The name of the macro is defined in the Aggregation Macro field.
*For more information on Macros in Hopex, see the guide All about starting with APIs.
The result of aggregation of different criteria is accessible in the Aggregation Value column.
Evaluating Applications against Portfolio Criteria
Portfolio applications are assessed against the various portfolio criteria.
*Standard criteria related to costs are automatically calculated, they cannot therefore be modified in this property page. For more details on these criteria, see Using Existing Criteria.
Accessing evaluated applications 
To access evaluations of all portfolio applications:
1. Open the properties of the portfolio.
2. Select the Evaluation page.
The list of evaluations of all portfolio applications according to different criteria is displayed.
Generating a Excel evaluation data file 
To generate an Excel file of evaluation results:
1. Select the evaluation results to export in the form of an Excel file.
2. Click > Excel.
Generating an instant report on evaluation data 
Instant reports allow you to carry out drill-down analysis on evaluated objects. They provide greater detail depending on specific analysis perspectives (quantitative, time, etc.).
To generate an instant report on a list of evaluated applications:
1. Open the properties of the portfolio.
2. Click the Inventory page.
3. In the list of applications, select those to be analyzed.
*If you do not select an application, by default the report covers all applications.
4. Click Instant Report.
5. Select the required analysis type, for example "Breakdown".
6. Click OK.
7. In the list of possible computed possible characteristics, select "Costs".
For all selected technologies, you receive the cost breakdown according to their levels.
Portfolio costs report 
A report automatically displays the global costs of applications contained in a portfolio.