Application portfolio assessment ontology based on the Gartner TIME model.
Ontology for representing application portfolio fit assessments and Gartner TIME dispositions (Tolerate, Invest, Migrate, Eliminate), including functional fit, technical fit, and cost fitness dimensions. Provides classes for applications, fit assessments, criteria scoring, evidence tracking, and OWL enumeration types with automatic quadrant classification. This is the OWL layer of the TIME framework. Use together with: * time-shapes.ttl (SHACL) — validates completeness and value constraints * time-tax.ttl (SKOS) — organizes controlled vocabularies for navigation This is not an official Gartner document.
Linked.Archi
Linked.Archi TIME Framework Ontology
This ontology is designed to align with the Linked.Archi meta repository style and can be published with versioned IRIs and documentation.
An application in the application portfolio being assessed with the TIME framework.
Application
Approved
Architecture review
Assessment status
Build
A business capability supported by one or more applications. Modeled as a SKOS concept for flexible capability taxonomies.
Business capability
Business stakeholder input
Relative cost of maintaining the application (cost fitness), often considered alongside business and technical fitness when segmenting enterprise applications.
Cost
Cost analysis
Draft
Low functional fit and low technical fit; retire/decommission.
Eliminate
A fit assessment where both functional and technical fit are LOW.
Eliminate assessment
Evidence supporting a fit assessment decision (e.g., security assessment report, vendor roadmap notice, operations metrics dashboard).
Evidence
Evidence type
A point-in-time assessment of an application's functional fit and technical fit resulting in a TIME disposition. Some organizations also capture cost fitness as a third supporting dimension.
Fit assessment
A criterion used to evaluate functional or technical fit (e.g., capability coverage, maintainability, security posture).
Fit criterion
A scored evaluation of one FitCriterion within a FitAssessment.
Fit criterion score
Fit dimension
Abstract rating for functional/technical fit (HIGH or LOW), typically derived from a scoring model threshold.
Fit rating
How well the application supports business needs/capabilities.
Functional
High
Strategic and healthy; continue investing and enhancing.
Invest
A fit assessment where both functional and technical fit are HIGH.
Invest assessment
Lifecycle state
Low
Important to business but technically weak; modernize, replace, or replatform.
Migrate
A fit assessment where functional fit is HIGH and technical fit is LOW.
Migrate assessment
Operations metrics
Other
A person (assessor, business owner, IT owner, etc.).
Person
Plan
Rejected
Retire
Run
Security assessment
Superseded
Technical quality/maintainability/compatibility/operability posture.
Technical
Technical debt register
A technology component (platform, runtime, database, service, infrastructure, etc.) used by an application.
Technology component
A scoring model describing scale and threshold used to derive HIGH/LOW fit ratings from numeric scores (e.g., 1..5 and HIGH if >=4).
TIME assessment model
Disposition in the Gartner TIME framework: Tolerate, Invest, Migrate, Eliminate.
TIME disposition
Keep as-is; technically acceptable but low functional fit / limited strategic value.
Tolerate
A fit assessment where functional fit is LOW and technical fit is HIGH.
Tolerate assessment
Vendor roadmap
Relates a fit assessment to the (single) application it assesses.
assessed application
Date when the assessment was performed.
assessment date
Governance status of the fit assessment.
assessment status
Person who performed or recorded the assessment.
assessor
Relates an application to its accountable business owner.
business owner
HIGH/LOW abstraction of cost fitness (often derived from the costFitScore and assessment model threshold).
cost fit rating
Numeric cost fitness score (typically 1..5). Some Gartner guidance describes cost fitness as a dimension alongside business and technical fitness when determining a TIME disposition; interpretation depends on the assessment model.
cost fit score
Relates a criterion score to the criterion being scored.
criterion
Justification for the criterion-level score.
criterion justification
Numeric score assigned to a criterion (typically 1..5).
criterion score
Optional weighting factor used in aggregating criterion scores.
criterion weight
Associates a fit criterion with the fit dimension it contributes to (FUNCTIONAL or TECHNICAL).
dimension
Email address for a person.
email
Classifies a piece of evidence by type.
evidence type
HIGH/LOW abstraction of functional fit (often derived from the functionalFitScore and assessment model threshold).
functional fit rating
Numeric functional fit score (typically 1..5). Interpretation depends on the assessment model.
functional fit score
Relates a fit assessment to one or more criterion-level scores.
has criterion score
Relates a fit assessment to supporting evidence items.
has evidence
Relates an application to one or more fit assessments over time.
has fit assessment
Threshold at or above which a score is considered HIGH (e.g., 4).
high threshold
Relates an application to its accountable IT owner.
IT owner
Lifecycle state of the application (optional).
lifecycle state
Narrative justification for fit scores and TIME disposition.
rationale
A link to an evidence source (document, ticket, dashboard, repository, etc.).
reference URI
Maximum score on the assessment model scale (e.g., 5).
scale maximum
Minimum score on the assessment model scale (e.g., 1).
scale minimum
System of record for the evidence (e.g., LeanIX, Jira, ServiceNow).
source system
Relates an application to a business capability that it supports.
supports capability
HIGH/LOW abstraction of technical fit (often derived from the technicalFitScore and assessment model threshold).
technical fit rating
Numeric technical fit score (typically 1..5). Interpretation depends on the assessment model.
technical fit score
TIME classification outcome for the fit assessment.
Relates a fit assessment to the scoring model used to interpret its scores.
uses assessment model
Relates an application to a technology component it depends on or uses.
uses technology component
Optional review-by or expiry date for the assessment.
valid until