Understanding and designing a system landscape — A guide for IT managers

The most important thing in brief:

Transparency through structured recording: Complete and up-to-date documentation of the system landscape reduces complexity, reduces security risks and enables well-founded decisions — ideally supported by automated tools such as Docusnap.

High need for optimization in established IT environments: Historically developed system landscapes entail risks due to redundancies, lack of interfaces and a lack of overview — regular analysis, evaluation and consolidation are therefore essential.

Increasing efficiency through best practices: Standardization, modularity, cloud readiness and monitoring are considered key factors for a sustainable, scalable IT system landscape.

In modern IT departments, the system landscape is the foundation of all digital processes. It includes all IT systems, applications and their relationships with each other. But with growing complexity and increasing digitalization, it is becoming increasingly difficult for IT managers to keep track of things. This article explains what a system landscape is, the challenges associated with it and how you can achieve a transparent and future-proof structure step by step.

What is a system landscape?

A system landscape is the entirety of all IT systems, software solutions, hardware components and their interfaces used within an organization. The aim of a structured system landscape is to enable coordinated interaction of all components and to use IT resources efficiently.

Components of a system landscape

• Specialized applications (e.g. ERP, CRM, HR systems)
• databases
• server infrastructure
• network components
• cloud services
• Interfaces/API connections

Challenges in heterogeneous system landscapes

Many IT landscapes have grown over time and consist of a variety of individual solutions. This often causes the following problems:

• Complexity: The variety of systems, technologies and interfaces used makes administration and coordination significantly difficult.
• Confuciousness: A lack of documentation and lack of transparency mean that responsibilities and relationships are no longer comprehensible.
• Redundancies: Similar or identical tasks are carried out by several systems in parallel — this increases effort and lowers efficiency.
• Lack of integration: Systems work in isolation from each other, media breaks occur, and data must be transferred manually.
• Security risks: Outdated or insufficiently secured systems increase the attack surface — especially when security standards are implemented inconsistently.
• costs: The operation and maintenance of numerous, often incompatible systems leads to increasing IT spending and resource commitment.
• Delayed projects: The lack of standardization makes it difficult to introduce new solutions and can block strategic digitization measures.

These challenges not only result in increased administrative costs, but also jeopardize IT's ability to innovate in the long term.

Benefits of a standardized and documented system landscape

Setting up and maintaining a uniformly structured system landscape offers numerous advantages that have a direct impact on the efficiency and security of your IT:

Transparency: A systematically documented IT infrastructure gives you a clear picture of the systems in use, their dependencies and interfaces. This not only makes administration easier, but also supports well-founded decisions.

efficiency: By reducing redundant systems and making better use of resources, processes can be optimized and operating costs reduced. Standardised components also enable faster integration of new solutions.

Safety: Complete documentation helps to identify security gaps and close them in a targeted manner. At the same time, it makes it easier to comply with compliance requirements and prepare for audits.

Steps for recording and optimizing the system landscape

1. Inventory of all systems

A complete overview is the first step. Systematically ask all departments about the tools and applications used. You can also use tools such as Docusnap to quickly and reliably record existing systems and make their relationships to each other visible.

2. Analysis of interfaces and data flows

Investigate how systems communicate with each other. Data quality and availability between applications is also important.

3. Evaluation and prioritization

Evaluate your systems based on usage, costs, maintainability, and relevance. This allows you to identify consolidation potential and outdated applications.

Criteria for evaluating systems:

• number of users: The more employees actively use a system, the higher its business relevance — and the more carefully it must be assessed.
• Safety level: Systems should be patched regularly, contain no known vulnerabilities, and comply with security guidelines — this protects against attacks and data loss.
• License costs and ongoing operating costs: In addition to one-off purchase costs, ongoing fees for maintenance, updates and support are also decisive for the overall cost analysis.
• Integration into existing processes: Systems that integrate seamlessly into existing work processes increase efficiency and reduce the risk of errors.
• Maintenance costs: High administrative or maintenance costs tie up IT resources — systems with low maintenance requirements are ideal.
• Scalability and sustainability: Systems should be able to grow with the company and be technologically future-proof in order to secure investments in the long term.
• Manufacturer support and community availability: Reliable manufacturer support and an active community make it easier to solve problems and promote continuous development.
• Dependencies to other systems: Systems that are heavily interconnected can be difficult to isolate or replace in the event of changes or failures.

4. Documentation and continuous maintenance

Create clear and central documentation of the entire system landscape. Make sure you have regular updates and clear responsibilities.

Professional tip:

Use specialized tools such as Docusnap to automatically, quickly and seamlessly record your entire system landscape. This saves you time and prevents blind spots in your documentation.

Best practices for an efficient system landscape

• Standardization: Use consistent technologies and interfaces
• Modularity: Systems should be interchangeable and expandable.
• Cloud readiness: Review the use of cloud-based components.
• Monitoring: Use monitoring tools to monitor system health.

Get a quick overview of your system landscape

A structured overview is best achieved with a specialized software solution. Docusnap helps you with automated recording, documentation and visualizing of your IT systems — completely without agents. With the help of network scans, plans and reports keep you in control of your IT infrastructure at all times.

Conclusion

A clearly structured system landscape forms the basis for powerful and future-proof IT. It reduces complexity, lowers costs and increases efficiency. Although the set-up requires time and resources initially, it pays off several times over the long term. Tools like Docusnap help make this task much easier.

Test Docusnap now free of charge and without obligation for 30 days!

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What is a system landscape?

A system landscape is the entirety of all IT systems, software solutions, hardware and their interfaces within an organization. It forms the technical basis of all business processes.

Why is a documented system landscape important?

Without structured documentation, there is a risk of inefficiency, security risks, and lack of scalability. Up-to-date documentation provides a better overview, facilitates maintenance and simplifies strategic decisions.

What role does Docusnap play in recording a system landscape?

Docusnap offers an automated way to record and graphically process IT systems and their connections. This saves IT departments time and provides a well-founded basis for decision-making.

How often should a system landscape be checked?

Ideally, an audit is carried out at least once a year or when there are major infrastructure changes. Regular updates as part of IT change management are also recommended.

What is the difference between system landscape and IT architecture?

The system landscape describes the actual, operational IT infrastructure, while the IT architecture is an overarching concept or model that determines the structure, relationships and guidelines of the IT landscape.