Zielanwendung

Zielanwendung is a German term used in information technology and business process management to denote the intended final software application that a project or process is aimed at delivering or migrating to. It identifies the end-state application that should fulfill the specified requirements, support the defined business processes, and serve the stakeholders' needs.

In requirements engineering and system architecture, Zielanwendung helps stakeholders agree on the objective of the project and guides the derivation of data models, interfaces, and migration plans. It is often contrasted with the current or legacy system (Ist-Anwendung) and with intermediate solutions, and it informs technology choices, such as platform selection and integration patterns.

Examples include: in a migration project, the Zielanwendung is the new enterprise resource planning system to replace the legacy ERP; for a digital channel upgrade, the Zielanwendung is the customer-facing web or mobile application; in data integration, the Zielanwendung is the destination data warehouse or service that consumes the data.

Terminology and variation: The term is not strictly standardized and its exact meaning can vary by organization. Some use Zielsystem, Zielplattform, or Zielsoftware with similar sense. The concept emphasizes the end state rather than the current setup and should be defined early to align requirements, interfaces, risks, and non-functional targets.