For the Application Streamlining Initiative, an application is software designed to implement a repeatable set of tasks in a shared, managed environment for a business purpose. It does at least one of:

• Manipulates / transforms data
• Maintains data (does not just display it)

• Implements business logic rules to automate business processes.
  

For our purposes, the following are not included:

• Personal productivity applications like email, Excel, Word, anti virus software, VPN clients, software license managers.
• Websites which just present information.

• CommonSpot websites which do not have any managed elements, or simple managed elements.

• Academic research applications. We are looking only at business applications (applications that are used in the function of your business, even if that function is supporting academics).
• A key part of the definition is "managed". Scripts which are used to automate tasks on your desktop, even though they are important to system administration and other tasks.

• Powershell or other short scripts
  

The following are included:

• Business specific applications such as vacation trackers, time away planning, SIP awards, space planning, wikis, collaboration tools. 
• Administrative applications such as budget tracking , extracting data out of a data warehouse, combining data from two or more sources for presentation on a single dashboard, reporting software.