diff --git a/cms/envs/common.py b/cms/envs/common.py
index 0e3caa4979..5857fa6ba4 100644
--- a/cms/envs/common.py
+++ b/cms/envs/common.py
@@ -963,7 +963,7 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = [
     'eventtracking.django.apps.EventTrackingConfig',
 
     # Monitoring
-    'openedx.core.djangoapps.datadog',
+    'openedx.core.djangoapps.datadog.apps.DatadogConfig',
 
     # For asset pipelining
     'edxmako.apps.EdxMakoConfig',
diff --git a/lms/envs/common.py b/lms/envs/common.py
index 378680e1f6..bbba794cc7 100644
--- a/lms/envs/common.py
+++ b/lms/envs/common.py
@@ -2158,7 +2158,7 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = [
     'splash',
 
     # Monitoring
-    'openedx.core.djangoapps.datadog',
+    'openedx.core.djangoapps.datadog.apps.DatadogConfig',
 
     # User API
     'rest_framework',
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/datadog/apps.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/datadog/apps.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b14d1ebb1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/datadog/apps.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+"""
+Configuration for datadog Django app
+"""
+from django.apps import AppConfig
+from django.conf import settings
+from dogapi import dog_http_api, dog_stats_api
+
+
+class DatadogConfig(AppConfig):
+    """
+    Configuration class for datadog Django app
+    """
+    name = 'openedx.core.djangoapps.datadog'
+    verbose_name = "Datadog"
+
+    def ready(self):
+        """
+        Initialize connection to datadog during django startup.
+
+        Configure using DATADOG dictionary in the django project settings.
+        """
+        # By default use the statsd agent
+        options = {'statsd': True}
+
+        if hasattr(settings, 'DATADOG'):
+            options.update(settings.DATADOG)
+
+        # Not all arguments are documented.
+        # Look at the source code for details.
+        dog_stats_api.start(**options)
+
+        dog_http_api.api_key = options.get('api_key')
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/datadog/startup.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/datadog/startup.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 8c02244742..0000000000
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/datadog/startup.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-"""
-Start up initialization of datadog.
-"""
-from django.conf import settings
-from dogapi import dog_http_api, dog_stats_api
-
-
-def run():
-    """
-    Initialize connection to datadog during django startup.
-
-    Can be configured using a dictionary named DATADOG in the django
-    project settings.
-
-    """
-
-    # By default use the statsd agent
-    options = {'statsd': True}
-
-    if hasattr(settings, 'DATADOG'):
-        options.update(settings.DATADOG)
-
-    # Not all arguments are documented.
-    # Look at the source code for details.
-    dog_stats_api.start(**options)
-
-    dog_http_api.api_key = options.get('api_key')