We do something similar, with a little more structure. We have a parent class that all apps inherit from, and in that class we do something like this:

    __PACKAGE__->reflect->addSlot(
        tt_data           => {},
        perl_data         => {},
    );
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This creates empty data slots that you can use as a sort of data store. In our code, we can then do things like this:

$self->perl_data->{pass_around} = 'some calculated data';
$self->tt_data->{some_stuff} = $self->get_some_stuff();
if ( $self->perl_data->{pass_around} ){
    blah
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This is basically a simple way to create object data that can be accessed from anywhere without having to pass it. We use separate structures for perl_data and tt_data as an internal standard. Data for the template goes in tt_data and internal data is in perl_data.