We’ll see how ALM Software can reduce execution time, increase operational efficiency, improve on-time delivery, and reduce design and production rework in web applications!
As organizations diversify, they often face longer web application development and deployment. Subsequently cost increases, leading to high rejection rates in quality approvals, and compliance with regulatory norms. Redundant data couple with duplicating efforts for design and development. Numerous tools for product definition, multiple disconnected sites across the world, limited interoperability, diverse standards, multiple legacy systems, and numerous processes across sites, add to the challenges.
How can you prevent such challenges?
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) are focused on making the product visible, the performance of integrating data, and business processes, and make them accessible across your extended enterprise.
What is Application Lifecycle Management?
ALM solutions help transform the way organizations manage their product-related processes exceeding functional, enterprise, and geographical barriers and leveraging the company’s intellectual assets.
ALM vs. PLM vs. SDLC: What is the difference?
Application lifecycle management illustrates every small aspect from the inception to the retirement of the application while SDLC focuses on the software designing part.
ALM vs PLM
PLM and ALM solutions help digitize and manage the entire product lifecycle, right since, product conceptualization, design, manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and retirement (closing). Web app development companies work on cutting-edge PLM products to provide services and solutions across industry domains like automotive, hi-tech, aerospace, retail, and life science verticals.
ALM vs SDLC
The terms Application lifecycle management and software development lifecycle are ambiguous but completely different. SDLC is a part of ALM. Application lifecycle management branches out into the software development lifecycle and all other processes in the portfolio.
The terms requirements management, software architecture, software testing, software maintenance, change management, computer programming, continuous integration, release management and project management might look equivocal, or very vague, but these form the essence of application lifecycle management.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) inculcates the tools, people, and processes that manage the lifecycle of an application from beginning to end. It propels smarter decisions about creating robust software, SDLC helps in creating robust software.
ALM involves developing, governing, maintaining, and decommissioning the application. Alternatively, SDLC is simply concerned with software design.
Project Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process that brings the physical products to the market, whereas Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is used for application development.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Tools Overview
Software Development Companies get a close estimate on how to track and plan software development from initial planning through retirement.
ALM tools help administer, design, develop, deploy, and maintain software development by centralizing people, processes, and tools to increase overall productivity and ensure software quality.
ALM technologies propel development methodologies and continuous delivery by automating code testing, managing system requirements, deploying application updates, and continuous delivery.
ALM process is inclusive of software performance, visual reports, and progress tracking across all stages of the application development and DevOps process.
ALM tools act as project management tools that include requirement management features – requirement gathering, roles, responsibilities; track modifications to the source code repository or version control; the ability for the teams to communicate in real-time; verification, validation;
ALM also offers open source test management, better known as DevOps to shorten the system development life cycle and facilitate continuous integration. It enables detailed test reports and exports them in multiple formats.
ALM software provides businesses with a clear direction before it is built, ultimately avoiding unnecessary features and mistakes.
What does ALM Tools feature (include)?
ALM tools coalesce bug tracking software, project management, collaboration tools, quality management software, and requirement management software in one platform. ALM tools integrate communication channels, rapid data sharing, and a continuous feedback loop.
Application Lifecycle Management Platform
- JIRA – It is an application lifecycle management solution for software development teams, enabling users to create, track, and prioritize the task progress across multiple teams, with multiple integrations. It is offered via the cloud and local servers and is capable of aligning with the teams across time zones.
- GitLab – It is an open-source DevOps platform that improves cycle time from weeks to minutes and reduces development. It documents every step in the process and makes it available to the developers.
- Jama Connect – This solution helps in managing requirements, reducing cycle times, and improving product quality. It makes navigation in larger projects difficult.
- Azure DevOps Server (formerly TMS) – Azure Team foundation server or TFS is a test management tool and application lifecycle management tool from Microsoft’s Visual Studio. This pipeline tool is used to create CI/CD pipelines across Windows Operating Systems and has an Azure DevOps license. Azure Boards are difficult to set up.
- Micro Focus ALM / Quality Center – It offers an application lifecycle management and quality assurance suite.
- Planview LeanKit – It offers data-driven analysis and workflow automation to expand the company’s capabilities.
- PTC Windchill RV&S – It is a model-based systems engineering suite that contains an asset library that supports systems of a systems approach to design by linking models into higher-level models.
- SpiraTest – It allows customers in managing quality assurance activities, requirement management, test management, bug-tracking, and integrated reporting.
What do the best ALM Software Suites look like?
Application LifeCycle Management (ALM) Software Suite enables the development of software applications from requirement collection and idea generation to their deployment and maintenance. It encompasses all steps of the Software Development Lifecycle, and a bit more. It is the same relation between marketing and selling.
ALM Suite creates an ecosystem where users can collaborate and complete tasks while creating or improving the software. These platforms are resourceful and can be used both by development, design, or testing departments to assist supervisors, in monitoring the product after deployment.
ALM tools are similar to project management tools, integrate design and development software like integrated development environments or prototyping software. To qualify as an ALM Suite, a product or a piece of software must – (1) Possess tools for requirement management, (2) Software development and testing, (3) Team collaboration features, (4) Release management features, (5) Provide tools for governance and maintenance.
Examples of Top 10 ALM Software Suites
(Visual Studio TS, Google Cloud Anthos, Jama Connect for Requirement Management, Codebeamer, AdminStudio, PractiTest, IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next, SpiraTest, Polarion ALM, Qt
Other Micro Focus Application Lifecycle Tools
(1) Jira, (2) Azure DevOps, (3) CollabNet, (4) Tuleap, (5) Atlassian, (6) Polarian Software, (7) Kovair Software, Inc, (8) CA Technologies, (9) TargetProc, (10) Rally Agile Software Development/ALM Platform, (11) Rommana ALM, (12) Jama Software, (13) SpiraTeam, (14) Doc Sheets, (15) Visure Solutions, (16) JIRA + Confluence + Stash + Bamboo, (17) VersionOne, (18) Team Foundation Server (TFS), (19) TeamForge, (20) Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), (21) Code Review Bundle, (22) CA Agile Central: (Formerly Rally), (23) DevSuite, (24) Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management by IBM, (25) Micro Focus Connect, (26) AccuRev, (27) Release Dynamix [RDx], (28) StarTeam, (29) ThoughtWorks, (30) Seapine Software.
Key Takeaways
ALM tools manage the activity lifecycle of an application by covering human, technical, and management resources and processes that support the entire life cycle of an application. ALM stands by an application for life. With application lifecycle management, progress and management don’t stop after development.
ALM Tools are used to create and manage test cases in folders, with sorting, and filtering capabilities. It enables users to display multiple columns in a customized view and allows higher management to define custom properties and lists that can be used in the project.
Consider the (1) requirements of your team, (2) scalability of the solution, and (3) pricing details while selecting the Best ALM Tools in 2022.