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Integration is at the heart of Kovair’s ALM capabilities. Whether it is through synchronization, federation or via linking; Kovair enables its customers to enjoy complete freedom in the ALM integration space. There is one thing that we believe in and work for and that is that “Software delivery and the processes within it should always be driven by simplicity.” Any integration scenario which is not easy to execute or configurable enough to give you complete project visibility and data accessibility, is not worth investing in.
In the ALM marketplace, there is no dearth of specialized best-of-breed tools offering specific solutions at their best. Organizations, however, have their own set of preferences and selection criteria while selecting tool specific ALM vendors. Kovair’s Omnibus Integration Platform is open to any type of tool combinations that customers seek to build an integrated ALM ecosystem with. At Kovair, we have identified a few integration scenarios that are quite common among customer wish lists. Here are some of them that we mention for a quick reference.
1. Microsft TFS integration with HPQC, JIRA and SharePoint
Figure: TFS integration with HPQC, JIRA and SharePoint
Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) offers code collaboration functionalities for geographically distributed engineering teams working on a software development project. Project managers, developers, testers, system analysts and architects can use TFS throughout the entire software development lifecycle for source code management, project management, work items tracking, requirements management, version control, test management, build automation and reporting.
Organizations using TFS need to synchronize TFS artifacts to other tools such as QC, JIRA, SharePoint, Salesforce so that the latest change in code snippets in TFS is visible from other tools. It is also essential that change in artifacts in other tools (such as QC and JIRA) reflects back in TFS code units. Thus, every project stakeholder should have end-to-end traceability for all artifacts, and that too without leaving their preferred tool environment.
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By integrating TFS with SharePoint, QC and JIRA through Kovair TFS integration adapter, the requirements in SharePoint can be mapped and linked with Source code files in TFS, test cases in QC and defects in JIRA. Similarly, any updates on test cases (in QC) and on bugs (in JIRA) can be reflected back to SharePoint. This ensures that organization gets a transparent and complete view of the project and generates cross-tool reports in TFS. The end result is a better team collaboration leading to faster, error-free and successful software development.
2. ClearQuest Integration with QC and JIRA
ClearQuest by IBM Rational is a popular Change Management tool which helps you manage change requests, tasks, schedules and respond to customer queries. Though primarily configured as a bug tracking system, it also provides a means to track customizable processes, allow traceability and do reporting throughout the application lifecycle. With ClearQuest, a project manager gets a better visibility and control on the software development projects.
Quality Center by HP is a popular Test Management tool that manages testing requirements, prepare test plans; evaluate testing activities; test results and track defects.
JIRA by Atlassian is a widely used Defect Management tool that developers and testers use to capture, organize, track issues and manage workflow among team members.
Organizations using CQ need to link new change requests as a requirement to QC so that a test case can be generated in QC pertaining to that requirement. Similarly, when a new test case is failed in QC and a defect is automatically added to JIRA, this sequence of events in QC and JIRA needs to be recorded in CQ real-time. Thus, an analyst accessing CQ not only needs to see the artifacts in QC and JIRA but also need to map the relationship between each of the objects (Change Request, Test Case and Defect). The chain of activities should be visible across the project lifecycle – Governance to Operations.
Figure: ClearQuest and Quality Center Integration
Figure: ClearQuest and JIRA Integration
Figure: Quality Center and JIRA Integration
Now, by integrating CQ with QC and JIRA through Kovair Omnibus, project managers and analysts can view the test case records in QC and bugs added in JIRA for a particular change requirement from CQ. Similarly, testers in QC can trace back to the initial change requirement in CQ as well as monitor the defects getting added in JIRA. Programmers can also map and link the defects with the corresponding test cases and change requests from JIRA.
Thus, by integrating tools irrespective of their vendors, project supervisors, testers and debuggers can collaboratively work with each other and complete the traceability chain. This gives a better visibility of the project throughout all the artifacts in different ALM tools during the lifecycle.
3. SharePoint and HP QC Integration
Microsoft SharePoint is a Content Management tool which helps individuals share, organize, discover, build and manage project-related information in a collaborative environment. Organizations use SharePoint for multiple purposes starting from document and file management to team collaboration, business intelligence, intranet service and more.
HP QC as already briefed earlier is a Quality Management tool that provides an array of related functionalities such as quality assurance, requirements management and test management.
Organizations using SharePoint often need to link the requirements in SharePoint to the test cases and subsequent test sets in QC. Moreover, when the tester runs test sets in QC and it fails, it is important that the project manager at SharePoint gets an update on each of these activities right from the SharePoint windows.
Figure: SharePoint and QC Integration
With Kovair Omnibus Integration, project managers can not only view all the linked test cases and corresponding test runs generated in QC for a particular requirement, but also derive the exact relationship between requirements, test cases and test runs as found in QC.
Thus, both traceability and relationship between objects across the artifacts can be created using Kovair’s SharePoint integration adapter.
Kovair Omnibus Integration platform promotes the concept of “Freedom to Integrate Tools” and fulfills some of the basic required functions that anyone would expect in a perfectly integrated ALM suite. These are cross-tool visibility for greater insights; end-to-end traceability for viewing relationships among artifacts; process automation for faster delivery; flexible integration capability for freedom of best-of-breed tool usage and strict adherence to process for consistency, measurability and predictability of delivery.
These are only the first set of popular integration scenarios that we have discussed in this article. Please follow our next set of articles to find the list of other integration offerings from Kovair or visit www.kovair.com
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