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What are Application Lifecycle Management tools? How do you understand this? Well, this is not about a single concept like project management or software testing. It includes several things such as project management, quality analysis, customer support, software architecture, IT services, etc. So ALM tools have many functionalities, you just need to figure out why you need this.
Because the need for ALM tools varies from organization to organization. Before you choose your ALM tool, first specify your requirement. It will help you decide which ALM tool best suits your needs. In this article, I am going to share the list of top application lifecycle management tools with specific details. Go through it, you can find out which ALM tool you need for your organization.
Top 8 ALM tools
One of the most important things for an organization is to decide which ALM tools they need for their enterprise. Now let us see how different ALM tools can help you manage different processes in your organization.
Here, I have clearly mentioned each essential detail of different ALM tools along with their advantages and disadvantages. Now choose the best application lifecycle management for your business.
1. Rational by IBM
Rational is an ALM suite offered by IBM, which is also known as collaborative lifecycle management. As the name suggests, the function of this tool is collaboration. This is an older tool but it aligns with the latest ALM trends. As IBM products use both Agile and Waterfall methodologies, most of the organizations use the products of IBM. The main advantages of Rational are it tracks processes, assignments, and supports Legacy Software. However, it is not suitable for small organizations as the tool is expensive.
2. ALM by Microfocus
The ALM tool by Microfocus is one of the best because it provides almost all the processes. On top of that its tools put emphasis on traceability and visibility. The strong side of Microfocus’s ALM is its requirement management and cycle planning. Moreover, it can integrate other tools from third-party, for instance, it can collaborate with IBM tools. Additionally, it is also compatible with mobile devices and the dashboard of the tool is very user-friendly. Overall, every aspect of the Microfocus ALM tool is good but the administrative functions can be improvised.
3. ALM tool by Microsoft
The ALM tool by Microsoft uses Visual Studio. In most of the developer community, Visual Studio is regarded as one of the best-integrated developer platforms. This is mostly used by merged organizations. Another tool by Microsoft is the Team Foundation Server (TFS) which allows configuring and controlling different processes.
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But this is not good at requirement management; hence it allows integrating with HP’s ALM tool to take advantage in this regard. Companies that use the .NET framework can use Microsoft’s ALM tool for best results. Unlike IBM’s Rational the cost of Microsoft’s ALM is reasonable. Apart from this, the united database of the ALM tool allows integrating with other platforms.
4. CA Agile Central
This is previously known with the name Rally ALM. This is the best ALM tool for those organizations which use agile methodology. The main features of CA Agile Central are project management, collaboration, testing, and resource planning. It supports chat and email supports through Flow dock, which is used for collaboration. This also provides performance measurement metrics known as Rally Analytics Insight along with SaaS and all premises. This is used by most of the agile system organizations because of its adaptability, visualization, and multiple support features. This lacks in the portfolio and releases management.
5. Version One
VersionOne provides a complete reliable ALM tool for organizations that use agile methodologies. The key features of the tools are portfolio management, sprint planning, release management, reporting analysis. This tool offers training to their clients and it integrates with a number of other tools to provide a complete solution. The stronger part of this tool is good reporting with a simple user interface while it lacks in regression testing.
6. Atlassian
With Agile and Waterfall methodologies, Atlassian is the best ALM tool for start-ups. It has many features such as tracking, collaboration, chat tools, requirement management, and respiratory management. This ALM tool is best for that organization which is focused on continuous integration along with DevOps. This is an open-source ALM tool with great flexibility. The problem with this ALM tool is it delays the processes.
7. CollabNet
CollabNet is a great ALM tool mainly for large organizations that follow the agile system. However, it does not offer a full ALM solution but it can integrate with other tools to provide other requirements. CollabNet is an open-source, easy to use ALM tool with good traceability. It provides good training to its client but does not provide all the ALM supports.
These are the top 7 application lifecycle management tools for 2020. Before you choose here is a final note from my side.
8. Kovair ALM
Application lifecycle management has several layers of management processes that need to be observed on a regular basis. Kovair ALM is a platform that specializes in all the ALM procedural layers. Starting from project management, development to quality management. The best thing that I like about the Kovair ALM is that they are traceable about their work and transfer real-time data to the other layers of the ALM.
Final Note
Finally, you have discovered different ALM tools with different features. Now take your time to decide which suits the requirement of your business. Compare all of the tools carefully in terms of their features, strength, and disadvantage in choosing the best one.
Hopefully, the above information has provided you some insight into the ALM solutions. If you need assistance with choosing the right ALM tool for your existing business comment below. Lastly, don’t forget to share your opinion on this.
The top 8 ALM tools are:
1. Version One – Incorporated with a prime Agile PM solution and development platform, Version One is a highly recommended one in its class. Its plans are used to scale the agile processes to the portfolio levels and ahead to optimize them too.
2. Visure Solutions – One of the most trusted ALM partners for organizations of all sizes from safety to business-critical industries. It helps you define and further improve your requirements. It facilitates development, communication, and collaboration and helps enable full traceability at every step to test case and source code. It improves tests as well as risk management keeping in mind the compliances and regulatory requirements. It also offers a free 30-days trial for your convenience and trust.
3. Rational By IBM – An ALM suite by IBM, also known as collaborative lifecycle management. It is an old tool that can efficiently align with the latest ALM trends and its function is collaboration. It helps in tracking processes, tasks, and further support Legacy Software. This tool is not precisely suitable for small companies as it is too expensive.
4. ALM by Microfocus – One of the best-known ALM tools as it offers almost all the processes. But it focuses majorly on visibility and traceability. It can also integrate other tools from various other tools such as IBM. It is actually a good tool that can be improvised as well.
5. ALM Tools by Microsoft – This uses Visual Studios. It is majorly used to merge organizations. Another known tool is TFS, which stands for Team Foundation Server. It allows you to configure and control different processes.
6. Atlassian – This one is best suited for start-ups as it supports both, agile and waterfall methodologies. It offers many features like collaboration, tracking, chats, requirement management, and many more. The only problem with this tool is that it delays the process.
7. Kovair ALM – This tool specializes in all ALM procedural layers. The best vantage of this tool is that it is traceable about work and can transfer real-time information to other parts of the ALM as well.
8. CollabNet – This is majorly suited for large agile organizations. Though it does not provide full ALM solutions, it is able to integrate with other tools to offer other requirements. It offers good training to the clients but the low point is that it does not offer all ALM support.
Nice recommendations. You are missing ZenTao ALM which is open source and for Agile development.