National Instruments SystemLink vs. OpenText AccuRev

There are definitely scenarios where NI SystemLink will be useful but just didn't work out well for us. I needed to be able to replace an EXE file on a computer with a new EXE to do the upgrades but I was not able to do that through SystemLink. You had to work with packages in order to perform this and I didn't want to revamp my distribution plan. We also didn't need to do any asset management or calibration documentation through SystemLink. I was excited about being able to view data from the test stations through a browser but our engineers need historical data available and everything resets to a live view when you click back to the UI.

Incentivized

Very slow and not intuitive; it would be my last choice for version control systems.The UI is a little confusing at times and seems a little outdated. It needs a lot of improvement. It is suited for small projects and fewer number of projects. But if there are huge projects and many projects to be maintained in a portfolio, its a little hard to manage.

Incentivized

• Setup
• User Interface
• LabVIEW Integration

Incentivized

• One place for most recent code with history, avoid any conflict/confusion among other team/members.
• Stream/Workflow approach to control approval process betwen all the teams, which I couldn't find in other version control tools I worked.
• Bundle our code in a small group (called, Issues in Accurev) to differentiate between different projects.

Incentivized

• Licensing
• Not able to see data from all test stations on one UI
• Lack of data history

Incentivized

• Ability to zoom in/out for stream-view. We currently have many streams/substreams and unable to view the entire workflow. Zooming in/out would benefit.
• Being a designer, I use Adobe Flash and SWF files. When updating the SWF files, Accurev does not see these files as being changed and you will be unable to promote. In order to push changes, you must totally rename the SWF file.

Incentivized

We will renew because it is part of our build process.

Incentivized

In my view, accurev ranks very low compared to other tools I have used. Microsoft TFS is the best in the industry as of today as it's a complete ALM solution. It does code version, bug tracking, user story documentation, and has easy integration with other external tools supporting many languages. So I would definitely recommend TFS to anyone.

Incentivized

• Availability to monitor multiple test stations remotely
• Was quick to integrate into existing LabVIEW codebase
• Ultimately did not justify the licensing cost for the benefit

Incentivized

• Better team coordination.
• Avoid confusion by having one place for all documentation and code.
• Better project management by having different work streams.

Incentivized