BMC AMI DevX vs. Helix ALM

It's pretty good at creating an extract of a whole table, but not the best at grabbing all related tables in my experience. Pretty intuitive on setting up your test data categories. I also really like that it can either run via ISPF or via Topaz which was included with our purchase.

Incentivized

Helix ALM is very well suited for maintaining traceability between user needs, requirements and tests for medical device design controls. It allows users to customize the reports to create a traceability matrix or any other reports that are needed. It is also a good program for tracking issues and bugs and for storing/linking verification and validation test protocols and reports.

Incentivized

• Extract/load data from one DB or table to another masking the data for testing.
• Compare extracts against each other to ensure good baselines.

Incentivized

• Traceability for design controls.
• Managing workflow of bugs/issues.
• Maintaining risk management information.

Incentivized

• I find it more obtuse to use than IBM Optim.
• Related tables are difficult to incorporate.

Incentivized

• Better integration with electronic document control systems like Arena PLM.
• Easier setup in the back end (customization is available but the interface is not intuitive).

Incentivized

Support has been amazing compared to Optim. Further, new features are very regular with File-AID - I can't remember the last time Optim had a significant update. File-AID support is very receptive to feature requests and reported bugs, including sending out hotfixes quickly.

Incentivized

The support from Perforce has been extensive and allowed us to customize the setup of Helix ALM specific to our needs. They also hosted training sessions for our users and administrators and provided us with troubleshooting help during initial setup.

Incentivized

Optim is more user friendly in how it operates, in my opinion. It's less obtuse to figure out how to extract and mask the data required compared to File-AID. Further, Optim is easier to gather related tables, by far. I do prefer using File-AID via the Topaz GUI much more than using Optim via its GUI. Finally, I personally believe that File-AID is significantly faster to run than Optim - this could be a configuration issue.

Incentivized

The other tools that we evaluated did not have all of the capabilities and customization that Helix ALM had to offer and therefore we decided to select Helix ALM.

Incentivized

• Saves time creating production like data for testing.
• Keeps that data safe from developers and need-to-know only.

Incentivized

• Improved management of requirements, risks and bugs to make sure they don't get lost in emails or long documents.

Incentivized