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IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management

Overview

What is IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management?

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is an end-to-end engineering solution used to manage system requirements to design, workflow, and test management, extending the functionality of ALM tools for better complex-systems development.

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What is IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management?

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is an end-to-end engineering solution used to manage system requirements to design, workflow, and test management, extending the functionality of ALM tools for better complex-systems development.

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iRise offers a prototyping and design platform for software development.

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Product Demos

Using IBM Rational Team Concert and IBM Rational Rhapsody for Android development

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How to integrate JIRA with IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC)

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Product Details

What is IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management?

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is an end-to-end engineering solution used to manage system requirements to design, workflow, and test management, extending the functionality of ALM tools for better complex-systems development.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management Competitors

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is an end-to-end engineering solution used to manage system requirements to design, workflow, and test management, extending the functionality of ALM tools for better complex-systems development.

Rally Software are common alternatives for IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 5.

The most common users of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(57)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-4 of 4)
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Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use DOORS to manage the project requirements for one or more projects. We use the software in one department for one or two lines of service that the company offers. DOORS allows us to manage a vast amount of data with relative ease. Although the program is very powerful, it is sometimes difficult to use.
  • Allows linking of information in different parts of the program.
  • Works fairly well with other programs like Excel and Word.
  • Has a layout that is familiar, with a ribbon-like bar at the top.
  • The program can seem overwhelming because it is very complex. Maybe a beginner, intermediate and advanced mode?
  • The software has some dependencies on other software that make it easy to break at times.
  • Setting up the software was a nightmare. It has too many components, and once the connection between them is set you cannot make changes easily.
DOORS is a very specific piece of software. It is suited to managing contract/project requirements. It works well to list and connect a lot of data, and then gives you the opportunity to show these relationships in several different ways, both graphical and in reports. The software is costly, so your project needs to be large enough to support it.
  • Having this software available was mandatory, but allowed us to win a bid for a project that has led to other work.
  • We have gained major experience and recognition due to our use of this software.
To me, DOORS is like a super version of Excel and Word combined with a relational database. I have not used too many database softwares before, but DOORS does a very specific job well enough. It is so powerful that some of the tools just go unused. Some parts of the software are too complex for the average user.
5
All of the people in our company that use DOORS are part of the same team and at least one project. We are providing services using DOORS for one client, and are working to expand those offerings to get other jobs and projects. We use DOORS to verify and validate project requirements.
1
All issues with DOORS are attempted to be fixed in-house first by me, the company IT Admin. If that fails to recover the issue, then we reach out to IBM support. In the past, they have been very helpful and very responsive to our needs, and have gotten us up and running fairly quickly.
  • Gather all project requirements in one place with shared access.
  • Being able to attach and link the evidence that satisfies those requirements within the same software.
  • Being able to compile and then export into an Excel format the information we need to relay back to the client.
  • DOORS comes with the ability to archive shadow data, which can speed up the user interaction.
  • DOORS allows code scripting to make repeating tasks more manageable.
  • Backing up the DOORS database can be as easy as turning off a service and then copying one folder over to another drive.
  • We could use this software to organize any large volumes of data.
  • We could use this software to expand our lines of business offerings/services.
  • We could use this software to branch into similar but different industries that require its use.
At the moment we are required by contract to continue to use the IBM DOORS software for our current client. Given that it can be expensive, if we were to use it after our current client's needs were met, we would have to secure other projects in order to justify the continued use of the software.
No
  • Third-party Reviews
The project we were going to work on required that we use the IBM DOORS software. We needed to purchase and learn the product very quickly to make this happen. We got some help from a reseller and from a local person who had used it extensively before and was willing to do some training for us.
All in all, DOORS is a very capable piece of software. While we had a steep learning curve, it is a good program and does the job well. I'm not sure if we would have gone another route if the choice was up to us the first time around.
Qaiser Islam, SPC4 | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In our organization business analysts and systems analyst are using this module to develop their requirement artifacts. We have the complete IBM CLM suite so that other departments like development and QA use these requirement to develop and test the application. This end to end traceability and easy collaboration across the lifecylce help us a lot.
  • There are a couple of areas where IBM Rational DOORS is quite strong. First, it is part of the IBM CLM solution so the artifacts developed in this module can be easily available for other functions like development and QA. They can link with their stories and test cases and team leads and managers can use traceability matrix to find out where there are gaps in coverage.
  • Comprehensive configuration management functionality (concept of multiple streams and global configuration) is available, which can be helpful if you need to implement configuration management scenarios for your product or project. For example, a certain version of a requirement can be linked with one story and another version of same requirement can be linked with another story. This is the unique feature which other current tools in the market don't provide.
  • It's highly customizable so you can configure the project areas based on your need. You can have your own requirement types, and you can define templates to speed up the process. Comprehensive review functionality is there as well.
  • Wireframes are quite basic. If you need intuitive and interactive wireframes to elaborate the requirements. you probably need to define outside the tool and then upload as image.
  • ER (define data dictionaries) modeling is not there.
  • Use case modeling is quite basic. You can visualize the use case and actors relation but the tool does not enforce the rules.
  • Does not support offline work.
Very good tool for requirements management like baselining the requirements, traceability across the lifecyle, coverage matrixes, working on multiple version of requirement at a time, etc. But not up to the mark for requirement development activities like developing interactive wireframes, data modeling, BPMN, or Use case modeling. Also it does not support offline work.
  • It's part of CLM suite so it can be used to manage the whole lifecycle with tight integration with development module (Rational Team Concert) and quality module (Rational Quality Manager).
  • Comprehensive reports and dashboards provide better visibility.
  • License cost is on higher side.
It's well integrated with IBM products so it provides better coverage across the lifecycle with first class integration. Other producst are stand alone with limited integration with ALM tools.
20
System Analysts and Business Analysts
2
Requirement Analysis background with good experience in trouble shooting
  • Business Requirement management
  • System Requirement Management
  • Requirement Traceability
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Rational Team Concert - RTC, is being used by a project team to facilitate software development. We define user stories, fill a backlog with epics and stories. We then prioritize and rank the backlog, and groom the stories to match our working velocity for the sprint. Rational Team Concert facilitates the requirements documentation, the sizing of the stories, and tracks our progress when used consistently.
  • Easy to use
  • Traceability
  • Generation of Reports
  • Customization to match your implementation
  • Can be self documenting and recording of history
  • Most reports and queries just display data graphically for trending. It would be nice to be able to easily build tabular reports.
  • The application is logistically complex, meaning there are many moving pieces to keep track of. One needs to work with the application learn it. Some people have trouble with this when they are new to RTC and have tight developmental time lines.
  • Running the RTC in house requires trained, dedicated staff. Upgrades are difficult and require expert level knowledge.
It is more suited to an Agile development methodology. However, it is not a replacement for or crutch to be used instead of a strong, disciplined Agile development staff. The software facilitates your existing process. It would be highly recommended to mature your Agile methodology before software acquisition. The software in a less mature environment, can allow bad habits to impact the Agile methodology discipline.
  • Better organization of requirements
  • Effective assignment of priorities
  • When estimating the size of stories and tasks become predictable, it facilitates sprint planning.
  • There is a very positive ROI when a disciplined, mature development team use use the software.
This product had many of the same features, was easier to use, which would result in less training, and had a lower price tag. Logic and reason do not always figure prominently in a decision. Sometimes there are intangible characteristics that alter the flow. In my observation, there was a pending reorganization and a major shift in development methodology that were to come. It was believed that alignment with IBM's Rational Team Concert, we would have better overall support from a pre and post sales perspective, as well as any required responses to "break-fix" activity via their customer support line. IBM also has a fairly large user community at Jazz.net, so that forum is also available for research. These types of items were less developed in other vendor offerings.
4
Training either in house or away from the office was not possible, thus the skill set of the individuals required in part, that they were interested enough to explore RTC and figure out the behaviors. We instituted a weekly meeting, where the administrators would meet and discuss the issues and new found/understood features. We used our own internal WIKI to document the features we discovered.
The software had become so ingrained, that one should not further fragment the software requirements, the test plans/test cases, and the results. We chose a path to implement a centralized repository structure. Additionally, since this requires an expert staff, and there is a hosting service employed, this is really easy to use. It would create much discourse if a whole new direction were taken,and the artifacts (requirements, test plans, test cases, test results, etc) were again.
  • Professional services company
CloudOne was used. They managed the installs, upgrades, and patching, as well as the hosting services. They have the expertise to keep the environment up and available, and even create a "go to" environment, as a prelude to upgrades, and port your data over. They typically see the upgrades and patches multiple times, as they work through their client list. Thus, they know the processes extremely well, and are fast and efficient. CloudOne service was found to be more economical and reliable than using our own hardware and IBM professional services.
There are a number of pieces to Rational Team Concert, though, with honest time working with the software, it can be easily learned while using the software on the job. While I have been an administrator for the software, and have conducted training, it is business software. It is not intended to be enjoyable as in playing a game, though it is perfectly reasonable and acceptable for the intended tasks.
Srivardhan Dingari | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The whole team uses IBM Rational Team Concert. The main focus is to write change requests which includes implementation work tickets, reviews etc.
  • Dead Lines are clearly assigned through change requests
  • Tracking the assignments (Implementation Work Tickets)
  • Process
  • GUI can be implemented much more efficiently with clarity. I personally feel the current IBM Rational Team Concert is little clumsy.
  • Increased employee efficiency is definitely a point to be considered when all the employees are resolving the change requests in a timely manner.
It is easy for the organization to identify what kind of problems there are in the project and how many change requests have been resolved and how many are pending. Thereby the employer can pro-actively arrange the meetings and address the issues to the team members.
50
Automotive
5
There are people who train us. Also the dedicated team which helps when IBM - RTC is non functional
  • Change Requests
  • Ballets
  • Work Tickets
  • Change Requests
  • Tracking the project
As I am using the latest version of IBM-RTC I hope I am happy with it. If the advanced version comes with more features, I would definitely like to use it.
No
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Prior Experience with the Product
As the tool has the facility to use in web mode as well as desktop level, I feel it is very convenient.
Checkout criteria
No problems
  • Implemented in-house
No
Change management was minimal
  • None
As I have no issues so far with IBM Rational Team Concert I recommend the team / Employer to go with it
Not Available
Yes
The tool was not showing the required tabs. There was an issue and was fixed by my supporting team
As said earlier, I was unable to view my project and all the required tabs in the tool. I struggled a lot to fix the issue. Finally it was resolved by the support team by correcting the code.
As I am using it.
  • Ballets, CRs
  • Traceability
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