Methodology of Building ALM Platform for Software
Product Organizations
Ivo Pekns
AS Itella Information Mkusalas 41b, Rga, LV-1004 Latvija
[Link]@[Link]
Abstract. This work investigates Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)
and elaborates a methodology for building an ALM platform for organizations
dealing with manufacturing of software products. The meaning of platform is
defined and available ALM platforms on the market are analyzed as a part of
the methodology execution. Emphasis is put on basic principles coming from
PLM Product Lifecycle Management which are about integration of different
parts and roles in an organization with the purpose of better information
exchange that positively impacts business agility, performance and visibility.
Keywords: Application Lifecycle Management, Software products, Tool
integration.
1 Introduction
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is a term coined in various sources,
(examples [1], [2], [3]) around Information Technology (IT) industry during the last
decade, but no two definitions are the same. Often the scope of ALM is narrowed
down to software development activities only, including maintenance at best. A more
detailed investigation (examples [4], [5], [6]) shows that ALM is very similar to PLM
Product Lifecycle Management which covers much broader scope from idea till
end of life of the product. The question is if software is a product why cannot ALM
cover the same scope as described by PLM, especially taking into account the
maturity of the latter? (Term PLM is rooted in manufacturing and has been widely
used for years describing the whole lifecycle of the physical/hardware products).
The idea behind PLM is to solve the problem of un-integrated work of different
roles and parts of an organization that collaborate on product throughout its lifecycle
[7]. The main elements of the solution are product information flow, visibility and
availability that make the work integrated and effective which is crucial for product
innovation in todays fast pace business world.
The ALM platform in short encompasses all the technical means that enable the
above stated qualities of the information throughout the software product lifecycle.
While it is possible to build such a platform from existing tools and systems, market
offers out-of-box ALM solutions [8], [9], [10], [11] specifically addressing the
software product lifecycle management. Vendors like IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett
Packard and others are the key players in this market niche.
Organizations participating in software business usually have some set of tools in
place therefore obtaining an out-of-box ALM platform is a huge responsibility and
requires a thorough fit-gap analysis prior to making the decision.
This article describes the elaborated methodology for building the ALM platform
based on current state of an organization producing software products. At the end,
execution (partial) of the methodology with fit-gap analysis method to four ALM
platforms available on the market is presented.
2 Structure
The elaborated methodology consists of two parts:
ALM Readiness check describes/defines target organizations product lifecycle
against ALM Reference model;
ALM Tool investigation investigates tools that support the described product
lifecycle and evaluates them accordingly to ALM Reference Requirements
(derived from the ALM Reference model).
Figure 1 illustrates the mapping of the methodology foundation (ALM Reference
model and ALM Reference requirements) to the product lifecycle and its tools.
Fig. 1. The mapping of the methodology foundation to the product lifecycle.
2.1 ALM Reference model
In order to build the ALM platform, reference points are needed. Investigation of the
information about IT industry shows that there is a lack of independent, objective
guides/methods for ALM type of solutions. Variety of sources [12], [13], [14], [15],
[16], [17] has been researched and none of it describes the whole lifecycle of the
software product in a clear, concise way. For this reason originally constructed ALM
Reference model for building ALM platform is presented that defines and integrates
ideas from various approaches into one common model that covers the whole
lifecycle of a software product very similar to how PLM does [7]. See Figure 2.
Fig. 2. ALM Reference model.
Birth/Growth/End-Of-Life block is either a starting, improvement or end-of-life
point for the product. Depending on organization, this may be a small set of few
separate products reaching to huge program and product portfolio management
processes that are targeted in this block. This block maintains products full
information that is updated on frequent basis.
Business model block is the place where products feasibility is validated before
the actual product development is started. It is included in the model as extension to
classical project management. It is proposed to function according to innovative way
of creating business models as proposed by A. Osterwalder [18]. Its main benefit is in
being a visual one-pager style look [19] at the project/product/idea from many
perspectives which leads to much more precise validation of financial information.
R&D block represents Research & Development phase of the model which
includes finding the right technology and running software development according to
some of known software development approaches [20].
Production/CRM block is the last phase which mainly includes processes like
Release and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Challenges in here are
release strategy choice, actual release management, customer feedback incorporation
into development and similar. The key idea of this blocks relation with block 1 is
getting the real production statistical data and CRM data as input into block 1 for
correct and timely decision making about the fate of the existing products
(termination, further development, new product).
Analytics is the core of this model as it is meant as continuously analyzing part of
processes and information in other blocks. It can be divided into internal and external
parts. Internal is any type of analytics solution up until enterprise level business
intelligence implementations [21], whereas external is interface to something as Big
Data1.
From [Link] Big Data is data that is too large, complex and dynamic for
any conventional data tools to capture, store, manage and analyze. The right use of Big Data
allows analysts to spot trends and gives niche insights that help create value and innovation
much faster than conventional methods
Main feature of the model is Integration which makes all parts of it work as one
system. This way it achieves high agility and visibility of information under
processing.
2.2 ALM Reference requirements
In order to execute partially the methodology with fit-gap analysis method, twenty
nine ALM Reference requirements are derived from the ALM Reference model that
represent the models blocks in more details. See Appendix: ALM Reference
requirements2.
Decision to develop
ALM platform
2. Identify
product lifecycle
Yes
1. Certification and/or
mgmt framework
in place?
7. Way of
working
described?
No
No
10. Describe
No
9. Define
Yes
8. Product
lifecycle
identifiable?
3. Identify phases,
processes
Yes
5. ALM Tool
investigation
Yes
4. Aligned to
Reference
model?
No
6. Align product
lifecycle to Reference
model
Fig. 3. ALM Readiness check flowchart first part of the elaborated methodology.
3 ALM Readiness check
Figure 3 shows the first part of the methodology as introduced in Section 2. Its goal is
to verify if the target organization that wants to build an ALM platform is ready for
this undertaking. The ALM Readiness check identifies and reveals the software
product lifecycle inside the organization and if necessary aligns it with the defined
ALM Reference model. The result of this check is a clear description of the product
lifecycle, for example, in a widely used swim lane format.
2
Some of requirements are not shown due to space limitations.
4 ALM Tool investigation
The second part of the methodology ALM Tool investigation is based on the fact
that all processes need tools in order to be executed; therefore it deals with the
investigation of the technical means, which are mainly software application tools that
support the execution of identified software product lifecycle. See Figure 4.
Completion of ALM
Readiness check
1. Identify tools
covering the
product lifecycle
2. Update product
lifecycle
descriptions
3. All tools
integrated ?
Yes
No
5. Identify not
integrated tools
6. Are those from
one vendor?
No
Yes
7. Can those be
integrated?
No
11. Investigate
vendor tool change
according to
OSLC
and/or
TASKTOP
Yes
12. Implement
tools
8. Integrate
according to
tool vendor
guidelines
9. Update product
lifecycle
descriptions
10. Integrate
according to
OSLC
and/or
TASKTOP
guidelines
4. Fit-gap analysis
of tools to
Reference
requirements
End
with fit-gap
analysis results
Fig. 4. ALM Tool investigation flowchart second part of the elaborated methodology.
As it can be seen (Figure 4), Activities 10 and 11 references to OSLC3 and Tasktop4.
The reason for that is their knowledge in integration of diverse set of vendors/tools
3
[Link] - Open Services Lifecycle Collaboration - An open community
building practical specifications for integrating software.
that produce software product manufacturing tools and applications for use by IT
industry players. Emphasis is on the fact that ALM platform might be either one
complete solution from one vendor like, for instance, IBM or it can consist of various
tools made by various vendors. The key thing is to make them all work integrated, so
they can be called the ALM platform. ALM Reference requirements representing the
ALM Reference model can be considered as an instrument to verify the conformity of
the tools that form the ALM platform to the proposed ALM Reference model.
5 ALM platform analysis
For execution (partial) of the elaborated methodology, test organization is introduced
that has passed the first part of the methodology and has one vendor ALM platform
in-house. This way the second part of the methodology gets executed that deals with
the tools. Four participants were chosen according to Gartner [12] and Forrester [13]
recommendations and those are IBM Rational, Microsoft Visual Studio ALM, Rally
Software ALM and Atlassian based ALM ([8], [9], [10], [11]). Analysis approach is
based on information investigation which is available mainly on the vendor websites.
Neither real world testing, nor customer feedback survey was used. Fit-gap analysis
method was used with the twenty nine requirements as described in section 2.2.
Tables 1 7 show ALM platform analysis scores.
Table 1. ALM platform overall analysis score.
IBM Rational
Microsoft Visual
Studio ALM
Rally ALM
Atlassian ALM
Fit
12
Partial fit
8
Gap
9
11
12
11
5
7
7
11
17
Table 2. ALM platform Birth/Growth/End-Of-Life block analysis score.
IBM Rational
Microsoft Visual
Studio ALM
Rally ALM
Atlassian ALM
Fit
1
Partial fit
1
Gap
1
2
0
1
1
0
2
[Link] - Commercial organization, specializing in software development tool
integration.
Table 3. ALM platform Business model block analysis score.
IBM Rational
Microsoft Visual
Studio ALM
Rally ALM
Atlassian ALM
Fit
0
Partial fit
1
Gap
2
3
0
0
0
0
3
Table 4. ALM platform R&D block analysis score.
IBM Rational
Microsoft Visual
Studio ALM
Rally ALM
Atlassian ALM
Fit
10
Partial fit
3
Gap
1
10
5
4
4
4
5
6
Table 5. ALM platform Production/CRM block analysis score.
IBM Rational
Microsoft Visual
Studio ALM
Rally ALM
Atlassian ALM
Fit
1
Partial fit
2
Gap
2
1
1
1
1
3
3
Table 6. ALM platform Analytics block analysis score.
IBM Rational
Microsoft Visual
Studio ALM
Rally ALM
Atlassian ALM
Fit
0
Partial fit
1
Gap
3
0
0
1
1
3
3
Table 7. ALM platform integration feature analysis score.
IBM Rational
Microsoft Visual
Studio ALM
Rally ALM
Atlassian ALM
Fit
1
Partial fit
3
Gap
0
2
0
2
2
0
2
Overall (Table 1) the highest score goes to IBM Rational and none of the platforms
completely conforms to the proposed ALM Reference model. Tables 2 5 show
scores for other blocks. Integration feature (Table 7) the highest score goes to Rally
Software ALM.
6 Conclusions
Emphasis was put on looking at software products similarly as it is done in other
areas, for example, car manufacturing. The reasons for this are to underline that the
making process of software products is very much alike. Integration of tools and
information flow becomes very crucial in this case. The elaborated methodology for
building the ALM platform is model based, the latter being introduced also as part of
the work. The reason for this is shortage of such models as shown by the research.
Although this is an original work, the model itself is put together from already
available information about the subject of software based products. The methodology
itself consists of two parts product lifecycle definition and lifecycle tool
investigation. As our work shows, in majority of cases, ALM platforms are built on
top of existing tools not obtained as out-of-box solutions. Nevertheless, testing the
model and reference requirements on ALM platforms available on the market allowed
us to conclude that none of those conform the model for 100%. The reasons behind
this might still be very diverse interpretation of what is ALM by different vendors
resulting into delivery of appropriate solutions as well as shortage of solid, industry
accepted knowledge about ALM the same like it is about PLM.
References
1. Chappel
D.:
What
is
application
lifecycle
management?,
[Link]
2. Rossman B.: Application Lifecycle Management, pp 218, Tebbo (2010)
3. Woody
L.S.:
Where
the
acronym
ALM
does
come
from?,
[Link] (2011)
4. BigLever
software,
Inc:
PLM,
ALM
and
PLE,
[Link]
5. Klassen M.: PLM and ALM strange but necessary bedfellows [Link] The Eclipse Foundation, 2013 27 p.
6. Serignese K. SD Times Organization works to blend application, product lifecycle
management - - [Link] 2010.
7. PLM Technology Guide, [Link]
8. IBM.
Collaborative
Lifecycle
Management,
[Link]
9. Microsoft. Visual Studio ALM - [Link]
[Link] Software. Rally ALM platform - [Link]
[Link]. - [Link]
[Link]. Selection Criteria for Success in Choosing ALM Products [Link]
[Link]. Magic quadrant 2012 - [Link]
[Link]. Wave - [Link]
[Link]. Independent, objective analysis - [Link]
[Link].
Decision
matrix
on
selecting
ALM
[Link]
[Link]. ALM Tool vendor comparison - [Link]
[Link] A., Business model innovation: Wiley; 1 edition, 2012 288 p.
[Link] Model Foundry - [Link]
20.A
federal
government
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a
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[Link]
[Link] Sciences Institute. Business Analytics: The Next Frontier for Decision Sciences [Link]
Appendix: ALM Reference requirements
1
ALM Reference model: Birth/Growth/End-Of-Life
1.1
Product profile
There must be support for seeing general product
information - name, status (idea, development,
maintenance, ending), versions, lifespan and similar.
Multiple products (portfolio) support is mandatory.
1.2
Product backlog
There must be a centralized storage of product backlog.
It must be possible to filter it, based on various criteria
(proposed, approved, denied, etc.). Important attribute
of each entry is its financial value.
1.3
Product roadmap
There must be a way of describing product roadmap
and product releases with names, dates and possibly
other information.
ALM Reference model: Business model
2.1
Idea validation
It must be possible to validate idea of a new product.
Approach like Business model generation can be
used. This feature must allow modeling business value.
2.2
Release validation
It must be possible to validate any new release of an
existing product similar to 2.1 and it also must be
linked. This feature must allow modeling business
value.
ALM Reference model: R&D
3.1
Release backlog
Depending on the method used, here must be a
possibility to create subset of requirements from the
product backlog according to product roadmap.
3.2
Waterfall methodology
support
It must be possible to run development projects
according to waterfall method.
3.4
Iterative methodologies
support
It must be possible to run development projects
according to iterative methods.
3.5
UML and other
diagramming for
requirements definition
It must be possible to complement requirements with
diagrams in different notations.
3.6
Source control
Various types of source control must be supported by
the platform.
3.7
Programming language
independence
This part of platform must also be vendor independent thus allowing performing work in variety of
technologies (.NET, C/C++, Java) or it must be easily
extensible to accommodate different frameworks.
ALM Reference model: Production/CRM
4.1
Release management
There must be possibility to manage several releases of
the product. It must be clearly visible in which state is
each release. Besides, generation of release notes must
be possible as well.
4.2
Production deployment
It must be possible to deploy the finished release into
the production environment or mark the release as
ready to manufacturing (RTM) in case of
shippable/embeddable product.
4.4
CRM
It must be possible to use the same environment that is
used for R&D also for handling support requests as
well as perform CRM activities. This part of ALM
platform must be integrated with ERP system of the
enterprise or any other that holds customer/partner data.
ALM Reference model: Analytics
5.1
Connections
Analysis block of the solution must take data from
other blocks around it. If there is no built-in Analytics
sub-system, that supports integrated work of blocks 1-4,
it must declare options on connectivity with other
analytic solutions/enterprise systems.
5.2
Social media monitoring
Analysis block must be social networking friendly. It
must be possible to search in public social media data
according to keywords. Example of such solution is
Hoot Suite
5.3
Web data monitoring
It must be possible monitor and search information in
public web according to keywords.
5.4
Existing data warehouses
There must be possibility to connect and make use of
existing data marts, databases and other sources of data
for analysis purposes.
