An Insight Into - Integrated ALM Solution

Here is an unsettling and perhaps even problematic scenario, an enterprise that has invested in the best tools for an effective development process and has trained its workforce to master these expensive tools, yet the enterprise finds that it unable to make the most of its investments! So what is missing? An integrated application lifecycle management (ALM) tool that can provide consistent quality by integrating all the tools in the software engineering ecosystem of your enterprise is perhaps the answer to that baffling query. With such a unified system, all your silos of tools can be synchronized and there can be a considerable reduction in inconsistent information. Also such a solution would deliver enhanced business value to your customer and provide you with a comprehensive competitive advantage. The idea is to let go of those ALM solutions that live in isolation and rely on conventional broken manual procedures to synchronize data between tools and choose an integrated ALM solution for best results.

An enterprise can gain a lot with an integrated ALM solution;

Here are the top 5 advantages of such a solution:

• Enhancing customer satisfaction: Seamless collaboration with customers is possible owing to an integrated application lifecycle management solution which allows enterprise stakeholders and developers to understand customer needs and expectations effectively. Development activities will be aligned efficiently as per customer’s needs therefore best practice processes will be adopted throughout the lifecycle. It will provide customers with real-time updates on the progress in the different stages of application development

• Enhances overall quality: With integration, your requirements management tool helps reduce problems arising out of miscommunication. There will be a visible reduction in inconsistencies between requirements this will further enhance testing and increase the overall effectiveness of the development process. Owing to integration of your ALM tools, capturing of details during tests will be faster and strong analytics will help predict problems even before they arrive.

• Gathering actionable metrics and intelligence: Via an integrated ALM tool, enterprises can get an up to date and unfailing picture of application development projects and also avail of simple actionable intelligence which will answer all those niggling queries of knowing the cost per feature development, understanding the percent code of testing done, effectiveness of requirements analysis etc.

• Effectively managing change: With Application development change is constant and every enterprise would want application development to tide over smoothly over such changes. An integrated set of lifecycle tools will allow enterprises to gauge the effects of change efficiently. This will ensure full traceability skills and keep teams updated and will also reduce change reaction time.

• Optimized plug and play tool: An integrated set of lifecycle tools can harness the entire potential and also value of your resources and investment; therefore it is the best end to end ALM solution that can increase your ROI even as it optimizes your processes.

Get the most out of your resources and investments, opt for an ALM solution that can offer you complete integration of your disparate tools and also ensure full traceability.

Also read about ALM Solution at Wikipedia.

Tips on Process Improvements for IT Managers

Every manager needs to know about improving processes by defining repeatable processes to solve problems and enhance productivity. Overcoming process challenges is one of the main concerns of most managers. Errors at times can be costly, but having a system that allows you to utilize top performers to achieve success at all times is fundamental to process improvement. Having a practice that defines workflow solution that is reliable and adaptable to meet and surpass the challenges becomes imperative. Knowledge, skills, and abilities help to improve the productivity of your entire team through effective process improvement. Knowledge is an essential asset to any corporation and must be managed accordingly.

Ascertaining the Crucial Processes

The problems that occur most frequently are often the best candidates for creating repeatable processes. A successful organization ensures that errors are not repeated. A recurring issue is a clear indication that you need to define a repeatable process. It is always suitable to have your best resource train a well qualified backup. Defect tracking can also provide the guidance necessary in analyzing problems and identifying solutions. Problems need to be viewed as opportunities to create repeatable processes so that the organization can profit from any challenges that occur. Formally inputting these steps into a workflow solution will be beneficial to others as well. 

Defining the objective of any process

 The most significant condition of any process is to achieve the objectives even if the individual steps are different. Any process should include an exception procedure to handle emergency events in a controlled and traceable way. This means that experts should define the process including required approvals along with any possible exceptions. 

Improving the Process 

Capturing the necessary roles and responsibilities and a set of tests to confirm compliance are the elemental building blocks for defining a repeatable process.  A checklist with that stipulates the responsibilities are the simplest place to start. Confirming the accomplishments indicating approvals for each task is required.  The initial definition of the process needs to include roles and responsibilities, task flows, approvals and rejections, etc. Capturing the implementation of the process provides the visibility that your team needs to make the right decisions. Workflow history logs and reports provide senior management the visibility needed in order to make decisions and aid IT Governance.

IT Governance and compliance

Managing Change Requests, Incidents, and Problem resolution are critical necessities for IT Governance and compliance. Defining repeatable processes and tracking their implementation are essential in establishing IT controls. It is essential to break down the process improvement procedure in order to automate the processes that are critical to your organization’s success.

IT Service Management Solutions provides a workflow based configurable platform for implementing processes improvements that can make your business process engineering flexible and efficient. Processes may be as complex as you like and may be designed in reusable components. Any given process can be implemented successfully with a suitable IT service management support .

Also read about application life cycle management at Wikipedia        

How to solve issues of IT Service Management effectively?

IT service management mainly deals with investigation and resolution of issues or problems that is spread over a quite a geographically distributed user base. It also involves a series of complex business rules based on SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and other related guidelines. IT  service management becomes even more complex when diverse activities from several departments requires attention, for instance when service, engineering, finance and legal requirements need to be accounted for. It can further become even more difficult and intricate when such diverse departments use disconnected information silos which can adversely affect IT service owing to their complete lack of data integrity and cross functional collaboration. Even as user-reported problems are resolved, it is important that these issues are stored into a data base of sorts for future reference.

Challenges of IT service management

Most enterprises face different IT service management challenges some of them include:

• Correctly identifying and executing all aspects of your complicated automated business process tool
• Informing users as and when the problem is resolved-this should be ideally done on a SLA based timeline
• Ensuring the problem issue has been escalated and brought to the notice of everyone if it delays the process even further
• Having an integrated IT tools ecosystem that efficiently offers global access
• Easy facilitation of knowledge base management

Solving the IT service management problems

Enterprises want to have a solution that can easily enable issues of definition and implementation of complex automated business processes. Additionally they also require prior process versions to be preserved in the tool. This means that traceability in IT service management solutions or tools is an absolute necessity. Also enterprises want to reduce data duplication and the inconsistencies that come with data integrity problems. Getting an ITSM solution that ensures complete data integrity can easily solve the IT service management issues.

Enterprises should opt for such an ITSM solution that has a built in web-based interface that allows easy event-based, two-way real-time communication between disparate tools. This means that departments can collaborate seamlessly ensuring that there is an easy way to leverage past problem resolution efforts as well as swifter problem resolution lifecycle. Such an ITSM solution would allow for the creation of a consolidated and linked repository of customer information for easy access and reference. The ITSM solution must inherently possess multi-entity functional capabilities yet it must also be easy to implement and change. Such a solution would be immensely beneficial to any corporate or government institution.

Also read about Service Level Agreements ( SLA) at Wikipedia.

Top tips to achieve optimized IT governance and compliance

Successful implementation of IT governance and compliance practices can phenomenally enhance the productivity of your organization. As it is mainly involves adherence and compliance and provides visibility, an automated process workflow is the best solution. IT governance and compliance is abundantly essential for any enterprise. The senior management in an enterprise especially is responsible for these governance and compliance issues. They realize that by applying superior controls and processes can create a huge impact on the enterprise, since it has the potential to augment the productivity and value of any organization.

Tips to achieve optimized IT governance and compliance.

Federal laws usually govern public companies that help in establishing effective practices such as reporting and operational controls such as Change management. Implementation of these procedures is regulated by a number of standards frameworks. Most of the industry’s frameworks explain what needs to be done without elucidating as to how to go about doing it. Accomplishing control over the IT process can be achieved by –

• Classifying and communicating change procedures.
• Reviewing, Sanctioning changes.
• Accounting changes and tracking the status of the same.

An ideal requirements management tool allows you to define the precise tasks required to necessary to implement each of the control practices that are essential to meet the control objective.

Some of the Control practices include –

• Developing, recording and circulating a change management framework that stipulates the strategies and procedures like roles and responsibilities, tacking of changes etc.
• Establishing and sustaining version control over all changes.
• Executing tasks and responsibilities that engage business process owners and apposite technical IT functions. Ensure accurate division of duties.
• Establishing suitable record management practices to verify fundamental steps in the change management process.
• Escalating and reporting to management changes that are not closed in time and ensuring timely closure of changes.

Authorization and agreement of all changes need to be organized and configured as required by the business needs.  Having a robust and flexible arrangement in place to define all these relationships provides the ability to enforce processes. Integrating with leading testing tools that can be configured with the central repository for all information enhances global lifecycle product support thereby optimizing IT governance. Tracking the status changes need to be extremely unambiguous and all the vital steps can be made visible by status reports, logs and diagrams. Compliance is also made much simpler when there are adequate reports to depict the completed procedures. Information can be reviewed and reported to management to provide transparency to all of the mandatory IT controls.

Read more about IT service management here.
Also read about enterprise service bus at wikipedia.

How much do you know about application lifecycle management?

Application lifecycle management or ALM is basically the ability to integrate, coordinate and manage the various stages of a particular software delivery process. From the stage in which the idea is conceived to the stage in which it has to be effectively deployed; ALM is a consolidated step wise process. This includes definition, design, development, deployment, integration and management of a particular software product into the organization. Through out the process of ALM each of the above mentioned steps are monitored and checked for deviations.

Beyond the technical details, Application lifecycle management is about the methodology followed by its developers. An ideal ALM process must not only provide a collaborative environment for its developers but also be able to use the same mechanisms to deliver the product to its end users. The following points will throw light on aspects discussed above-

• Process standardization.

Developers on this task are similar to artists; they invariably bring on their own ideas into the enterprise. During the development phase varied ideas innovations and presentation of unique business opportunities may be welcome but the during the execution stage, a standardized process becomes imperative. The key to integrating ideas from diverse groups of developers lies in implementing this standardized technology. It is cost effective and more importantly highlights the ‘on time’ and ‘on budget’ aspect of the project deliverable.

• Smooth delivery via an easy installation process.

The painstaking efforts taken to ensure a clear standardized mode of executing this tool loses its meaning unless it is made easily available. Focus on easy installation while accommodating the nature of its user is important. ‘Installers’ which trigger easy download of the software for its various users could be launched .This approach is beneficial because it allows complete control and management of the application installation process, it's fast as well as user friendly. The enterprise could also up-sell other software products or enhancements during the download process.

• Managing and monitoring the application.

This application which has thus evolved requires regular maintenance, does it not? By maintenance we mean constant debugging of the tool on the basis of feedback received by its varied users. A dedicated IT team can make modifications to the application as well add new features; since they are standardized
on the same lines. Once the application gets updated, the IT manager simply will have to re-deploy the software and it shows-up as an “update” on the end user's desktop. This flexible method requires the least amount of interruption to the customer because it means they only have to accept the update and keep going about their business as usual.

In a nut shell, deployment of the right ALM program to your organization has the following benefits-

• It obviously means increased efficiency in terms of the performance of the business
• Effective collaborative techniques in software development.
• Improved resource utilization for the business
• Enhanced product quality which means greater profitability in the long run

The dynamic nature of the software marketplace today means increased competition for survival. There are a variety of ALM solutions available across different firms today, go ahead and choose the right one for your business!

Read more about IT sevice management here.
Also read about enterprise service bus at wikipedia.

Top tips for effective issues management for enterprises working onshore and offshore

America is witnessing an interesting trend with enterprises using both onshore and offshore models for their diverse projects; such an amalgam of these two models has obvious cost benefits for the enterprise. So while the enterprise may set its development centers somewhere in India where their products testing would be carried out, the enterprise’s actual project office would be in the US. Even as the enterprises that follow the offshore-onshore model, they have to deal with different challenges that may confront them owing to the disparate geographical locations of their projects and development centers.

In this brief article, we will provide some tips which can help ensure enterprises with effective issues management for their projects which may be located in diverse locations. These tips include:

• An enterprise should have a tool that should necessarily be equipped with a geographical separation mandated web-based application that can with its centralized repository enable secure and easy access to all users, irrespective of their physical location.  
• Issue management tools should be employed that can help an enterprise coordinate and manage workflows through automatic task generation and measurement metrics.
• Enterprises should employ such tools that can manage their requirements and approval processes. The tools should be able to create reports on requirement documents and specifications efficiently.
• An application lifecycle management tool is required that can enable enterprises to change requests directly into the system, wherein through a simple login all relevant information (issue metrics) can be obtained in real time.
• Enterprises should opt for those ALM tools that can define and enforce issue resolution processes. This will ensure that customized iterative processes can be developed and improved for any issues management process. The issues process further makes certain that issues discovered in the daytime in the US are available for access at night from India, and their results are available the next day back in the US.
• Typically an ALM application that is browser based can prove very effective for enterprises because it can enable enterprises to connect with their geographically distributed users through a single platform.
• Enterprises should seek out for that tool that can effectively manage their maintenance and development projects for both internal and customer driven projects.

Every enterprise is on the lookout to ensure efficiency and enhanced management of their project lifecycles. With the above mentioned tips, enterprises will hopefully get some insight into what they should be looking for in that perfect issues management solution.

Read more about IT sevice management here.
Also read about enterprise service bus at wikipedia.

Integrated Project Management –Best practices for 2011

All organizations today use projects as the mode to translate strategies into performance oriented actions and their objectives into realities. There are also wide varieties of businesses today that live and breathe project management primarily because their firm happens to be project intensive. Further, breaking down each and every plan into organized projects is not easy in today’s complex and high-stake world. Scheduling and allocating resources, cost and budget management, communication and documentation of all process are prime areas of concern here, apart from the other complexities and dynamics of the business .The greater challenge would be to effectively integrate and consolidate all the mentioned areas until the project completion. So how does integrated project management come into focus here? Almost every industry since the nineties had started implementing project management software to overcome the basic hurdles of management related to budgets, tasks, time and resources. Broadly, the purpose of such an integrated project management tool is to establish and manage the execution of the project. It lays down a definite detailed process that is tailored as per organization’s policies and procedures and thereby allows the organization to effectively translate its resources. 

If you are seeking out for an effective guideline to help optimize your project management tool or requirements management tool, here’s a consolidated list of best practices for Integrated Project Management for 2011.

·         Understand the nature of the business and review all its project relevant activities.

·         Undertake a comprehensive financial analysis ,cost and budget of the project with respect to its impact on the business.

·         Carry out a stake holder analysis including users and support personnel for the given project.

·         Initiating or kick start of the project as per the plan laid.

·         Planning or development of resources, personnel and determining the scope of the project.This must include all kinds of scheduling, resource allocation and risk planning ahead. The project is thus to be begun after obtaining formal approval for the same.

·         Execution of the project is to be ensured along the lines of the management plan laid .This will involve co ordination and integration of people and resources in a uniform manner.

·         Constant monitoring of the project is to be done to establish any variances and corrective action should be initiated accordingly .The key benefit of close monitoring would be resource optimization and benefits the project as one of the most effective issue management tools.

·         Closing project after establishing that is done in accordance with the blue print is the final phase of a project management plan.

An integrated project management system is the automated approach to a culmination of all the above mentioned steps. It can safely be concluded that the key to smooth execution of a particular project in any organization can be made possible through an efficient integrated project management plan. Go ahead choose your ideal issues management software  and give your business that an unbeatable competitive edge!

Read more about Applications lifecycle management at Wikipedia. Also read about IT service management  hear.