Does anybody here work with ALM? (Application Lifecycle Management?)

[Luc the Geek]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone on AO has any experience with any Application Lifecycle Management systems? Specifically IBM's Rational ClearQuest and Microsoft's Visual Studio Team Systems.

I ask because I'm writing a proposal document for my work and wanted some people's opinion on both systems.

[CybertecOne]

I hereby nominate Luc the Geek the "AO Best Post of the Year" award

Nice one :cool:

I can't help :p - but im sure you will find AO to be a good resource for you. Welcome

CTO

[Luc the Geek]

Thanks CybertecOne.

To add to this post itself, I've found lots of information on both IBM and Microsoft's websites, but their information is more sales pitches and list of features. That's the reason I would like some hands on experience from others.

I was able to download the demo for ClearQuest, but what good is a demo if I don't have any source code to manage or a team to collaborate with during the demo? =)

[oofki]

I have used ClearQuest and ClearCase for almost 2 years, what do you need to know?

[Luc the Geek]

Hi oofki,

Thank you for being available and helpful.

First off, are you familiar with VSTS? If so, can you give me the major differences between the two items?

Second,
-what are the features of ClearQuest that you can't live without?
-what are the features/bugs of ClearQuest that drive you crazy?
-how happy are you with ClearQuest?
-how well does ClearQuest work with Visual Studio 2005 (if you know) and can it integrate itself in the UI like VSTS?

Third,
Is there anything in your experience that you think I should know about as a 'green' user?

Thank you again and looking forward to the information.

[dinowuff]

/me *shudders* thinking TPS Reports.

Sorry - I'm famous for going way the hell off topic. Nothing personal

[Juridian]

I've never used ClearQuest, I have used VSTS for both 2005 and 2008.

[Luc the Geek]

Hi Juridian,

Do you mind answering the same questions above, only in the perspective of VSTS 2005 and then 2008?

[oofki]

Np, I wont be too much help but..


First off, are you familiar with VSTS? If so, can you give me the major differences between the two items? Never used it sorry.

Second,
-what are the features of ClearQuest that you can't live without? I pretty much use it to track bugs and enhancements in software that I develop. So basically I guess I need the ability to change the state of a CQ, add comments, add software revisions. Basic stuff.
-what are the features/bugs of ClearQuest that drive you crazy?We have a huge database on a server and it is TERRIBLY slow to use.
-how happy are you with ClearQuest? Its okay... It is def. slow once you have a lot in there and it is way too complicated for what I do.
-how well does ClearQuest work with Visual Studio 2005 (if you know) and can it integrate itself in the UI like VSTS? I am not sure but I know it doesnt come with a plugin for source management that gets installed by default. For that I use perforce.


I hope I was at least somewhat of a help :-)

[Luc the Geek]

Hi oofki,

You mentioned you use perforce. Was there a reason you/your organization went with that product instead of ClearCase?

[oofki]

My old group used clearcase but the integration with perforce and visual studio is pretty awesome and its a lot more simple of an application. (In my old group I also wrote in php and now I moved to C#)