Why should you use an ALM tool?

The most important things at a glance:

• Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is a software tool that is essentially used as a project management tool.
• ALM tools are used to monitor the life cycle of an application.
• The advantage of ALM in Automotive SPICE®: By managing an entire product life cycle, there is no loss of control and overview of the product.
• ALM supports documentation, consistency, collaboration, team communication and software development.
• Requirements management is a part that can be mapped in application lifecycle management.

Overview

1. What is Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)?
2. Application Lifecycle Management phases
3. What does ALM mean in Automotive SPICE®?

In the course of digitalization, the topic of ALM is becoming increasingly important for companies. But what does application lifecycle management mean?

What is Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)?

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is a software tool. One that helps project teams to monitor the lifecycle of an application. From its initial planning to the end of support - in other words, across the entire lifecycle. This also includes documenting and tracking changes to an application.

In the past, development teams often worked independently of other departments. The motto was "every man for himself": for example, project management, requirements management, software development, testing, quality assurance, deployment and maintenance. ALM now combines all these disciplines in one software.

Numerous application lifecycle management tools

There are now numerous ALM tools on the market for monitoring application changes. These range from ALM products that monitor software from planning to completion and organize files into directories when changes are detected, to simple wikis that require team members to manually record changes.

Use of the Application Lifecycle Management tool

The ALM tool is essentially used as a project management tool that combines people and processes. The tool includes the following: Version control, real-time team communication capability, requirements management functions, estimation and project planning, source code and test management.

It is possible that all these functions can be found in one tool or that additional (e.g. developer-specific) tools need to be integrated. The ideal ALM tool should primarily support the development process, whether agile, waterfall, DevOps or something else.

Examples of ALM tools

Some examples of ALM tools are listed below:

• Polarion ALM
• Polarion Open Java API ("Open API")
• CodeBeamer
• Jenkins
• JIRA
• Vector Tools
• IntelliJ
• Virtual Studio
• Virtual Code
• IBM ALM solutions
• CA Agile Central
• Microsoft Azure DevOps Server
• Tuleap
• Basecamp

Application Lifecycle Management phases

ALM ensures a transparent development process. As the process is integrated, you know what progress has been made, but also which steps need to be carried out, how long the task took or which tests have been completed.

Phase 1: Application governance

Governance describes the decisions that are made about the application. When starting to develop a new application, it is important to have an initial idea of the application. At the same time, it is important to consider how the application relates to the business requirements and objectives.

These considerations have led to requirements for new applications that need to be defined and agreed as part of the governance phase. Resource management, data security and user access are all part of application governance. Standardizing these processes can automate governance. This speeds up the deployment of applications.

Phase 2: Application development

Once the requirements for an application or update have been defined and agreed, development can begin. Teams using agile methods may carry out development and deployment once or several times a day.

Phase 3: Necessary tests

Once a new application has been developed, it needs to be tested and bugs fixed before it can be released to production. The purpose of the testing phase is to ensure that the requirements defined by governance are met and that the application works as expected before it is released to users.

Phase 4: Operation and maintenance phase

Once all tests have been completed and all errors have been rectified, the application can be made available to users. In the operation and maintenance phase, ALM focuses on the entire life cycle of the application. The team's work does not end with the deployment of the application. It must also take regular maintenance and updates into account. Maintenance also includes the decommissioning of an application or service. The team should determine when the application is no longer supported or a new version is available.

What does ALM mean in Automotive SPICE®?

Automotive SPICE® is a standard work of the VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry) that opens up opportunities for manufacturers to evaluate their suppliers according to their process capability. The standard work is a collection of requirements that suppliers must fulfill in order to be able to carry out projects with manufacturers at all. Automotive SPICE lists everything that is necessary for this. In other words, you need a project plan, a process description, quality assurance, requirements management, etc.

In abstract terms, Automotive SPICE® can be understood as a standard that is used as a framework for the improvement and evaluation of processes. It applies to the development of mechatronic systems with a focus on the software and system part of products to be developed. Successful adaptation of Automotive SPICE® has now become a prerequisite for becoming a supplier (or even an OEM) in the automotive industry. These specifications apply not only to German or European suppliers, but worldwide.

The term SPICE is an abbreviation derived from System Process Improvement and Capability Determination.

The "S" in SPICE is often translated as "software". However, the model has always also included system processes. This translation goes back to the source of the process definition from the early days of the standard, in which only software processes were defined, ISO/IEC 12207 (Software Life Cycle Processes).

In Automotive SPICE®, not only software is to be managed over the entire life cycle, but entire products: Hardware & software & mechanics in combination. Application Lifecycle Management is a combination of development and support for products throughout their entire life cycle. This means: in all steps from requirements management, development and implementation to testing and integration, which is characterized by the intensive interlinking of all disciplines involved. By combining these factors, ALM ensures accelerated delivery, improved workflow transparency, higher quality products and greater developer satisfaction.

The great advantage that ALM offers with Automotive SPICE®: By managing the entire life cycle of a product, you don't lose the overview, you don't lose control of the product!

Requirements management is a part that can be mapped in application lifecycle management. The added value is traceability and traceability. ALM supports documentation, consistency, collaboration, team communication and software development.

Application Lifecycle Management - we at Automotive Beratung offer continuous development, support and improvement.

We help you to adapt this principle to your processes and needs with appropriate tools such as Polarion ALM and thus to optimize the interaction profitably.

Visit our website: https://diprocon.de

You are welcome to contact us at any time. We look forward to answering your questions and fulfilling your wishes!

Your contact person: Sebastian Martin