Application Lifecycle Management Archives

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As products evolve, so must the application development process. Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is born from what used to be a slew of different functions—project management, requirements management, development, testing, quality assurance (QA), delivery, and support—working in siloed environments.

The work of these disciplines depends on one another and needs to be conducted with continued collaboration to achieve maximum efficiency in the shortest timeframe.

What is application lifecycle management?

Application lifecycle management (ALM) integrates the people, processes, and tools involved with software application development from preliminary planning through end-of-life. This unification optimizes communication and collaboration among all groups responsible for application development. Benefits of Application Lifecycle Management include improved quality, increased efficiency, and seamless overall management and maintenance of products.

Typically, ALM and PLM have been separate processes, each using their individual software solutions and tools. But with the near-omnipresent convergence of hardware and software in product development, the process is likely to evolve.

Why is ALM important for development teams?

Unifying previously disparate practices into a single process is an invaluable asset when it comes to creating complex software. That’s why ALM is important—it helps companies realize a multitude of benefits such as, enhancing visibility throughout the software life cycle, simplifying estimates to assist with budget management, increasing efficiency to get applications to market quicker, and strengthening product quality.

Best practices, templates, and tools for application lifecycle management

The most important best practice for application lifecycle management is to use the right tool for the job.

If you’re a part of a growing team, a Requirements Traceability Matrix template can help your ALM process. At a minimum, an RTM can ensure that test cases are prepared and requirements are met.

However, with complex application development — especially in regulated industries — it’s advisable to find an application lifecycle management tool.

There are many benefits of using application lifecycle management tools compared to spreadsheets to manage the development of complex and regulated products. Purpose-built management tools can streamline the people, processes, and integrations that constitute the software development life cycle. Whereas there are a variety of risks of using spreadsheets when developing complex and regulated products.

If you are looking for a tool to support your application portfolio management, there are many to choose from. To help organize the ALM process, be sure to find a management solution that:

Is flexible regardless of development methodology
Makes it easy to get started and administrate
Enables collaboration throughout the life cycle
Allows for integration with best-of-breed tools
Offers excellent support

Hearing what users say about ALM software is also an important checkpoint that should not be skipped.

Key features needed in an application lifecycle management tool

There are many features of application lifecycle management tools; it can be hard to know what’s important. Below are the top features to look for in an ALM tool. For even more help with selecting the right tool, look at our Requirements Management Buyer’s Guide.

Requirements Management

Requirements management is an integral part of any development, including software. However, there are many requirements management methodologies that can be employed—like waterfall or agile. Differing practices within the application development process usually means disparate best-of-breed tools to optimize activities.

Some companies try to force organizations into one software platform in an attempt to achieve the benefits of end-to-end process visibility. Typically, this approach fails due to lack of adoption and the result is an overall decrease in productivity. Therefore, it is important that your ALM tool adapts to the development methodology your teams already use so they don’t have to change their workflow.

Tracking requirements throughout the lifecycle is critical to the success of the software delivered and ensures it meets the specifications set out to build. Being able to link these requirements across the application lifecycle creates a digital thread. In Jama Connect®, this process is supported through Living Requirements™ Management.

This is essential for regulated industries and is a best practice for any complex application development. It reduces the risk of negative product outcomes while preserving engineering autonomy and productivity.

This flexibility helps increase adoption and usage, thus allowing you to quickly realize the benefits of an ALM tool—increased collaboration, productivity, visibility, etc.

Estimation and Planning

ALM tools can help with project estimation and planning, however the development method they are designed for can vary. It’s important to choose a tool that can support both waterfall and agile development.

For complex and regulated product development it’s also important to have an ALM tool with workflow functionality so you can set up a track to be followed systematically.

Collaboration and Communication

Successful development of complex applications requires top-notch communication and collaboration throughout the development life cycle. Out of context communications like email won’t cut it.

Your ALM tool of choice must allow for information flow in real time so it’s never out of date, and be on record tied to the requirement or artifact it pertains to. This way visibility is upheld, and all parties know the latest information.

Source Code Management

While the coding aspect of software development is not regarded as a part of application lifecycle management, it is part of overall development. Therefore, the source code management functionality must be integrated into the ALM tool to ensure requirements traceability from definition through testing and defect resolution.

As stated previously, software engineers should be able to choose their preferred coding software and still have it integrate with the ALM tool. Be sure to research ALM tool integration capabilities before selecting a management solution to ensure the tool is flexible.

Testing and Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is a leading factor in an ALM tool. What sets sophisticated ALM tools apart is the ability to truly deliver end-to-end traceability. This means it is imperative to connect requirements with test status and ensure all requirements are verified and validated.

Best practice is to involve quality and testing teams earlier in the process to validate requirements and review and approve test plans. To achieve this goal, an ALM tool must make test case management a top priority.

Top features of test management are the ability to monitor test progress with smart dashboards, perform both manual user-acceptance testing and support automated testing, trace failed tests to new and existing defects, reuse validated requirements, and integrate with your existing QA and testing ecosystem.

Deployment or DevOps

Like source code management, deployment and DevOps are not typically considered part of ALM, however, your ALM tool needs to integrate with DevOps tools and the continuous integration servers your teams are using for deployment. Furthermore, the dashboards and reports within the tool must have the ability to incorporate the data so full visibility is achievable.

Version Control

When using spreadsheets for ALM, version control can be a nightmare. An ALM tool, on the other hand, houses a complete history of changes made to the application. Smart ALM tools also feature personalized dashboards and reports. This is beneficial for decision making and invaluable for regulatory compliance.

Ongoing Support and Maintenance

This feature of ALM tools is not to be overlooked, as keeping customers happy is the lifeblood of any business. Support is what separates good apps from cherished ones. Also, customer feedback is often the fuel for new ideas and features. Be sure to choose an ALM platform with premier support.

Project and Portfolio Management

Full visibility into the application development lifecycle is, of course, one of the main goals of an ALM tool. With so many moving parts it can be hard to know where to look and when. That’s why it’s crucial that your management tool have custom reports and smart dashboards to easily view strategic project metrics.

Additionally, you may already use a Project Portfolio Management tool, in which case, an ALM tool that can easily integrate will be an important feature to seek out.

Current and future trends of application lifecycle management

One leading trend of application lifecycle management is that software and hardware are continuously converging. Smart devices are both hardware and software—they cannot be distinguished as only one or the other—and must be developed simultaneously.

ALM is used by software teams to produce applications and systems. These teams typically use agile development methodologies. Whereas Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is used in manufacturing industries to build hardware and physical systems. Historically, many of these teams have used a waterfall development methodology. The main difference between PLM and ALM lies is in what is being built.

Again, as products advance, it changes the way in which they are created. The best way to get ahead of this trend is to use a lifecycle management tool that is configurable and enables toolchain integration. That way, no matter the development methodology, testing tools, bug-tracking software, etc., the platform can adapt to the required workflow regardless of what is being built.

Jama Connect does exactly that. It is a web-based application that supports complex products with both hardware and software components. Jama Connect is a forward-thinking solution in that it supports any development model and can conform to the workflow that makes most sense for the teams using it. With standard and custom API integrations and popular third-party integration hubs, teams can work in familiar tools and still ensure traceability throughout the development process.

See how Jama Connect can improve your ALM process by downloading the solution overview.

We’re proud to be kicking off 2021 with accolades from people who know us best – our customers.

Today, we’re proud to announce that G2 Crowd has named us a Leader among all available ALM solutions. “We are deeply committed to client success as evidenced by legions of former users bringing us into their new companies and the enthusiasm exhibited by our product reviews,” said Marc Osofsky, chief executive officer of Jama Software.

Why Did Customers Select Jama Connect as a Leader?

This award was based on over 75 customer reviews with a majority of customers giving Jama Connect a 5 star rating. Reviewers praised Jama Connect for everything from an intuitive and easy-to-use interface to immense cost savings, and almost always touched on product development process improvement. Here are two reviews that stood out to us:

“Jama Connect is one of the best requirements tools out there. We save a lot of time and effort in development and product management by using the well made collaboration functionalities, especially in these current COVID times, “

– Verified Review from an Olaf P, Requirements Manager at an Enterprise Company

“Seven years of success with Jama Connect. The review system is easy to use and encourages secondary users to be involved in the requirements process. We’re developing traditional waterfall requirement documents. Being able to export requirements to our test department’s tools has been really helpful.”

– Verified Review from Mark S., Manager at a Mid-Market Company

How Does G2 Determine ALM Software Solutions Award Winners?

G2 ranks products based on two factors: customer satisfaction (through user reviews) and market presence — with market share, vendor size, and social impact all considered. To achieve the Leader ranking in the Application Lifecycle Management Tools category, an organization must be rated highly by G2 users and have substantial market presence.

Customer satisfaction is not arbitrary, either. G2 bases customer satisfaction off the following factors (in order of importance):

Customer satisfaction with end user-focused product attributes based on user reviews
Popularity and statistical significance based on the number of reviews received by G2
Quality of reviews received (reviews that are more thoroughly completed will be weighted more heavily)
Age of reviews (more-recent reviews provide relevant and up-to-date information that is reflective of the current state of a product)
Customers’ satisfaction with administration-specific product attributes based on user reviews
Overall customer satisfaction and Net Promoter Score (NPS) based on ratings by G2 users

Each month, 2.5 million visitors trust G2 for buyer guidance and insights, and users continue to rank Jama Connect as a trusted, modern solution for innovative engineering teams. As noted by G2, “The Grid® represents the democratic voice of real software users, rather than the subjective opinion of one analyst. G2 rates products from the ALM Suites category algorithmically based on data sourced from product reviews shared by G2 users and data aggregated from online sources and social networks.”

From all of us here at Jama Software, we are proud to have been named a leader and honored to have the privilege to continue serving our innovative and revolutionary customers. We have a lot of exciting things in the works, so stay tuned to see what’s next from our solution, team, and customers.

To learn more about G2’s Winter 2021 awards and read more reviews of Jama Connect, head to G2.com.

SEE MORE REVIEWS

Earlier this year, G2 named Jama Connect a High Performer in ALM Software Solutions and commended our platform for having the easiest setup and easiest admin. We’re proud to say that we have again been awarded this rank in the G2 Fall 2020 Awards, while increasing both our customer satisfaction rankings and our market presence.

This award has special meaning to the team here at Jama Software because it’s awarded by those who know us best – our customers.

Why Did Customers Select Jama Connect as a High-Performance Award Winner?

This award was based on over 70 customer reviews with an overwhelming majority of customers giving the Jama Connect ALM solution a 4 or 5 star rating. Reviewers praised Jama Connect for everything from an intuitive and easy-to-use interface to immense cost savings, and almost always touched on process improvement. Here are two reviews that stood out to us:

“Jama moved our requirements and test processes out of the 1990s. The collaboration tools have had the most impact. We are able to reduce our number of meetings and save less time waiting on feedback loops and herding email chains. The reporting capabilities has really shown where we have holes in our processes that need improvement. [Jama Connect has improved] collaboration and getting the stakeholders to make comments directly on requirements vs. vague emails. We are moving into having our dev teams document their tech specs and unit tests, making this a full ALM tool.”

– Verified Review from an Administrator in Legal Services

“Seven years of success with Jama Connect. The review system is easy to use and encourages secondary users to be involved in the requirements process. We’re developing traditional waterfall requirement documents. Being able to export requirements to our test department’s tools has been really helpful.”

– Verified Review from Mark S., Manager at a Mid-Market Company

How Does G2 Classify ALM Software Solutions?

According to the G2 2020 ALM Award Winner’s report, to qualify as an ALM suite, a product must:

Possess tools for requirements management
Possess tools for software development and testing
Provide team collaboration features
Provide release management features
Provide tools for governance and maintenance

How Does G2 Determine ALM Software Solutions Award Winners?

G2 ranks products based on two factors: customer satisfaction (through user reviews) and market presence—with market share, vendor size, and social impact all considered. To achieve the High Performer ranking in the Application Lifecycle Management Tools category, a product scores high in the user review category but doesn’t yet have the market presence of a product in the leader quadrant.

That could change soon for Jama Connect. But as noted above, our market presence is continuing to expand quarter over quarter. Each month, 2.5 million visitors trust G2 for buyer guidance and insights, and users continue to rank Jama Connect as a trusted, revolutionary tool for engineering teams. As Jama Software Chief Product Officer Josh Turpen notes, “G2 goes above and beyond to be a trusted online resource for businesses everywhere, so an award like this helps get our name out there.”

Other companies that joined the ranks in the High Performers category include Polarion ALM and Micro Focus ALM, though both ranked lower in customer satisfaction.

From all of us here at Jama Software, we are proud to accept this award and honored to have the privilege to continue serving our innovative and revolutionary customers. We have a lot of exciting things in the works, so stay tuned to see what’s next from our solution, team, and customers. To learn more about G2’s Fall 2020 awards and read more reviews of Jama Connect, head to G2.com.

SEE MORE REVIEWS

Application lifecycle management (ALM) tools enable efficient, standardized communication and collaboration between teams in application development, testing, and other business departments. The benefits of a top ALM platforms include less risk from manual and siloed application lifecycle management processes, plus superior confidence in the outcome of compliance and product quality.

What is application lifecycle management?

ALM itself is a broad term. It encompasses key activities across requirements management, quality assurance (QA), IT service delivery, and project management. By spanning all of these diverse activities, ALM may include every workflow from mapping out a preliminary route to regulatory approval for a software-driven medical device, to the testing of that same product in alignment with its requirements and its eventual post-release maintenance.

The exact structure of ALM, and the particular solutions selected to support it, will vary based on the software development practices in use at an organization. For example, ALM can support Agile methodologies as well as DevOps automation processes built around continuous integration and deployment pipelines. In these instances, an integrated ALM process, backed by the right ALM platform, helps bring teams together and ensures all requirements are met for each application.

Application lifecycle management tools can also work within Waterfall methodologies in which activities are broken down into discrete stages instead of approached continuously. Process-agnostic ALM platforms may be configured to support a variety of software projects and extended to support hardware initiatives that revolve around product lifecycle management (PLM), too.

In fact, ALM first emerged as a software-specific evolution of PLM, which applies to physical products such as automobiles. Organizations may seek integration between their ALM and PLM process and technologies to maximize the efficiency of their development processes, such as in the case of a complex connected device within the Internet of Things (IoT).

What do application lifecycle management tools do?

At a high level, best-of-breed modern ALM platforms may provide tools for:

Requirements management

Traditional processes for managing requirements are outdated, as they often involve maintaining numerous Microsoft Word documents and/or spreadsheets, all of which may need to be developed and reviewed separately. This approach slows down the application lifecycle while increasing costs by introducing unnecessary risk related to human error.

In contrast, an ALM tool form offers a comprehensive solution for requirements management. Teams can define all requirements, risks, and tests, plus create virtual relationships between work items, perform risk analysis, and have easy visibility into the potential impact of making changes. Requirements can be scheduled and managed from one interface.

Essentially, the ALM platform serves as a single source of truth where costly rework and time-consuming reviews of multiple siloed data sources can be avoided. Meanwhile, development processes are typically accelerated through substantial reductions in the time needed to identify and remediate requirements-related defects.

End-to-end activity traceability

With applications being developed on increasingly fast timelines and in accordance with a growing array of requirements and regulations, traceability is crucial.

Are development and testing activities adequately fulfilling all defined requirements (on both general and granular subsystem levels)? Are there any gaps in test coverage? Can proof of requirements fulfillment easily be reviewed, signed, and used to demonstrate compliance?

Getting reliable answers to these questions and others requires a capable ALM platform. The right ALM platform provides solutions for creating virtual trace relationships between requirements, risk, tests, and other development activities. More flexible ALM platforms can be extended through toolchain integrations (see below) to capture activity traces across teams and platforms. Virtual traces also tie electronic signatures to any defined milestones and released documents, as well as provide a way to see and analyze the potential impact of making changes. Proof of requirements fulfillment (i.e. trace views and matrixes) should be easy to monitor and export to demonstrate compliance.

Software testing and QA

Testing is an important part of ALM. More specifically, test results will need to be continually updated to accurately reflect the progress of an application’s lifecycle.

Keeping track of these details is more practical with a modern ALM platform that makes it easy to see the status of existing test results, add new tests as needed, and perform time-saving batch updates that capture or change the status of multiple test executions, all in one repository

With the right application lifecycle management tools, these testing and QA processes can be greatly streamlined by providing teams greater visibility into the requirements that inform their work. Accordingly, teams can get the most from their Agile processes and deliver the highest quality software to market as quickly as possible.

Real-time team collaboration

ALM is a fundamentally collaborative endeavor, as it spans a wide range of activities from project management to QA. But efficient collaboration can’t be taken for granted – teams need intuitive collaboration technologies to keep their work aligned and on track.

The real-time collaboration capabilities in an ALM or ALM-adjacent tools enable productive reviews and approvals. Features such as virtual reviews and electronic signatures containing a complete timestamp provide structured solutions for distributed/remote teams to streamline collaboration and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.

Feedback can be captured in one place, allowing for items to be quickly and efficiently categorized as approved or in need of work. Centralizing collaboration features with requirements management provides a solution to track which stakeholders are involved so that follow-up actions can be appropriately assigned as necessary. Moreover, it reduces the risks associated with protracted project times and personnel churn, as knowledge it retained in the system itself rather than in individual minds, making key insights readily available down the line.

Toolchain integration

Multiple platforms may be combined to handle all of the different aspects of ALM-PLM. Platform extensions are typically constructed through built-in integrations or through the use of open APIs that support custom work.

The integration of platforms is important to keep activities, such as software development, properly aligned with requirements. An ideal integration allows for essential information to synchronize between platforms, facilitating collaboration, and improving visibility across otherwise siloed teams and/or technologies. In many cases, a toolchain integration offers a solution for improved traceability to demonstrate compliance.

Testing tools, task, and bug tracking software, and automation servers have great potential for integration with application lifecycle management platforms. Overall, an integrated ALM toolchain will lower risk and lead to better quality and compliance. The integration between Jama Connect and Jira is a prime example of how pairing different best-in-class platforms can increase visibility and support the work of global teams.

To learn more about Jama Connect, visit the main product development page, or get in touch with a member of our team.

To learn more on the topic of requirements management, we’ve compiled a handy list of valuable resources for you!

SEE MORE RESOURCES

TrustRadius Names Jama Connect™ a 2020 Top-Rated Application Lifecycle Management Platform

We are so happy to share that Jama Software has been recognized as a leader among application lifecycle management (ALM) tools for the second year in a row. “We are honored to have received this recognition by TrustRadius. We have the largest team of developers focused on requirements management for safety-critical products,” said Jama Software CEO, Marc Osofsky. “And we’re honored that the most innovative companies in industries such as medical device, automotive, semiconductor, aerospace and defense have chosen to work with us so that together we can shape the future.”

Customer-centric Criteria

With a trScore of 7.9 out of 10] and over 94 verified reviews, Jama Connect™ is proud to be recognized by the TrustRadius community as a valuable player in the Application Lifecycle Management software category.

One of the things we’re most proud of is that our customers selected us—with their excellent satisfaction ratings—as a top-rated ALM tool. This rating was based purely on TrustRadius’ verified customer reviews; there is no paid placement, and analyst opinions do not influence the rankings. To qualify, a product must have 10 or more recent reviews and a trScore of 7.5 or higher, indicating above-average satisfaction for business technology. Read more about the Top Rated criteria.

“Jama Software is one of those rare SaaS companies that has a passionate following among our users,” said Jama Software CEO, Marc Osofsky. “When our users change companies, they bring us with them. Trust Radius focuses on user satisfaction and reflects our pride in the passion of Jama Nation.”

What Our Customers are Saying

Here are just a few quotes from TrustRadius verified users on how they’re using Jama Connect:

“JAMA Connect is used by our Medicaid Pharmacy Solutions Business Analysis Team for managing requirements for our clients. JAMA Connect provides the solution for housing our requirements in a repository to meet the needs of our customers. The review center is great to review requirements electronically instead of sitting in a meeting to review them. Version control creates a great audit trail.“
-Analyst in Information Technology, Hospital & Healthcare

“Jama Connect is the source of truth for requirements. We have used it internally…to communicate between Engineering, Operations, and Scientists, but also to do requirement reviews with external consortia, to get their input. We are also using it for requirement flow-down and traceability and using several report tools. …having an agile way of dealing with requirements helps us.”
-Engineer, Research Company

“We use Jama Connect for requirements management. It’s used across several business units within R&D to manage requirements from initial creation all the way to generating final design traceability matrices. It has been particularly helpful with managing systems with several subsystems that each have sets of requirements. Rather than waste a significant amount of engineering time, Jama allows us to generate requirement documentation (MRS, PRS, SRS, HRS, V&V Plans, and DTMs) with very little effort.”
-Engineer in Research and Development for Medical Device Company

Our Customers’ Success is Our Success

Helping enable our customers’ success is at the core of everything we do. While we take pride in winning this award, our greatest success is watching how our customers use Jama to not only achieve but exceed their business objectives. “Our customer bonds are deeply rooted and personal. We celebrate the product and career successes we help enable and engage deeply on product direction,” said Osofsky.

We continue to innovate, make improvements to our platform, add new features, expand our integrations, and strive to enhance and broaden our service offerings. Our goal is to continue to provide best-in-class requirements, risk, and test management products and outstanding customer service to our customers now and into the future.

At Jama, we’re proud to create products that inspire such gracious feedback in our user community. Thank you for supporting our work, and for sharing your feedback on TrustRadius.

About TrustRadius: TrustRadius is the customer voice and insights platform that helps tech buyers make great decisions, and helps technology vendors acquire and retain great customers. Each month, over half a million B2B technology buyers use over 222,000 verified reviews and ratings on TrustRadius.com to make informed purchasing decisions. Headquartered in Austin, TX, TrustRadius was founded by successful entrepreneurs and is backed by Next Coast Ventures, Mayfield Fund, and LiveOak Venture Partners.

Jama Software kicked off 2020 with accolades from people who know us best — customers.

Software customer review site G2 awarded Jama Connect™ the Enterprise High Performer rating for Winter 2020 in the Application Lifecycle Management Tools category.

The product also received Easiest Setup and Easiest Admin from G2.

“These G2 awards have special meaning” says Jama Software Chief Product Officer Josh Turpin, “because we know they’re based on customer satisfaction reviews from people who actually use our product and know it well.”

Jama Connect Leads with Superior Customer Ratings

Hundreds of thousands of employees at companies worldwide go to G2 to write detailed, honest assessments of the products they use every day. Other products in the Application Lifecycle Management Tools category, including IBM Engineering Workflow Management and IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next, had relatively low customer satisfaction scores despite a higher market presence because they lacked enough positive reviews.

Jama Connect users noted how the product simplified management of complex systems:

“Very easy and intuitive user interface…We have a very complex product with multiple (10+) subsystems, all interconnected in many degrees of complexity. The ability to maintain requirements and the trace linkages for all is a great benefit for us as we face auditing on a regular basis.” – Engineer Product Manager, Medical Device Company (51-100 employees)

“Jama made creating product requirements simple. When you have a complex product and you need to work collaboratively with the team, you have one place to do it, virtually accessible from anywhere. It starts with a project and then you have a nice and friendly User Interface. – Senior Software Development Manager, Mid-Market (501-1000 employees)

Reviewers also specified the ways Jama Connect helped them do their job better:

“Using Jama Connect has provided the ability to perform detailed impact assessments from a single source, expediting the process and reducing the mistakes made between disparate data sources.” – Manager, Medical Device Company, Enterprise (10,001+ employees)

“Jama is fantastic for the collaboration between engineering domains. Requirements can be cascaded down and traced from all abstraction levels” - User in Automotive Mid-Market (201-500 employees)

How G2 Determines Award Winners

G2 ranks products based on two factors: customer satisfaction through user reviews and market presence, with market share, vendor size, and social impact all considered. To achieve the High Performer ranking in the Application Lifecycle Management Tools category, a product scores high in the user review category but doesn’t yet have the market presence of a product in the leader quadrant.

That could change soon for Jama Connect. Each month, 2.5 million visitors trust G2 for buyer guidance and insights. As Jama Software Chief Product Officer Josh Turpin notes, “G2 goes above and beyond to be a trusted online resource for businesses everywhere, so an award like this helps get our name out there.”

To learn about the Winter 2020 awards and read more Jama Connect reviews, visit G2.com.

We are pleased to announce that Jama Connect™ was selected as a Top-Rated Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Tool for 2019 by TrustRadius.

The annual Top-Rated ALM Tool award showcases today’s top-of-the-line products in ALM based solely on user feedback and satisfaction scores. These awards make the voice of the market the primary decider into the industry’s best ALM software.

According to TrustRadius, the Top-Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are never influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer.

“We are proud to be recognized as a top ALM tool by TrustRadius alongside Jira Software from Atlassian,” said Jama Software CEO Scott Roth. “We’ve worked hard to deliver the best requirements, risk, and test management platform available on the market, and are honored to receive this recognition from such a highly regarded source.”

Enterprise Product Development Requires Modern ALM Tools

Though customers noted a variety of features and capabilities as the reason they rated Jama Connect so favorably in the ALM software category — end-to-end traceability, Review Center, and ease of use among the most commonly mentioned — it all came down to the superiority of the product.

“Jama Connect has won a Top-Rated award for application lifecycle management software based directly on feedback from their customers,” said Megan Headley, VP of Research at TrustRadius. “Reviewers praise the product’s core traceability and defect logging capabilities, and its overall superiority for requirements management and QA across development stages.”

And while TrustRadius boasts dozens of verified reviews from happy Jama Software customers — over 70% coming from large enterprises — one was highlighted in the ALM award announcement.

“Through Jama, we have been able to fully document our functional and technical requirements for multiple products/projects. Jama allows us to go through change cycle reviews with our client to show them the changes we have made during a cycle for their approval or clarification,” said Thai Trinh, Senior Business Analyst for an IT and services company. “This gives us accountability and traceability that could not be achieved in other more manual requirement gathering methods… For any project in which you need to document detailed requirements, especially software development, Jama would be well suited for use.”

Jama Connect Shares the Award with Jira Software

With both platforms earning an average of over 8/10 stars, TrustRadius actually named two award winners in the ALM tool category: Jama Connect and Jira Software.

Jira Software, the leading project management software, was rightly recognized for its unique organizational schema such as stories and epics, and overall flexible workflow, making it an ideal ALM tool for managing the work of developers and fostering collaboration among teams. Many organizations accelerate product development by connecting Jama Software and Jira Software for a bi-directional information flow of requirements and tasks.

The Future is Bright for Our Customers

All of us at Jama Software take pride in winning this award, but it wouldn’t be possible without our customers.

Over the coming months and years, we will be deeply focused on making improvements across our product line, adding new features, expanding our integration partners, and broadening our services offerings. These steps will ensure our customers have the most effective platform for requirements, risk, and test management available.

“Our customers are at the forefront of every decision we make, and we’re dedicated to providing them with a premier platform, outstanding customer service, and seamless integrations with other best-of-breed tools,” said Roth.

See how Jama Connect stacks up against competitors in our eBook, “Selecting the Right Product Development Platform.”