Requirements management tools enable implementation of a successful requirements management process. Tools are available for every budget. Set out clear evaluation criteria to pick the best-fit tool for the enterprise.
Understanding the Tool Landscape
The tools market for requirements management is large. This tool family has been around for a number of years and the functionality included is similar across current offerings. Licensing options cover single user, set multi-user, floating and enterprise licenses, as well as hosted options. Differences in price range reflect:
- Number of requirements that can be managed and traceability relationships that can be established.
- Richness of the reporting function.
- Connections to other development lifecycle tools.
- Support arrangements.
Evaluation Considerations
As with any tool being implemented into the enterprise, the normal vendor, licensing, technology fit, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) assessments must be completed. For requirements management tools there are specific considerations based on the current and future directions of these types of tools.
- Evaluate against requirements management activities.
- Determine advanced traceability support. To achieve full traceability, integration with analysis and test tools is required. Assess the level of initial and future traceability needed to achieve Return on Investment (ROI). Evaluate how the tool works with other modeling or testing tools.
- Assess integration with methodology. Large enterprises were the first to recognize the need for automated support of requirements management. As small- to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) make improvements to their requirements process, more requirements templates and process support is being offered as part of the tool.
- Consider distribution capability. Growth in distributed teams has resulted in many tools, including Web-based interfaces for team and stakeholder viewing or reporting on requirements. In future, most of the tool functions will be available from a Web front end. Assess both current and future distribution needs when comparing tools.
- Assess integration with other Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) tools. The need to track requirements baselines and changes grows as the need for legislative compliance grows. Vendors have started to integrate requirements repositories with code repositories and code management tools for full integrated views. Assess vendor direction for SDLC tool integration with its own and other vendor products.
Base Functions in Requirements Management Tools
- Multi-user database to store requirements.
- Access control for update or view access.
- View and manipulate database contents.
- Import/export requirements.
- Create and manage different requirements types and attributes.
- Traceability features for change impact analysis.
- Reporting to communicate requirements
Source: www.infotech.com