Tag Archive for: legacy sunset

Tag Archive for: legacy sunset

Migration Solutions for Legacy Requirements Management Tools

This post on scalable migration solutions is part of a series. You can find Part II on legacy software pains here, Part III on enabling innovation here, Part IV on the difficulties of compliance here, and Part V on moving from DOORS to Jama Connect here.

Over the last couple months, we’ve been detailing the harsh realities of using a legacy requirements management (RM) tool for complex product development and the various benefits of moving to a modern solution like Jama Connect™ in our blog series Legacy Sunset. You can go back and read those posts if you’re interested in learning more about pain points, proven alternatives, and more.

Now that we’ve covered some of the reasons to make the switch, how do you go about migrating to a modern requirements management solution while minimizing business disruption? The process of migration does not have to be daunting.

Jama Software offers four key migration solutions to support companies in their migration from a legacy requirements management solution like IBM® DOORS® (IBM Engineering Requirements Management – DOORS Family)  to Jama Connect. These flexible solution components allow customers to replace legacy solutions, co-exist with these legacy systems, or simply use Jama Connect and connect to the customers and suppliers using legacy requirements management tools.

Customers leveraging our migration solutions will work with Jama Software consultants to adapt Jama Connect to fit their individual product delivery process, identify and migrate required data, and train teams to quickly achieve sustainable results.

Let’s review each of the migration solution options:

Jama Connect Import

Our most-used method of importing requirements data from DOORS into Jama Connect directly is the Jama Connect Import Tool. This solution can be easily accessed through the Import Directory which allows data to be pulled directly into Jama Connect, downloading an HTML set of images. There is no additional fee and this option is included in the standard purchase of Jama Connect. Instructions for using the Jama Connect Import Tool are covered during the services onboarding phase of the implementation. When data is simple and the volume of data is moderate, this is a good migration option.

See how Jama Connect can transform your requirements management process for legacy software customers in our whitepaper, “Jama Connect: A Modern Requirements Management Alternative to IBM DOORS.”

Data Exchange Services 

Data Exchange Services allow you to manage requirements across suppliers and customers without necessitating online data integration, which in turn reduces data duplication by leveraging round trip exchange. This service allows customers to operate within a legacy ecosystem while adopting a modern requirements management tool within select departments and across organizations where legacy requirements management (like IBM DOORS) is the standard.

Data Exchange for Jama Connect allows the import of modules or sets of modules in the industry standard ReqIF format directly into Jama Connect from legacy RM tools. This solution takes a level of permissions to export the data from DOORS into a ReqIF file. In order to import data into Jama Connect, it is possible for this tool to be extended and customized to meet specific client needs.

DOORS Migration Engine

Powered by Sodius, the DOORS Migration Engine was created to help support customers with more complex requirements data, or those who have large volumes of data, as they migrate from a legacy solution to Jama Connect.

The DOORS Migration Engine extracts directly from the old data in legacy RM tools and imports it into Jama Connect. This scales to manage large loads of data migrated from solutions like DOORS 9.X to Jama Connect. Customization is possible with this migration solution to support any unique data requirements for customers.

REST API

Customers can also perform the data migration on their own using the Jama Connect REST API. This option scales from small to enterprise customers. For those who choose this option, it’s important to mention that even though you are handling the data migration on your own, Jama Software’s Professional Services team is available to assist customers through this process.

Whichever path you choose, switching to Jama Connect requires a migration approach that scales to your people, process, and data. It’s not just about migrating the data from one database to another; onboarding and training teams on the new solution is also a critical component to long-term success.

Migrating off of a legacy RM tool takes planning. And regardless of which migration solution you choose, we’re here to support you throughout your transition and help you figure out the best way to use Jama Connect, and not just recreate the clutter of your existing legacy tool.

For a deeper dive into why leading organizations are leaving legacy solutions behind, check out our recent webinar, “Top Benefits of Moving to a Modern Requirements Management Tool.”

*IBM® and DOORS® are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.

Data Migration to Modern Requirements Management

This post on moving away from IBM DOORS® is part of a series. You can find Part II on legacy software pains here, Part III on enabling innovation here, Part IV on the difficulties of compliance here, and Part VI on migration solutions here. 

IBM® Rational DOORS® has been around since the early ‘90s and has served many teams well in the past. But in today’s web-based, interconnected world, if you’re still using DOORS, your requirements are likely stuck in a siloed Windows application. It’s time to retire DOORS and move to a modern requirements management solution. Here is a hands-on guide for a painless data migration from a legacy requirements management solution like DOORS to Jama Connect®.

Software Migration Prep Work: Start by Taking Inventory

Before you begin your software migration, start by screening your DOORS data to get a rough overview of the work ahead of you. Collect key metrics of your current system:

  • How many DOORS modules do you have?
  • How many objects (items) reside in each module? Average? Maximum? Minimum?
  • How many attributes do your modules have, and how complex are they? Again, look at average, maximum, minimum, and also whether you use DXL attributes.
  • How many DOORS projects and folders?
  • How consistent is your data? Do all modules of a certain type (e.g. “User Needs”) have the same attributes?
  • Do you use any special DOORS features, like DOORS Tables, DXL scripts, or OLE objects?

Decide What to Migrate Where

It is rarely necessary to migrate all your data to Jama Connect. Your data migration typically only needs to include active data, not completed projects. It’s usually not necessary to migrate the history of your data, only the latest version.

Of course, completed projects and version history must not simply be discarded. Rather, you want to keep this information accessible somewhere, at least as long as legally required – this needs to be part of your software migration strategy.

You have the following options for your data migration, and you can mix and match them as you see fit:

  • You should always make a regular DOORS backup and properly archive it. This data is inaccessible, unless you reactivate DOORS
  • Active data should migrate to Jama Connect
  • Completed data should be exported in a format that can be processed without DOORS. This could be a simple PDF (or Office) export
  • Alternatively, you can export the data using the Requirements Interchange Format (ReqIF). ReqIF is an open standard for exchanging requirements. As Jama Connect supports ReqIF, you could always import that data if needed at a later time
  • Lastly, you can decide to keep DOORS around on a single license, and ensure all data is accessible

See how IBM DOORS customers can migrate to Jama Connect by viewing our datasheet.

Invest in Jama Connect Configuration

There is always the temptation in a software migration to simply move what you have from point A to point B; from DOORS to Jama Connect.

However, migrating to a new solution is a great opportunity for optimizing your processes and taking advantage of the capabilities of the new solution. This does not mean that you should throw everything out that you built so far. It simply means that you should revisit what you have, remove what did not stand the test of time, and reflect on the underlying use cases to ensure that the underlying problem is solved instead of blindly copying a mediocre solution.

In Jama Connect, this means that you should carefully analyze your existing data to configure frameworks for the various types of projects that you have. For instance, you may have a framework for complex, safety-critical development that follows the V-Model, and another lightweight Agile framework for app development.

A framework in Jama Connect is a configuration consisting of project structure, trace rules, workflow, and permissions that can be used as a template for new projects, as shown in the figure below. You should have frameworks that fit the data you intend to import. After the migration, all projects in DOORS that were “similar” will then follow the framework in Jama Connect, creating improved alignment and consistency.

Data is Easy, Customization is Hard

There is also a good chance that your DOORS system was customized significantly over the years. This is mainly due to the fact that DOORS can be programmed with a scripting language called DXL. While it is tempting to quickly solve a software migration problem by writing a little script, this can create long-term liabilities and maintenance nightmares.

It’s important to understand that no other requirements management tool supports DXL. Therefore, if you migrate to another solution (Jama Connect or otherwise), you will leave DXL behind.

So, rather than providing a scripting language, Jama Software provides an open Application Programming Interface (API). This allows you to perform customizations if necessary, without the liabilities that comes with scripting.

RELATED: Legacy Sunset: Scalable Migration Solutions for Jama Connect

Migrating to Jama Connect

Now that the Jama Connect frameworks are configured and the data identified, it’s time to migrate. We would not recommend your data migration happens all at once, but instead unfolds in three phases:

  • Phase One: In the preparation phase, you’ll perform a few test imports to ensure the data migrates across correctly.
  • Phase Two: When ready, you can migrate one pilot project. After evaluating the results (or even better, working for a few weeks in production), you can fine-tune and optimize the import process for subsequent projects.
  • Phase Three: At this point, you’re ready to migrate the remaining data. It is generally a good idea to keep the overlap — with both DOORS and Jama Connect in production — as small as possible.

The Software Migration Process

Jama Software provides four different facilities for data migration. Whichever one you use depends on your specific situation and the amount of data you need to migrate. All data migration options will maintain formatting and traceability:

  • Jama Connect ships with a built-in DOORS importer. To use it, you export views in DOORS to HTML, which are then imported. Every module has to be processed by hand, so this path is useful for test imports and small quantities of data (a few dozen DOORS modules).
  • You can also use Jama Software’s Data Exchange, which works with ReqIF, the Requirements Interchange Format. You can export data in DOORS and subsequently import it into Jama Connect. This scales better as you can process whole projects at a time.
  • You can also use Jama Software’s DOORS Migration Engine, a set of configurable tools that we tailor to your specific situation, which makes bulk migration possible.
  • If none of these options works for whatever reason, you can build your own scripts that import data into Jama Connect using our REST API.
RELATED: Legacy Sunset: Why Jama Connect is a Proven Alternative to Legacy Requirements Management Tools

Learn more about requirements traceability by downloading our eBook, “The Jama Software Guide to Requirements Traceability.”

Conclusion

DOORS has been a faithful requirements management tool that has served the product development community well for almost 30 years. But in order to stay competitive, it’s necessary to switch to a modern requirements management solution like Jama Connect.

Software migrations are rarely fun. However, when you migrate from DOORS to Jama Connect, it is a rewarding experience, as you end with an intuitive, user-friendly, and team-friendly environment. Plus, as your data gets aligned to the Jama Connect framework during the software migration process, your requirements data will be consistent and synchronized to your team’s processes.

See how Jama Connect can transform your requirements management process for legacy software customers in our whitepaper, “Jama Connect: A Modern Requirements Management Alternative to IBM DOORS.”

Compliance Audit with modern requirements management

This post on the pains of compliance is part of a series. You can find Part II on legacy software pains here, Part III on enabling innovation here, Part V on moving from DOORS to Jama Connect here, and Part VI on migration solutions here. 

As the devices around us become increasingly powerful, their ability to harm us may be increasing as well. And while the majority of connected devices and products are safe, there are recent headlines that reinforce the importance of compliance audits and properly managing risk.

Recently, a hacker remotely killed the engine of a car while a motorist unknowingly drove down the highway. Another recent example happened to Toyota, when mistakes during development caused failing brakes and random accelerations, resulting in the automobile maker recalling almost two million cars.

But in spite of dramatic incidents like these, today’s products are remarkably reliable. We generally feel safe stepping into a plane or taking a ride in our car. We feel safe, because those in the automotive and aerospace industries must prove compliance with industry standards and regulations that ensure their products adhere to high safety standards.

Regulatory Compliance is Good for Business

Even though corners are sometimes cut, most companies recognize that compliance is essential in the long run. While the ethical argument is a no-brainer, compliance with regulatory standards also enables customer confidence, boosts quality, and motivates employees.

Compliance audits are based on standards like ISO 26262 for automotive developers or DO178B/C for aeronautics. These have been around for decades and have helped shape the design of countless safe products. Many of these standards are based on IEC 61508, which conceptually describes best practices that lead to safe systems.

Using safety standards for compliance audits

Regardless of whether you are developing a car component or nuclear reactor, there are certain capabilities that your development process must exhibit in order to pass a compliance audit. In this day and age, it is next to impossible to do this without the support of quality solutions. Selecting the right product development solution will help you:

  • Prove complete traceability throughout every step of the development process
  • Standardize best practices, ideally with automated compliance reporting
  • Visualize and effectively manage the impact of changes
  • Support your product schedule and ensure that it is not compromised by quality and compliance requirements
  • Act as your single source of truth for risk, test, and requirements

Learn more about requirements traceability by downloading our eBook, “The Jama Software Guide to Requirements Traceability.”

Complex Product Development Demands More than Legacy Requirements Management Tools

IBM® DOORS® (IBM Engineering Requirements Management – DOORS Family) was an amazing tool – when it was originally published in 1991, almost 30 years ago. A new product was developed from scratch, called DOORS Next (IBM Engineering Requirements Management – DOORS Next) and released to the market in 20121. Yet many users of DOORS hesitate to switch. This is because instead of an easy transition to DOORS’ new product, there is a lengthy migration to DOORS Next required that’s usually very costly.

DOORS has many capabilities for working in regulated industries, but the limitations far outweigh the benefits. It does not deal well with increasing complexity or the need for collaboration and seamless integration in existing tool ecosystems. Let’s have a look at some of the limitations of DOORS:

  • Traceability: DOORS has powerful traceability capabilities, but they are hidden behind a cumbersome interface. This leads to outdated traces. Users find traceability maintenance to be difficult with DOORS, and sometimes traces are created “after the fact” for compliance audits and nothing else. This is a missed opportunity, as an up to date, easy-to-use traceability matrix creates transparency and confidence when reacting to change. Traceability is also an enabler for agility.
  • Change Management: The traceability of DOORS does support change management, e.g. via suspect links in principle. Unfortunately, this information is hidden and hard to put to use. Compare that to the actionable traceability of Jama Connect™, which proactively points out issues in the traceability matrix and suggests how to fix them.
  • Compliance Reporting: DOORS allows you to report on virtually everything – but almost everything requires scripting with its proprietary scripting language, DXL. Unless you have a responsive programmer on your team, you will have a hard time getting the information you need.
  • Best Practices: Every “module” (document) in DOORS has its own fields, and without an in-house expert, users sometimes find themselves with little guidance on how to use the tool. This results in inconsistencies, which in turn result in confusion and lack of transparency. Consider two “system specifications” with inconsistent values for “priority.” Likewise, standardized workflows guide users through their daily work. In DOORS, you need a programmer to provide this functionality.
  • Collaboration: Collaboration is the foundation for high-quality product development and a foundation for compliance, which requires transparency and managerial oversight. But when Rational DOORS was released, the Word Wide Web was just two years old. Initially, no collaboration capabilities existed at all.
  • Single Source of Truth: DOORS provides you with a single source of the truth – as long as the truth resides in DOORS. In 1991, nobody was thinking about integrating various tools into a seamless tool chain. And therefore, DOORS is an isolated silo. Due to the complexity of the user interface, often stakeholders refuse to take a peek into that silo.

See how IBM DOORS customers can migration to Jama Connect by viewing our datasheet.

What about DOORS Next?

The only thing DOORS Next shares with the DOORS solution is the name. Otherwise, it’s newly developed software. This means that the raw requirements data can be migrated, but this is possible with virtually all requirements solutions on the market. The customizations that were done to DOORS cannot be migrated. This means that users who want to switch away from DOORS are not constrained by a particularly attractive migration path.

Whether you migrate from DOORS to DOORS Next or to Jama Connect, the effort is the same. And that allows you to compare the capabilities of solutions on the market without having to worry about the migration path: It will take some effort, no matter which solution you choose.

Leaving Legacy RM Solutions in the Past

We at Jama Software acknowledge everything that legacy RM solutions have done in the past for the discipline of requirements management and requirements engineering. But after almost 30 years, it’s time to reinvent modern requirements management.

In particular, the demands for compliance for today’s complex products can no longer be satisfied by legacy RM tools. Transparency, collaboration, best practices, and oversight – all these were non-issues in 1991 when legacy RM solutions were built.

If you are in an organization that uses a legacy RM solution, it is time to assess if it’s up to the challenges ahead and you have a choice of many modern requirements management solutions on the market.

See how Jama Connect can transform your requirements management process for legacy software customers in our whitepaper, “Jama Connect: A Modern Requirements Management Alternative to IBM DOORS.”

*IBM® and DOORS® are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.

1 IBM United States Software Announcement 212-505, dated November 27, 2012

Automotive Engineering

This post on innovation in automotive engineering is part of a series. You can find Part II on legacy software pains here, Part V on moving from DOORS to Jama Connect here, and Part VI on migration solutions here. 

Few industries are as visibly affected by digital transformation as the automotive industry. Over a century ago, Henry Ford started to produce the production of the famous Model T and jump-started the success of the car as a consumer item. There has been lots of incremental innovation ever since, but nothing compared to what we are seeing today, like self-driving cars, over-the-air feature enablement, or transportation as a service.

Challenges for New and Established Organizations

It is unclear who is in a better position for exploiting the exciting opportunities in the automotive market. Established vendors have a solid, financially-strong foundation to operate from, combined with decades of experience in building cars. But this legacy is also slowing innovation down, as manufacturing processes and production lines are based on long development cycles. There are reasons for it: Existing automotive design processes evolved from a paper-based mindset, where every additional iteration in is expensive. Likewise, the production line was tuned for high throughput at low per-unit prices, but this makes changes very expensive.

New players in automotive engineering, on the other hand, are generally more agile and open. They can react faster and are willing to think outside the box. But their lack of experience can result in major issues with respect to compliance and production, creating expensive delays at late stages in development.

The First Generation of Requirements Management Tools

For decades, the automotive industry had recognized requirements as a key factor for success. The German automotive industry, in particular, started to introduce dedicated requirements tools in the ‘90s, and they encouraged their suppliers to do the same. Their solutions were establishing a new paradigm, using an item-based data model, rather than documents. This means that every requirement was an atomic item, with its own attributes, like priority and version history.

IBM®  DOORS®  (IBM Engineering Requirements Management – DOORS Family) was pioneering the idea of item-based requirements, and until the mid 2000s, there was really nothing like it available on the market. But by that time, some of the shortcomings of DOORS were becoming apparent. As a result, requirements specifications with tens of thousands unstructured requirements were not unusual, leading to redundancies and inconsistencies.

As a result, the first generation of requirements management tools were effective in helping the industry to scale. To a degree, they also helped in managing complexity. But they did not help in making the industry more innovative.

See how one Fortune 100 semiconductor company is managing the complexity of automotive development in our whitepaper. Read now.

Innovating with the Current Generation of Requirements Management Tools

Jama Connect™ was created to address the shortcomings of the first generation of requirements management tools. Specifically, Jama Connect was designed to solve the top challenges faced by regulated systems development teams. This fits the situation in the automotive industry today, and the following capabilities are key enablers for innovation:

Ease of Use – Requirements are used by everyone involved in automotive engineering. Not just the development team, but also engineering, quality, product marketing, sales, and leadership rely on requirements for an up-to-date product description. Good requirements also help departments make informed decisions. By contrast, first-generation tools were so hard to use that many important stakeholders refused to use them.

Single Source of Truth – Innovation requires trade-offs, which must be based on facts. It is crucial that facts — possibly derived from various sources — are instantly available. The first generation of tools typically only held a fraction of key data, and generating meaningful reports was a tedious, manual process.

Collaboration – Innovation requires heavy collaboration. First-generation tools did not have collaboration features, which meant that it took place outside the tool, i.e. via email or in meetings. But that creates a lot of friction and leads to situations where important information is missed. Modern solutions, by contrast, allow collaboration in context. This means that you have visibility into all relevant data and access to all relevant stakeholders while collaborating. And not just that…

Audit Trail – While first generation tools already had proper versioning, modern solutions go much further: For instance, the context-based collaboration leaves an audit trail in the tool (rather than in Outlook). This is crucial for efficient risk management and compliance. Developing new, innovative products typically results in much more activity. Context-based collaboration records decisions, issues, and answers exactly where you need them for compliance, and where you find them when you make reviews and trade-offs.

Learn how to avoid some of the biggest mistakes while developing automotive products for ISO 26262 compliance. Read the guide.

Managing Change – More than anything else, innovation requires the ability to react to change, no matter whether from the outside (new market needs) or inside (new technologies). The first generation of tools already acknowledged that by offering traceability-based functionality. But it was cumbersome to create and maintain the traceability, and many traceability-related issues were not apparent during day-to-day work but required running special reports. Modern solutions, by contrast, offer actionable traceability: Gaps in coverage or items that are marked as suspect due to change are visualized in many places, and allow fixing with a few clicks. This takes most of the friction out of the management of the traceability and allows for faster development iterations.

Reuse – Ironically, using what we already designed is an enabler for innovation. Without effective reuse, a lot of time and energy is wasted on re-designing what had already been designed and to re-test what had already been tested. It allows to focus our energy on the 20% that are truly new and truly innovative.

Integration – Last, the first generation of requirements tools created internal silos by making it very hard to get data in or out. Large vendors often offered half-hearted integration with their own software tools. While this was better than nothing, it often resulted in mediocre tool chains that were not based on need, but on availability. Jama Connect, by contrast, embraces openness by offering powerful interfaces that encourage integration with best-of-class tools.

Innovation in automotive engineering is only possible if all stakeholders can collaborate effectively, even in the context of very complex products, without being held back by the need to collect data from multiple places, or burdensome regulatory overhead. This is only possible with current generation requirements tools like Jama Connect.

*IBM® and DOORS® are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.

Learn how the combination of Jama Connect and our Automotive Services tightens your development process by reading our datasheet.

Legacy Software Blog Post

This post is part of a series. You can find Part I modern alternatives to IBM DOORS® here, Part III on enabling innovation here, Part IV on the difficulties of compliance here, Part V on moving from DOORS to Jama Connect here, and Part VI on migration solutions here. 

For decades, companies building highly regulated, technically complex products and systems have relied on legacy tools like IBM® DOORS® or even Microsoft® Office® for requirements management (RM).

As software becomes more prevalent in physical products and development methodologies evolve, legacy RM tools like these have struggled to keep up with the modern speed of capturing, sharing, and managing requirements.

See how Jama Connect stacks up to legacy software tools like IBM® DOORS® in our whitepaper.

Legacy tools are powerful, but even with their complex capabilities and reputation for stability, they don’t always match the goals of teams who need to adapt, innovate, and grow.

Noticing this misalignment can surface as painful moments — like when your team struggles to get work done. Sometimes those issues are process or market related, but in some cases they are actually because of the exact software tools you’re using to make your life easier with requirements management.Here are some critical signals that your team is no longer aligned with your legacy solution for requirements management, and how you might consider a change going forward.

Painful Moment 1: You value the input of multiple roles and skillsets, but you realize only a handful of people know how to use your RM tool (or worse, they’re not allowed into it).

Why It Matters: This is a signal that the RM tool was not set up with the whole team in mind. For companies innovating quickly, this lack of visibility into what you’re working on and why is a major risk. If it were possible for only a handful of people to build complex products, teams and companies wouldn’t have the diversity of skills and thought processes they do today.

What to Do: Consider a system that supports the workflow of multiple roles with advanced, user-friendly tools for different data types and views that still all roll up to the same goals. User-friendly traceability is essential.

Are you getting the most from your requirements management? Read our best practices guide.

Painful Moment 2: You miss the deadline for feedback on a requirement because the notification was unclear. Now you have to go outside the normal channels to have your input seen.

Why It Matters: This is an instance not always appreciated by those who wrote the processes. However, with legacy software that doesn’t make the intentions of users clear (such as wanting input by a specific date), it’s hard to avoid miscommunication and lost time.

What to Do: Look for RM tools that make the next action required of you clear and sends timely notifications with clear instructions.

Painful Moment 3: You try to enter data into the system, but it’s locked, archived, or somehow just not visible.

Your decision is blocked. The person you know who provides access and training is unavailable (for example, on vacation… or no longer at the company).

Why It Matters: Having company-mission critical software that only a handful of people understand and have access to is a huge risk for many reasons – some not as obvious. On the lower end of severity, you lose a few hours trying to access the right data. However, if the trend is that fewer people have permissions and training to use your RM tool, then you’re at risk of data being lost or your system eventually needing to be replaced entirely.

What to Do: Data can get richer over time; it doesn’t have to go stale. Invest in requirements management tools that support your team’s continuous growth and capture continuous input and collaboration.

Painful Moment 4: Your team wants to upgrade its legacy software to fix issues, improve security, and access the latest features. Unfortunately, it’s so customized and patched together that you can’t update without major consequences.

Why It Matters: The products you’re building change and improve over time. The software tools you use to get your work done every day need to keep up with you, at a pace that balances change with allowing users time to learn.

What to Do: Consider the risk and costs associated with stale software, and look for options that avoid getting you locked in to unsupported versions and brittle customizations.

There’s a lot of requirements management solutions on the market. Cut through the clutter with our buyer’s guide.

Painful Moment 5: You want to change the way your team uses the legacy software to match a new process, but there are no configuration experts available.

What if you break something? You hope you can create an experiment project on the side that will ultimately integrate back into the big picture, but it’s not clear how to create this outcome.

Why It Matters: If teams are struggling to get on the same page with their requirements management process, it’s a signal that whatever your building may have misalignments as well.

What to Do: Consider RM solutions that balance each team’s need for autonomy with the need for alignment. This can be supported by software that have services experts available to adapt the tools to your needs as you change, rather than one big rollout that attempts to predict the future.

It’s tough to have to work around legacy software to get your job done. It’s also expensive. Maybe you can’t change the RM tools you use on demand, but if you start to notice these painful patterns it becomes easier to build a business case for making a change that supports the whole company’s vision.

Learn the benefits of switching from legacy software tools for requirements management with our paper, “Jama Connect: A Modern Requirements Management Alternative to IBM DOORS.”

Requirements Management Tools

This post on modern alternatives to IBM DOORS® is part of a series. You can find Part II on legacy software pains here, Part III on enabling innovation here, Part IV on the difficulties of compliance here, Part V on moving from DOORS to Jama Connect here, and Part VI on migration solutions here. 

Current market dynamics include disruptors that put innovation at the heart of your product development process. Organizations must be able to navigate these disruptions to remain competitive and sustain business growth.

Requirements management (RM) tools include many legacy options, such as Microsoft® Office® toolsets to software applications like IBM® DOORS®. These legacy solutions may have handled managing requirements in the past, but often fail to keep pace over time.

Today, we’re launching a new blog series, Legacy Sunset, featuring experts exploring topics relevant to legacy requirements management tools, why customers elect to move away from them, and what benefits are realized after making the switch.

In the coming posts we’ll also touch on how to navigate the data migration path from a legacy system to a new platform, and how innovation is realized in product development lifecycles with a modern requirements management solution.

As part of this series, we’ll evaluate legacy RM solutions like IBM DOORS, and cover:

  • Key reasons why customers are replacing these legacy solutions and which solutions they’re replacing them with
  • How compliance is impacted adversely using legacy requirements management solutions
  • How modern requirements management solutions are enabling innovation in the automotive, medical device, and aerospace industries
  • Why legacy requirements management tools do not adequately meet the needs of modern product development processes
  • Options to support migration and enable replacement of legacy solutions
  • How to deploy a co-exist strategy with IBM DOORS and connect to the supply chain using data exchange for Jama Connect™

Learn more about thoughtfully selecting the right requirements management solution by reading our guide.

Time for a Change

Those still entrenched in legacy software for product development may soon find time is not on their side. Oftentimes, legacy solutions are built on outdated architectures and contain bloated features with many customizations that may simply not support the needs of product development teams.

While these legacy requirements management tools still support critical product development processes and information that the business depends on, they may grow unstable over time and eventually introduce risk to the product development lifecycle. That complicates things further for organizations that must stay current with compliance regulations, while developing integrated, complex products that sustain business and maintain market relevance.

Learn how Alight Solutions transformed requirements management for its clients by downloading the case study.

Check back for future entries in this series. In the meantime, learn more about Jama Connect and how it can help you modernize your requirements management toolchain through ease of use, collaboration, traceability, and compliance. Our customers can also combine the power of Jama Connect with leading tools across the ALM-PLM landscape to support a powerful, integrated solution that manages requirements in support of complex product development.

See first-hand how Jama Connect can transform the way your work. Connect with an expert or test drive the Jama Connect solution.