CM: THE NEXT GENERATION of ALM Transparency

it a real change?  Are the CM tools adequate to ensure that what we say we're delivering is what we're delivering?  Are changes to the toolset properly verified
and authorized?  This is a level of functionality that more directly impacts on the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.  And the tools tracked should not be restricted to the traditional set of CM tools.  It's not necessary to store the tools in the repository, though this would be nice.  But it is necessary to clearly identify exactly which revisions of which tools were used at which times.  And this includes in-house tools as well.

Finally, metrics are crucial to understanding how well your process is working and to discovering bottlenecks or other areas of potential improvement.  Watching the march of a metric over time is an interesting activity if nothing else.  Well defined metrics will respond to process tuning so that the effect of the tuning is readily visible.  Patterns over time allow us to better predict the future:  for example, what does verification failure rates tell us about release readiness? Even more telling may be the rate of customer request
arrivals.

The CM Way

The transparency required by the business world will be attained.  The question is, at what cost and with what accuracy.  The CM/ALM world is familiar with these sorts of requirements, and as a backbone technology is well-positioned to address them.  It will mean expanding scope once again (as is already happening).  But it will also give way to
significant growth in the industry if we successfully take on the challenge.