CM: THE NEXT GENERATION - What Else Does ALM Need?

• To-Do Lists, Hot Lists, Quick Links (adding, defining, removing)
   
• Dashboard Creation/Modification
   
• Canned Reports (i.e. can you add in your own canned reports)
  
• Role Definitions, New Roles
   
• User Interface by Project, Role, User
   
• In-Application Guidance/Help
   
• Data States, Data Values, Data Colors
  
• Data Schema – Add/Change/Remove Fields
   
• Data Schema – Add/Change/Remove Tables
   
• Add-in custom “native” functions (mini-apps) - e.g. Lab equipment tracking
   
• Integration with 3rd Party Tools


11. Ease of Customization
How quickly can you customize your solution. You've already said what the extent of customizations are.  Maybe you can add a new field in a minute, but it takes a few hours to add a new menu item.  Well, what do you do most frequently - or what sort of customizations would you like to do most frequently?  How long will it take on average?

Scoring:
   

1. Typically weeks for a customization (or next release)
2. Typically several days for a customization
   
3. Most customizations typically in 1 day
4. Most customization in a couple of hours or so
   
5. Most customizations < 30 Minutes

12.  Data Navigation / Traceability
You may have great functionality in your ALM tool, and your solution may accurately capture information required.  But if you can't navigate that information easily, you're in trouble.  Keep in mind here that most data navigation that is neglected is not because the tools don't allow it, but rather because the tools make it so difficult that it is seldom performed.  Big hit on productivity and quality.  So if you can point-and-click, but you then have to wait a minute to get the information - forget it.  The capability, though present, will seldom be used.

Scoring Factors (1: low, 5: high)
   

• Point-and-click navigation of reference links
   
• Automatic population of traceability data where possible
   
• Customized navigation of traceability (e.g. typical data paths traced)
   
• Easy scrolling through records
   
• Arbitrary specification of records to navigate (i.e. subset selection for navigation)
   
• Interactive Graphs and Tables with Drill-Down
   
• Ability to enforce traceability links (i.e. make sure that the data is captured)
   
• Hierarchical navigation (WBS, Org Chart, Source Code,...)
   
• Historical navigation (revisions, changes, etc.)
   
• Requirements/Test Case Traceability Matrix
  
• Data Filtering and Data Search
   
• Text Content Filtering/Search (e.g. Source Code, Notes)

13:  Dashboard Capabilities
Dashboards have evolved rapidly in the past 2 years.  They are a central focus for dealing with process and information.  Some dashboards simply present a static picture of a point in time.  Others are dynamic and allow customization, as well as the introduction of variables within the dashboard (e.g. what user, release, product, etc. do I want to look at).  Dashboards tend to work well when their generic or role-specific.  Consider what information is necessary to perform a role.  What's the best way to present this information to maximize productivity of that role.  In some cases, a dashboard may be referred to as a work station, as it lets a person perform their work (e.g. peer reviews, build management, etc.).  Again, consider the factors, dream big, and choose a reasonable rating for your tool.

Scoring Factors (1: low, 5: high)
  

• Significant pre-defined dashboards (i.e. out-of-box)
   
• Customization of pre-defined dashboards allowed
   
• Creation of custom dashboards
   
• Change context withiin a dashboard (e.g. select new user, product, release,...)
   
• Arbitrary items on dashboard (i.e. variety of graphs, tables, indicators, data summaries)
   
• Ability to run meetings from a dashboard (consider your PCB, or CCB meeting in particular)
   
• Fast presentation and frequent refresh rate (if you have to wait, forget it; on-demand refresh is good)
   
• Easy drill-down, and direct action capability (e.g. promote a change, change priority, etc.)

14. Reporting
Going to get a lot of variation here.  Some people don't want any reports -