 In the beginning,
there was the new year, January 2008 to be precise. As we look ahead, some of us have concrete Configuration
Management (CM) and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) efforts and are
beginning the planning process. Others
are looking across the CM/ALM industry and considering strategies for
improvements in these spaces or including CM and/or ALM as part of a larger
initiative. What might be some of the
trends in the industry? What are some of
the more common improvements companies are looking for? As we
look in the horizon, what do we think will be hot in the CM/ALM landscape?
While cost will
continue to play a key role in 2008 in software engineering, companies are
focusing more and more on productivity gains in the form of painless
integrations, more agility, as well as a more pervasive control. With this in mind, what shifts might we see
in CM/ALM for 2008?
The envelope please...
The Predictions
What might we see
by way of changes for CM/ALM in 2008?
IMHO, I see three significant trends or shifts. Here
are some areas that I believe we will see (or continue to see) changes:
- A need
for more agility.
- A need
for more pervasive IT standards.
- A need
for integrated toolsets.
My predictions
are based on either, what I see currently happening and expect to continue or
increase, and what I see after an analysis of the news in the CM and ALM
area.
Prediction #1: A need for more agility
I predict that we
will see a continued focus on agility in the way we approach and deploy CM and
ALM. This takes several forms. First it is the ability for companies to
establish CM systems quickly and easily.
Second, it is the ability to increase productivity by having faster tools
that allow for a continuous nature of progress. Some recent examples of this in the news
exemplify reasons why companies are gravitating toward certain tool
venders.
-
In mid
December 2007, Perforce Software announced that Ixonos Plc, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland,
has chosen Perforce, the fast Software Configuration Management (SCM) System,
to manage software development projects for its leading smartphone
customers. "Perforce fits well into our
environment and supports our Agile development methodology".
- At the
end of December 2007, it was announced that NaviMedix, an innovator in
automating provider communications with health management, has standardized on
AccuRev® for process-centric software configuration
management (SCM). Corporations, such as ISVs managing a lot of component or
Web-based development where software is critical to their business, are
increasingly requiring a more Agile SCM solution and relying on AccuRev.
Also, there
are build management tools that provide a
non-invasive management layer over existing source control and build tools and
integrates complex build, test, and deployment activities into reliable,
automated, and repeatable processes. The
key is that they provide the feature of continuous build or build on-demand. This is important to implementing agile
methods in software development. I've
seen an every growing number of CM'ers and companies implementing these
technologies and expect this to continue.
A couple of technologies in this space include:
Prediction #2: A need for more
standard IT Standardization
I predict that we
will see companies more focused on standard approaches to change control. This
takes several forms. Part of this is
driven by ITIL and ISO 20000 certification.
ITIL provides a set of practices and procedures where Change Management,
Configuration Management, and Release Management make up key practices. More companies are moving toward ITIL and the
companion ISO 20000 certification. ISO
20000 is the international standard for IT Service management and the
management overview over the ITIL practices. I see CM and ALM related vendor
companies enhance their tools with ITIL features that allow them to align with
ITIL/ISO 20000, which then allows companies to address ISO 20000 certification
more easily. Some recent examples of
this in the news exemplify vendors adding features to support ITIL:
- At the beginning of
January 2008, we learned that Kovair Software, Inc announced the release of
Kovair Global Lifecycle and Perforce SCM System. The
integration covers all aspects of Perforce including Jobs, Change List and
Files and makes them accessible from Kovair to Kovair users. Because of this
integration synchronization, items like Requirements, Issues, and Change Items
from Kovair are visible to the Perforce users. This helps extend Kovair's
support of ITIL.
- In
late December 2007, EMC Corporation acquired Voyence, which provides network
configuration and change management solutions that automate critical change,
compliance and activation processes.
Voyence's core software, VoyenceControl provides an ITIL
framework-compatible network change, configuration, and release management
system to meet these needs.
- In late December 2007, CA Change and
Configuration Management (CCM) solution, added new capabilities that facilitate
compliance with change management policies. By delivering a system of checks
and balances that supports strategic versus reactive change management, CA CCM
enables IT organizations to efficiently maintain control of large, complex and
dynamic enterprise computing environments.
From the
compliance perspective, we will continue to see certification or regulatory
initiatives based on variations of Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI), ISO 9001, Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX),
and other related compliance or certification models.
Prediction #3: More focus on
Integrations
2008 will
continue to see a growing need to have more of a need for ALM technology that
has well integrated functionality to support processes across an application lifecycle
and even into environments. This will
support the end-to-end view that many customers are looking for when managing
their software development. This
also includes the continued shift where the consumers are looking for CM tools
that better integrate with other tools in the application lifecycle and tools
and require less integration effort.
Here are examples of both recent news and a couple of vendors that have
expanded their CM tool offerings to a more ALM offering:
-
In early January 2008, mValent, Inc made the
news because of its mValent Integrity product that provides IT with a dynamic,
repeatable, process-driven "gold master" approach to infrastructure
configuration management that enables smooth delivery and support of business
applications. Because of this it has
been named to Network World‘s 2007 list of "10 Tech Start-ups That Should
Matter." For more information, visit http://www.mvalent.com.
- MKS Integrity provides coverage from requirements
to deployment and provides the status of changes across the lifecycle. This is effectively an integration of a
number of MKS tools that. To learn more,
go to: http://www.mks.com/products/index.jsp
or
- CM+
Enterprise provides enterprise level tools to manage and automate the software
development lifecycle. To learn more, go
to: http://www.neuma.com/enterprise.html
Summary
To summarize, as
we look into 2008, I predict we will see movements in the following areas:
- We will
see a shift toward more customers wanting agility in their CM and ALM solutions. This implies the need for quicker setup,
faster tools, and tools that allow for the notion of continuous processes.
- The
software engineering field has the need for more active IT standardization. This will spur more of a focus on ITIL practices
and ISO 20000 standardization, and technology vendors will provide
functionality that will allow companies to achieve standardization goals.
- The
growing need to have ALM technology that provides functionality that is well integrated
across an application lifecycle including environments. This will support the end-to-end view that
many customers are looking for when managing their software development.
If you are
undertaking a CM or ALM implementation effort, consider reading and utilizing
the book "Software Configuration
Management Implementation Roadmap"
specifically to help you plan your approach (see p56-63 - SCM Implementation
Planning Phase) and help you select the best technology solution (p63-73 - SCM
Technology Selection Phase).
So what does this
mean to the CM professional? It is more
important than ever for CM professionals to understand and consider:
- Agility
in their process
- IT
practices and standards such as ITIL and ISO 20000
- Technologies
that easily integrate with others or come integrated
Please understand
that you do not have to love the new approaches, but consider understanding
them and their implications. This will
make the CM and ALM professional more knowledgeable and valuable to the
organization. Knowledge of these areas
may also help in resume building and job hunting. ;-)
Have
a great 2008!!!
References
Press
Releases
Mario Moreira is a Columnist for CMCrossroads Journal,
a Director/Architect of Technology, an Author of CM publications, and
has worked in the SCM field since 1986. He has experience with
numerous SCM technologies and processes and has implemented SCM on over
100 applications/products, which include establishing global SCM
infrastructures. He has an MA in Mass Communication with an emphasis
on communication technologies. Mario also brings years of Project
Management, Software Quality Assurance, Requirement Management,
facilitation, and team building skills and experience.
Mario has released a new
SCM book entitled, "Software Configuration Management
Implementation Roadmap". It
can be found at www.wiley.com, www.wileyeurope.com, and www.amazon.com (search for Mario
Moreira). It includes step-by-step
guidance for implementing SCM at the organization, application, and project
level with labor-saving templates on CD.
You
may reach Mr. Moreira by email at Mario.Moreira@cmcrossroads.com
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