subject: Integration Tools : Interfacing The Applications Of Sdlc [print this page] . Technological innovations have paved the way for the organizations to meet these challenges. The Application Lifecycle Management is a process managing the software application life cycle from development to release. The practices, processes, roles and deliverables improve with successive iteration of the project life cycle.
The process of Application Lifecycle Management includes issue tracking, handling change management, workflow, source code management, task management, testing and bug tracking, lab management, reporting and analysis. Besides, development and coding of software, version control practices, and software build, quality assurance, approval and deployment are also part of its process completion phases.
With a central repository for managing all types of content created as well as a system for establishing traceability and accountability across the platform, the ALM solution includes a set of required applications for Software development lifecycle all of which are seamlessly integrated through a single user interface. The applications such as Requirements Management, Test Management Tools Issues Management Tools, Release Management and Risks Management are part of the Application Lifecycle Management.
Though the application lifecycle management tools can be integrated through integration tools such as Point-to-point Integration, Single Vendor Tools Integration or ALM middleware approach, the middleware technology offers greater benefits. The integration bus, which is based on enterprise service bus architecture, integrates tools from different vendors, including internally developed tools, thus protecting the investments. Further, the middleware allows flexibility for creation and management of integration business rules independent of the individual tool adapters. The integration bus allows integration of multiple ALM tools from different vendors for the same function.
Further, the bus also supports simultaneous usage of multiple tools from multiple vendors in a single tool ecosystem thus facilitating the organizations to choose the best tools available in the market. The other benefits include process automation and analytical dashboards providing real-time reports. This system of integration tools, based on the ALM middleware approach of multi-vendor tools integration saves the organizations from complex and costly integration techniques.
