Application lifecycle management (ALM) is the product lifecycle management (

governance Governance is the overall complex system or framework of Process, processes, functions, structures, Social norm, rules, Law, laws and Norms (sociology), norms born out of the Interpersonal relationship, relationships, Social interaction, intera ...

, development, and

maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

) of

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...

s. It encompasses requirements management,

software architecture Software architecture is the set of structures needed to reason about a software system and the discipline of creating such structures and systems. Each structure comprises software elements, relations among them, and properties of both elements a ...

computer programming Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called computer program, programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of proc ...

software testing Software testing is the act of checking whether software satisfies expectations. Software testing can provide objective, independent information about the Quality (business), quality of software and the risk of its failure to a User (computin ...

software maintenance Software maintenance is the modification of software after delivery. Software maintenance is often considered lower skilled and less rewarding than new development. As such, it is a common target for outsourcing or offshoring. Usually, the tea ...

, change management,

continuous integration Continuous integration (CI) is the practice of integrating source code changes frequently and ensuring that the integrated codebase is in a workable state. Typically, developers Merge (version control), merge changes to an Branching (revisio ...

project management Project management is the process of supervising the work of a Project team, team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project initiation documentation, project documentation, crea ...

, and release management.

ALM vs. Software Development Life Cycle

ALM is a broader perspective than the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), which is limited to the phases of

software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

such as requirements, design, coding, testing, configuration, project management, and change management. ALM continues after development until the application is no longer used, and may span many SDLCs.

Integrated ALM

Modern software development processes are not restricted to the discrete ALM/ SDLC steps managed by different teams using multiple tools from different locations. Real-time collaboration, access to the centralized data repository, cross-tool and cross-project visibility, better project monitoring and reporting are the key to developing quality software in less time. This has given rise to the practice of integrated application lifecycle management, or integrated ALM, where all the tools and tools' users are synchronized with each other throughout the application development stages. This integration ensures that every team member knows Who, What, When, and Why of any changes made during the development process and there is no last minute surprise causing delivery delays or project failure. Today's application management vendors focus more on

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

management capabilities for third party best-of-breed tool integration which ensures that organizations are well-equipped with an internal software development system that can easily integrate with any IT or ALM tools needed in a project. A research director with research firm

Gartner Gartner, Inc. is an American research and advisory firm focusing on business and technology topics. Gartner provides its products and services through research reports, conferences, and consulting. Its clients include large corporations, gover ...

proposed changing the term ALM to ADLM (Application Development Life-cycle Management) to include DevOps, the software engineering culture and practice that aims at unifying software development (Dev) and software operation (Ops).

ALM software suites

Some specialized

software suite A software suite (also known as an application suite) is a collection of computer programs (application software, or programming software) of related functionality, sharing a similar user interface and the ability to easily exchange data with eac ...

s for ALM are:

References

External links

* Chappell, David
What is Application Lifecycle Management?
(PDF), archived from th
original
(PDF) on December 7, 2014 * Gartner Analyst Sean Kenefick
Market Profile: Application Life Cycle Management (ALM) Tools, 2012
* Margaret Rouse
application lifecycle management (ALM)
* Dave West
Integrated ALM Tools Are Fundamental to Success
* Dominic Tavassoli
Integrating application lifecycle management (ALM) processes provides additional benefits
* Zane Galviņa1, Darja Šmite
Software Development Processes in Globally Distributed Environment
{{Authority control Software project management

ALM vs. Software Development Life Cycle

Integrated ALM

ALM software suites

See also

References

Further reading

External links