List of RM Tools Updated: September 2014 Version

by | 25/09/2014 | requirements, tools

Today we published an updated version of our list of requirements management (RM) tools. The previous version dated back from February. Many vendors have since released new extended versions of their tools. We have also removed several tools from the list that were obviously not maintained any more. Three new tools and a few vendors’ portfolio updates could also be added to the list.

What has happened on the RM tools market since last February? During the past days, we have issued a series of blog articles that summarize the main news on those tools we find most important. Here’s the list of these blog posts. They have appeared in roughly chronological order following the dates of the reported tool updates and events:

The extensions and updates in this new September 2014 version of our RM tools list include:

  • All tools have been checked for availability and up-to-date web links to tool and vendor pages
  • Some tools have been added, some tool entries have been changed (e.g., name changes, new product bundles), several obviously outdated ones have been deleted
  • All tools have been supplied with up-to-date version information (where available) and assigned to the relevant tool categories (e.g., RD, RM, Agile)

In summary, notable changes to the set of RM tools have been:

  • IBM Rational Requirements Composer has been removed from the list, because IBM Rational has merged it with its other product IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation
  • Aha!, innoslate, and ReqView have been added to the list; Aha! is a promising new tool targeted at product managers; innoslate is a relatively new tool that was introduced in October 2012, and that came on our radar only after our last update in February; ReqView is a new tool still in beta release, but the beta is free of charge, and the tool might be interesting especially for light-weight entry-level requirements management
  • Borland renamed Caliber RM into just Caliber
  • microTOOL renamed in-Step into in-STEP BLUE and objectiF Requirements Modeller into objectiF RM
  • Serena dropped its bundle Serena Requirements Manager, that we had listed; instead, we now list the core product Serena Dimensions RM
  • The following tools were removed from the list, because it appears they are not actively maintained any more (i.e., their websites have not received any obvious updates since the last three years): GMARC, Reqline, RTIME, ScopeTracker, TraceCloud, and workspace; RQS has been removed, because we regard it a plug-in product and not a full-fledged RM solution

In the coming few weeks, we will explore on some of these updates in more detail. We are also expecting new tool versions and even the first release of a newcomer RM tool. You will learn about these news through follow-up blog posts.