IBM product aims to reduce IT risk, developer frustration

IBM on Tuesday announced a new suite of software quality tools, the Rational Quality Management Portfolio. The company promises the new tools will improve the software development process and, in particular, ease collaboration between business leaders and IT professionals. 

IBM is highlighting to managers the software testing suite's ability to reduce risk, save money and, as Scott Hebner, IBM vice president of Offering Management at IBM Rational Software explains, ensure that software is aligned with the business needs. "Rational Quality Manager is a hub to unify IT professionals with stakeholders in the organization," Hebner says.

That's the manager angle. It's a perfectly reasonable one and certainly relevant, given how many IT projects fail. (Hebner cites one statistic from The Standish Group saying 41% of projects don't meet their goals; you can pick your own bad-news bummer number.)

But IBM could as easily have pitched this at software developers and quality assurance professionals by emphasizing how the Rational Quality Management Portfolio can reduce day-to-day annoyances in the software development process. When I asked Hebner, "How would you describe the software to a bunch of techies over a beer?" he responded with zero hesitation, "How frustrated do you get when people are on different wavelengths?"

So let's take a look at the software from both angles. This is only one of several products IBM is releasing that is built on the company's Jazz platform, an effort by IBM Rational to simplify collaboration across the software delivery life cycle by promoting interoperability of tools and sharing of data. IBM is also refreshing its related software testing tools, including IBM Rational Application Performance Analyzer, IBM Rational Functional Tester, IBM Rational Quality Manager Express, IBM Rational Performance Tester, IBM Rational Service Tester for SOA Quality, IBM Rational Test RealTime, IBM Rational AppScan Tester Edition, IBM Rational RequisitePro and IBM Rational Measured Capability Improvement Framework Assessments.

Also being introduced this week is IBM Rational Test Lab Manager, a Web-based tool to automate the testing process and ensure company lab resources are used effectively and efficiently. According to IBM, organizations spend nearly 40% of their time configuring computers to make them ready for software testing.

Hebner describes the tool suite as a collaborative hub that can help companies automate the business processes in software quality management. It does so with collaboration tools, ensuring all relevant members of the workforce are in-sync and have access to data in real-time, using a Web-based centralized test management environment. "It automates configuration and communication so you do the right tests," Hebner explains.

So what's that mean to you? For IT executives, the big concerns are reducing labor cost and inefficiencies, and ensuring that the software meets quality requirements. Hebner points out that managers also want a better understanding of their key quality metrics. "You want a better sense of where you're investing your resources," he says. (Tip for developers who intend to bang their fists on the boss' desk to insist on acquiring software quality tools: Push those risk-management buttons.)