Computing keys: Application lifecycle management (ALM) Overview

Keywords: ALM, Areas, governance, development, Maintenance, Stages, Evolution, ALM Suites, Tools

ALM

· ALM is the lifecycle management of applications, which includes governance, development and maintenance.

· ALM includes these disciplines: requirements management, software architecture, development, testing, maintenance, change management, support, continuous integration, project management, deployment, release management and governance.

· ALM tools provide a standardized system for communication and collaboration between software development teams and related departments, such as test and operations.

· ALM combines the disciplines concerned with all aspects of the process to achieve the goal of driving efficiency through predictable and repeatable software delivery.

Key Areas of ALM:

· Governance includes requirements management, resource management, nurturing and system administration such as data security, user access, change tracking, review, audit, deployment control, and rollback.

· Application development includes identifying current problems, and planning, design, building, and testing the application and its continuous improvements. This area includes traditional developer and app maker roles.

· Maintenance includes deployment of the app, and maintenance of optional and dependent technologies.

· The application lifecycle is the cyclical software development process that involves these areas: plan and track, develop, build and test, deploy, operate, monitor, and learn from discovery.

Key Stages of ALM

· The application management lifecycle can be divided into several stages, depending on the specific methodology or framework being used. Most ALM processes include the following Key Stages:

o Stage 1: Evaluation

§ Key considerations include Business Case, Requirements Gathering, Technical Feasibility, Vendor Selection

o Stage 2: Implementation

§ Key considerations include Development, Testing, Deployment, Management

o Stage 3: Live

§ Key considerations include Monitoring, Maintenance, Support, Optimization, Application Register

o Stage 4: Phasing Out

§ Key considerations include Data Migration, Communication, Deprecation

o Stage 5: Retired

§ Key considerations include Roadmaps and Migration Plans, Decommissioning, Data Retention, Lessons Learned

· The Main stages of ALM include Application requirements, Application development, Application testing, Application deployment, Application maintenance

o Application requirements

§ Stakeholders define what they require from the application.

§ They analyze how the application will help them to meet their business goals and regulatory compliance requirements.

§ Requirements management typically involves writing user stories that show how different users will interact with the application.

o Application development

§ various teams work together to convert the requirements into a working application

§ Project managers estimate the time and development cost.

§ Developers identify the design tasks and programming activities.

§ Quality analysts add review tasks and checkpoints for quality and progress checks.

§ The development and testing teams also plan a timeline for their software projects. They identify any interdependence among the requirements and decide the order in which to complete and release new features.

o Application testing

§ Quality analysts assess the application to verify it meets requirements.

§ They identify and prioritize any software errors or bugs, which the software development team then fixes.

§ Application testing and development often proceed simultaneously during the application’s lifecycle.

§ Agile development methodologies use automated testing tools to test the entire code base every time developers make a software change.

o Application deployment

§ Developers release the application to end users.

§ Release management also includes planning how the team deploys software changes over time.

§ Agile development teams automate deployment to speed up the release of new features and updates.

o Application maintenance

§ Support and development teams work together to resolve the remaining bugs, plan new updates, and improve the product further.

§ They incorporate user feedback and release new features that are relevant to customers.

Evolution of ALM

· Adoption of Agile and DevOps practices

o The widespread adoption of Agile and DevOps methodologies has transformed how software is developed and managed.

o ALM has evolved to support these practices, enabling organizations to be more adaptive and automated in delivery software while enhancing cross-team collaboration.

· Shift towards cloud-based ALM solutions

o Cloud-based ALM solutions provide organizations with the agility and scalability to manage software delivery and collaborate across distributed teams and geographies.

o Cloud-based ALM platforms offer benefits such as reduced infrastructure costs, increased accessibility, and easier maintenance.

· Use of artificial intelligence (AI)

o AI technologies are transforming ALM. AI algorithms enable predictive analytics, anomaly detection, root cause analysis, human-like automation, and workflow optimization.

o ALM platforms with AI capabilities significantly improve productivity, reduce time-to-market, and enhance software quality and performance.

· Emphasis on compliance and governance

o As regulatory requirements and compliance standards become more stringent, ALM has evolved to incorporate robust compliance and governance features.

o ALM tools can track changes, document audits, enforce policies, and ensure adherence to regulatory requirements

ALM Tools:

· ALM tools are software that developers, testers, analysts, and other stakeholders use for application management. They provide a standardized environment that everyone can use to communicate and collaborate. Some common features of an integrated ALM suite:

o Project management

o Requirements management

o Source code management

o Test management

o Real-time chat support

o Project portfolio management

o Visualization tools, such as charts and graphs

· Some ALM software suites are:

o Microsoft Azure DevOps

o Atlassian JIRA

o GitLab

o Helix ALM