Application lifecycle management

Application lifecycle management (ALM), called also ADLM (Application Development Life-cycle Management),^[1] is the product lifecycle management (governance, development, and maintenance) of application software. It encompasses requirements management, software architecture, computer programming, software testing, software maintenance, change management, continuous integration, project management, and release management.^[2][3]

However, 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 centralized data repository, cross-tool and cross-project visibility, better project monitoring and reporting are the key to develop 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 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.

ALM software suites

See also

• Application Lifecycle Framework
• Business transaction management
• Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration
• Software project management
• Systems development life-cycle

References

Further reading

• Keuper, Frank; Oecking, Christian; Degenhardt, Andreas; Verlag, Gabler (2011). Application Management: Challenges - Service Creation - Strategies.  
• Linnartz, Walter; Kohlhoff, Barbara; Heck, Gertrud; Schmidt, Benedikt (2004). Application Management Services und Support. Publicis Corporate Publishing.  
• "Gartner Market Scope for ALM 2010". 
• Hüttermann, Michael (2011). Agile Application Lifecycle Management. Manning.  

Electronic sources

• ASL-Library
• IT Infrastructure Library