Projecting Success
Managers are using broader applications of SCM to get a handle on development
October 1, 2001 —
(Page 1 of 3)
Despite budget cutbacks, software configuration management tools are remaining on evaluation and buy lists because they provide development managers with more control over software development and maintenance. SCM tools provide a central repository where software assets, such as requirements, source code, models, documentation and test suites, can be stored to allow separate versions of software to be accurately maintained and reproduced. Project managers can control which developers have access rights to files and govern those changes within one version or among many. SCM tools also can improve developer communications, which can result in higher product quality and higher productivity among geographically dispersed development teams.
"[SCM tools] give you a visual view of source code, which means you're not working out of a black box," said Vikas Sinham, senior manager of the development support group and QA engineering at SPSS Inc., a provider of customer relationship management and business intelligence solutions. "We can see how an OEM release differs from the baseline, for example. There's no guesswork."
Sinham uses Rational Software Corp.'s ClearCase to concurrently manage multiple projects. Like most companies, SPSS has limited resources, so developers often work on multiple versions of the same software. ClearCase provides Sinham with a unified view of multiple projects so changes intended for one version are not applied accidentally to another version.
One of the biggest benefits of SCM tools for corporate and commercial developers is cost reduction. The tools can help reduce rogue or redundant development efforts, and provide visibility into who changed what, when and why. The end result is fewer man-hours, which means lower development costs and faster time-to-market.
"Project leaders are going to pay the price for a bad decision," said Bill Thornberg, director of product marketing at Rational. "They're looking at [SCM tools] as a way of becoming more effective."
IMPROVING THE DEVELOPMENTSome tools, such as Rational's ClearCase and Perforce from Perforce Software Inc., provide branching capabilities that allow developers to create different versions of software by creating or modifying a minimal set of files. Using the branching technique, several software versions share a common baseline, but portions of the code are modified to suit different requirements. SPSS has used such capabilities to develop Windows, OEM and market-specific versions of its software.
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