Compuware takes on IT project management

Compuware has set out its stall in the IT project management space

Compuware has outlined a 12-month strategic roadmap for its IT project management portfolio, including a new Accelerator product for Agile developers.

The major elements of the roadmap for the vendor's Changepoint software will comprise new managed services to optimise return on investment (ROI), and enable tighter integration with its recently updated Vantage IT service management software.

Compuware also said that it would introduce project management enhancements focused on usability and performance, and claimed that the use of industry-standard middleware would minimise the time and costs associated with integration to financial, human resource and helpdesk applications.

Lori Ellsworth, Compuware Changepoint solutions vice president, said that, once an organisation chooses to invest in IT project management software, it is imperative that they achieve quick implementation, ROI and user adoption.

The first part of the Changepoint strategic roadmap was announced today with the launch of Agile Accelerator, designed to provide best practice for managing Agile projects as well as traditional 'waterfall' development-type projects in the same environment.

Compuware will add Agile Accelerator to Changepoint's existing collection of free accelerators designed to help customers jump-start portfolio management initiatives.

The Agile tool contains Scrum project templates, key reports for tasks boards, sprint task detail and 'burn up/burn down' activities, and is designed to manage sprint or iteration backlogs, add requirements and manage artefacts.

Ellsworth added that the adoption of Agile development methods is increasing, but alongside more traditional approaches, requiring a flexible IT project management solution to manage the mixed development project portfolio.

"Changepoint's Agile Accelerator helps our customers manage the end-to-end Agile development effort from backlog to retrospection, all within the context of the broader project portfolio view," she said.

Thomas Mendel, a director at analyst firm Forrester Research, suggested that the complexity of the IT software management landscape is leading organisations to look for more end-to-end solutions.

"Organisations need to start looking at the software portfolios from a resources point of view that includes hardware, software and people," he said. "The bottom line is that vendors will increasingly target software resource management as a discrete category."