Situation
resolut is a medium sized company that develops solutions for complex mechatronic systems and safety-critical applications. For many years, MS Office was sufficient for requirements management. However, this solution had eventually reached its limits, not least because of rising expectations from customers and increasing complexity of the systems.
Challenge
This triggered the search for a better requirements management solution at resolut. Such a solution required a tool platform supporting advanced features like customization of requirement attributes, linking, etc.. Additionally, the software must run reliably on the diverse software platforms employed by resolut (Windows, Mac, Linux). Ideally, it could also be used by customers as well as for data exchange. And of course, it should deliver value for money.
Solution
resolut opted for the Eclipse Foundation’s open source tool ProR, together with the free ProR Essentials extensions from Formal Mind. This tool offers all the necessary features for professional requirements management, including attributes and linking. ProR Essentials offer team support via subversion and it runs on all major operating systems. Through the international standardized ReqIF format, the lossless data exchange with other tools such as IBM Rational DOORS® is possible. Costs are only incurred for additional support or customizations, which could also be done in-house.
Results
The open architecture of ProR and ProR Essentials made evaluating the tool easy. Its regular release schedule, combined with the fact that it was created by a commercial partner like Formal Mind, gave resolut confidence in the sustainability of this solution. Dependability was given by the systematic use of open technologies (Eclipse / Java) and standards (ReqIF). The currently ongoing pilot phase promises a high acceptance. In addition, the potential of Eclipse for integrating requirements management into existing tools and processes is already visible as well. We are sure that ProR is a solution that can grow with your needs and challenges.