We performed a comparison between Jira Align and Rally Software based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Enterprise Agile Planning Tools solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The most valuable features are the ability to customize the entries and to update them quickly. Since the new version they released, we started utilizing the customization features to create specific codes and symbols for our teams that were not available before. For example, in team A each person had their own symbols and we had our own demarcation. When our project or task was completed, we had a code that we could enter online that let the main project managers know that it was time to remove it."
"It's easy to set up."
"I joined the company because they had a large project, and as a startup company, they needed to scale up efficiently. My task was to review the current baseline, assess the team's capabilities, and propose solutions to increase production capacity. Upon observing the process in Jira Align, I realized we didn't need to invest heavily in expanding capacity."
"I've had no issues with Align's stability."
"The tool helps us to stick with the timeline and budget of our projects. It also helps me to identify dependencies and red flags and intervene wherever possible. I have found the key metrics tab also useful."
"In our workflow, we utilize a dashboard. Our product development backbone relies on two-week sprints. At the beginning of each sprint, we conduct a planning meeting to discuss and challenge the backlogs. Throughout the sprint, we conduct daily sessions to review code, ensure alignment with coding standards, and address any issues. Once all tasks are completed, we proceed with the deployment process."
"The biggest advantage of Jira Align, in my opinion, is its user-friendly interface, making it simple and easy for end users to navigate and utilize. The most valuable feature of Jira Align for me is its automation capabilities, allowing us to create automation rules based on logical conditions for our projects. In terms of cross-team collaboration, Jira Align's integration with our project squads has been highly effective. It enables seamless creation of stories linked to incidents and changes, facilitating better visibility and understanding of the relationships between them. Regarding road mapping and dependency tracking, Jira Align enhances our project planning by aligning with our best practices and providing robust capabilities for mapping out dependencies and tracking progress."
"I like Jira's structured project plan, with tasks and subtasks. Jira can use various external plugins. Third-party providers can add new features to the solution. If I need some functionality, I can usually find an app for it. They have thousands."
"Helps me plan an estimate of how soon or how far out we'll be able to deliver something."
"The most valuable feature is actually creating a field within there for architectural review. So when teams are struggling or have questions on the architecture or strategy that they take, they can actually flag that particular story, release, or project. Those can then be reviewed by the architecture team and the teams actually get additional information on how to course-correct, build on the architecture that we're trying to build throughout the organization, and get over road blocks much quicker."
"We can work better and at a higher quality, than we were able to before."
"Its ability to scale."
"Ease of use - I don't even know when a new release is coming and I don't need to because it's so easy to use what's new."
"What I like the most about Agile Central is that it is the only system I need to have full control and visibility of our entire body of work plus the activities and processes required to deliver it."
"The most valuable features are in-line editing, easy custom view setup, intuitive and helpful visuals (e.g., contextual formatting) and the collaboration features."
"Agile Central allows us to log one hundred percent of the work we do and it allows for no hidden work, so teams can't go under the radar with what they're working on."
"Someone who is new to Jira or doesn't have many years of working experience in Jira Align gets easily lost because everything looks the same in the product."
"One area for improvement is that Jira Align's double menu and multiple menus can be difficult for new users."
"One feature that needs improvement is the tool's ability to change schedules automatically. Users can't simply drag and drop tasks to reschedule them without notifying the entire team. This lack of functionality can hinder project management control, as changes should be communicated transparently to all team members."
"There is no linkage between the Jira records and the overarching schedule. We maintain the overarching schedule in Microsoft Project, and there is no linkage back and forth with the Jira tasks. They are independent of each other."
"I would like to see Jira Align merge and integrate better with Jira as a whole. A lot of the time, the data from Jira won't map very well into Jira Align."
"The workflows are scalable from portfolio to individual level but can sometimes be complex to navigate."
"Deployment was very complex."
"Jira Align's setup process could be more straightforward, and they could make training and educational documentation more accessible."
"The stronger CA can get on dependency mapping the better. That's the biggest hiccup. As you're setting up your features, they should make it easier to flag the dependencies, either across features or across projects. Then you're more set up for success."
"I think the interface could be a little bit more visual and less wordy. Right now, it seems like it's just a lot of text on the page. In other ticketing systems where it's more visual, you can see more of a flow. But in this one it's more just a list of tasks. I would like to see that a little bit better, especially considering it has so many great organizational features, like child tasks, different artifacts. It would be great to see it presented more appropriately."
"I think there needs to be some simplification. The team-level side can be challenging and complicated."
"I would like for workspace admins to be able to hide projects in the Project Picker and not lose any historical data; make them invisible to certain users, visible to certain users, depending on permission sets. That would be lovely."
"I'd like the ability to customize reports without having to incur Professional Services, or having to write my own code GitHub and then implement that as a custom report. That's untenable. It's not sustainable."
"I'd like to be able to color code timeboxes, so I have an easy visual way to track the success of sprints."
"It requires better scalability for the implementation of the whole suite. We do not use it in that fashion, and visibility is sometimes a problem."
"Customization features may not be exposed or unavailable, so people may be looking for them. So, customization is an area people have told me is more desirable."
Jira Align is ranked 3rd in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools with 37 reviews while Rally Software is ranked 6th in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools with 116 reviews. Jira Align is rated 8.0, while Rally Software is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Jira Align writes "Creates visibility, has lots of reports, and removes silos". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Rally Software writes "Good discussion and note-taking capabilities but hard to track the changes". Jira Align is most compared with OpenText ValueEdge, ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management, JIRA Portfolio, Planview AgilePlace and Targetprocess, whereas Rally Software is most compared with Microsoft Azure DevOps, Jira, TFS, OpenText ALM / Quality Center and GitLab. See our Jira Align vs. Rally Software report.
See our list of best Enterprise Agile Planning Tools vendors.
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