We compared IBM Rational DOORS and Polarion Requirements based on our user's reviews in several parameters.
IBM Rational DOORS is praised for its robust requirements management capabilities, helpful customer service, reasonable pricing, and positive ROI. Users note varying times for setup and deployment. In contrast, Polarion Requirements is highlighted for its comprehensive traceability, advanced collaboration features, responsive customer support, flexible pricing, and impactful ROI. Users mention areas for improvement in user interface, performance, customization, and integration.
Features: IBM Rational DOORS offers robust requirements management capabilities and seamless integration with other tools and systems, enhancing collaboration and communication within teams. On the other hand, Polarion Requirements provides seamless integration, comprehensive traceability, and advanced collaboration capabilities. Users appreciate how easily it connects with various software and development tools, allowing for efficient data exchange and streamlined workflows. Moreover, its robust traceability functionality ensures transparency and accountability, while advanced collaboration features facilitate effective teamwork and communication among stakeholders.
Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for IBM Rational DOORS is straightforward and hassle-free, with flexible licensing options. On the other hand, Polarion Requirements offers a relatively easy setup process, benefiting from various budget-friendly options and customizable licensing plans., IBM Rational DOORS has proven to deliver a positive ROI with improved efficiency, productivity, collaboration, requirements management, and cost savings. Polarion Requirements offers similar benefits with additional customization options for tailored ROI optimization.
Room for Improvement: Users have pointed out several areas for improvement in both IBM Rational DOORS and Polarion Requirements. For IBM Rational DOORS, users suggest enhanced user interface customization options, better data management, and improved integration capabilities. On the other hand, users of Polarion Requirements recommend a more intuitive user interface, improved performance and speed, increased customization options, better integration with other tools, and better documentation and training resources.
Deployment and customer support: The feedback regarding the duration to establish a new tech solution with IBM Rational DOORS varies, with some users completing deployment in three months and setup in a week. In comparison, for Polarion Requirements, some users took three months for deployment and an additional week for setup, but these terms likely refer to the same period., IBM Rational DOORS demonstrates exceptional customer service with professional and knowledgeable support staff, while Polarion Requirements provides top-notch and highly responsive assistance. Both products ensure a smooth and satisfactory experience for customers.
The summary above is based on 17 interviews we conducted recently with IBM Rational DOORS and Polarion Requirements users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"It's a very interesting tool. I like that it's simple. You have to create your document, add your templates, and have your headings and definitions, and it's done. You must attribute the discipline and fill out the comment field for requirements. It also provides you with unique IDs for each requirement. I like that it never duplicates IDs."
"When you install DOORS locally, you have the flexibility to do what you want with the solution. You can add functionality and do many things that you can't do with other tools or do well enough to satisfy your users' requirements."
"Compared to other tools that I have used over the past 20 years, DOORS is the best of the best."
"The solution is stable."
"We have different generations of all products. It lets us select and see unique attributes for each release or generation. You can use attributes to define a selection area to see which equipments are for the old versions and which ones are for the new versions. This inbuilt view is what I like in IBM Rational DOORS. So, for a database and a set of requirements, it will select and show unique attributes for a release or a generation."
"Traceability on requirements for a huge project in an organization is a big gain."
"The traceability matrix in DOORS improved our project outcomes. It helps ensure coverage of requirements at different levels, from user requirements to software requirements to test requirements."
"I really like the customization that can be done using the DOORS Extension Language (DXL)."
"My company mainly utilizes the product for documenting internal standards, guidelines, and requirements. Currently, we're focusing on using it for internal purposes, but the vision is to expand its usage to include contract requirements and tracking functionalities. While we're not there yet, it has proven effective for managing our internal documentation needs."
"In my opinion, Polarion Requirements' most beneficial feature is the ability to manage specifications within a work-like document that functions as a work item. Its collaboration features have worked very well and have been very useful. We can easily exchange information with the testing team, the business, and with DevOps."
"Its flexibility and APIs are the most valuable."
"It is easier to produce documents using the platform."
"I like the way this solution is structured."
"We worked with the web interface."
"The biggest improvement would be in the transparency we have now. We have very complex products. We make whole systems with difficult and diverse areas such as hardware, software, mechanical and printing, etc. To get the overview of all the requirements into a system, at that sizing, is the main advantage we have in the organization now."
"The solution is especially great for organizing folders effectively."
"Complexity, performance, openness are the three areas that can be improved. The IBM architecture and specifically Jazz looks more complex. There are a lot of servers. It's quite complicated. The search capabilities lack in IBM Rational DOORS Classic for customers who have a database with a requirement of more than 25,000 records. For example, you can search easily for a module, but it's really difficult to look for keywords through the whole database because all the modules are separated into small components, which makes the search quite complex. This is something that's really annoying because when we want to make an impact analysis, we would like to analyze the product globally. It's quite difficult to manage. The fact that you can interact externally with data makes it complex. The approach is complex and doesn't work as expected. For example, when I tried to experiment with exporting some records, the tool crashed, but I couldn't find out the root cause, that is, whether it happened because of Rational Windows or lack of memory. It was just crashing. Logs weren't very clear. IBM can try to use more recent technology for different aspects and make it easy. They can also provide free integration from DOORS Classic to DOORS. Currently, all the customization in Excel is lost, which makes it very complex. It would be a feature to make new versions compatible with features in the past versions."
"It used to be very clunky."
"The kind of dashboard is not very convenient."
"I would like to see them improve in agile management the Scrum/Kanban Board to work with overseas team members."
"The customer must also have the tool to import the changes and accept them as a part of the review."
"One thing that I would like to see is a lower-cost version of it that we could use for smaller projects. Sometimes, we do projects for commercial customers who would benefit from something like DOORS, but it's just so expensive. It's just a monster, so a lower-cost version would be the thing that we'd like to see."
"The images are not clear. We have to use them as OLE objects. And in the testing part, I'm not sure how to link it with it. This is my main concern."
"They need to provide users with information on what options would be best for their setup."
"The usability of the solution should also be improved."
"Polarion Requirement needs to have a feature where we can track changes and compare documents. Currently, we do it manually."
"The risk assessment functionality needs improvement, like FMEA risk management."
"Its user interface could be more user friendly. In addition, a lot of features are missing for test management. It should have the test case ordering feature."
"The platform's review process for the documents could be better."
"One thing to consider is increased flexibility in terms of workflow configuration."
"If we have more than one thousand work items in one live-book then it becomes almost unusable."
"It is stable enough but if you would like to work with more requirement objects, then you will get timeouts."
IBM Rational DOORS is ranked 1st in Application Requirements Management with 51 reviews while Polarion Requirements is ranked 3rd in Application Requirements Management with 13 reviews. IBM Rational DOORS is rated 8.0, while Polarion Requirements is rated 7.4. The top reviewer of IBM Rational DOORS writes " Offers ability to automate tasks and to track changes within documents and compare different versions of requirements but modeling capabilities could benefit from a web-based tool ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Polarion Requirements writes "Defines, builds, tests and manages complex software systems". IBM Rational DOORS is most compared with Jira, Jama Connect, Helix ALM, IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation and PTC Integrity Requirements Connector, whereas Polarion Requirements is most compared with Jama Connect, Jira, IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation and Helix ALM. See our IBM Rational DOORS vs. Polarion Requirements report.
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