IBM Engineering Workflow Management vs Jira vs Rally Software comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Engineering Workflow Management, Jira, and Rally Software based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, GitLab, Atlassian and others in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools.
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Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Traceability reporting is inbuilt and includes all your requirements.""Good for managing stories, sprints, hydration and releases.""All of the features work together to provide a powerful holistic solution - from the dashboard all the way through to security.""Work distribution among team members and accountability for completion with a clearer picture.""Agile templates give us a standard methodology for every Agile project. Also, the ability to create our own object types and linkages to features/epics allows us to enhance the verification of feature readiness.""We can track the status of test cases (passed or saved) in a single view. Based on releases and other attributes, we generate various reports and extract metrics from the data."

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"Its visual display and ease of use are most valuable.""We like team collaboration and cross-functional collaboration.""The most valuable features of this solution are workflow and reporting.""​One of the valuable features is traceability from requirements to test cases.""We love the bulk edit feature. Jira also integrates well with Bitbucket.""I have found Jira to be stable.""The UI is good. It's simple and not very complicated. It's very good for tracking.""Workflow administration is an easy process, especially with respect to defects."

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"With this product, searching for historical information or the evolution of the requirement, detecting conflict between projects has helped a lot.""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.""Helps me determine how fast I can launch, go to production.""Rally Software provides the capability to accurately estimate the time required for building large software projects, which can be challenging to predict...Rally Software enables us to schedule tasks better, allocate resources, and meet project deadlines.""​It is very stable. It has been on the market a long time.""It scales very well. It improves in technology constantly and gets up to speed with the latest and greatest.""The most valuable features of Rally Software are the executive dashboards, ease of use, and many other features. They have encapsulated everything that a GI can do, such as monitoring, maintaining, and then releasing. It's continuous integration and development.""The most useful part is how it breaks down tasks into parents and children, manageable tasks. It has a whole project as an initiative, and then it breaks it down further and further. And then you get to actual user stories and tasks that you can sit and develop."

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Cons
"We have encountered issues with stability. We have seen where the entire system kind of goes for a toss when certain people use certain types of queries, which are very costly. Then the system kind of slows down a bit, and we have to monitor it.""Teams need clearer pictures of resource availability in charts and dashboards along with plans.""The solution is very heavily vendor dependent.""Some administrative tasks are difficult to perform. These could be simplified.""Lacks ability to customize and reporting can be slow."

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"Some of the interfaces, especially on the administrator side and for permissions, are not so clear. They aren't very user-friendly.""A more organized hierarchy is important. Reporting and JQL create issues for me. They do not completely cover the reporting part that I need to report in terms of my capacity to plan. In the same token, there is no record at this very moment to provide me with one export with epics story points, tasks, or issues and their sub-tasks at the same time.""The solution needs more integrations with Azure DevOps OnPrem.""They are not supporting in-house servers anymore and I think I've got until January to port this to something else.""Workflows can be improved. We don't use workflows because we can't handle that much complexity. Its interface could be more intuitive for workflows.""Some small issues with stability.""So at one point in time, they did a huge UI upgrade. At that time, I felt like they had changed something, so it was hard to figure out. Now that we are habituated, it's not an issue now.""Tracking is important but the built-in features don't meet our needs."

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"It's a bit cumbersome to manage the Project Picker. As we sunset teams or projects close out - but we still have test cases tied to those teams or projects that are being used in other spaces - we have this monstrous list in the Project Picker that becomes really difficult to manage and find, and we can't clean that up ourselves. It would be nice if it was easier to do that and not lose your history.""One problem I see is that if there is a dependent user story - for example, if my team is working on one thing and there is a dependent user story from another team - we can have a dependency created but we don't know if there is a change of status from the other team. That is something which is very important for Agile Central to look into so that if the other team makes any changes we will be notified as well.""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.""The Reporting feature can improve, especially around executive summaries and dependency mapping.""What I don't like about it is that it is really hard to find old work to reference information and use the reporting section of the application in terms of trying to analyze trends. If I am trying to find out which interfaces took this long and I want to compare and measure improvement from one quarter to another quarter, the reporting mechanism within Rally is very troublesome. They have an Excel plugin that you're supposed to use, but you literally have to pull the raw data out before you can do the analysis. You can't do it within Rally, and if you can, it is a secret, and I don't know how to do it. It should have better, easier, and user-friendly reporting without having to use the Excel add-in. It is very clunky. There is a lot of data in there, but it is not organized in such a way that makes it intuitive. You really have to kind of look for where do you put your documentation or dates. Some customization is available, but it is not plug-and-play like Jira. When I switched from TFS to Jira, I just went and started using Jira, whereas with Rally, you kind of have to really get in and figure out what you need to do before you set stuff up, or you're going to get yourself stuck. You can just start using Jira and be successful.""We want Rally to generate OKRs, to allow teams to record the OKRs, and then the OKRs can be mapped to the epics and there is organizational alignment.""More importantly, we are seeing internal challenges from Atlassian because of their highly integrated suite that enables further automation and centralization of activities that are also highly necessary – messaging notifications cued off builds, collaboration on Solution Architecture Documentation, etc.""In Rally Software, the connection with GitLab and GitHub needs improvement."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Licensing: The solution cost is high and should be brought down to increase competition."
  • "It's an expensive investment to make, so the decision should be driven on individual requirements."
  • "It is not a free tool. We use a token-based licensing model, which is specific to IBM. The cost per token is around $115-$120."
  • More IBM Engineering Workflow Management Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It is very cheap if you forego the local instance and stick to the cloud."
  • "The licensing model is annoying. They nickel and dime you."
  • "It does not cost that much."
  • "Almost everybody uses JIRA nowadays because it is the most cost-effective solution."
  • "I understand JIRA is quite expensive."
  • "We feel that the product is a good value for the cost."
  • "Licensing is on a monthly basis, and it is based on what you use."
  • "To try this solution, use their cloud offering to get familiar. After that, it's in my view worth the money."
  • More Jira Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Frankly, pricing is expensive and needs to be carefully planned for when budgeting."
  • "The license costs are fairly high as compared to some of the other solutions out there."
  • "From a price point, it's a cost effective solution for our needs."
  • "It is expensive and may not be worthwhile for a small company."
  • "We are always looking for a discount, if the solution was less expensive it would be a benefit."
  • "I understand it's a little more expensive. That is why many people prefer Jira."
  • "Rally Software costs $50 a month, and for a base account, that price is acceptable."
  • More Rally Software Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:We can track the status of test cases (passed or saved) in a single view. Based on releases and other attributes, we… more »
    Top Answer:Customers need to pay for a license to use this product. It is not a free tool. We use a token-based licensing model… more »
    Top Answer:There is room for improvement in the UI. The UI has to improve a lot compared to the competitive tools, like Atlassian… more »
    Top Answer:Hi Netanya Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below… more »
    Top Answer:Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and… more »
    Top Answer:HP ALM and Jira can be easily integrated with the aid of a third-party Integration Solution To help you select the… more »
    Top Answer: We have teams come and go all the time. We have teams in India, America, Ireland, Poland, Italy, England... we are… more »
    Top Answer:Rally Software costs $50 a month, and for a base account, that price is acceptable.
    Top Answer:It is hard to track the changes. For example, we're in sprint 25, and then we have 26, 27, 28, and 29. Throughout that… more »
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    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    IBM Rational Team Concert (IBM ALM), IBM RTC
    Jira Software
    CA Agile Central, Rally Enterprise, CA Agile Training, CA Agile Coaching, CA Agile Academy, CA Agile Management , CA ALM
    Learn More
    IBM
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    Overview

    IBM Engineering Workflow Management manages plans, tasks, the project status and acts as the critical link between required and delivered work. It provides flexibility to adapt to any process, which enables companies to adopt faster release cycles and manage dependencies across both small and complex development projects. This solution offers no-charge server software and flexible pricing models. It becomes a complete IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management solution—when purchased as a set of seamlessly integrated tools: IBM Engineering Workflow Management, IBM Engineering Test Management, and IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next.

    Jira is a powerful cloud- and subscription-based application lifecycle and issue management solution. It is designed to aid users both in project management and in resolving any issues that arise at any point in the software development process. It is especially concerned with easing the ability of developers to collaborate. 

    Jira Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy Jira include:

    • DevOps lifecycle visibility and planning. Jira provides application developers with tools that enable them to track and visualize where they are in the development process. This means that a DevOps team can measure their progress at all times. Jira’s roadmapping feature also enables a DevOps team to work more efficiently by setting goals for their projects, keeping them on track. Additionally, they are able to track whether they are meeting the goals that they set for their projects.
    • Regular product updates. Atlassian is constantly updating Jira so that it is continuously evolving into an ever more powerful and user-friendly solution. Users can be sure that the product that they are using is always being tweaked so as to provide them with the best possible project management solution. 
    • Flexibility. Jira enables users to customize their workflows and dashboard so that the solution is operating in a way that best matches their needs. Jira can also integrate with more than 3,000 other applications and integrations. Organizations can use it to expand their project management and DevOps capabilities in many different ways. 

    Jira Features

    • Security capabilities. Jira is equipped with a number of useful security features. It gives administrators the ability to restrict access to certain tools so that only users who are authorized to complete certain tasks have access to the tools related to the completion of that task. Users can also set default permissions so that only particular users can work on new projects or particular projects.
    • Real-time notification feature. Users can set Jira so that it offers them notifications that contain critical information in real time. It can send users email notifications when pressing issues have been updated. They can also set it to notify them about tasks that may be due, or other similar events.

    • Activity log. Jira has the ability to track any and all changes that are taking place within the software framework. Users can keep a close eye on everything that is going on. This promotes a high level of visibility and can be leveraged to aid developers in their collaboration efforts. 

    Reviews from Real Users

    Jira is a powerful solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its workflow engine and its highly customizable dashboard. 

    Bharath R., the tool implementation and project management lead at a financial services firm, writes, “I feel the strongest feature of Jira is its workflow engine. It empowers us to automate our workflows within our organization. It's the one characteristic of Jira which I think can help any organization, be it in any domain.”

    Uday J., a staff engineer at a computer company, says, “Another thing that I like a lot about Jira is that in the dashboard, you can plug the modules that you want. You can enable certain sections. For example, you can show trend history, open Jira tickets, etc. Some of the managers have created a dashboard for each engineer.” 

    With Rally Software, you can plan, prioritize, manage, track, and continuously improve your work so that you can deliver the value that your customers need with speed, quality, and efficiency. Our enterprise-class Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) SaaS platform provides visibility into progress, roadblocks, and dependencies across multiple teams, projects, and programs. This allows you to align to your strategic goals and create better business results, and to do it all in a single system of record.

    Sample Customers
    Telstra Corporation, Visteon, Atos SE, Panasonic Automotive Systems, IBM Global Technology Services, CareCore National, JTEKT Corp., ItaÒ BBA, Avea, CACEIS, Danske Bank Group, APIS IT
    Square, Nasa, eBay, Cisco, SalesForce, Adobe, BNP Paribas, BMW and LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.
    Physicians Mutual, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Editora Abril, Tata Communications, Level 3 Communications, Seagate, TomTom, Philips, Hiscox, Physicians Mutual, MYOB
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Manufacturing Company22%
    Government12%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company23%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Insurance Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization41%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Computer Software Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Healthcare Company17%
    Comms Service Provider15%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization78%
    Financial Services Firm3%
    Healthcare Company3%
    Manufacturing Company3%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise62%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business13%
    Midsize Enterprise7%
    Large Enterprise80%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise48%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business10%
    Midsize Enterprise47%
    Large Enterprise43%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business10%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise80%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business3%
    Midsize Enterprise79%
    Large Enterprise18%
    Buyer's Guide
    Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, GitLab, Atlassian and others in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.