IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs Polarion ALM comparison

IBM and Siemens are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.8, while Siemens is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.3. IBM holds a 2.8% mindshare in ALM, compared to Siemens’s 7.4% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of Siemens users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 18 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,377 Views
1,009 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Polarion ALM

Read 20 Polarion ALM reviews

4,310 Views
2,958 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Polarion ALM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 23, 2024

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management and Polarion ALM compete in the application lifecycle management category. IBM ELM has the upper hand with its robust integration capabilities, while Polarion ALM is favored for adaptability and user-centric features.

Features: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management offers advanced collaboration tools, requirements management, and traceability features, catering to complex projects with rigorous compliance needs. Polarion ALM features innovative work item tracking, customizable workflows, and intuitive traceability, ideal for teams valuing flexibility and ease of use.

Room for Improvement: IBM ELM could enhance its ease of deployment and streamline user experience due to its complex setup. Polarion ALM may benefit from simplifying its advanced features for new users and improving out-of-the-box functionality in planning and management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Polarion ALM is recognized for straightforward installation and agile support, enabling quicker adaptation to project needs. IBM ELM requires a more intricate deployment process but offers comprehensive support tailored to customization.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management incurs higher initial costs but offers substantial ROI through functionality and scalability. Polarion ALM, with lower upfront expenses, delivers quicker ROI by leveraging adaptability and reduced deployment time.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Polarion ALM Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Polarion ALM

January 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

12th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Polarion ALM

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

8th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 2.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polarion ALM is 7.4%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

Harold Pogue

Global IT Director of Digital Platforms. Digital and Connected Commerce at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

A complex deployment that is not stable, but is cloud-based

The team of 15 to 20 software engineers uses IBM Rational ALM and Jira for testing. They coupled different online packages together because the Duration Enterprise was impossible to use IBM Rational ALM did not help the organization and we ended up moving to another solution. The most valuable…

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Dina Bindi

Information and Communication technology at CNH Industrial

Provides traceability and compliance with high flexibility

It's extremely flexible. Configuring items is straightforward and doesn't require involving the supplier each time. We find the requirement management, test management, documentation, and dashboards very effective. However, we don't use DevOps-related features, such as integration with tools like SVN or Git, because we use Azure DevOps. The aspects related to requirements, testing, changes, tasks, and agile methodology are excellent, which is why we've been using it for a long time.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We have something called the GC (global configuration), which is a unique feature compared to any other competitor we have in the ALM space."

"The most valuable feature is the reporting of the CPU usage on the dashboard."

"The tools for requirement capture we have found very useful."

"It helped us contain critical things, like source code and several documents, which is very important to us."

"One of the key advantages of IBM Rational ALM is its workflow capabilities, which enable seamless collaboration between development and production teams and ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the progress and readiness of the solution. Additionally, the solution is good for integration."

"At the same time, if you're working from the architect or the designing team you, it's quite easy to manage the resources online."

"The transition to a SaaS-based solution is a distinct advantage."

"IBM Rational ALM is a very good tool. I like the management and traceability features and the test management tool. The latter is not linked with the stories and fixed management. It is really useful, and we can create test plans. We can also test some metrics related to QA."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

"The technical support is quite good."

"The features I find the most valuable are requirement tracking and schematics."

"Polarion ALM has some valuable tools for managing our targets and requirements. I think that's its best feature."

"Scalability is good...The integration is quite good."

"Polarion ALM's integration is very good and easy to use."

"The best feature of Polarion ALM to me is its traceability link."

"The most valuable feature is the function of the ALM system."

"I am impressed with the solution’s stability."

More Polarion ALM pros

Cons

"There is not enough beginner support material in the form of FAQs or simple training to help you get started."

"IBM Rational ALM should remove the features not used by the customers and keep this product as lightweight as possible."

"The product must be more user-friendly."

"The GUI is a little bit outdated."

"The reporting functionality needs to be improved."

"In the next release, we expect a traceability metrics configuration where we can configure the user stories. We also expect them to improve or simplify the query process."

"I would like to see better reporting features. The out-of-box reporting is - I don't want to say limited - but the focus is on the Scrum and Sprint reports. We need more reporting features regarding the history of the work, tracking it more deeply."

"The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"The interface for this solution needs to be made more user-friendly to provide a better user experience."

"The ease-of-use could be improved a little."

"As Polarion ALM is a development-oriented tool, easy support or easy access is provided by default, but if I want to use detailed features, I need to write the script, particularly the VM script, and this is its area for improvement. I want Polarion ALM to have a graphical user interface that doesn't need scripting. In the next release of the tool, I'd like for it to not require scripting and programming because needing to run script language is time-consuming."

"I also recently suggested that CMS consider incorporating generative artificial intelligence into the system."

"The configuration aspect of the solution is not easy. A person needs a lot of programming knowledge in order to successfully handle the job."

"The tool needs to improve its planning. It also needs to add more integrations."

"We use PTC Windchill, and Polarion ALM doesn't have native integration, so we had to purchase the connector to integrate it with Polarion ALM. We still haven't implemented it."

"Integration requires a lot of effort. You typically need to work with an implementation partner to get it done. Most connectors available for Polarion ALM are paid. Unlike other vendors offering several standard connectors for free, integrating third-party software with Polarion ALM involves discussing and coordinating with the third-party software providers, which requires effort."

More Polarion ALM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution could be reduced. Many of our customers are not using all the features and this could be why our clients feel the price is too high."

"IBM Rational ALM has both monthly and yearly licensing options."

"The solution is not cheap."

"This product is a little expensive and we had to pay extra to have them set it up for us."

"We have a contract, but I am not aware of the details."

"You have to pay around 50-60 euros per user."

"The solution is expensive."

"If the pricing would come down and it was more affordable then we wouldn't have to switch."

"Our license for Polarion ALM is yearly. And it's not the cheapest tool that we've looked at. So if we had made our decision purely based on the licensing cost, we wouldn't have selected Polarion."

"Software for medical devices is always expensive."

"The license model is okay for large companies but would be quite expensive for smaller enterprises."

"It is an expensive product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

23%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Manufacturing Company

25%

Computer Software Company

15%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Rational ALM?

The solution is customizable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Rational ALM?

The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex. For business users with no experience in IT, it can be particularly challenging to understand the UI and create test cas...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?

We use IBM Rational ALM as part of our overall application suite for our manufacturing company. It is used by our engineering team to capture requirements, perform testing, and manage defects. Spec...

See all answers

What do you like most about Polarion ALM?

It is a very stable solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Polarion ALM?

I also recently suggested that CMS consider incorporating generative artificial intelligence into the system. This could greatly enhance requirement checking, improve form, content, and clarity, an...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Polarion ALM?

We use Polarion ALM for software development, including requirements management, testing, change requests, and task tracking. We set up the environment by configuring items and reports based on use...

See all answers

Comparisons

Jira vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 29% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 21% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 20% of the time

PTC Integrity vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 10% of the time

Atlassian ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Competitors

Jira vs Polarion ALM

Compared 29% of the time

Codebeamer vs Polarion ALM

Compared 25% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Polarion ALM

Compared 17% of the time

Jama Connect vs Polarion ALM

Compared 7% of the time

GitLab vs Polarion ALM

Compared 3% of the time

More Polarion ALM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

February 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Polarion ALM

February 2025

Download Polarion ALM product report

Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

No data available

Overview

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management stands out for its robust Agile Scrum planning, lifecycle traceability, and tool management, offering cloud-based configurability and strong collaboration features.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management provides rich capabilities for Agile project management, facilitating requirements and test management, configuration management, and version control. Its integration with IBM Doors supports comprehensive requirements handling, and the cloud-based platform enhances collaborative efficiency across teams. Despite needing advances in user-friendliness and reporting, ELM's global configuration and compliance features make it invaluable in demanding environments.

What are the key features of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management?

Scrum-based planning: Supports Agile methodologies with rich planning tools.
Lifecycle traceability: Offers complete traceability across development stages.
Customizable workflows: Adaptable workflows with Kanban for flexibility.
Git integration: Supports efficient version control and collaboration.
Global Configuration: Manages complex configurations globally.
Compliance and reporting: Ensures robust auditing and comprehensive reporting capabilities.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Collaboration: Enhanced sharing across platforms for seamless teamwork.
Cost-effectiveness: Delivers efficient tools that optimize project spend.
Comprehensive requirement handling: Facilitates detailed requirement management through IBM Doors integration.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management is vital in sectors like automotive and manufacturing, where it implements Agile frameworks to manage requirements, conduct testing, and handle defects. It integrates into development pipelines ensuring live traceability and visibility, supporting critical engineering processes efficiently.

IBM

The world’s first 100% browser-based ALM enterprise solution, which enables seamless collaboration across disparate teams, multi-directionally linked work items, full traceability, accelerated productivity and automated proof of compliance.

Siemens

Sample Customers

Tennis Australia, WeCloud AB, Port Otago Limited, Logicalis US, Valmer, The Chevrolet Volt, Ashurst

Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, IBS AG, Zumtobel Group

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Polarion ALM

January 2025

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Polarion ALM

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