IBM Engineering Workflow Management vs Polarion ALM comparison

IBM Engineering Workflow Management vs. Polarion ALM

Download the complete report

Helped 831,265 peers since 2012

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 Workflow Ma...

Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools

10th

Average Rating

6.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Configuration Management (4th)

Polarion ALM

Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools

7th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Enterprise Agile Planning Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Workflow Management is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polarion ALM is 3.3%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools

Featured Reviews

Suvajit Chakraborty

Manager, Digital Engineering at Harman International

Offers good traceability elements but UI needs improvement

There is room for improvement in the UI. The UI has to improve a lot compared to the competitive tools, like Atlassian Jira, for example. It's very easy to use. It is easy to manage and easy to use. Anybody can learn it right quickly and start with it. But IBM ELM is something where somebody has to have good knowledge, training, and understanding and then only start using it. But there's a big known knowledge curve for IBM ELM. But once that is there, it's normally; organizations do have their own internal team to basically manage it IBM ELM portfolio, the tool chain. So if they have internal teams who are doing it for quite some time, not something new, then it is definitely better. But if there's if somebody is starting new, definitely there is a knowledge curve time it can take at least a year or maybe a couple of years before they can start realizing the benefits.

Read full review

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

"All of the features work together to provide a powerful holistic solution - from the dashboard all the way through to security."

"Traceability reporting is inbuilt and includes all your requirements."

"The tool provides traceability and reporting, which are important for compliance and measuring progress."

"The most valuable features of the solution are highly customizable reports and visibility for all the higher management."

"It was an all-in-one solution for source code, integrated source control, defect tracking, and project planning."

"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."

"The tool provides traceability and reporting, which are important for compliance and measuring progress."

"Good for managing stories, sprints, hydration and releases."

More IBM Engineering Workflow Management pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is its browser experience. I rate its traceability feature a ten out of ten. From the initial stage to the release, you can manage everything through a single point."

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

"The technical support is quite good."

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

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

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

"You can see the work ticket and you can circulate that within the teams. You can define your flows, customize according to your needs, and you can create dashboards and create the reports according to your needs."

"We had a nice experience with technical support."

More Polarion ALM pros

Cons

"Improved graphics in terms of metrics and connectivity to SharePoint from Microsoft products would be beneficial."

"It's becoming less relevant. For example, Maven has evolved, and in its later versions, there are plugins for integrating with source control systems, such as Git-based systems. Support for these plugins is diminishing."

"I would rate the IBM Engineering Workflow Management a seven or an eight. I am leaning closer to seven based on a couple of items I mentioned that I would like to see or know more about, such as improved reporting."

"Lacks ability to customize and reporting can be slow."

"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."

"Some administrative tasks are difficult to perform. These could be simplified."

"The solution is very heavily vendor dependent."

More IBM Engineering Workflow Management cons

"The most important thing for them to improve should be platform-independent features. They should also provide extensive pipelines and release pipelines that we can define and we can work on."

"The solution can be improved by making it more user-friendly, and a server-based application rather than client based."

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

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

"Based on my understanding, the tool's integration capabilities with multiple tools is an area of concern that Polarion needs to focus on more."

"One of Polarion's shortcomings would be planning. It can handle plans, but the planning feature is very basic."

"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."

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

More Polarion ALM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I've heard IBM Engineering Workflow Management is more expensive than other tools."

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"The solution is expensive."

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

"It is an expensive product."

"Software for medical devices is always expensive."

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

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Agile Planning Tools solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

21%

Government

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

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 Engineering Workflow Management?

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.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Engineering Workflow Management?

I've heard IBM Engineering Workflow Management is more expensive than other tools. On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten.

What needs improvement with IBM Engineering Workflow Management?

Improved graphics in terms of metrics and connectivity to SharePoint from Microsoft products would be beneficial.

What do you like most about Polarion ALM?

It is a very stable solution.

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...

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...

Jira vs IBM Engineering Workflow Management

Comparisons

Compared 55% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Workflow Management

Compared 15% of the time

GitLab vs IBM Engineering Workflow Management

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs IBM Engineering Workflow Management

Compared 10% of the time

IBM Rational ClearCase vs IBM Engineering Workflow Management

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM Engineering Workflow Management Competitors

Jira vs Polarion ALM

Compared 29% of the time

Codebeamer vs Polarion ALM

Compared 24% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Polarion ALM

Compared 18% of the time

Jama Connect vs Polarion ALM

Compared 7% of the time

PTC Integrity vs Polarion ALM

Compared 7% of the time

More Polarion ALM Competitors

Product Reports

IBM Engineering Workflow Management

Download IBM Engineering Workflow Management product report

IBM Engineering Workflow Management report

Polarion ALM

Download Polarion ALM product report

Also Known As

IBM Rational Team Concert (IBM ALM), IBM RTC

No data available

Learn More

Video not available

IBM

Siemens

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.

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.

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

Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, IBS AG, Zumtobel Group

IBM Engineering Workflow Management vs. Polarion ALM