Jama Connect vs OpenText ALM Octane comparison

Jama and OpenText are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. Jama is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.8, while OpenText is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0. Jama holds a 2.9% mindshare in ALM, compared to OpenText’s 6.4% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Jama users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

Jama Connect

Read 14 Jama Connect reviews

1,618 Views
1,212 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

OpenText ALM Octane

Read 40 OpenText ALM Octane reviews

5,399 Views
2,963 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Jama Connect

OpenText ALM Octane

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

Jama Connect and OpenText ALM Octane are competing products in the software development management space. Jama Connect has the upper hand in intuitive interface and structured requirements management, while OpenText ALM Octane leads in supporting complex testing workflows with advanced lifecycle management.

Features: Jama Connect offers a seamless collaboration environment with robust requirements management capabilities and integrates well with existing systems through intuitive navigation. OpenText ALM Octane provides comprehensive testing management, supports agile and DevOps practices, and offers sophisticated end-to-end lifecycle process reporting.

Room for Improvement: Jama Connect can enhance its reporting capabilities and increase customization options to cater to specific industry requirements, improve its interface scalability for larger projects, and expand integration with more third-party tools. OpenText ALM Octane could improve its deployment complexity to streamline installation processes, enhance intuitive user guidance for new users, and simplify its pricing structure to offer more flexible packages.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Jama Connect's cloud-based deployment affords streamlined setup and efficient system integration, backed by responsive customer support. OpenText ALM Octane offers cloud and on-premise options, providing flexibility but is sometimes seen as complex; ongoing support is highly rated by users.

Pricing and ROI: Jama Connect offers a more accessible pricing structure with a quicker ROI, benefiting projects heavily reliant on requirements management. OpenText ALM Octane demands higher initial costs, but its expansive features justify long-term investment, especially for agile methodology adoption.

To learn more, read our detailed Jama Connect vs. OpenText ALM Octane Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Jama Connect vs. OpenText ALM Octane

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

Jama Connect

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Requirements Management (4th)

OpenText ALM Octane

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Jama Connect is 2.9%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText ALM Octane is 6.4%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

David Wilson

System Engineer at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

Mainly used for requirements management, but its validation piece is not time-efficient at all

Like anything, Jama Connect relies highly on the company's culture because I found the whole review process to sound good, but it does not work in reality. Companies that use the tool are all pretty immature with requirements management, and therefore, they don't have the culture of doing that. You're always chasing them up and end up having review meetings, and no one pays attention to those review notices. The solution is very software-centric, and its validation piece is not time-efficient at all. It's very desktop verification and validation. You need to have it running and loading, which is not efficient. It's very cumbersome and overhead-intensive for verification management.

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GeorgNauerz

Managing Partner at Georg Nauerz Consulting

Makes team collaboration between IT and non-IT users easier with more transparency

The user experience is a lot better than any tool that I have used before. Overall, it is great. It has a smooth interface, which is very user-friendly. It makes it easier to work together and have more transparency and customization, which is very good. There are a lot of features where you can add fields, input individual fields, and input rules, like templated rule-based interaction between entities. The Backlog management is really interesting, because it is all in one place. You don't have a feature here and a feature there, instead you have the Backlog and testing using different backup items, like user storage features and tasks, all in one place. In addition, we are able to write documents, which we can transfer to backup items. Then, we can test them in the same solution without switching tools, or even switching from one part of the tool to another part, because it is all in one place. We use the solution’s Backlog and Team Backlog capabilities. They make our DevOps processes easier through transparency and asset collaboration.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In Jama Connect, users have the capability to view and manage all test cases directly within the platform and execute them. The entire product specification, spanning various domains such as electrical, mechanical, software, and testing, is consolidated within Jama Connect."

"The relationship mapping feature is especially helpful, as it allows us to connect different requirements and compliance-related documentation."

"I like Jama Connect because it's easy to use and understand. The widgets are great, and linking is straightforward. The solution is not complex compared to its competitors."

"We use Jama Connect mainly for requirements management."

"Jama Connect is a good tool for the entire software development cycle."

"Provides suitable tools for managing regulatory requirements."

"The most valuable feature is the user-friendly interface."

"Technical support answers fairly quickly compared to others like IBM or Atlassian. They also offer quite a good knowledge base for advanced cases and how to plan it, etc. via videos that they provide. They are quite useful."

More Jama Connect pros

"The way testing is closely tied into the product Backlog has made it more intuitive, or easier to manage the relationship between building out an application and testing it. In other tools, that is more segregated. The way it's designed in Octane, people have said it makes more sense to them, and that it's easier for them to understand their data and to maintain and test their solutions."

"We looked at all the market-leading tools, but we did not find anything quite as comprehensive as ALM Octane. When I say comprehensive, it's not just a single tool for Agile planning, backlog management release, sprint planning, etc., but it also has a built-in, comprehensive quality management module. It also has pipelines where we can hook up with our DevOps ecosystem/toolchain."

"The defect management gives us full-fledged capabilities for handling defects, including capturing the details of the defects and even screenshotting the defect cases. The defect management is comprehensive."

"The most important feature is the integration among all the different features in just one tool: Agile management system, requirements management system, test management, defects management, automatic test execution. Really, if you're looking at other tools, you will never find all that integrated into just one tool with all the traceability, with all the elements in just one place."

"We like Micro Focus ALM Octane because its performance is okay, and its stability is okay, so we use it a lot. The platform is easy to use."

"The integration points are very good. Octane gives us a window not only into our manual testing, but also our automation testing and our performance testing. We can see all results from all three streams of testing in one place."

"It is a very stable tool. The tool has been in the industry for so many years. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."

"With an Octane project, we have our automation, our requirements, our tests, our pipeline into build-and-deploy, and the ability to identify problem areas. It makes things quicker because it's more along the lines of an automated process."

More OpenText ALM Octane pros

Cons

"There are some security concerns with Jama Connect, including two-factor enablement."

"Test management can be improved. It's not so scalable. The user interface needs to split things into small projects."

"t is rather slow, so the speed of the process and consuming information should be improved. It doesn't have a nice way of viewing information. We would like to see better interfaces for consuming information."

"I believe one of the weak points is the reporting side. You must export inter-readable reports from Jama if you do not use the system as a repository for your design history file. Jama is great if you keep it in Jama, but reporting out requires some customization to get it right."

"More automation could speed up workflows, flag errors more timely, and eliminate manual steps."

"There are a few areas where Jama Connect can improve. One suggestion is to enhance the built-in feature of profile generation."

"The solution is expensive."

"There are delays sometimes from the Jama Connect team in resolving issues."

More Jama Connect cons

"Security and security management, meaning the integration of the security, could be enhanced. We know about Fortify, but it would be better to have security features in the original Octane platform without the need for another solution or another application."

"We have some requests to beef up the manual testing abilities and the ability to report on testing progress. All the basics are there, but there's an issue of maintainability. For example... once you plan a test and it creates a run, more particularly a suite run, you can't edit the suite run afterward... That that is not realistic with how people work. Mistakes are made and people are humans and we change our minds about things. So the tool needs to allow for a bit more flexibility in that testing area, as well as some better widgets to report on progress."

"There's a trend in our requests to have the ability to export data, en masse, out of Octane. There are capabilities within Octane to export data, but there are specifics around test suites and requirements and relations, as well as certain attributes, that we would like to be able to export easily out of Octane and into a database or Excel."

"I would like to see the mobile testing improved so that we can simply select a mobile device, then specify what parameters we want, and the testing will be run based on that."

"Octane, from an administration perspective, is very limited. The application is improving with each release but what is missing is the ability to manage users and workspaces. I would also like "usable" reporting for more than a few workspaces. Also still missing is the ability to copy a workspace or get data in or out, except for limited REST calls."

"I have yet to experience the CI/CD part of Micro Focus ALM Octane but as demonstrated by the team who is providing the services, I see that the CI/CD could improve. When we check in the code, for the code snippet that has been checked in by a particular user, you need to open a separate file. When comparing Micro Focus ALM Octane to Jira, they have a separate window in which you can click on the ID and the code is visible in the snippet. It's a two-step process in Micro Focus ALM Octane and it's a single-step process in Jira. It's essential for the developers to think about this difference."

"The cluster architecture that we implemented was server to server communication: Octane application to Elasticsearch and Elasticsearch to another Elasticsearch service. Recently, we found this is a security gap. The Octane application is interacting with Elasticsearch server, but that was missing from the requirements and prerequisites in the setup. The Micro Focus team has not given advice on how to implement authentication-based communication between Octane to Elasticsearch, and we found it as a gap later, then our security team asked us to fix that gap. So, there was a lot of time spent on rework."

"We've only had a few stability issues. Generally, we have issues following any deployment they do, so if they do a deployment on a Sunday, then we may have a couple of issues on a Monday or Tuesday."

More OpenText ALM Octane cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Jama Connect is a little pricy."

"If you want to have creative licenses, pricing may be an issue with the licenses, as it can become quite expensive over time to serve many people."

"The cost seems very competitive with other offerings."

"To have a single source for all the requirements and all the change requests our company gets is the most valuable feature. It has also helped us to keep track of reviews."

"It's pretty pricey, one of the most expensive ones on the market... The value depends on if you use all the features that it has. It comes with a lot of features. The difference between the license structure of ALM and Octane versus JIRA, is that you get everything with ALM and Octane... For JIRA, you buy the pieces one piece at a time."

"The price of Micro Focus ALM Octane is too high compared to other solutions."

"ALM Octane is very expensive."

"Microsoft is a big challenge for Micro Focus when it comes to pricing because they are much cheaper. But it definitely depends on the complexity of the environment. If it has multiple technologies, at that point, looking at other options and Microsoft would be a feasible approach."

"The senior management of my company handles the purchases of the solution. However, the price per developer was a major reason we switched from Jira. Apart from the complexity and the support, the price was a major reason that a team of 20 people unanimously decided that we would prefer to go with Micro Focus ALM Octane rather than Jira. The senior management had seen some benefit in it and they preferred it over Jira because the per developer cost was less and the support was superior."

"Going forward, I think we will want to explore adding more licenses."

"The cost of this product is very high."

"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. The product is neither cheap nor expensive."

More OpenText ALM Octane pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

27%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Financial Services Firm

27%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Jama Connect?

I like Jama Connect because it's easy to use and understand. The widgets are great, and linking is straightforward. The solution is not complex compared to its competitors.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Jama Connect?

There are delays sometimes from the Jama Connect team in resolving issues. It's important to maintain and educate customers about the solutions they have.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Jama Connect?

Jama Connect is used to integrate solutions such as the Google App Store and Microsoft Azure. It provides single identity provider access, enabling Gmail access or Google access for users.

See all answers

Is Jira better or would you go with Micro Focus ALM Octane?

Hi Netanya, Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below data may be relevant to you for identifying your needs and deciding on the approp...

See all answers

What do you like most about Micro Focus ALM Octane?

The platform's most valuable feature is pipeline integration or continuous integration services.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus ALM Octane?

The tool's price is extremely high. When I was using Micro Focus, there were ten licenses, costing around 1,38,000, which was outrageous.

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DOORS vs Jama Connect

Compared 35% of the time

Polarion Requirements vs Jama Connect

Compared 17% of the time

Jira vs Jama Connect

Compared 12% of the time

IBM DOORS Next vs Jama Connect

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Jama Connect

Compared 9% of the time

More Jama Connect Competitors

Jira vs OpenText ALM Octane

Compared 52% of the time

OpenText ALM / Quality Center vs OpenText ALM Octane

Compared 28% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs OpenText ALM Octane

Compared 11% of the time

TFS vs OpenText ALM Octane

Compared 3% of the time

Rally Software vs OpenText ALM Octane

Compared 2% of the time

More OpenText ALM Octane Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Jama Connect

January 2025

Download Jama Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText ALM Octane

January 2025

Download OpenText ALM Octane product report

Also Known As

No data available

Micro Focus ALM Octane, Micro Focus Octane

Learn More

Jama

OpenText

Overview

Jama Connect is a software platform designed for requirements management, risk management, and testing in product development processes. It allows teams to collaboratively define, track, and manage requirements throughout the entire product lifecycle. Jama Connect enables organizations to improve communication, increase efficiency, and ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations.

Jama Connect Features:

Requirements Management: Jama Connect allows you to capture, organize, and trace requirements, ensuring alignment across teams and stakeholders.
Collaboration and Communication: The platform facilitates collaboration and communication among team members, enabling real-time feedback, discussions, and decision-making.
Test Management: Jama Connect supports test case management, test execution tracking, and defect management, helping ensure comprehensive testing and quality assurance.
Risk Management: You can identify, assess, and mitigate risks using Jama Connect's risk management capabilities, promoting proactive risk management throughout the product development lifecycle.
Traceability and Impact Analysis: The platform provides traceability matrices and impact analysis tools, allowing you to understand the relationships between requirements, tests, and other artifacts.
Compliance and Audit Support: Jama Connect helps organizations maintain compliance with industry standards and regulations by providing audit trails, documentation, and version control.

Jama Connect Benefits:

Improved Requirement Collaboration: Jama Connect enhances collaboration among stakeholders, including product managers, engineers, testers, and customers, leading to better alignment and understanding of requirements.
Enhanced Efficiency: The platform streamlines and automates various aspects of requirements management, reducing manual effort and improving efficiency in the product development process.
Increased Product Quality: By ensuring clear and traceable requirements, facilitating comprehensive testing, and proactive risk management, Jama Connect helps improve product quality and reliability.
Accelerated Time-to-Market: Efficient requirements management and streamlined collaboration enable faster development cycles and reduced time-to-market for products and solutions.
Regulatory Compliance: Jama Connect's features and capabilities support compliance with industry standards and regulations, helping organizations meet regulatory requirements.
Greater Visibility and Transparency: The platform provides real-time visibility into project progress, status, and potential issues, fostering transparency and enabling informed decision-making.

Reviews from Real Users

Project Management Director, Technology at a real estate company, says that "Jama Connect is a good tool for the entire software development cycle."

Lasse Mikkonen, Principal Consultant at Contribyte, states that Jama Connect “Offers great templates and predefined settings and it has a very good inbuilt test management module”.

Senior Program Manager Software at a manufacturing company, comments on Jama support, “I think the collaboration with Jama is pretty good, and they listen to us and do a lot of customizations for us to make it work better. Hopefully, it would have been the same with any other company. However, Jama provides essentially 24-hour support.”

OpenText ALM Octane helps organizations implement a “quality everywhere” approach and improve Agile and DevOps development and testing processes to improve the flow of work across the software delivery value stream. You can tightly align quality efforts from development to release, employ a broad range of tests anchored by automation, and continuously monitor and improve for increased throughput. OpenText fosters an open approach so that quality is visible, traceable, and continuously improved. By synchronizing quality and testing with Agile and DevOps processes, risks are mitigated early in the software delivery value stream – speeding the way for faster delivery and improved customer satisfaction.

ALM Octane facilitates a tailored and scalable approach for large enterprises. You can deploy your way and minimize infrastructure needs with deployment options spanning on-premises, SaaS, and public cloud (Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure Marketplaces). Similarly, various licensing options can tailor the features to meet specific needs with support for thousands of concurrent users in geographically disperse locations.

Sample Customers

Deloitte, SpaceX, Omnigon, Delft University

Orange, Airbus, Haufe Group, Kellogg's, Claro, Bon Secours, World Wide Technology

Buyer's Guide

Jama Connect vs. OpenText ALM Octane

January 2025

Free Report: Jama Connect vs. OpenText ALM Octane

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