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Pros & Cons summary

Buyer's Guide

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM DOORS offers robust traceability, allowing users to track requirements across different levels and project stages.
It is highly customizable and scalable, enabling users to tailor it to their specific needs and projects.
IBM DOORS enhances project management through its unique ability to manage and verify complex requirement linkages across modules.
The platform provides excellent data logging capabilities, effectively tracking changes and supporting comprehensive compliance reporting.
With its refined ASPICE template, IBM DOORS significantly aids certification processes and requirement management efficiency, leading to a notable ROI.

CONS

Improvement is needed in agile management, specifically the Scrum/Kanban Board for better collaboration with overseas team members.
Communication issues exist between IBM DOORS and Microsoft Office, making import and export processes unnecessarily difficult.
Complexity in managing the software, particularly with the integration of external data, leads to unexpected crashes and unclear logs.
The search functionality is inadequate for databases exceeding 25,000 records, complicating global product analysis.
Enhancements are needed in security measures, especially when handling multiple projects simultaneously to prevent data loss.
 

IBM DOORS Pros review quotes

it_user832800 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineering Consulting Service with 1-10 employees
Mar 9, 2018
Traceability on requirements for a huge project in an organization is a big gain.
TeamLeadda27 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead SAP ERP at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Oct 29, 2018
It has the features of: traceability, configuration management, and user access.
Christian Wilmers - PeerSpot reviewer
Process Method and Tool Developer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Jun 3, 2019
The most valuable feature for me is the ability to enter data into one table, or context, and link it across modules.
Learn what your peers think about IBM DOORS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,425 professionals have used our research since 2012.
BP
DOORS Expert at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Sep 23, 2019
The solution is stable.
GR
Corporate Engineering at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Nov 20, 2019
The program is very stable.
Juergen Albrecht - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at CCC Systems Engineering Suisse GmbH
Dec 24, 2025
I really like the customization that can be done using the DOORS Extension Language (DXL).
Juergen Albrecht - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at CCC Systems Engineering Suisse GmbH
Jun 8, 2023
This product can help improve how your organization proceeds through solution development.
reviewer1150074 - PeerSpot reviewer
General Manager & Founder/consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Feb 9, 2020
It is very customizable and easy to scale.
it_user1298796 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Innovation & Design Engineering Ltd
Mar 3, 2020
The most valuable feature is the management verification and login.
reviewer1401858 - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Aug 13, 2020
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.
 

IBM DOORS Cons review quotes

it_user832800 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineering Consulting Service with 1-10 employees
Mar 9, 2018
I would like to see them improve in agile management the Scrum/Kanban Board to work with overseas team members.
TeamLeadda27 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead SAP ERP at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Oct 29, 2018
It used to be very clunky.
Christian Wilmers - PeerSpot reviewer
Process Method and Tool Developer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Jun 3, 2019
It would have been ok ten years ago, but we are used to having better tools now.
Learn what your peers think about IBM DOORS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,425 professionals have used our research since 2012.
BP
DOORS Expert at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Sep 23, 2019
It's difficult to set the code on the solution.
GR
Corporate Engineering at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Nov 20, 2019
The kind of dashboard is not very convenient.
Juergen Albrecht - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at CCC Systems Engineering Suisse GmbH
Dec 24, 2025
There are problems with communicating between DOORS and Microsoft Office.
Juergen Albrecht - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at CCC Systems Engineering Suisse GmbH
Jun 8, 2023
IBM should integrate some solutions they already own toenhance the utility of the product further. Specifically import and export to Office products is more difficult than it needs to be.
reviewer1150074 - PeerSpot reviewer
General Manager & Founder/consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Feb 9, 2020
The interface is not very user-friendly and has not evolved in a long time.
it_user1298796 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Innovation & Design Engineering Ltd
Mar 3, 2020
The problem is that because the GUI is so bad, you either have to spend a lot of money customizing the interface yourself, or a lot of money on training.
reviewer1401858 - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Aug 13, 2020
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.