INTEGRATION OF PERFORCE SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SCM) WITH KOVAIR GLOBAL LIFECYCLE

Introduction
SCM tool is one of the most widely used and indispensable tools in a software development organization of any size. However, for a complete Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), SCM is just one of many such tools critical for success. Kovair Global Lifecycle offers a number of such critical built-in ALM applications including Requirements Management, Test Management, Change Management, Issues Management, and Release Management. Integration of a SCM tool with Kovair Global Lifecycle therefore provides an unprecedented ecosystem for a development organization. Perforce is one of the leading SCM tools known for its performance and flexibility. This paper describes the details of the integration between Perforce and Kovair and the benefits the Perforce users and the whole development group get out of this integration. The users of other SCM tools can expect a similar set of benefits from the integration of the particular SCM tool with Kovair Global Lifecycle. Kovair has created the Perforce adapter using its industry leading Omnibus Integration Bus technology. Omnibus ensures a vendor neutral ALM Platform. Significant features of Kovair Omnibus Technology are Bus Architecture, Web Service standards (using SOAP protocol), and toolspecific API. So, any third party tool can be integrated with Kovair Global Lifecycle, by creating an adapter.

Kovair Global Lifecycle is a webbased Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Tool with single repository. It is the flagship product of Kovair Software Inc. The application is enriched with wide array of industry leading features. Major Components are Kovair Lifecycle Application, Process Automation Technology, and Kovair Omnibus Technology

Kovair Integration with Perforce

The integration has been achieved by creating an Omnibus Adapter specific to Perforce SCM. The adapter maintains two way communications of data between Kovair Global Lifecycle and Perforce SCM. The adapter is a lightweight interface expositing the internal data schema of Perforce. There is no hardcoded business logic in the adapter. This makes the same adapter highly adaptable to various business needs for different organizations. The business rules are defined using the Kovair Service Flow user interface and does not need any coding. The beauty of separating out the data layer (adapter) and the business rule layer (Service Flow) is that the end users e.g. business analysts or the development managers can define and redefine business rules without changing the adapter. The business rules for the transmission of data across the tools are
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Macro Level Benefits

Customizable Service Flow Real Time Communication Total Visibility Forward and Backward Traceability Streamlined Process Quality Improvements

defined by the Service Flow. It is the conditional logic of how tools will behave on real-time events. Service Flows are fully customizable, according to business needs, and it does not require writing a single line of code. As and when an event matches with a Service Flow trigger, data gets replicated from Kovair to Perforce or vice versa. Kovairs Omnibus Integration technology can be used with synchronization or two-way replication between Kovair and Perforce SCM. For example, by synchronization the Changelists in Perforce can be synchronized with the Changelists in Kovair - which means a Changelist added or edited in Kovair is replicate in Perforce SCM and vice versa. However, for all items, synchronization is not desirable, especially if the data content is too big in size. Hence, for the source files in Perforce SCM, a different strategy is used. Only the information about the files and Not the file content is replicated in Kovair. When the content is needed Omnibus requests Perforce to get the actual content of the particular file on-demand. This method allows the actual data to remain in Perforce SCMs repository and fetched only when needed. This method is called Federation.

Role in IT Management Practices

Involvement of many tools from different vendors in operations and services is a common scenario of todays Software Development environment. As a result, demand for an integrated framework is growing. Kovair integration with Perforce SCM is an aid for development management practices for Configuration Management, Release Management, and Test Management. It is a framework that can accommodate multiple tools, and synchronize them with different ALM activities. Configuration Management: For the Configuration Manager it is often a critical task to trace out right source codes for a Requirement, Change Request or a Defect. With the integrated framework of Kovair Global Lifecycle, and Perforce SCM, it becomes easy to track source codes for each item. The Managers do not need to switch between the tools. Using the traceability feature, Configuration Manager can easily identify appropriate source codes, linked with Requirements/Change Requests, which are considered for a Configuration. From Kovair Global Lifecycle, they can view a complete history of source codes, and verify the changes made by Developers. The Configuration Manager can answer the question very easily what source code files are changed by implementing/ fixing this requirement/ change request/ bug? Release Management: Organizing a Release Package or a Build requires detail identifications of source codes. Release Managers can find Kovairs Traceability feature useful for building a Release Package. For each Requirement/Change Request, linked source codes get federated in Kovair from Perforce. The Release manager can answer What requirement/ change request/ bug are implemented/ fixed in this
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What Kovair assures:

Traceability of ALM Items with their source code files: Kovair ensures Forward and Backward Traceability of ALM items. From Kovair, you can easily trace the source code files for any Requirement / Change Request / Defect. Visibility of Perforce Items: Kovair ensures complete Visibility of Perforce items. From Kovair, you can view Perforce items Jobs, Changelists, Files, Versions, and changes done in codes. Synchronization of ALM Processes with Perforce events/activities: Kovair Omniprocess Technology ensures the synchronization of Perforce related useractivities with Requirement Management / Release Management / Test Management process

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Release? Test Management: The integration of Kovair Global Lifecycle and Perforce SCM has significant value in Software Test Management. Modifications in source codes are done during defect tracking and resolution stage. The integrated platform ensures that Developers can easily trace the appropriate source codes for code level modifications, and Test Manager can verify that a right source code is modified for a defect. The QA Manager can also answer the question Do we have test cases to test these source codes and if so what are the status of these tests so far?

(defined in Kovair).

Value Additions in Business Process

Strict Process Enforcement: Manual enforcement of a process and disrupted workflow across the tools pose significant challenges in multi-tool development environment. The integration of Kovair with Perforce SCM is able to enforce strict process in application development using Kovairs Omniprocess Technology. The integration ensures Perforce items (Job, Changelist, and File) to get replicated automatically in Kovair, and Kovair items (Requirements, Change Request, Defect) in Perforce. In addition, cross-tool synchronization of events can be implemented through Kovairs built-in Process Engine. By virtue of Kovairs Omniprocess Technology, Creating a Job/Changelist or Modifying Source Code in Perforce can be synchronized with events/useractivities of Kovair. Quality Improvement: The quality of development process gets affected due to several factors including inefficient Issue/Defect Resolution approach, or inappropriate source code in Release Package. Selection of right source codes for the selected Requirements and Issues is quite significant in this regard. In Perforce SCM, it is hard to trace appropriate source code for an Issue or Requirement manually unless there are automated ways for source code to trace back to an Issue or a Requirement. Kovairs inbuilt Traceability feature is an aid for identifying the right source code for an Issue or Requirement. It ensures accuracy in source code selection, and reduces time and human effort of implementation and release processes. Total Visibility: The integration of Kovair and Perforce ensures cross-tool replication of data in real-time. The replicated data get visible through Kovairs common interface from different geographical locations. The replicated items of Perforce (Changelist and Job) can be used with Kovair items (Requirements, Change Request, and Issue) to generate graphical and tabular reports.
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Highlighted Value Additions

Automated data replication across integrated tools to eliminate expensive manual processes and human errors. Creating and managing business rules by the end users rather than developers. Immediate visibility across groups, management levels and geographies. User preferred tool environment for individual functions but in a totally integrated environment.

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Complete Traceability: Forward and backward Traceability is an effective feature of Kovair Global Lifecycle that provides total visibility of development lifecycle at any point of time. From an Issue/Defect, using the backward traceability, linked Requirement can be identified. Similarly, by virtue of forward traceability source codes (federated from Perforce) link with an Issue/Defect can be traced.

Two-way Communications

Frequently Asked Questions

As a Project Manager how do I figure out which source code files got added/ modified to implement a Customer Requirement or to fix a Bug? The integration setup of Kovair and Perforce SCM, and Kovairs built-in Traceability feature, together ensure easy access of source code files for Customer Requirement or Bug. By virtue of Omnibus Technology, whenever a source code file gets added/modified in Perforce repository (known as Depot), it automatically gets federated in Kovair. Also, the linkage between

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Requirement/Bug and the federated file is automatically setup in Kovair. So, from the Traceability page of a Requirement/Bug, a Project Manager can view associated source codes. How do I enforce/automate source code Review and Approval processes? You can enforce/automate source code review/approval process in the integration environment of Kovair Global Lifecycle, and Perforce SCM. Kovairs built-in Process Engine Omniprocess enables you to design any complex process for Perforce items (Job, Changelist, and File), which get replicated in Kovair. For example, against File check in activity in Perforce, you can implement source code Review and Approval process in Kovair. In the process you can involve users of different Roles (e.g. Project Manager, Developer, Testers, and Test Manager) and assign them to appropriate process activities. You can also implement processes for activities like Changelist Creation, Changelist Submission. How to create an integrated environment for Change Management and Configuration Management? The integration setup of Kovair and Perforce SCM ensures a common platform for Configuration Management and Change Management. For each Change Request, Developers can figure out the Development Package, and using Kovairs Traceability, existing source codes can be traced. Whenever any source code is added/modified and submitted in Perforce SCM by a Developer, the information about the file (including its version) gets federated in Kovair through Omnibus under the same Development Package. Members of Change Approval Board (CAB) / Change Review Board (CRB), using Kovairs Traceability can find out the federated source codes for a Change Request. They can view all versions of source code, changes in source code, and other file history details. How to create an integrated environment for Build/Release Management and Configuration Management? The integration setup of Kovair and Perforce SCM provides a common platform for Configuration Management and Build/Release Management. For each Release/Build, the Release Manager can figure out appropriate Development Package, and from there using Kovairs Traceability, existing source codes can be traced. Whenever any source code is added/modified and submitted in Perforce SCM by a Developer, that file gets federated in Kovair through Omnibus under the same Development Package. Release Manager can view the latest version of all federated source code files and can prepare the Build/Release Package. How to enforce compliance processes in SCM? The integrated platform of Kovair Global Lifecycle and Perforce SCM allows you to implement process oriented SCM solutions. With Kovairs built-in features like Process Automation, Traceability, Visibility, Consolidated Reporting, and Omnibus Technology, the Software Configuration Management solutions can be configured compliant to CMMi, and Sarbanes-Oxley framework. How to pinpoint source code quality problems? Using the integration with Perforce SCM, supported by Kovairs built-in Traceability feature, it is possible to figure out the source code files, which are generating maximum Defects. Figuring out the right source codes is possible with minimum human effort, and in an optimized timeframe, which is a plus for any quality enhancement process. How to do Root-Cause Analysis?

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Unless you establish proper linkages among ALM items (e.g., Requirement, Change Request, Use Case, Test Case, Defects, and Release) and source codes, it is hard to perform RootCause Analysis. Source codes are federated from Perforce to Kovair, and linked with a Defect using Kovairs Omnibus. The integration setup of Kovair and Perforce SCM ensures quick identification of source codes (as root). By virtue of Kovairs Traceability, you can trace out the codes following the path, say Requirement Use Case Test Case Defect Source Codes. How to estimate change impact for any modification in source code files? Implementation of one Requirement might be spread over multiple source code files, similarly one source code file might be linked with multiple Requirements. In the integration setup, source code files get federated from Perforce to Kovair. In addition, links get established among source codes and Requirements. By means of Kovairs built-in Traceability you can estimate change impact of a source code (when linked with too many requirements) or Requirement (when linked with too many source codes). How to ensure change propagation through source code files by impacting linked files? In Configuration Management, modification in source code and/or Requirement is a common occurrence. The integration ensures automated replication of modified source codes for Requirements. So, using the forward and backward traceability you can identify what are the Requirements to be modified due to any change in source code or what are the source codes that need to be modified due to any change in a Requirement. Notes: Kovair has the Perforce Adapter available off the shelf for those who wish to consider integration between Perforce and Kovair Global Lifecycle product. Kovair is a full fledged ALM Partner of Perforce as indicated on the Perforce Corporate website www.Perforce.com.

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