ALM and Tooling

Critical software, including embedded systems, must be properly designed, developed and verified to help achieve compliance with industry standards and regulations.

At UL Solutions, we understand that compliance is required to maintain market access and help demonstrate safety, reliability and performance, but we also know it helps build confidence with your customers. However, understanding how a software application is developed and tested, identifying potential problems, and tracking the application throughout its lifecycle often proves challenging.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) enables you to answer key questions and overcome obstacles across the lifecycle of your software product, from design and customer requirements to regular maintenance and sunsetting.

Similarly, continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines support maximum repeatability and automation as software releases are built, integrated, tested and deployed. Both processes bring greater control to the creation and management of critical software.

Consistent and efficient software management

Software assets such as requirements, stories, designs, code and test cases, along with the bi-directional traceability between them, must be consistently and efficiently maintained. While product lifecycle management (PLM) covers the design, production and sale of physical products that may contain software components, ALM systems focus entirely on the software itself and work in conjunction with PLM to bring efficiency to the larger development process. The software development lifecycle (SDLC) remains an important aspect of ALM dedicated to the details of application development, and an ALM system may contain multiple SDLCs.

Without systems in place, software development can be fragmented as different areas work independently toward a common goal. This approach may introduce inconsistencies that can hinder the performance of your software and lead to potential delays or increased costs. ALM, sometimes referred to as “integrated application lifecycle management,” fosters collaboration between roles for the duration of the application lifecycle.

A CI/CD pipeline complements ALM by easing the burden placed on DevOps. While ALM covers everything from planning through post release monitoring to address the full lifecycle of the application, CI/CD addresses the write, test and release stages of coding.

An effective pipeline brings automation to many of the manual processes at this stage, allowing developers to edit code that will be tested and pushed out automatically. This can free your resources and enable your teams to create new features and address additional fixes in less time.

Selecting an appropriate ALM or CI/CD pipeline for your existing processes and organizational structure is essential for long-term success. The software tool chain must support your business while also supporting standards-compliant development. UL Solutions systems and software engineering expertise help support you in the selection and implementation of a system that will meet the unique needs of your organization and products.

Understanding how ALM tools can help

There are many vendors offering countless tools that promise to enable ALM and CI/CD, but there is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution. Before identifying the tools that will help you achieve your goals, it is essential to identify what you need to accomplish.

ALM tools for project and requirement management

Many ALM tools provide a central repository for information and updates related to the software application. A single source of truth for project management allows all areas to update information as needed and maintain timelines. Additionally, all user requirements can be compiled.

ALM tools for process automation

Automating processes allows you to increase efficiency and reduce resource burden. A CI/CD pipeline can be part of this solution, and ALM tools may offer additional automation options outside of DevOps, as well.

ALM tools for code management

Multiple code changes occur during the lifecycle of your software product. Some ALM tools can help you track these changes over time and across different developers to prevent duplication and minimize errors.

ALM consultation and support from UL Solutions

UL Solutions helps clarify your needs with a thorough process landscape analysis and offers recommendations for appropriate ALM and CI/CD tools.

This can help you select the most effective tools, providing confidence from the start, and our experts can remain with you throughout piloting and rollout to provide training and coaching. We focus on what can be accomplished by the many tools on the market rather than leaning heavily into a specific vendor or tool. This vendor-agnostic approach enables us to guide you through the process of selecting options that will truly meet your needs.

Planning and implementation of ALM tool adaptions and customizations

Along with clarifying your needs and identifying the right tools, UL Solutions helps you plan for and implement individual tools to support a smooth transition. Our experts will work with your team to help deepen understanding so you feel confident moving forward.

Building a unified tool chain

Individual tools can effectively mitigate individual issues, but a tool chain provides comprehensive support to a software team. We can help ensure the tools you select will work together to create a seamless process. This helps maintain communication and information access for everyone involved in the software lifecycle.

Compliance support for ALM and CI/CD solutions

ALM and CI/CD tools support compliance, but each of these tools must also demonstrate compliance. We can provide gap analysis and other compliance support for systems and tool chains against relevant standards, including Automotive SPICE®, ISO 26262 and IEC 62304.

We work with you to understand your business requirements and objectives and help identify what steps must be taken to address objectives which are not being met.

Holistic support for your software development

With UL Solutions ALM consulting services, you can leverage the experience of our experts. We help you identify the advantages and disadvantages of various tools and provide the hands-on support you need for an effective rollout of your ALM system.

Our vendor-neutral approach allows us to understand your unique situation as a non-biased third party and enables us to help you establish a powerful toolchain built on the most effective tools on the market.