Comprehensive Test Case Management and Automation Tools Today, the most frequent problem faced by software vendors is to accurately test their products and delivering them to their clients on time. Test case automation is a very effective tool to execute tests carefully and efficiently.

Automating metrics and Project Peripiheral Vision By collecting, analyzing and using measurement data, software project managers are more able to have visibility into and control over their projects. Measures and the metrics that can be derived from them allow the managers to determine the status of their programs, track the project's progress against the plan, measure the quality of the product being developed, and become aware of potential problems. Using software project metrics can allow managers to have objective information which helps them make everyday decisions necessary to run their projects. Collecting this data also helps them by providing the basis for possibly improved estimates for future projects.

Balanced Scorecards The strategic management system balances a financial perspective with customer, process, and employee perspectives. Measures predict future performance. It provides feedback around both the internal business processes and external outcomes in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results. When implemented completely, the balanced scorecard transforms strategic planning from an academic exercise into the epicenter of an enterprise

Project collaboration software: For most executives one of the continuous challenges is to keep real communication between teams simple as programs get more complex to control. Recent advances in software used for group collaboration have made managing these projects across time-zones and geographic boundaries possible in a manner that only a few years ago would have been unlikely to succeed. In many ways the progression of office automation and group collaboration software is analogous to the development of CRM systems that brought together sales staff in disparate locations.

Enterprise Risk Management: There are various techniques for risk identification but what they all have in common is making an objective analysis of the situation and trawling for risks based on experience of similar circumstances. Historical records and archiving, collaboration of data and scenario comparisons are the core activities in risk identification which can be supported by enterprise risk management software.

Electronic Requirements Management Systems: The development of software requirements management processes in any organization must take account of the organization’s departments and their responsibilities in the overall program. Modern systems engineering tends to focus on requirements management tools as a means of dealing with the realities of late changes to product specifications throughout the development lifecycle. In recent years there has been a strong trend away from the waterfall model into an iterative approach with baselines and mini releases that add incrementally more functionality while at the same time remaining flexible for agile development.

Project Status Report Software: One of the biggest gains to be realized from collaboration systems is the ability for senior management to develop an extremely accurate and penetrating view of  project status by seeing what is really going on throughout the entire organization. As organizations get flatter, layers of management have been removed and information for each manager about where their program stands has to be collected from more people. This also has a good side in that what is reported has fewer layers of filtering applied to it and in many cases is more accurate.

Best Project Management Software: Studies have shown that up to 80% of a project manager’s work week is consumed by merely collecting project status information rather than interpreting the data and performing information mining to optimize the program. The best project management software offers real time access to project information which is constantly updated by team members without human intervention, and rolls it up in the cost, schedule, risk, resource, procurement, asset, and quality management plans. Data is presented in the form of charts, scorecards and reports to management or in whatever format is requested on a regular or ad-hoc basis.

Electronic Document Management Systems: Document Management systems have been used by corporations for many years and the technology for sharing and reviewing documents is relatively mature. Broadly speaking there are two categories of electronic document management software: product documentation management (PDM) or engineering document management systems(EDM) and document review systems (DRS).

Effective Meeting Management solutions: Meeting minutes and software solutions to keep this information in context is becoming crucial in the drive for corporate efficiency. Ask pretty well any manager about the effectiveness of meetings they attend, and at best they will tell you it is a mixed picture with some more successful than others. More often than not there is considerable frustration at the amount of time they take up and how often material has to repeated in new meetings because people forget or weren't present the last time the subject was discussed.

Keeping the information flowing... For most executives, one of the continuous challenges is to keep real communication between teams simple as programs get more complex to control. Recent advances in software used for group collaboration have made managing these projects across time-zones and geographic boundaries possible in a manner that only a few years ago would have been unlikely to succeed.

The need for managing and automating Test: This whitepaper describes why it is beneficial to invest into test management and automation solutions and characterizes potential solutions.

Criteria for successful management of outsourced development projects: An increasing number of European and North American companies are sending software development work to nearshore (Eastern Europe) or offshore (India, China, etc) suppliers. While this practice allows companies to leverage the incredible talent pool at a lower cost thereby becoming more competitive in their markets, it poses significant challenges in managing the projects