TraceCloud

Kommentare: Traceability is the primary value from this software (among standards, user needs, requirements, risk controls, interface control documents, test protocols). Previously performed all tracing via Word and Excel tables which is very labor intensive, fragile and error prone.

Vorteile: The feature for connecting projects (=user defined database areas) facilitates organizing data in logical, manageable groups with appropriate user permissions. Even though separate areas still achieve full traceability between related requirements. Customizable attributes and folder views allows tailoring to suit our needs. Can merge database output with a Word document template when exporting data. This allows for database output directly into Word doc with custom company header and footer. Trial license allowed me to explore and become comfortable with tool before purchase. At point of purchase I was confident it would do the job. The interactive Trace Map view of trace relationships is very nice. You can follow it down a path and expand/contract the information as needed. Plus you can click on any requirement in the Trace Map and go directly to that requirement detail in the database. Exceptionally fast response from support team on questions. Often get a response within a few minutes.

Nachteile: User interface is not as polished or intuitive as some other requirements management tools that I've previously used. However, once you explore the tool and understand how it is organized and the functions, then not an issue. I think it helped to have used other relational databases before using TraceCloud. For example, nearly all filtering and selection of data is done via the "Report" function which essentially means via database queries, rather than vi a more interactive user interface. The reports can be saved and run again later, which is good. The on-line documentation and 'how to' videos do not match the current user interface. All the features and functions are there but are presented in the User Interface differently than in the documentation. Word template feature doesn't support .docx formats, so you have to remember to create Word templates as .doc (Word 97-2003 files).

Kommentare: Lined up understanding and focus of the team working on the project.

Vorteile: By structured approach keeps team on focused development path. This is the biggest strength. Allows to avoid misundestandings and serves a common discussion / collaborations online platform for dynamic team. Linking with other systems (such ticketing system) is great. Helps relate the requirements to actual development work. Also helps to have a messy discussion away from the requirements, yet still accessible if needed.
Exporting, cloning, children, importing of requirements is great. Keep things lined up in solid tree / folder structure which can be customized to what is needed. The tree structure (folders) can be called to match the business nomenclature which was helpful for us. Filters and reports are great help to manage the project, gives instantaneous snapshot of requirements progress.

Nachteile: The editor is not that intuitive, but has many great features to manage requirements like cloning and children.

Kommentare: TraceCloud has been overall a great tool for implementing practical Systems Engineering practices into the transit infrastructure industry which has not traditionally accepted practices such as requirements verification and validation, and interface management. The customer support has been very helpful as well, and we look forward to expanding this SW across our company's infrastructure business line.

Vorteile: TraceCloud enables civil engineering users without any SW development experience to easily develop a custom online environment. TraceCloud's flexibility (and customer support) is also extremely helpful for projects that span multiple years, transition through various phases and experience large volumes of user turnover.

Nachteile: The layouts could be optimized to reduce white space and condense information. SW developed for a web browser should be better customized to maximize usable space and adjust for various browser window configurations (half screen, full screen, etc.)

Kommentare: TraceCloud looks and feels like a product that is early in it development. It has a good core and the customer support is very responsive. The interface is mostly intuitive with a few features in places where you might not expect them. Once found through, they work work as expected.

Vorteile: Very flexible. Allows you to transition from a paper system to a true trace application without leaving your legacy methods behind. We were able to upload our Word and Excel document into tracecloud and create templates that draw the information from tracecloud in a format that is familiar to our users. This allows us to transition the organization in steps which has resulted in a higher acceptance rate.
Also like the ability to do group changes (rather than individual changes to each requirement). This makes updates much easier.

Nachteile: Some quirks in importing and exporting Word and Excel files. Tracecloud has been responsive in addressing these quirks.

Kommentare: It was chosen for our team, so we use it. It gets the job done with respect to satisfying audit requirements, but the relative "pain" for the casual user means that we don't take as much advantage as we probably could.

Vorteile: Good for creating an auditable set of linkages from "customer story" through requirements to test artifacts.

Nachteile: Blows it on simple things.
Every time I get logged out due to inactivity, the web client goes to a dead "Confirm form resubmission" page which doesn't actually work if you refresh. I have to manually reset the URL back to tracecloud.com or the login page. After login, I have to manually navigate back to the project I was using.
Creating test records or other artifacts not always intuitive to the casual user.