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IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs OpenText AccuRev comparison

IBM and OpenText are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.8, while OpenText is ranked #23. IBM holds a 3.3% mindshare in ALM, compared to OpenText’s 0.1% mindshare. Additionally, 76% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of OpenText users who would recommend it.
IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...
Read 19 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews
  • 1,404 Views
  • 991 Comparison Views
76% willing to recommend
OpenText AccuRev
Read 8 OpenText AccuRev reviews
  • 207 Views
  • 57 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 30, 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management and OpenText AccuRev compete in software development lifecycle management. IBM ELM appears to have an upper hand in comprehensive lifecycle coverage, while OpenText AccuRev excels in version control and workflow streamlining.

Features: IBM ELM provides robust integration capabilities, supports project tracking, and automates the lifecycle end-to-end, seamlessly incorporating quality and requirements management. OpenText AccuRev's strength lies in its stream-based architecture, advanced branching capabilities, and efficient build automation, enhancing team collaboration and reducing integration conflicts.

Room for Improvement: IBM ELM could benefit from a simpler deployment process, enhancing user onboarding and reducing the time to initial beneficial use. Automated conflict resolution and streamlined customization could enhance its utility further. OpenText AccuRev might improve scalability to address the needs of larger environments, enrich customer support to match higher service tiers, and extend beyond its current specialization to offer more comprehensive life cycle management features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ELM's deployment is extensive, needing significant setup but is supported by an extensive network facilitating transitions. OpenText AccuRev offers a straightforward deployment process, allowing rapid initial setup, but its customer support is less comprehensive compared to IBM ELM.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ELM may incur higher initial setup costs due to its wide-ranging capabilities, potentially delaying ROI, but its extensive feature set justifies the cost for larger organizations. OpenText AccuRev offers lower setup costs, providing quicker ROI focused on version control but may not effectively scale in complex environments.

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Buyer's Guide
IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev
April 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
13th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpenText AccuRev
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
23rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.3%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText AccuRev is 0.1%, down from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

Juergen Albrecht - PeerSpot reviewer
Combining tools for effective data analysis while customization and integration need improvement
The most valuable feature is how IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) ( /products/ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-elm-reviews ) allows me to present to the customer what the actual software, even hardware, will do. It helps them gain an impression of the complexity of the functionality and find an easier way to decide whether to implement it. A picture says more than one thousand words, which is why I work with the combination of ELM and the specification of DOORS. The automation capabilities I built use column-based scripts for analysis to search, fetch, and transfer information. When I open modules, it automatically analyzes the changes since the last opening by me.
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Sameh-Hablas - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps us with our compliance goals, native quality management systems and with the legacy systems in our organization
To improve the product, it needs some enhancement to the application's interface to be more user-friendly. The product has all the features that we need and we can depend upon it. My issue with the product is that it is not easy to use without a guide or a proper manual. That is my point. It is not very friendly to use. For example, we may need the application to be more friendly in other sorts of ways. If we have an integrated module that allows access to the features we want through one click, you do not need to make it two or three clicks on the screen. The interface can be better designed to easily provide access to the features you need. The feature I would like to see in the next release is just for it to be more friendly to use and to be like a smart application that intuits your movement through the application. It needs to be something that works smoothly and intelligent without any complicated navigation of screens.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It's easy to use."
"The word emulation and importing is good."
"The most valuable feature is how IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) allows me to present to the customer what the actual software, even hardware, will do."
"The planning feature is rich with Scrum concepts: Sprint, Sprint retrospective, the rules in the Scrum framework."
"I would rate the stability of this product a nine out of ten."
"The cataloging is a very valuable feature. For a lot of enterprises, they end up not knowing which applications do specific features. The cataloging helps with this. It's not that verbose, but it still gives you allowances to put in more detail."
"IBM Rational ALM is a very good tool. I like the management and traceability features and the test management tool. The latter is not linked with the stories and fixed management. It is really useful, and we can create test plans. We can also test some metrics related to QA."
"You can customize the board according to your needs."
More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros
"The product has all the features that we for application managementat a lower cost."
"The solution is 100% scalable. It's much more scalable than the customer's capacity for implementing it. We do plan to increase usage ourselves."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is taking snapshots while doing the execution of the test cases."
"The most valuable feature is the Business Process Testing feature, BPT, because it brings in the most revenue."
 

Cons

"The stability of this solution can be improved."
"I think nowadays people are getting into Jira and other tools. What is happening is, this solution is becoming more traditional, whereas Jira and other tools are more attractive for the new users to learn and start using because of the graphical interfaces."
"The solution can improve in the development area and the customized applications."
"The reporting functionality needs to be improved."
"Of course it would be related to customer experience. The solution is not user friendly at all. It needs an expert to use it, although the reporting feature was okay."
"IBM Rational ALM should remove the features not used by the customers and keep this product as lightweight as possible."
"The product must be more user-friendly."
"One of the complaints from users is that they have to click buttons too many times for just a simple task. Changing this would lead to a better user experience."
More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons
"What I'm missing from the solution is a repository for the code. Something like Git, for example. Some sort of depository for the code that is embedded."
"It is difficult to gain experience with the product because resources and documentation for learning are not available."
"In the next release, I would like to have a repository for the code which is embedded. Apart from that, it has everything I need."
"The pricing should be more competitive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product is a little expensive and we had to pay extra to have them set it up for us."
"The solution is not cheap."
"IBM Rational ALM has both monthly and yearly licensing options."
"We have a contract, but I am not aware of the details."
"The price of the solution could be reduced. Many of our customers are not using all the features and this could be why our clients feel the price is too high."
"It is a lower cost than other top competetors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
26%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
Transportation Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Rational ALM?
The solution is customizable.
See all answers
What needs improvement with IBM Rational ALM?
The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex. For business users with no experience in IT, it can be particularly challenging to understand the UI and create test cas...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?
We use IBM Rational ALM as part of our overall application suite for our manufacturing company. It is used by our engineering team to capture requirements, perform testing, and manage defects. Spec...
See all answers
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Comparisons

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Compared 19% of the time
Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Logo
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Compared 11% of the time
PTC Integrity vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Logo
PTC Integrity vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)
Compared 10% of the time
More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Competitors
No data available
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)
April 2025
IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reportDownload IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report
Buyer's Guide
OpenText AccuRev
April 2025
OpenText AccuRev reportDownload OpenText AccuRev product report
 

Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS
Micro Focus AccuRev, AccuRev
 

Overview

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management stands out for its robust Agile Scrum planning, lifecycle traceability, and tool management, offering cloud-based configurability and strong collaboration features.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management provides rich capabilities for Agile project management, facilitating requirements and test management, configuration management, and version control. Its integration with IBM Doors supports comprehensive requirements handling, and the cloud-based platform enhances collaborative efficiency across teams. Despite needing advances in user-friendliness and reporting, ELM's global configuration and compliance features make it invaluable in demanding environments.

What are the key features of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management?
  • Scrum-based planning: Supports Agile methodologies with rich planning tools.
  • Lifecycle traceability: Offers complete traceability across development stages.
  • Customizable workflows: Adaptable workflows with Kanban for flexibility.
  • Git integration: Supports efficient version control and collaboration.
  • Global Configuration: Manages complex configurations globally.
  • Compliance and reporting: Ensures robust auditing and comprehensive reporting capabilities.
What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?
  • Collaboration: Enhanced sharing across platforms for seamless teamwork.
  • Cost-effectiveness: Delivers efficient tools that optimize project spend.
  • Comprehensive requirement handling: Facilitates detailed requirement management through IBM Doors integration.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management is vital in sectors like automotive and manufacturing, where it implements Agile frameworks to manage requirements, conduct testing, and handle defects. It integrates into development pipelines ensuring live traceability and visibility, supporting critical engineering processes efficiently.

IBM

Get the governance and compliance capabilities you need to manage complexity. OpenText AccuRev helps you implement modern development practices at enterprise scale.

OpenText
 

Sample Customers

Tennis Australia, WeCloud AB, Port Otago Limited, Logicalis US, Valmer, The Chevrolet Volt, Ashurst
Akcelerant, SDL, CSG, Avid Technology Inc., Azimuth Systems Inc, Drivecam, Endgame, f5 Networks, Follett Software, Hyland Software, Indanet, Kronos, McAfee
Buyer's Guide
IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev
April 2025
Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
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We monitor all Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.