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IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros and cons

Vendor: IBM

3.6 out of 5

19 reviews
76% willing to recommend

1,143 followers

Pros & Cons summary

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) offers robust tools for requirement capture, test plan creation, and QA metrics measurement. With its management, traceability, and planning features incorporating Scrum concepts, ELM enhances collaborative workflow through integration with Git. Customizable boards and CPU usage reporting increase dashboard utility. However, it requires stability improvements and simpler task execution. Users desire more beginner support materials and advanced reporting features to enhance user experience.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) offers rich planning features with Scrum concepts, including Sprint and Sprint retrospective.

Cataloging feature allows enterprises to understand which applications perform specific features effectively.

Integration capabilities, especially with tools like Git, are highly appreciated.

IBM Rational ALM's workflow capabilities enable seamless collaboration and integration between development and production teams.

The transition to a SaaS-based approach is a notable advantage for IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM).

CONS

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management requires better reporting features, especially in tracking work history and providing deeper insights.

There is a lack of beginner support material such as FAQs and simple training resources to assist new users.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management is considered not user-friendly, often requiring expert knowledge to navigate effectively.

Frequent complaints indicate that tasks require too many clicks, suggesting a need for a more efficient workflow.

Improvement is needed in the interconnectivity between packages to resolve major support issues.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Pros review quotes

LG

Lyubomir Gotsev

Consultant at a computer software company with 1-10 employees

Sep 8, 2019

It is relatively easy to use and user-friendly once the setup is complete.

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NK

Quality Assurance at Varroc Lighting System

Oct 1, 2019

At the same time, if you're working from the architect or the designing team you, it's quite easy to manage the resources online.

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Technical Lead at Microgenesis Techsoft Private limited

Oct 3, 2023

I would rate the stability of this product a nine out of ten.

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IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.

849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Juergen Albrecht

Managing Director at CCC Systems Engineering Suisse GmbH

Apr 16, 2025

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.

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reviewer1251984

Tool Manager at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 10, 2022

The integration with Git works well.

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AH

Abdulrazzaq Huneidi

Applications Developer Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 13, 2020

You can customize the board according to your needs.

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reviewer1256694

Technology Architect at Infosys Technologies Ltd

Jan 5, 2020

The most valuable feature is the reporting of the CPU usage on the dashboard.

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Heaad of Automation Devision at Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A.

Oct 23, 2024

The transition to a SaaS-based solution is a distinct advantage.

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reviewer2344761

Product Owner at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

Feb 16, 2024

The solution is customizable.

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AH

Abdulrazzaq Huneidi

Applications Developer Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jun 12, 2018

The planning feature is rich with Scrum concepts: Sprint, Sprint retrospective, the rules in the Scrum framework.

Read full review

Show 9 more reviews (out of 19)

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Cons review quotes

LG

Lyubomir Gotsev

Consultant at a computer software company with 1-10 employees

Sep 8, 2019

There is not enough beginner support material in the form of FAQs or simple training to help you get started.

Read full review

NK

Quality Assurance at Varroc Lighting System

Oct 1, 2019

The directory designer manager is uncivil. The design manager is clearly really unstable.

Read full review

Technical Lead at Microgenesis Techsoft Private limited

Oct 3, 2023

Some improvements to the user interface (UI) would be helpful, such as exposing more services to make it easier to customize to the needs of each customer.

Read full review

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.

849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Juergen Albrecht

Managing Director at CCC Systems Engineering Suisse GmbH

Apr 16, 2025

Improvement is needed in bridging DNG and Rhapsody and vice versa for better data exchange from both sides with some trigger technologies.

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reviewer1251984

Tool Manager at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 10, 2022

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.

Read full review

AH

Abdulrazzaq Huneidi

Applications Developer Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 13, 2020

The reporting functionality needs to be improved.

Read full review

reviewer1256694

Technology Architect at Infosys Technologies Ltd

Jan 5, 2020

The stability of this solution can be improved.

Read full review

Heaad of Automation Devision at Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A.

Oct 23, 2024

The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex.

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reviewer2344761

Product Owner at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

Feb 16, 2024

The GUI is a little bit outdated.

Read full review

AH

Abdulrazzaq Huneidi

Applications Developer Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jun 12, 2018

I would like to see better reporting features. The out-of-box reporting is - I don't want to say limited - but the focus is on the Scrum and Sprint reports. We need more reporting features regarding the history of the work, tracking it more deeply.

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Show 9 more reviews (out of 19)

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