IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation Reviews

IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation is a web-based tool, based on relational databases such as BP2 or MSS cloud, so it's a different approach to work with it, to work over the web. We have all functionality over the web. There's no decline for it, so it's a completely remote working tool.

We have the data on the server with a sizable use case. Now at 47 under two, it is getting better.

IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation is easier to expand to build a backend with several servers, so you can also use it to scale up to several hundreds of users without major problems.

This solution is currently having some performance issues because they changed the data storage in the back between version 6 and version 7, so it needs some performance improvement.

The data storage is the relational database in the background, and it has changed and needs performance improvement. Performance is a very big thing that is needed when people are writing requirements. They have to wait too long for the page to return and then they don't like it. They are looking for different ways to do and complete their work. Good performance is very essential in this tool, same for DOORS Classic.

There is also a lot of possibilities to improve reporting.

I've been using this solution for six years.

This solution runs normally and is very stable. It's more in the integration with the asset tools in the Jazz platform that there can be some instability when linking different tools in the Jazz platform. If you only use this solution without integration tools, then it's quite stable.

This solution is easy to expand to different servers. It's easy to split the user load among different servers, so scalability is good.

I have experience with IBM support, working with different people as this is a different technology, but they're very good, and the help I get from them most of the time is very quick. I'm really satisfied with IBM's support on this solution.

Setting up IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation is complex. You have to set up a Jazz Team Server and you have to set up the database. Depending on which tools you use, which database, which operating system: if it's Windows or Linux, etc., it sometimes requires complicated activities to install. Depending on what you install on the Jazz platform, you need the Jazz Team Server, so on the cloud, it's not really working. It's good to have a HTTP proxy in between.

It's a little bit difficult to install it. Normally, it takes half a day to complete the installation if it's a very simple installation. If it's a complex installation, it could take two to three days.

IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation is a different approach than IBM Rational DOORS (Classic). It has the name because the plan was for it to take over the customers from DOORS Classic, but as the functionality is different and not the same as what's on DOORS Classic, both of the tools have their place in the market. It's a different kind of work and it's a different kind of functionality behind DOORS Next Generation vs DOORS Classic.

The first contact with this new DOORS solution was in 2008, but I was not working from 2008 until now, because at the beginning it was very cumbersome to work with it and I had more problems with it than the ability to work.

I've been using the latest version: 7.0.2 with the IPIX 8a, which is the latest IPIX of this version.

We have this solution on-premises. I have here some servers where the IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation is installed, then the Jazz platform. We have DOORS Next Generation, then we also have to complete the Jazz platform here, where it is implemented.

My main recommendation to people looking into implementing IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation vs IBM Rational DOORS (Classic) is DOORS Next Generation.

IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation is the future and it has a lot of very nice features in it. If possible, use it, but if you need specific things which you can do only in DOORS (Classic), then use the classic version. Normally, they should aim for DOORS Next Generation, as it is more future-oriented in the setup.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. It is very good, but it is not perfect, so not a ten. It is better than DOORS Classic because I know of a lot of problems when working with the Classic version for 20 years. There are all these different things that can go wrong with DOORS Classic.