IKAN ALM Technical Sheet

Support for multiple projects

Continuous Integration: temporal scheduling of project builds

Ability to manually initiate a build

Build/rebuild any project version

Build/rebuild on multiple environments

Customizable the build workflow: adapt the flow of sub-processes (Phases) to be executed for a build

Dynamic and secured build parameters which may be edited just before the execution of the build

Configurable VCR tagging: template-based tagging, defined for each Project Stream (with variables such as project name, build number, date/time, branch prefix, suffix, …​). The default (template-based) tagging may also be overwritten at build creation, e.g., to enable applying labels like “RC1” or “BaseLine4.0”

Project dependency:

Incremental build:

Tag-based build: Build based on a specific tag instead of on the latest code

Deployment of successful builds

Temporal scheduling of project deployment

Ability to manually initiate a deployment

Deployment of any Project Version

Deployment on multiple environments, in sequence or in parallel

Customizable Deploy workflow: adapt the flow of sub-processes (Phases) to be executed for a Deploy

Dynamic and secured deploy parameters, may be edited just before the deploy

Partial deploy: deploy only the modified result files comparing to the previous build result

Rebuild of previous builds on other target platform

Deployment of previously executed builds to other target servers

Define process flow: how builds migrate from BUILD to TEST to PRODUCTION environments (called Levels in IKAN ALM language)

Customize the Build and Deploy steps for delivering to a Level

Possibility to define hierarchical approval process after and/or before deployment towards a Level

Possibility to define required notification after and/or before build/deployment towards a Level

Deliver/Redeliver/Rollback functionality of built/deployed software

Freeze functionality blocks the continuous build process or any other new build on the build level

Optional Levels: possibility to skip a Level in a Lifecycle

“Milestone” Levels: levels with no associated environments to support an advanced Approval and Notification process

Define one or more physical environments (Windows, Linux, Mainframe, …​) for each level

Web-based user interface allows configuration of the entire system (no need to manually edit configuration files)

History log of all administrative changes ensuring maximum traceability

Convenient list of all the projects and color coded results of their last builds (succeeded/failed)

Overview pages with enhanced search capabilities to quickly find the status and history of a Project’s lifecycle.

Customizable desktop providing a clear status view of the user’s projects

Two-way overview of Build dependencies.

Convenient interface for approving, rejecting and searching approvals.

Intranet project with javadocs, JUnit test results, metrics, and downloadable artifacts

Interface to quickly identify and delete obsolete build artifacts

Internationalization: the interface language can be defined through the user definition

Context-sensitive help is available in HTML format

Convenient interface to easily re-use defined build or deploy parameters through cloning of parameters and environments, or by defining machine parameters that are inherited by the environments

Subversion

Git

Microsoft Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC)

CVS

IBM Rational ClearCase (UCM and Base)

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe

Serena PVCS Version Manager

Support for any Version Control System can be made available via the API interface

Performs checkout or sync of project sources

Applies a label with the current project version number

Diff with the previous built/deployed software

Show Sources (with version info) related to a build or deploy

Ability to select and move individual files or components through a lifecycle (Subversion, TFVC and ClearCase)

Subversion meta properties are automatically retrieved during the "Retrieve code" phase and can be used by the build or deploy scripting tool

Ability to execute any Ant/Gradle/NAnt/Maven 2 script to build/deploy the project

No intrusion into the build/deploy script

Ability to pass extra Ant/Gradle/NAnt/Maven 2 properties and change them right before build/deploy

Wrap an Ant/Gradle/NAnt/Maven 2 script in a Custom Phase with specific properties and easily distribute and reuse it in different Projects or IKAN ALM installations

Ability to specify JVM options like -Xms and -Xmx

Support for Multiple Versions of Ant/Gradle/NAnt/Maven 2

Configurable Ant/Maven 2 Classpath

Ability to run Ant via the “Ant Launcher”

Support for Multiple JDKs or .NET frameworks

FileCopy using Windows shares and Linux mounts

Secured file transfer using Secure Copy (SSH)

FTP

Link builds with issues, manually or automatically

Possibility to link issues with builds manually

Synchronize issue properties (status, description, etc.) with external Issue Tracking System

Automatically add comments to issues each time a build moves through the lifecycle

View details of issues from within the IKAN ALM GUI

Built-in integration with JIRA, Team Foundation Server, HP Quality Center and CollabNet TeamForge

Integration with any 3rd party Issue Tracking System via API

Ability to select and move individual files or components through a lifecycle (Subversion, TFVC and ClearCase). Supports mainframe way of development

Specific revisions/versions of individual files can be chosen

A history log is maintained, allowing auditing the changes in the content of a Package (files added/removed/modified)

A Package Build Group concept handles dependencies between Packages

Support for:

Customizable, internationalized templates for plain text or HTML format e-mails

Send out e-mails informing interested parties of build/deploy results

Receive e-mails for every build/deploy, only failed build/deploy or only successful build/deploy

Notification when build/deployment is requested/executed

Notification when approval is requested/executed

E-mails contain hyperlink which automatically forward to detailed information in the user interface

RSS Feeds for displaying data about the last 10 builds/deploys that meet specified criteria

All administrative changes get a version log

Build/Deploy logs for every build/deploy of every project

Status overview of which build is residing at which machine/level

History of built/deployed software through the lifecycle of a project

Source-to-load relationship: overview of which sources have been used to make the build result, and which binaries have been deployed

Agent/Server Architecture enabling distributed builds and/or deploys

Possibility to define multiple build servers

Possibility to define multiple deployment agents

Command Line Interface enabling creation of builds and/or deploys on external triggers

Graphical or text-based installer for the full product

Integrates with operational security system

User Authentication

Passwords and passphrases in all IKAN ALM settings (System Settings, VCR definition, Secure Shell…​) cannot be read by any IKAN ALM user

All secure values are encrypted before they are stored in the database for maximum security

Possibility to encrypt all communication between IKAN ALM components

User Authorization:

Execute a build or deploy from a command prompt

Allows scheduling builds and deploys with an external scheduling tool (Task Scheduler, Cron, …​)

Generate a report from a command prompt

Create/edit a package from a command prompt

The build and deploy overview is available as a customizable report in several formats (pdf, csv, xls, rtf). These reports can be launched from the User Interface or Command Line Interface. Command Line reporting enables the integration with other tools (e.g. planning) or the creation of reports in batch.

The ALM Reports tool allows generating several other administration or follow-up reports using a wide range of selection criteria.