For anyone not immediately familiar with the term ALM, ALM or application lifecycle management, as the name suggests, strives to provide a holistic approach to managing software throughout its lifecycle. ALM encompasses a wide range of different disciplines such as requirements engineering, build and release management, configuration management as well as test and defect management. Originally conceived by leading software vendors in the early 1990s, ALM in its various forms has now become firmly established in companies in a wide variety of industries and is supported by a wide range of IT tools.
The exceptionally important and increasingly strategic role that ALM concepts play quickly becomes clear in the context of developments in recent years. Products like cars, which used to be largely shaped by mechanical engineering requirements, now include an increasing number of mechatronic or software-driven functions and services. Although this means that OEMs are also taking a closer look at ALM concepts, my experience indicates that up until now they have only been used for individual departments, disciplines or functionalities rather than being applied end-to-end.