This paper discusses the recent genesis of collaborative change management. This new approach to systems and software development transforms the way organizations manage change across the life cycle to make it more transparent, flexible and efficient.It explores how the adoption of an open, uniform approach to commercial systems and software development, as well as the dynamic integration of project management capabilities with change management, can dramatically raise the bar on collaboration and productivity.

1. IBM Software
Rational
Fostering innovation and efficiency through
collaborative change management
By Steve Speicher, STSM, and Bernie Coyne, CCM market manager, Rational software,
IBM Software Group

2. 2 Fostering innovation and efficiency through collaborative change management
A new era in change management Creating business advantage through
Advances in technology have long inspired and pushed organiza- change
tions to innovate and create value differently. Systems and Unrelenting forces of change come at today’s organizations from
software development and delivery teams, in particular, play virtually every angle. Economic concerns, regulatory demands
an integral role in an organization’s ability to quickly bring and shifting customer needs push from the outside. At the same
innovative solutions to the marketplace and increase employee time, internal pressures to do more with fewer resources pull at
productivity. Therefore, they need to seize every opportunity to practically everyone inside the organization.
embrace new strategies and technologies to better coordinate
their activities and enhance their output. Yet disparate change Systems and software teams remain integral to an organization’s
management tools and systems can lead to development grid- ability to respond effectively and with foresight to these forces.
lock, slowing team responses and affecting the organization’s They must create and maintain world-class products and appli-
overall agility and competitiveness. cations while providing superior user support. They must help
ensure data integrity and consistency for successful governance
This paper discusses the recent genesis of collaborative change and compliance and also efficiently capture, manage and leverage
management. This new approach to systems and software devel- knowledge to facilitate project success. Finally, they must contin-
opment transforms the way organizations manage change across ually produce reliable metrics for improving the development
the life cycle to make it more transparent, flexible and efficient. process. In short, business leaders look to their systems and
It explores how the adoption of an open, uniform approach to software teams to help turn every challenge into an advantage.
commercial systems and software development, as well as the That’s why organizations simply can’t afford inefficient, unreli-
dynamic integration of project management capabilities with able change management processes.
change management, can dramatically raise the bar on collabora-
tion and productivity. Linking life-cycle data, processes and
people
Collaborative change management trans- To work effectively, today’s systems and software teams must
be able to collaborate effectively. They must be able to share
forms the way organizations manage data between existing tools. Quickly integrate new tools. And
change across the life cycle to make it trace changes across life-cycle resources, whether requirements,
more transparent, flexible and efficient. software and mechatronic design diagrams and documents,
source code, or test cases. The typical organization today,

3. IBM Software 3
however, has evolved multiple, disparate change management
systems encompassing an assortment of multivendor tools as
well as internally developed tools with customized attributes. Quality
Whether created to support varying upgrade cycles or new management
acquisitions and projects, each system accommodates specific
purposes and user audiences. Integration between tools exists,
tracks
but generally only on an ad hoc basis and through vendor-
specified interfaces tied to specific platforms or languages. Defect
Help desk
management relies on supports
With systems and software teams using separate sets of tools Change
management
and databases, establishing a consolidated, transparent view
into change becomes virtually impossible. Change is continual
and pervasive throughout product and application life cycles. uses implements
Individuals lacking visibility into the process have trouble antici-
pating or proactively dealing with the effects of change. A single
Project Requirements
change request, for example, can affect several artifacts across the management management
development life cycle, depending on the nature of the change.
Without traceability among change management tools and data,
team members waste valuable time communicating via email and
phone. Also, without a consistent way to collect and control data, Figure 1: Change management is central to product and application
traceability and accountability—critical to successful governance life cycles.
and compliance—suffer as well. Control of data and resources is
needed in many forms, including via access controls, review and The benefits of improved collaboration and traceability don’t
approval workflows, and electronic signatures. stop with the development teams but extend to operational
and support teams through integrated service management.
Quite often, tools, systems and processes used to manage such

4. 4 Fostering innovation and efficiency through collaborative change management
IT assets as help desks, service request tools and asset configura- leveraged for life-cycle collaboration and resource sharing.
tion databases are isolated from the development teams Rather, both existing and new tools are loosely coupled via a
that develop and support applications in those environments. uniform, open architecture and set of protocols.
Operational requirements are lost in the development of
applications and testing, leading to incomplete preproduction Coordinated yet decentralized, this approach enables creation
testing prior to applications being deployed into production. of a collaborative development hub where disparate change
By fostering effective collaboration on changes between develop- management solutions can coexist. At the same time, it delivers
ment and operational teams, the business can further streamline the control and flexibility of a centralized solution—without the
the value it provides to clients. costs and headaches. In addition, because life-cycle resources are
defined and shared using open specifications, life-cycle data can
A hub for life-cycle collaboration and be mined to provide information visibility and access to all par-
resource sharing ticipants in the life cycle.
Linking change management tools and data so systems and soft-
ware teams have the knowledge and insight required to optimize
their efforts appears to be a monumental task. One of the most Working together to advance systems and software
obvious and costly options—integration through a single propri- development tool interoperability
etary solution—can work well for a small team in one location
In 2009, IBM launched Open Services for
focused on completing a limited assignment. Yet it’s likely not a
Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC), an online
viable choice for organizations with global, distributed develop- community for fostering collaborative change
ment teams. management. Participants from Oracle, Tasktop,
Siemens, Accenture and many other industry-
In this age of open, standards-based computing, an ideal answer leading technology companies have joined IBM to work
lies literally at the fingertips of systems and software teams: the together to create open, public specifications for linked
architecture of the World Wide Web and the Internet. In this life-cycle data. OSLC specification efforts cover a number
collaborative change management model, individuals and teams of tooling domains. For example, failed test cases are being
representing multiple vendors, organizations and industries can linked to defects or to drive new requirements. Also, specifi-
work together via a set of tools that access a linked network of cations are being developed to facilitate requirements
changes or to associate tasks with a particular plan, and
life-cycle resources. In this model, tools don’t need to originate
customer report problems are being linked to development
from a single vendor or implementation architecture to be
teams. Rapidly gaining industry acceptance, OSLC provides
the interoperability and scalability required to address the
needs of teams ranging from small, onsite teams to world-
wide, distributed teams.

5. IBM Software 5
reports and scorecards to monitor and collaborate on projects
An open, standards-based model for resource integration and quickly address issues. Change becomes truly managed and
and sharing synchronized.
● Provides a centralized view into change management
In addition, change management can be extended beyond devel-
● Supports globally dispersed teams
● Scales to support virtually unlimited users and resources opment teams to include business stakeholders. Valuable dash-
● Promotes cross-vendor cooperation boards keep business teams informed on the status of projects in
● Facilitates development of a rich set of capabilities development and any changes occurring. This increased visibility
also enables them to participate in prioritizing and ranking key
requirements and work items.
Linking project planning and tracking
with change management
Successful systems and software change management requires Requirements management Help desk
teamwork. Testers who find software defects, for example, turn
their findings over to analysts who assess the potential effects,
which are then addressed by the development team. So when
Change management
changes are instigated, the effects ripple across the life cycle.
Methods for notifying affected team members need to be effi-
cient and reliable—but often aren’t. The development team
doesn’t always know, for example, that a software defect has
been found and will need its immediate attention.
Hence, the collaborative in collaborative change management
refers to more than the advent of commercial systems and
software development on an open, standards-based platform.
It also refers to comprehensive integration of real-time project
planning and tracking capabilities with change management.
Quality management Deployment
In this approach, automated, repeatable project planning OPEN, STANDARDS-BASED
ARCHITECTURE
processes support agile, traditional and hybrid development
efforts. Change requests, or work items, are linked to actionable
plans. Tasks and workflows are tracked and coordinated. And Figure 2: Participants in the product and application life cycles can share a
dispersed systems and software teams use automated dashboards, network of linked life-cycle resources defined using open specifications.

6. 6 Fostering innovation and efficiency through collaborative change management
Linking requirements management with demands. With enhanced transparency and planning, developer
change management productivity can be optimized. Project errors and delays
Another key success factor in product and application develop- minimized. Solutions newly designed to attract and retain
ment is the ability to recognize, react to, trace and execute on customers quickly deployed. Service level agreements met. In
changing system and functional requirements. The effects of a addition, through increased visibility and traceability, regulatory
single change in a requirement can be extremely costly. Any requirements can be addressed.
number of reasons can potentially drive costs upward, including
the need to redesign approved designs, implement new hardware Collaborative change management also introduces emerging
or software components, and retest already tested components. social software and tools into the development environment.
Then again, not making a change can render a product obsolete Team members can connect to a wider network of business and
even before it reaches a potential customer’s hands. technical stakeholders and even users through online communi-
ties, team spaces, blogs, wikis, profiles, instant messaging and
The integration of real-time requirements management capabili- other social tools. They can more easily exchange ideas, tap into
ties with change management helps address this dilemma. needed expertise and get feedback from customers. The shift to
Increased visibility into life-cycle resources, such as affected social business helps accelerate innovation as well as increases
requirements, software and hardware architecture and designs, efficiency and customer satisfaction.
and test artifacts, makes possible the implementation of an effi-
cient review-and-approval process for proposed changes. Team IBM: A leader in collaborative change
members can collaborate on the proposed changes—and better management
understand the potential effects and risks—prior to making a IBM is helping lead the transformation of change management
decision. After the decision is made, they can better coordinate to collaborative change management with innovative solutions.
the implementation. The end result is a well-orchestrated and The IBM Rational® Team Concert™ collaborative change
governed requirements change process, one that balances pro- management solution is the core component of the new
posed changes with business needs and effects on development IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management solution, a
schedules and resources. ready-to-run application life-cycle management solution based
on IBM Jazz™ technology. It offers capabilities designed to help
Change management as a force for organizations coordinate their software development activities
innovation across business and systems requirements.
Change has always driven innovation. Now change management
itself can drive innovation by boosting the entire organization’s
ability to proactively plan for and quickly respond to business

7. IBM Software 7
Built on open interfaces such as OSLC, the Rational Team Additionally, financing solutions from IBM Global Financing
Concert collaborative change management solution provides can enable effective cash management, protection from technol-
leading change management capabilities, including change ogy obsolescence, improved total cost of ownership and return
tracking, popular source code control integrations, planning on investment. Also, our Global Asset Recovery Services help
and tracking, reporting, highly configurable process support, address environmental concerns with new, more energy-efficient
and integrations with social software solutions such as solutions. For more information on IBM Global Financing, visit:
IBM Connections. Available collaborative change management ibm.com/financing
solutions include the following:
About the authors
● IBM Rational Team Concert Contributor software provides
collaborative change management features including agile, tra-
ditional or hybrid real-time planning and tracking; task boards; Steve Speicher, an IBM senior technical
Gantt charts; product backlogs; burn down charts; and dash- staff member, focuses on Rational
change management solutions and inte-
boards to help improve planning and predictability for all
grations. He is the lead for the OSLC
types of projects.
change management topic area, which
● IBM Rational Team Concert Stakeholder software provides delivers open interoperability specifica-
basic change management capabilities and access to task tions, as well as implementations within
status and work item information. It is designed for use by the Rational change management prod-
customers, partners and extended participants. It does not ucts. Steve formerly worked in emerging standardization
include the planning capabilities of Rational Team Concert efforts in healthcare and compound document formats.
Contributor software.
For more information Bernie Coyne is the market manager
To learn more about how you can use IBM Rational software for IBM change and configuration man-
solutions to help you orchestrate change across the product and agement solutions. Having worked in
application life cycles, contact your IBM sales representative or software development for more than
IBM Business Partner, or visit: ibm.co/collabchgmgmt 25 years, he has held a variety of roles,
including CTO, software development
manager, systems analyst and developer.
He has worked in both the private and
public sectors and has a wealth of hands-on experience in
IT application development.

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