DATATRAK and PTC Codebeamer

DATATRAK decided to replace a simple ticketing system with a full Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) application in April 2011. Following the thorough evaluation of several products, the company made an initial purchase of a package of codeBeamer licenses in May 2011, and has been expanding the number of users ever since.

While DATATRAK’s decision makers were wary of replacing the previous environment with a single ALM platform and the investment (both in terms of costs and time) this entailed, they quickly realized that PTC Codebeamer’s interface addressed:

• Affordability.
• Advanced and completely integrated capabilities.
• User-friendly architecture.

The Problem: Process Visibility And Traceability

Prior to adopting Codebeamer, DATATRAK was utilizing a basic ticketing system to track their internal processes. They began looking for a solution that would give them greater visibility, traceability, and efficiency.

As Ben Oberholzer, DATATRAK’s Manager of Software Development put it:

While there were some workflow capabilities in their previous system, they were limited in their functionality. DATATRAK realized they would benefit from the ability to customize processes, fields, and ticket types.

As advancements in technology continued to create new opportunities for DATATRAK, a more comprehensive ticketing system was needed. Since DATATRAK develops software intended to comply with certain specific FDA requirements, validation processes and successful QA audits are of key importance. Consequently, establishing links between all work items (providing complete traceability) and the transparency of processes are vital for the company.

Why Choose PTC Codebeamer?

The company’s primary reason to switch to an integrated ALM platform was that DATATRAK needed to have a centralized location for the management of all work items and stages of the lifecycle, from requirements through testing and release.

Integrated, Centralized Solution

To be able to bring together and manage all work items in a single platform, DATATRAK was looking for a tool that offered end-to-end functionality. PTC Codebeamer provides exactly that, relying on a single central repository to store all artifact data, which results in gapless traceability across all work items throughout the entire lifecycle.

DATATRAK is using the advanced tracking feature offered by Codebeamer, simplifying the management of their software upgrades and enhancements.

Flexibility, Customizable Workflows

PTC Codebeamer’s flexibility enables DATATRAK to configure all workflows to suit and visually support internal needs and development processes.

However, the system’s flexibility doesn’t end there. In addition to workflows, DATATRAK’s developers have also customized their artifacts (trackers) with additional fields to store relevant data, and applied tailor-made workflows to these updated trackers. For instance, the company’s Change Request trackers, used to approve and track all change requests, also include risk and impact analysis data. This ensures that all involved parties have sufficient basis to review change requests, and to be able to make a reasonably informed approval decision.

Traceability & Process Visibility

As previously mentioned, DATATRAK greatly benefits from PTC Codebeamer’s centralized architecture. Much like DATATRAK’s own unified platform, Codebeamer’s single repository is used to store data as well as relationships between all work items (which may be derived from each other). This guarantees gapless end-to-end traceability throughout the entire chain of work items, from user stories and requirements all the way to testing and release.

Codebeamer’s Traceability Browser provides DATATRAK with a simple, efficient, and easily filterable way to overview the relationships between all work items.

To ensure the coverage of all requirements with test cases, a convenient Test Coverage Browser is
available.

Document Management 

Instead of relying on codeBeamer’s built-in document management functionality, DATATRAK customized Codebeamer to fit their needs. Document Management was tailored to the unique needs the company requires to satisfy applicable industry standards. The development team has improved their efficiency by implementing codeBeamer’s flexible Document Management. This allows the company to apply custom reviewer and approval workflows. Consequently, the development team is able to use this tracker to process all system document signatures. This has greatly facilitated
and accelerated the approval process.

Facilitate QA Audits & Compliance

DATATRAK’s software solution is designed to comply with certain FDA rules and regulations. Therefore, the development and QA teams really appreciate Codebeamer’s advanced capabilities around audits.

For QA audits on software development projects, deep (distributed) version control integration is a must. Otherwise, information silos would isolate SCM and ALM. As is the case with DATATRAK, integration of the SCM is key for traceability of code reviews and other development artifacts. This is why the company really values PTC Codebeamer’s Mercurial integration over the functionality offered by other products. DATATRAK also relies on Codebeamer’s:

• Built-in Traceability Browser.
• Test Coverage Browser.
• Its many custom Wiki plugins.
• Custom workflows to enforce processes, prove process quality, and to facilitate compliance audits.

Affordability, Total Cost Of Ownership With PTC Codebeamer

Codebeamer is affordable, easy to roll out, and simple to learn. When compared to competing solutions over the course of five years, DATATRAK realized that the value, as well as total cost of ownership, made PT Codebeamer a better choice than all the other tools under evaluation. What’s more, Codebeamer’s friendly learning curve meant that the company was able to realize value with this platform from day one.

While configuration took some time for the team back when they started with PTC Codebeamer 7.2, they really valued the recent updates that simplify the rollout process. Version 7.6 greatly reduced the time needed to configure changes, making the rollout process simple and convenient.

Benefits

Codebeamer’s advanced features, affordability, great value, and simple rollout and use have all contributed to DATATRAK’s decision. Right from the first day of using PTC Codebeamer, the company was able to use this ALM system to streamline multiple internal processes, including:

• Requirement tracking and approvals, and linking to development activities
• Test case review and approval tracking
• User Acceptance Testing
• Software-based tracking and approvals of incident reports, system change control, and document approvals/signoffs
• Support of all internal COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) systems

DATATRAK highly values the fact that all processes are completely traceable in Codebeamer, pinpointing this as the most important feature for medical development companies. Overall, the benefits gained in higher visibility of processes and enhanced quality have been supported by improvements in DATATRAK’s internal processes. PTC Codebeamer has helped the development team improve its original incident report management processes, functional and user requirement management, and the company has also gained a better general understanding of quality and traceability.

Additionally, DATATRAK has also realized that due to the system’s inherent flexibility, Codebeamer supports further processes. The company has been growing the number of licenses in order to be able to increase the system’s user base (Operations, QA, System Owners), as the team found that it can be configured to respond to more and more needs within the organization.

About Codebeamer

Codebeamer is an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) platform with unique configurability and product line configuration capabilities. Codebeamer X is an integrated Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) platform for life sciences companies with regulatory process & compliance support.

To learn more, visit us at https://intland.com/. Follow @intland on Linkedin and Facebook.

About PTC (NASDAQ: PTC)

PTC enables global manufacturers to realize double-digit impact with software solutions that enable them to accelerate product and service innovation, improve operational efficiency, and increase workforce productivity. In combination with an extensive partner network, PTC provides customers flexibility in how its technology can be deployed to drive digital transformation—on premises, in the cloud, or via its pure SaaS platform. At PTC, we don’t just imagine a better world, we enable it.