What is spectrum? The Foundation of Quality Software Development

What is
Spectrum?
The Foundation of Quality Software Development
A flexible framework that integrates market leading development tools
and automates key workflows in alignment with proven best practice.
?
m
u
r
ect
p
S
s
i
hat
W
SPECTRUM is the answer to the many of the challenges that face software development teams today modern software development environments are complex, often global, difficult to maintain and even
more difficult to manage.
ENTER SPECTRUM:
A flexible framework of market leading tools
and proven blueprint processes.
The Spectrum solution covers seven key disciplines of the end to end software delivery process, always
ensuring management have complete visibility and control. What’s more, because Spectrum is a fully
packaged solution, it can be deployed in under 24 hours - Spectrum is scalable, secure and ready to go
when you are.
We recognise that software delivery is your focus, not the tools and
processes that support it. Spectrum is more than a flexible, integrated
group of market leading tools, it’s a complete service with training and
premium support.
- Andrew Stickland, Spectrum PM
”
Spectrum provides a future-proof, flexible framework - you have the option to swap point solutions and
configure processes to meet your preferences and implement the processes you follow today. Spectrum’s
plug and play framework makes it a simple process.
2 | What is spectrum? | © 2014 cLEARVISION (CM) 2005 lTD
introducing sp
ectrum
3
Manage
Where Spectrum excels over standard implementations of the tooling is in the visibility it provides to
Product Stakeholders from a management perspective. The Spectrum foundation implicitly rolls up
status and information progress from the lowest levels of the system to a high level view point.
By leveraging elements of the underlying tooling the Spectrum framework delivers a ‘single source of
truth’ presented to stakeholders in a top down approach. At the highest level, stakeholders are presented
with an overall view of the system status and empowered with the ability to drill down and examine areas
of interest as and when required.
Design
The Spectrum framework implements a number of new features to the Atlassian suite in conjunction
with a number of additional elements. This is delivered through a collaborative platform to allow the
realisation and reiteration of design throughout the build process. The need for meetings can be reduced
to reasonable and manageable levels as can the use of non-collaborative documentation tools.
Requirements captured from Design phases of, for example, a new feature implementation, are visible
throughout the lifecycle of the development process and explicitly linked throughout the process. This
means that the code being implemented into production has a direct tie to the original requirements,
and any evolutions of the same, over time.
control
The Control elements of Spectrum ensure that the Business and Development Processes mandated for a
company are implemented and adhered to throughout the development lifecycle. Spectrum is delivered
with a set of Foundation processes which have been developed to encompass the majority of working
practices throughout the industry. Re-configuration from this Foundation is relatively simple and the
solution can easily be modified to meet specific requirements.
In addition to controlling process, Spectrum ensures that security rules and policies as well as access
controls are implemented through the operation ensuring the safety and security of your source code.
4 | What is spectrum? | © 2014 cLEARVISION (CM) 2005 lTD
develop
Spectrum supports a broad range of development methodologies from the traditional Waterfall
approach to Agile processes such as Kanban and Scrum. The Foundation processes and tooling allow us
to standardise the underlying features of the system but present these in different ways depending on
the methodologies in use.
As well as supporting the various methodologies, Spectrum includes integrated tooling to support
the development of software code directly. This includes tight integration to source control systems
offering code visibility and review as well as integration to build tools. Via build automation, Spectrum
can leverage automated build and deploy supporting Continuous Deployment and testing.
version
Version control systems are essential for any form of distributed, collaborative and controlled development
process and Spectrum manages this through and an adaptive framework supporting the most commonly
used systems. These integrations include the popular Open Source tools Git and Subversion.
Effective version control (behind the firewall with Stash, for instance) ensures permissions are managed
and collaboration is simple, leading to a safe, secure and productive development environment.
test
The Spectrum Framework inherently ensures quality in the way it manages and enforces process etc. and
one element of this is Testing. Testing can occur in many places during the development process from “In
Sprint” testing to formal Regression, Functional and non-Functional testing.
The market leading Test Management solution is integrated within the Spectrum framework. This
allows you to configure a fully traceable test process, providing visibility of all testing throughout the
development lifecycle.
release
Release management is a significant part of any software development operation whether it be over
long iterative cycles or over very short timescales including Continuous Deployment.
The Spectrum Framework integrates the Release process into the Foundation tooling to ensure that the
right software gets released at the right time in the right way. During the entire process Spectrum ensures
full traceability of the system so you know what code is released into production, who was involved and
be able to tie this to the original requirements.
5
m
o
c
um
r
t
spec
ts
n
e
n
po
Spectrum currently consists of a number of
commercial and open source tools that, we believe, are the best
on the market. These tools, along with Spectrum workflows, processes, templates,
additional plugin components and supporting configurations, form the foundation of Spectrum.
Atlassian JIRA is one of the leading industry standard tools
for planning, tracking and change management. With a highly
adaptable workflow engine and powerful options for data
management, JIRA is used by a multitude of companies from
small development teams up to large enterprises.
JIRA Agile is Atlassian’s answer to the management of Agile
development processes. Its flexible change control and management
to enable both Scrum, and Kanban implementations of Agile.
Confluence is one of the leading collaboration tools on the
market today offering an Enterprise class WIKI to enable content
management, knowledge sharing and team collaboration.
With the ability to integrate and consolidate personal, JIRA,
and external calendars in one easy to view and manage solution,
Confluence Team Calendars is an excellent visualisation and
management aid.
Atlassian Bamboo and the Open Source solution Jenkins both
offer excellent tools for Continuous Integration and Automated
or
Build and Testing. Both solutions have a comprehensive range of
features and integrate closely with JIRA allowing builds etc. to be
triggered from JIRA and status updates to be visible in JIRA.
6 | What is spectrum? | © 2014 cLEARVISION (CM) 2005 lTD
Git is commonly seen as the Open Source version control tool of
choice. As a Distributed Version Control System (DVCS) with its
powerful branching and merging features coupled with ease and
speed of use, it is the developers favourite.
with
Adding Atlassian Stash to the mix makes it simplicity itself to
implement access control mechanisms needed in a corporate
environment. Stash additionally facilitates easy integration with
JIRA to link JIRA Issues to code Change Sets in the repositories.
Zephyr is a well-known and respected Test Management solution and
this plugin allows the core Zephyr functionality to be implemented
directly from JIRA.
Crowd is a single-sign on for multiple apps allowing users to control
permissions to all your applications in one place.
Our experience in the industry has lead us to form a foundation of these
market leading tools within Spectrum. The beauty of Spectrum, however,
is the ability to adapt and change your tools when the opportunity arrises
without comprising productivity.
- gerald tombs, clearvision md
”
7
m
u
r
t
pec
s
e
h
t
nd
beyo
Spectrum is designed to be a holistic solution
for any development team. Beyond Spectrum we can help support
all of your external needs, leaving you to focus on developing quality software.
Support Packages
Reduce downtime, maximise productivity
An Upgrade Pack will be prepared every 6 months, which is included as part
of your license fee. As part of this support you will also receive two hours of
Upgrade
Support
inclusive upgrade support hours.
This would be automated where possible but may include a number of manual
operations. Alternatively one of our consultants can upgrade Spectrum for
you.
Keep your team running
Whether hosted on our systems or deployed
Operational
Support
• Active monitoring
on your own systems, we can offer an
• Pro-active maintenance
operational support package to suit your
• Capacity planning and
requirements. As with all of our support
• Reactive break/fix.
packages the SLA is dependent on your needs
and is completely flexible.
The administrative support package is designed for organisations who want
to save on the cost of having internal expertise for each component required
for an efficient software development team.
Administrative
Support
Clearvision can support each component that forms Spectrum. Some
examples include:
• Workflow development/changes
• Custom Field configuration
• End User Support (e.g. Login issues)
8 | What is spectrum? | © 2014 cLEARVISION (CM) 2005 lTD
Bespoke Customisation
Spectrum is a full ALM solution out of the box with standard features and functions that allow a company
to deploy the solution and get up and running straight away. Spectrum, however, can also be thought of as
the foundation of a software development environment.
Following an implementation of the Spectrum solution Clearvision can offer Bespoke Customisation
services to take the standard solution and tailor it to your specific company’s needs.
To discuss a bespoke configuration for your organisation please get in touch with a member of the
Clearvision team.
Training
Not only can we customise the solution for you post-installation, but we can also teach you how to do this
yourselves. Our training services range from fundamental courses aimed at the general user, to advanced
and administration courses, and even focused mentoring aimed at addressing specific problems.
We also offer bespoke training courses tailored to your company’s specific needs - this can be anything
from an introduction course to a fully branded set of eLearning materials.
Spectrum Hosted
Clearvision’s managed hosting solutions are based on industry standard practices and are implemented on
a industry leading platform satisfying requirements such as IL3.
We can host your Spectrum solution within our infrastructure and deliver this to you as a service with
guaranteed performance and up time SLA’s. Let Clearvision take care of any headaches associated with
running your development solution - we have the expertise and systems to cater for this.
‘Spectrum as a Service’ is built on secure dedicated infrastructure
with access only available to trained and authorised staff -
Backup & Restore
your implemented infrastructure is independent of any other
Dependent on your requirements,
customers and is held in complete isolation. Configuration
Spectrum can be backed up and
change management, anti-malware policies and procedures
restored daily, or as part of an
are all in place to ensure the security and integrity of your data.
offsite data backup solution.
9
Branding
If you’ve seen Spectrum we’re sure you’ll agree that the tools included look unique. All of spectrum
components that form version 1 of Spectrum are branded under the Spectrum banner, but we can
customise this for your organisation.
Branded tools, in particular Confluence and JIRA, help to encourage user adoption and promote brand
values. Speak to a member of our team to discuss your requirements.
An example of Atlassian JIRA
branded for Spectrum
10 | What is spectrum? | © 2014 cLEARVISION (CM) 2005 lTD
how is spectru
m implemented
?
One of the many positives of Spectrum is the speed in which you can be up and running. We have two
options for organisations to get started with Spectrum. Contact our sales team to discuss implementation
further.
Standard out-of-the-box version of Spectrum including
Spectrum components.
Day 1 - Implementation with System Admin
Day 2 - Presenting the out-of-the-box workflows
This is the more configurable version of Spectrum,
adapted to fit your development environment.
Day 1 & 2 - Workshop with users
Day 3 & 4 - Implementation/Configuration on site
Day 5 - Education
How to get started with Spectrum
Contact us to discuss your requirements UK Tel: +44 (0) 845 459 9530
USA Tel: +1 (215) 854 4055
Email us to get your download [email protected]
Request a call back [email protected]
11
spectrum.clearvision-cm.com
Building Better Software Together
For more on clearvision’s services, visit our website:
clearvision-cm.com