CASE STUDY: Implementing IBM Rational Tools to Build a Fully Automated and Compliant Software Platform
CUSTOMER CHALLENGE:
A national healthcare insurance provider faced business challenges including providing high customer care/value, enhancing the company’s financial position, and navigating today’s complex regulatory environment. The provider sought IT solutions that:
- Adhere to Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) compliant processes
- Show traceability throughout the lifecycle to confirm that the requirements of the business were gathered, implemented and tested
- Pass internal and external audits
- Employ a software development tool platform to leverage existing legacy technologies and provide efficient and effective automation of software development processes
- Integrate the flow of information among various software development tools
DELIVERY:
ATSC defined and implemented a solution focused on deploying software engineering best practices and related automated technologies. A core team of engineers integrated and customized the IBM Rational Team Unifying Platform to architect a Software Compliance Platform that enabled the company to raise the level of their software capability while focusing on ensuring regulatory compliance. With an established process defined, ATSC set out to construct a tool platform that enhanced and automated all of the processes throughout the software lifecycle (from requirements management to build management to performance testing). Furthermore, in achieving the strategic objectives provided by the Compliance Platform, the provider has established an adaptable and flexible foundation positioned to meet its current and future computer system compliance needs. This effort utilized the following IBM Rational Applications:
- IBM Rational ClearQuest – Automates the change management process
- IBM Rational RequisitePro – Creates the project requirements standard including traceability between requirement types and their associated change requests
- IBM Rational ClearQuest/Test Manager - Traces test cases to requirement types and to test execution results in Rational Functional Tester, Mercury QuickTestPro and Rational Robot
RESULTS:
- Adherence to CMMI and SOX enabled through automated requirements, test and change management processes.
- Software engineering processes and tool adoption significantly reduced risk of regulatory infractions thus preventing potential penalty costs of over $100,000.
- Significantly improved accuracy in traceability deployed to over 1,000 users, without undue overhead.
CONTACT US: casestudies@atsc.com