Tasktop Technologies, the industry leader for ALM integration, today announced a new version of Tasktop Sync that automates how time-tracking data, recorded in the practitioner’s development tools, is synchronized with the Project Portfolio Management (PPM) products used by the Program Management Office PMO. This new capability helps bridge the divide between the Agilist’s desire for “people over process” and the PMO’s need to understand the ROI of the software development investments. Sync 2.8 ensures that time and resource information is automatically updated in the PPM system.
“Organizations are adopting initiatives such as scaled-Agile, DevOps, continuous delivery and PPM to increase the effectiveness of their software development investments.  But disconnected tools and processes are adversely affecting the value these initiatives can deliver an organization,” said Dave West, Chief Product Office of Tasktop. “For example, PPM systems can help an organization understand the value of the investments, but only if they have an accurate record of the resource expended on a project. Developers may be convinced to track their time in the tools they use every day, but are not inclined to ALSO log their time in the PPM system. Unfortunately, this results in inaccurate time-keeping that causes PPM information to be flawed. Building on our already extensive support of Agile tools, Sync 2.8 extends the functionality we previously announced to integrate PPM and Agile tools. It’s yet another step in Software Lifecycle Integration (SLI), our journey to integrate the extended software development lifecycle.”
In addition to the time-tracking functionality, Sync 2.8 includes support for new releases of ALM tools (such as Rational Team Concert, CA Clarity Agile, Microsoft TFS, Atlassian JIRA), as well as adding full support for HP Agile Manager, and Early Access support for Rally. Tasktop Sync 2.8 will be Generally Available on August 8th.