Micro Focus has launched CaliberRDM, a tool which it says will help businesses reduce failures in their software development projects. According to the company, the product is one of several tools launched by Micro Focus as part of its new Continuous Quality Assurance (CQA) portfolio. Micro Focus’ CQA provides an end-to-end solution for companies looking to improve the quality of their software – spanning requirements, development, testing and deployment.

CaliberRDM combines requirements definition and requirements management capabilities, allowing CIOs to set clear goals for software development projects and track their progress through to completion. The product allows unlimited numbers of stakeholders to review simulations of proposed applications completely license free, and also jump-starts testing by synchronising requirements and test cases so that test planning and execution may be conducted earlier in the development cycle, a key feature of Micro Focus’ CQA proposition.

Industry analysts estimate that around 80 percent of all software rewrite costs can be avoided at the requirements stage, and that the majority of eventual project failures are caused by poor requirements practises. Another major cause for concern is the number of rarely- or never-used features in new software applications – according to some studies, as much as 45 perecnt of newly-developed features are never used. Eliminating these problems is therefore a key priority for CIOs operating in straitened economic conditions and having to focus on maximising value from every dollar they spend.

Rich Novak, president and general manager of the Micro Focus Application Management and Quality Division, commented: “Poor requirements definition and management are responsible for the vast majority of project failures and the amount of waste generated in subsequent stages of the software development lifecycle. This must be improved if companies are to avoid overspend and project failure. By combining the two processes, we can now offer an end-to-end solution which will streamline the development process, cutting waste and costs in the process. Research has shown that defects identified during the requirements definition stage are generally 100 times cheaper to resolve than when spotted during testing.”