Borland Delivers TeamDefine Requirements Tool

Borland Software has announced the release of a new requirements definition tool known as TeamDefine.

Borland officials said TeamDefine is a simulation tool that enables business analysts to easily translate initial software project concepts into working models through storyboards and interactive simulations. Team members can then try these simulations to gain true understanding of the features and functions before any development begins, company officials said.

“Numerous studies conducted over the years on software project waste and failures have traced the roots to requirements,” said David Wilby, senior vice president of products for Borland, in a statement. “I say this makes requirements the greatest opportunity for improvement—a big fix here will yield exponential returns. We’ve all known this for a long time, but we continue to use ineffective ways to elicit, verify and manage requirements. TeamDefine offers a major leap forward, a way to build customer satisfaction, shortened time-to-value, and innovation into every project.”

TeamDefine helps organizations ensure understanding, gain consensus and validate requirements before any code is written, Borland said. Moreover, in less time than it takes to write a requirements document, business analysts can create a working prototype of a concept, feature or user story. TeamDefine’s interactive simulations drive team and business collaboration, and help executives prioritize their project portfolios, among other benefits.

In addition, Borland officials said TeamDefine can manage all of its storyboards and simulations as a stand-alone product or optionally with Borland CaliberRM, Borland's requirements management tool. CaliberRM can be used to feed requirements into various places where downstream team members may interact with them, including Eclipse, Microsoft's Visual Studio Team System, and Borland StarTeam, company officials said. In addition, as part of Borland’s Open ALM strategy, Borland plans to provide integrations between TeamDefine and other leading requirements management solutions in future versions, Borland officials said.

Borland also said TeamDefine is well-suited to agile development methods, which Borland itself employs in building its tools offerings.

“Requirements definition is definitely a team sport here at Borland,” said Michael Klobe, development director at Borland.  “Everyone—customers, marketing, product management, engineering, QA—participates, collaborating to share ideas and break down problems. However, with all these perspectives come opportunities for misinterpretation and confusion. We use TeamDefine in our meetings to show a working simulation of the feature or user story we are discussing.  This enables us to quickly get everyone on the same page, and once we have consensus, our estimations and prioritizations are much more effective.”

TeamDefine is available at introductory promotional pricing that starts at $3,000 per user with an unlimited number of free simulation reviewers. More information on TeamDefine can be found at http://www.borland.com/us/products/teamdefine/index.html.