Optimal Trace Enterprise Edition is a powerful requirements capture & management solution that facilitates collaboration between business and technical teams in the gathering and management of changing requirements throughout the software development life cycle.

Using Optimal Trace to define, document, communicate, test and manage requirements throughout the application life cycle assures the delivery of a high-quality project that fulfills business specifications, on time and within budget, and makes Optimal Trace Enterprise a key strategic solution for maximizing the business value of software projects.

Define Optimal Trace’s interface is designed to prompt and speed the capture of clear and complete requirements. Its ease of use ensures non-technical users collaborate from the start. The automatic flow diagrams enable easy visualization of interdependencies and impacts. Users can customize their interaction to suit corporate processes whether structured or agile. The project glossary establishes a set of standard defined terms and phases to avoid ambiguity and costly defects.

DocumentCommunication is easy with Optimal Trace’s automated document generation and a selection of pre-canned templates that are fully customizable to your company—specific standards and processes to ensure a high-quality finish. Multiple formats mean all stakeholders can communicate in a way that suits each best (Word, Excel, html). Edits can be easily reversed back into the main project to keep the repository and the document in sync. Complete projects can be exported to Microsoft Project, CSV files or other formats.

CollaborateOptimal Trace, the ultimate collaboration tool, provides a central secure repository for all project requirements and artifacts so the most current data is always available for live work or uploading for remote usage. Multiple users can work concurrently online and make real-time edits on the same project. Using Optimal Trace off line to capture users’ scenarios live on-site helps users see the project structure emerge. This functionality builds confidence and drives consensus and approval. The baseline capability facilitates review and final sign-off and also allows easy visibility of additions, deletions and amendments.

ValidateAutomated test case generation verifies original requirement specifications and ensures defects are caught early, cutting rework costs, minimizing risk and resulting in a higher-quality application. Traceability from requirements ensures full test coverage for both functional and non-functional requirements. Quality test documentation and reports provides an audit trail and assures regulatory compliance. Integrations with leading test and design tools (such as UML) provides for seamless population of full project data.

Manage All stakeholders can manage and track what is happening in the project in real time. A full history of changes is maintained facilitating project accountability including the ability to set up notifications for automatic e-mail alerts when changes to a particular element take place. Full traceability enables tracing to all dependent elements, and automatic suspect links alert users to the impact of a requirements change. Customized views, sophisticated pre-canned and fully customizable reports, and complex queries allow the project data to be exploited fully and take project definition and impact analysis to a new level.