June 18, 2009 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas

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1 June 18, 2009 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas by Jeffrey S. Hammond for Application Development & Program Management Professionals Making Leaders Successful Every Day

2 June 18, 2009 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas This is the second document in the ALM Tool Adoption Trends series. by Jeffrey S. Hammond with David D Silva and Mike Gilpin EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over the past three years, respondents to Forrester s annual Enterprise And SMB Software Survey have demonstrated increasing awareness and adoption of application life-cycle management (ALM) processes and tools. ALM 2.0 the next generation of tool support for ALM is a work in progress, but that s not stopping development shops from adopting new software configuration management (SCM), change management (CM), and release management tools. Simpler SCM tools such as Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, Subversion, and Serena PVCS prove to be the most frequently adopted class of configuration management tools, taking three of the top five spots in our survey. When it comes to full-featured software change and configuration management (SCCM) tools, IBM and Microsoft show a substantial lead in popularity over other commercial options. The integrated development environments (IDEs) and application platform that developers use are strong predictors of their configuration management tools choices, but company size and industry also matter. And when it comes to adopting open source SCM tools like Subversion, development professionals in the Americas lag significantly behind their European counterparts. TABLE OF CONTENTS SCM Tool Adoption In The Americas Is Generally Consistent With Europe Configuration Management Tools From IBM And Microsoft Show The Broadest Adoption IDE Affinity Extends To Alignment Between SCM/SCCM Tools And Application Platforms Firm Demographics Also Affect SCM/SCCM Tool Adoption Open Source SCM Tool Adoption And Interest In The Americas Lag Behind Europe RECOMMENDATIONS Shop Around: Even Though Share Is Concentrated, It Can Be A Buyer s Market WHAT IT MEANS IBM And Microsoft Are Set To Dominate SCCM, But Neither Is A Sure Bet Yet 12 Supplemental Material NOTES & RESOURCES Forrester surveyed 472 North American and South American application development professionals on their attitudes toward application life-cycle management (ALM). Related Research Documents European Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends December 23, 2008 Standardized Software Change And Configuration Management: Achievable Goal Or Wishful Thinking? October 19, 2007 The Changing Face Of Application Life-Cycle Management August 18, , Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester, Technographics, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To purchase reprints of this document, please clientsupport@forrester.com. For additional information, go to

3 2 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas SCM TOOL ADOPTION IN THE AMERICAS IS GENERALLY CONSISTENT WITH EUROPE According to Forrester s annual Enterprise And SMB Software Surveys of the past three years, organizations are showing increasing awareness and adoption of application life-cycle management (ALM) processes and tools. Development leaders are actively seeking to improve enforcement of process standards, management of traceability relationships, and collection of meaningful metrics across the full development life cycle. 1 But while vendors are still evolving their ALM 2.0 solutions, today s development shops aren t waiting for the perfect ALM 2.0 solution. Forrester recently surveyed 472 North and South American application development professionals to gauge their current attitudes toward ALM and how these attitudes affect their adoption of life-cycle management tools. While there is more to implementing an effective ALM solution than installing point tools, adoption patterns for individual life-cycle tools foreshadow how the broader ALM 2.0 market will evolve. Configuration Management Tools From IBM And Microsoft Show The Broadest Adoption Forrester s Q European Application Life-Cycle Management Usage And Trends Online Survey showed that software configuration management (SCM) and software change and configuration management (SCCM) tools from Microsoft and IBM were popular with developers. This is also the case with North and South American application development professionals (see Figure 1). In particular: For SCCM, there s IBM and Microsoft, then there s everyone else. SCCM tools combine configuration management and change management in a single, tightly integrated solution that formally governs the process by which developers make changes to applications. In this space, IBM Rational ClearCase and Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) are the most-adopted tools by survey respondents, at 28% and 22% respectively. The next closest SCCM tool is CA (Harvest) Change Manager at a distant 8%. Simple SCM tools are more widely adopted then SCCM tools. Standalone SCM solutions provide basic source code management capabilities such as check-in/checkout and are simpler to implement than full-featured SCCM. These leaner, simpler tools are popular with North and South American application developers, and with 39% of survey respondents reporting its use in their organization, Microsoft s Visual SourceSafe is more widely used than any other tool. In addition, two other SCM tools Subversion and Serena PVCS place among the top five most-adopted configuration management tools, with 22% and 14% of survey respondents, respectively, reporting their use. Developers naturally pair their IDEs and SCM/SCCM tool choices. Developers spend hours each day in their IDEs, so seamlessly integrated functionality that works is a key attribute for any SCM/SCCM tool. And who better to integrate change management with an IDE that the IDE vendor itself? It should come as no surprise that developers who use Microsoft Visual Studio as their primary development environment are much more likely to choose TFS or June 18, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

4 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas 3 Visual SourceSafe (VSS) for configuration management (see Figure 2). For TFS, adoption by Visual Studio users jumps from 22% to 39%, and for VSS it jumps from 39% to 57%. The same is true for IBM: Adoption of IBM Rational ClearCase climbs from 28% overall to 4 for users whose primary IDE is IBM Rational Application Developer. So what about Eclipse? In this case, Subversion is a natural OSS pairing: 47% of Eclipse users use Subversion, more than double the overall 22% adoption rate. The most-popular tools also benefit from heterogeneous SCCM. Fifty-three percent of the app dev professionals surveyed work in an organization that uses more than one configuration management tool. While that s 8% lower than their European counterparts, it still nets out to an average of 1.8 SCM/SCCM tools per shop. And this SCCM heterogeneity primarily benefits the most-popular tools (see Figure 3). For example, 18% of respondents in single-tool app dev organizations said they were using Microsoft VSS, but in multitool shops, VSS usage increased by more than three times to 59% an adoption rate 20 percentage points higher than that of the nearest tool. Microsoft Team Foundation Server usage also increased more than five times when comparing single-tool and multitool organizations: The adoption rates are 7% and 38%, respectively. And Microsoft s tools were not alone in this pattern: IBM Rational ClearCase more than doubled its adoption rate, growing from 18% in single-tool environments to 39% in multitool shops. Figure 1 Microsoft And IBM SCM/SCCM Tools Are Broadly Adopted By Americas App Dev What software configuration management (SCM) tools are commonly used in your application development organization? (Select all that apply) Microsoft Visual SourceSafe IBM Rational ClearCase Subversion Microsoft Team Foundation Server Other Serena PVCS CA Harvest Change Manager Borland StarTeam Serena Dimensions MKS Integrity Suite IBM Rational Team Concert IBM Rational Telelogic Synergy Suite Perforce Accurev 8% 4% 3% 3% 1% 28% 22% 22% 16% 14% 39% Base: 472 North and South American application development professionals Source: Q Americas Application Life-Cycle Management Usages And Trends Online Survey Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited June 18, 2009

5 4 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas Figure 2 Developers Pair IDEs And SCM/SCCM Tools For Affinity What software configuration management (SCM) tools are commonly used in your application development organization? (Select all that apply) 39% 28% Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 2 57% IBM Rational ClearCase 18% % Primary IDE Microsoft Team Foundation Server 7% 22% 39% Subversion 14% 22% 22% Overall (n=472) Microsoft Visual Studio (n=179) IBM Rational Application Developer (n=108) Eclipse (n=79) 13% 47% Base: North and South American application development professionals Source: Q Americas Application Life-Cycle Management Usages And Trends Online Survey Source: Forrester Research, Inc. June 18, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

6 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas 5 Figure 3 Heterogeneity Benefits The Most Popular Configuration Management Tools What software configuration management (SCM) tools are commonly used in your application development organization? (Select all that apply) Microsoft Visual SourceSafe IBM Rational ClearCase Subversion Other Microsoft Team Foundation Server Serena PVCS CA Harvest Change Manager MKS Integrity Suite Serena Dimensions Borland StarTeam Perforce IBM Rational Team Concert IBM Rational Telelogic Synergy Suite Accurev 17% 29% 13% 20% 6% 10% 3% 7% 2% 8% 2% 7% 2% 4% 1% 7% 1% Base: North and South American application development professionals Source: Q Americas Application Life-Cycle Management Usages And Trends Online Survey 0% 1% 7% 7% 18% 18% 21% 39% 38% 59% Single-tool environments (n=202) Multitool environments (n=245) Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited June 18, 2009

7 6 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas IDE Affinity Extends To Alignment Between SCM/SCCM Tools And Application Platforms It s not surprising that in shops doing.net development, Microsoft VSS and Microsoft TFS have the most-prominent adoption rates: 59% and 4, respectively. But when we looked at the data according to whether organizations were doing Java/J2EE development,.net development, or both, a few points stood out: IBM Rational ClearCase and Subversion are strong in Java shops. In shops doing Java/J2EE development (and not.net development), IBM Rational ClearCase and Subversion are the most prominent SCM/SCCM tools at 40% and 33%, respectively (see Figure 4). Microsoft VSS, IBM Rational ClearCase lead in orgs doing both Java and.net development. While the adoption rate is not as high as that for.net-only shops, 4 of organizations doing both.net and Java development use Microsoft VSS. IBM Rational ClearCase is the secondmost-commonly adopted tool in these shops at 34%. Serena PVCS shows surprising strength in combined Java/.NET development shops. Although Serena PVCS doesn t hold much interest to pure Java or.net shops, it s a different matter for shops that do both. While only 12% of app dev professionals in Java-only and in.net-only shops used Serena PVCS, more than double that number (2) of organizations doing both Java and.net development said they were using it making it the third-mostpopular choice in dual-development-type organizations. Firm Demographics Also Affect SCM/SCCM Tool Adoption Company size, industry, and the number of developers in an organization also directly correlate with what SCCM tool a development shop is likely to use: Large organizations prefer ClearCase, while smaller companies prefer TFS. While.NET usage stays relatively consistent across large and small organizations in the survey, Microsoft TFS adoption is significantly higher in shops with fewer than 1,000 employees (see Figure 5). The exact opposite is true of IBM Rational ClearCase: 40% of Global 2000 organizations report using it, but only 3% of organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees report using it. Subversion shows consistent adoption, while TFS struggles in medium-size dev shops. While smaller companies tend to prefer Microsoft TFS, developers adopt it at rates that are consistent with its overall adoption average in very large development shops (those with more than 5,000 developers). But TFS struggles at medium-large development shops (those with 500 to 999 developers): In these shops, its adoption rate dips to 8%, even while.net usage remains at 49% (see Figure 6). In contrast, Subversion adoption is remarkably consistent across all sizes of development shops, varying only two to three percentage points from its 22% average. ClearCase, TFS, and PVCS each show strength in specific industries. At 38%, IBM Rational ClearCase is the most frequently adopted tool by finance and insurance companies. In contrast, June 18, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

8 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas 7 Microsoft TFS shows particular strength in the public sector and business services at 33% and 29%, respectively. Serena PVCS also shows higher-than-average adoption rates in business services, at 26%. Figure 4 SCM/SCCM Tool Adoption By Application Platform Usage What software configuration management (SCM) tools are commonly used in your application development organization? (Select all that apply) IBM Rational ClearCase 16% 40% 34% Subversion Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 33% 22% 14% 17% 4 59% Serena PVCS CA Harvest Change Manager Microsoft Team Foundation Server 12% 2 12% 11% 11% 4% 6% 22% 4 Serena Dimensions Borland StarTeam IBM Rational Team Concert MKS Integrity Suite IBM Rational Telelogic Synergy Suite Perforce Accurev 11% 3% 8% 2% 4% 3% 8% 1% 2% 4% 3% 0% 1% 1% Development platform used Java/J2EE only (n = 169) Both Java and.net (n = 92).NET only (n = 148) Base: North and South American application development professionals Source: Q Americas Application Life-Cycle Management Usages And Trends Online Survey Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited June 18, 2009

9 8 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas Figure 5 Large Organizations Adopt IBM Rational ClearCase; Smaller Firms Adopt Microsoft TFS 80% For what purposes is your organization using your primary IDE? (Select all that apply).net development Java/J2EE development What software configuration management (SCM) tools are commonly using in your application development organization? (Select all that apply) Microsoft Team Foundation Server IBM Rational ClearCase 60% 40% 20% Base: North and South American application development professionals Source: Q Americas Application Life-Cycle Management Usages And Trends Online Survey 0% 999 or fewer (n=68) 1,000 to 4,999 (n=99) 5,000 to 19,999 (n=119) Number of employees working worldwide 20,000 or more (n=186) Source: Forrester Research, Inc. June 18, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

10 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas 9 Figure 6 Subversion Shows Consistent Adoption, While Microsoft TFS Shows Bipolar Adoption 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% For what purposes is your organization using your primary IDE? 99 or fewer (n=162) 100 to 499 (n=114).net development What software configuration management (SCM) tools are commonly used in your application development organization? (Select all that apply) Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Subversion Microsoft Team Foundation Server IBM Rational ClearCase 500 to 999 (n=49) 1,000 to 4,999 (n=94) Number of developers working worldwide 5,000 or more (n=53) Base: North and South American application development professionals Source: Q Americas Application Life-Cycle Management Usages And Trends Online Survey Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Open Source SCM Tool Adoption And Interest In The Americas Lag Behind Europe In Forrester s Q European Application Life-Cycle Management Usage And Trends Online Survey, more than half of the respondents said they were looking to open source tools as part of their application life-cycle management (ALM) strategy wherever possible. 2 And with 40% of them acknowledging that they use the open source SCM tool Subversion, it s clear that European developers are acting on their desire to adopt open source software (OSS). However, when Forrester surveyed North and South American app dev professionals, their attitudes toward open source proved to be less enthusiastic, with a couple points standing out: App dev pros were indifferent regarding adopting OSS as part of their ALM strategy. Overall, 37% of respondents neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement we are looking to open source tools as part of our ALM strategy wherever possible. This compares with 3 who agreed or strongly agreed and 28% who disagreed or strongly disagreed (see Figure 7). In Q4 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited June 18, 2009

11 10 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas 2008, 54% of European app dev pros agreed with that statement a rate 19 percentage points higher than that of their North and South American counterparts. Coolness toward open source is consistent across development types in the Americas as well: Only 24%.NET developers agreed or strongly agreed with the statement (43% in Europe); 4 of Java/J2EE developers agreed or strongly agreed (67% in Europe); and, of those shops doing both.net and Java development, 32% agreed or strongly agreed (51% in Europe). Subversion s popularity trailed Microsoft Visual Source Safe and IBM Rational Clear Case. Overall, 22% of respondents said they were using Subversion, a rate that places it behind Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (39%) and IBM Rational Clear Case (28%). However, in shops that use multiple SCM/SCCM tools, Subversion s usage falls even further behind, with Microsoft VSS at 59%, IBM Rational ClearCase at 39%, Microsoft TFS at 38%, and Subversion at 29%. Figure 7 App Dev Professionals In The Americas Are Ambivalent About OSS ALM Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with [the] statement below about your current ALM strategy and tools: We are looking to open source tools as part of our ALM strategy wherever possible. Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly agree Overall Java only Both Java and.net.net only 7% 21% 37% 2 10% 3% 17% 3 31% 14% 4% 17% 47% 24% 8% 12% 33% 30% 20% 4% n=472 n=169 n=92 n=148 Base: North and South American application development professionals Source: Q Americas Application Life-Cycle Management Usages And Trends Online Survey Source: Forrester Research, Inc. RECO MMEN DATIONS SHOP AROUND: EVEN THOUGH SHARE IS CONCENTRATED, IT CAN BE A BUYER S MARKET At first glance, it would seem that the path forward for application development professionals implementing SCCM is relatively straightforward: Simply chose IBM for Java development and Microsoft for.net development. And while Microsoft and IBM have strong share positions, there are other options for forward-thinking development teams if you are prepared to take advantage of them: 1. Watch for increasing OSS adoption in the Americas. Subversion s lower rates of adoption in the Americas are reflective of lower overall OSS adoption rates at all levels in North America relative to continental Europe. OSS adoption is increasing at rates similar June 18, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

12 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas 11 to Europe s, so it s likely that the US and Canada are simply behind the curve instead of exhibiting fundamentally different behavior. App development professionals, especially those who use Java and Eclipse, should carefully track Subversion and even other OSS SCM tools such as GitHub and Mercurial as emerging alternatives to commercial SCCM products. 2. Wait to see how IBM Rational ClearCase users fare in their transition to Team Concert. Even though IBM Rational ClearCase is a current market share leader for SCCM products, it s clear that IBM Rational is promoting its Jazz-based Rational Team Concert as the SCCM tool of choice as it evolves its ALM strategy. Transitioning from any SCCM tool to another creates migration risk, even when both tools are from the same vendor. App dev professionals should look to see how other ClearCase users fare in making this migration before making the leap themselves. 3. Question your development teams real change management needs. The high rates of SCM tool adoption betray the reality of the state of configuration management in most IT shops: It s simply not that sophisticated. But instead of bemoaning the current state of affairs, perhaps it s better to ask the question: Do the tools we have do the job; are they good enough? For smaller development teams, SCM tools such as Subversion or Serena PVCS with a lightweight integration to a standalone change management tool such as Atlassian Jira may be good enough. 4. Bargain your way to a better SCCM total cost of operations (TCO). You won t hear it from the vendors, but the economic model for SCCM is changing. Tools with low per-developer costs and server-based licensing are resetting the overall cost model for SCCM, so use this to your advantage. If you re using an expensive commercial SCCM tool, ask your sales rep for a bigger discount at renewal time, pointing out the relative cost advantages of spinning new teams up on lower-cost alternatives such as Subversion/Jira or even Microsoft TFS. Of course, you ll need to be prepared to execute on your threat with a heterogeneous SCCM strategy if you really want to wring the biggest possible savings out of your existing vendor. WHAT IT MEAN S IBM AND MICROSOFT ARE SET TO DOMINATE SCCM, BUT NEITHER IS A SURE BET YET It s clear that Microsoft TFS and IBM Rational ClearCase lead SCCM tool adoption rates in the Americas and are the market share leaders. Their positions are reinforced by their complementary investments in IDEs and the application platform technologies that developers use to build custom applications. But the SCCM market is in a greater state of flux than in any time in the past 20 years; new development technologies for Web applications and new SCCM products mark a transition from a classic set of SCM use cases to an ALM 2.0 approach that is flexible, collaborative, and Internet-centric. During this transition, application development professionals should watch for potential disruptions in the market and be prepared to take advantage of them. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited June 18, 2009

13 12 Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends In The Americas SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Methodology Forrester s Q Americas Application Life-Cycle Management Usages And Trends Online Survey was fielded to 472 application development professionals. Respondents were asked to comment on multiple ALM topics to guide ongoing ALM research. For quality assurance, panelists are required to provide contact information and answer basic questions about their firms size and development activities. Forrester fielded the survey in the first three weeks of March Exact sample sizes are provided in this report on a question-by-question basis. Surveys are not guaranteed to be representative of the entire application development population. Unless otherwise noted, statistical data is intended to be used for descriptive and not inferential purposes. ENDNOTES 1 These three capabilities are the key pillars that underlie Forrester s definition of ALM 2.0. See the August 18, 2006, The Changing Face Of Application Life-Cycle Management report. 2 For data on European SCM tool adoption trends, see the December 23, 2008, European Software Configuration Management Tool Adoption Trends report. June 18, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

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