New interfaces

Remain Software solutions allow users to choose technology which they find best for their specific needs. TD/OMS which is already integrated with several top solutions for IBM i development (eg. X-Analysis or RPG Toolbox) opened the ALM doors also for companies considering web enabling of their RPG applications with open source languages. Version 8 of TD/OMS gained an interface for WebSmart PHP (BCD Software) to enable controlled process of transforming legacy applications with WebSmart templates. Information about WebSmart PHP applications is stored and easily accessible using TD/OMS, which provides a central repository for WebSmart definitions and related native IBM i objects.

Another significant integration gained by TD/OMS is the JIRA Software and Service Desk interface. It allows JIRA users to enhance their software development workflow with application lifecycle management functionality of TD/OMS. While JIRA takes care of the communication and task flow between team members; TD/OMS assures version control, automated multiplatform deployment, fallback mechanism, graphical impact analysis, peer review, and other functionality which will help software developers and DevOps to deliver high quality code and stable, well-working applications.

Earlier this month Remain also announced the new interface for CA 2E which supports management of business applications built with the CA 2E case tool and allows greater insight, control and predictability of CA 2E software changes and their impact on the entire application environment..

New functionality

TD/OMS is enriched with many new functions on the GUI and Kernel level. All the enhancements make working with the tool even more user friendly and allow faster and more secure management of software changes. Users can now benefit from component view enhancements which enable a quick search over all components managed by TD/OMS to find the particular object the user is looking for. The selected filter can be saved and used for the future searches.

Another interesting feature is a possibility to specify the compile functions and if the compilation process should take place regardless if any errors occurred.

Further improvements include support for secure connection, an enhanced online help experience, improved building with the new build queue, spooled files management, a new fresh look for the standalone client, a template to create new object names, interface with X-Analysis V12, and many more minor issues and enhancements.

The road to this new version has been done in 3 milestones and one release candidate. The number of tasks completed per milestone was 11 for milestone 1, 27 for milestone 2, 32 for milestone 3 and again 27 for Release Candidate 2. 14 tasks did not make the cut and are transferred to milestone 1 of release 9 which will be officially released on October 19, 2016 (but every new fix and enhancement is also available directly from the build for everyone who wants to live on the cutting edge).

“Every new release of our product is a celebration for the Remain team. It’s an end of a certain period in our development process and a beginning of the new time, with new planning, new ideas, and empowering the vision of our future-proof products. We aim at developing our software according to the latest IBM i development trends and according to feedback and needs our clients communicate to us. We are open to support various development platforms and development tooling (CA 2E, CA Plex, WebSmart PHP) and to integrate TD/OMS with various productivity tools (Gravity, JIRA, and others) to provide the most comprehensive offering.” - Says Wim Jongman, managing director and CTO at Remain. 

TD/OMS IBM i Application Lifecycle Management incorporates fundamental IT business processes such as Software Change Management, Version Management, Release Management, and Software Distribution & Deployment and which supports software developers, DevOps, IT managers in more effective development, maintenance and modernization of their IBM i applications. The new release of TD/OMS becomes officially available for all current and new customers as of June 30, 2016.