10 Reasons for Enterprises to Use SpiraPlan for ALM (Application Lifecycle Management)
Enterprise Application Lifecycle Management demands more thorough and integrated systems for managing multiple projects at once. Unfortunately, most ALM software is actually designed for smaller teams and just claim to be able to scale to enterprises (but don’t tell you that this is via fragile plugins or with vastly slower performance) instead of being purpose-built for the needs of large organizations. The result is frustrating experiences integrating multiple apps to fill gaps in the ALM tool, paying excessively high fees for each plugin (and named seat), and rigid systems that struggle to adapt to different projects. This is where SpiraPlan comes in…
What is SpiraPlan?
SpiraPlan is our flagship program management platform designed for enterprise ALM. Its combination of vast functionality and intuitive user experience is unmatched by other options available on the market, making it easy to scale Agile in enterprise environments. SpiraPlan acts as the strategic command center of the Spira suite, extending the capabilities of SpiraTest and SpiraTeam to program and portfolio management, risk oversight, resource planning, and more. It also offers both cloud-based and on-premise deployments for different organizational needs (e.g. cloud for convenience, on-prem for data governance).
SpiraPlan delivers a 360-degree view across all of your projects, programs, and portfolios for more data-driven decisions. It puts Agile-friendly features and tools at your fingertips, from backlog boards to program alignment. SpiraPlan comes with built-in (and tightly integrated) modules for requirements, QA, risk, and reporting, reducing reliance on external plugins or add-ons like other ALM software does. SpiraPlan’s track record of concrete savings backs this up, providing up to 30% faster delivery with 40% fewer defects and 30% fewer risks for better ROI and time-to-value than other ALM competitors.
Looking for requirements management instead? See how SpiraTeam enhances requirements management here.
What Sets SpiraPlan Apart From Other ALM Software?
Interested in how SpiraPlan stacks up against other ALM tools? Browse a couple of the comparisons against popular platforms below:
SpiraPlan by Inflectra: Program Management & ALM For Scaling Agile & Enterprises
10 Reasons Why SpiraPlan Should Be Your ALM Software
1. SpiraPlan is a Turnkey, All-in-One ALM Platform
SpiraPlan includes all of the features you might need for enterprise ALM out of the box. Not only does this mean you don’t have to pay extra for a plugin to handle requirements, defect tracking, time tracking, or another key area, but it also means each tool works seamlessly and isn’t a cobbled-together web of third-party apps. This is critical for large organizations because they need a single, authoritative source of truth for audits, release planning, traceability, and cross-project reporting. When you’re forced to use different apps from different vendors because the core ALM software is missing features, it introduces integration debt (e.g. API breaks, multiple upgrade windows, inconsistent data models, etc.).
Turnkey enterprise ALM software like SpiraPlan eliminates these concerns, while also reducing implementation time, simplifying security reviews, and lowering maintenance overhead. SpiraPlan also differentiates itself from other ALM tools by acting as an integrated command center, so enterprises always have cohesive workflows and linking across artifacts. This functionality comes with the platform right out of the box instead of buying, licensing, and customizing multiple add-ons that may or may not work together.
2. SpiraPlan Provides Embedded QA & Traceability
SpiraPlan has native test management and QA capabilities with automatic artifact linking so requirements, test cases, automated test runs, defects, and releases are all traceable from end to end. Embedded traceability is key for enterprises (especially in regulated industries) to show which requirement produced which test, which tests failed, which defects were fixed, etc. — and then link that to releases. All of this facilitates more transparent evidence for audits, confident go/no-go decisions, and more.
Some ALM software bolt QA and test management functionality on as an afterthought or third-party add-on, resulting in inconsistent trace links. SpiraPlan’s trace links are native objects that are also searchable, reportable, and auditable. This reduces the risk of enterprises creating brittle cross-tool linking, providing consistent and queryable evidence for quality gates and certifications.
3. SpiraPlan Has Integrated Resource & Time Tracking
Resource allocation is a critical component of effective program management and ALM. Once again, SpiraPlan includes this out of the box instead of requiring plugins or upgrades to gain access to the functionality. It offers resource allocation views, percent allocation indicators, capacity planning, timesheets, manager approvals, and even pre-built timesheet/resource reports. All of this comes native to the ALM system, making it easier than ever for large teams to balance capacity across programs and projects.
This carries over to measurement and reporting, where SpiraPlan automatically tracks effort slippage, specialist skills, and audit-quality time records. Other tools that don’t include this functionality (e.g. common Jira setups use plugins like Tempo) typically end up creating slow and error-prone processes to track this information and reconcile planned vs. actuals. Not only does SpiraPlan make resource and time tracking more efficient and intuitive, but it also saves you money and integration overhead by not requiring extra add-ons.
4. SpiraPlan Embeds AI-Powered Features
SpiraPlan offers Inflectra.ai’s cutting-edge capabilities that help create and refine projects from either structured or unstructured inputs and existing artifacts. From user stories and acceptance criteria to test cases and risk suggestions, this can be set up with a single click inside SpiraPlan. This is invaluable for enterprises because they produce huge volumes of artifacts that need to be both scalable and organized. SpiraPlan’s AI-powered features accelerate processes like backlog grooming, generating test coverage, proposing risk mitigations, and identifying overlooked gaps.
Inflectra.ai’s impact on manual work and quality at scale all comes from within the ALM software instead of a separate tool for a more integrated and seamless experience without sacrificing governance. This also means that all AI outputs are first-class artifacts with all of the same traceability, audit trail, and governance as manually created items. Spira’s insulated environment keeps your data under your own control for more thorough security in regulated sectors.
5. SpiraPlan Supports Enterprise-Grade Program Management
For large teams that have multiple projects running concurrently, effective program and portfolio management becomes a must-have. SpiraPlan provides cross-project dashboards, inter-project dependency management, portfolio health views, milestone roll-ups, program-level risk and progress indicators, and much more. Enterprise ALM relies on features like this to align (and keep track of) strategy to delivery across several different teams.
However, they also need consolidated visibility for PMOs, CTOs, release managers, and other roles that need to make investment and tradeoff decisions quickly. SpiraPlan’s emphasis on program-level constructs (instead of just single-project boards) gives leaders easy access to roll-up metrics and intuitive drill-downs from portfolio health into the specific test cases that failed. Our availability on the AWS Marketplace and executive overview reports position SpiraPlan well for large organizations and enterprise ALM.
6. SpiraPlan Adapts to Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid
SpiraPlan is designed to be methodology-agnostic and flexible to support Scaled Agile, traditional Waterfall, and hybrid frameworks. This enables different programs to adopt the method that fits their regulatory, technical, or other requirements. Large enterprises rarely standardize fully on a single methodology, with different teams requiring different structures, so this flexibility is incredibly valuable. Having a unified tool like SpiraPlan that can adapt to any framework your teams need is a huge advantage for preventing tool sprawl and organizational friction between teams.
Because SpiraPlan’s object model and reporting are consistent across methodologies, portfolio reporting and governance don’t require custom data transformations when teams mix methods. This vastly simplifies roll-ups, audits, and cross-team planning so even large enterprises can remain relatively agile.
7. SpiraPlan Receives High Ratings for Usability
Third-party reviews from G2, Capterra, Gartner, and other platforms highlight SpiraPlan’s ease of setup, administration, and usability compared to other alternatives. For example, G2 reviews score SpiraPlan significantly higher than Jira for critical factors like “Ease of Use,” “Ease of Setup,” “Quality of Support,” and “Meets Requirements.” This matters for enterprises because faster adoption and easier administration directly translates to reduced change management costs (fewer training days, quicker onboarding, lower admin overhead).
For large organizations looking to roll out a tool or consolidate multiple tools across business units, predictability is an underrated area of value. Easy onboarding and lower-friction admin experiences are areas where SpiraPlan excels compared to its competitors. From our own case studies to third-party user reviews, SpiraPlan delivers that predictability for faster time-to-value in ALM software rollouts.
8. SpiraPlan Enables Regulatory Compliance
All Inflectra platforms are designed for compliance in regulated environments like healthcare, financial services, and aerospace. These sectors require documented testing, controlled records, electronic audit trails, and clear evidence that requirements were tested and verified. Enterprises also need a validated toolchain or formal validation guidance when the ALM itself forms part of regulated evidence.
Not only does SpiraPlan provide the required artifact-level control, audit trails, and validation guidance to demonstrate compliance, but we also publish industry-specific whitepapers to help users. These resources make it easier to map SpiraPlan processes to specific standards, which reduces the work of tool validation and evidence assembly.
Visit our Compliance Hub here to explore the various resources available.
9. SpiraPlan Has a Strong Global Support & Community
Not all ALM software is built for multinational or international enterprises — thankfully, SpiraPlan is. Our knowledge base, forums, webinars, whitepapers, and support are not only included with a product subscription, but also help users across the globe with hands-on assistance. Multinational deployments are almost always complex, so predictable SLAs, searchable documentation for global teams, and community ecosystems provide a valuable resource for fast answers.
SpiraPlan comes with free support access, deep documentation, targeted whitepapers, and an active set of additional resources to help enterprises reduce time to resolution. This also ensures you have a true partner during escalations or process transformations, rather than community-only vendors.
10. SpiraPlan Offers a Fair Licensing & Cost-Efficient Model
Not only does SpiraPlan include many features that other ecosystems treat as add-ons (saving you money), we also have transparent pricing tiers with a concurrent licensing model. Instead of paying for named seats that quickly add up and snowball, SpiraPlan’s pricing model reduces surprise costs, simplifies procurement, and removes per-feature negotiations across multiple vendors. Unlike other vendors, our concurrent user licensing means you only pay for the seats you use at a given time, which is especially valuable for enterprise teams spread across multiple time zones. This way, multiple people can share the same seats, using them when other team members are offline.
Upgrade Your ALM Software to SpiraPlan
There are several reasons why most ALM tools simply don’t cut it anymore. Thankfully, SpiraPlan takes enterprise Application Lifecycle Management to the next level for a modern and refreshing upgrade. From advanced capabilities and tools to more user-friendly interfaces and flexible pricing, SpiraPlan is the ultimate ALM software for enterprises running multiple projects and portfolios. Learn more about how SpiraPlan can improve your enterprise ALM and program management by browsing the additional resources and related pages below:
