Introduction
DOORS Classic (version 9, often referred to as simply DOORS) and DOORS Next Generation (DNG) are both high-quality requirements management tools developed by IBM. If you're serious about optimizing your requirements management process, either of these tools is worth considering. For those who already use one or are contemplating adopting it, you might want to explore the differences between DOORS Classic and DOORS NG to determine which best suits your needs. You also have the option to migrate if you come to the conclusion that you would prefer the other one.
We, at Softacus, specialize in assisting with migration from DOORS Classic to DOORS Next Generation. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive comparison of pros and cons of DOORS Classic and DOORS NG and offer insights to help you decide which tool is the best for you.
DOORS and DOORS Next Generation in a nutshell
DOORS Classic is a legacy requirements management software that has been highly sought after by organizations for over two decades. DOORS helps organizations manage complex systems and product development. DOORS offers a powerful platform for managing requirements, impact analysis, tracing dependencies and generating reports. DOORS is often used in aerospace, defense, and automotive industries, where safety-critical systems are being developed
DOORS Next Generation (DNG), on the other hand, is a modern, web-based requirements management tool designed with Agile, DevOps, and continuous delivery practices in mind. Built on IBM's Jazz Platform, DNG enables teams to collaborate on requirements in real time, capture feedback, and trace changes seamlessly.
DNG is designed with modern software development practices in mind and works with practices, such as Agile, DevOps and continuous delivery. DNG presents a collaborative platform that allows teams to cooperate on requirements, capture feedback and trace changes in real-time.
1.) Requirements as offered by the Jazz Platform for DNG
DOORS NG is a part of the Jazz Platform which also offers planning, software configuration management, build management, verification, test case design and execution, bug tracking, design management, “MBSE”, reporting, publishing as well as global configuration management.
2.) Requirements as offered by DOORS 9 (DOORS Classic)
Main differences between DOORS and DNG
While DOORS and DNG have some similarities, both have differences that make them applicable for different use cases. With a basic overview of both done, let's look deeper into what makes DOORS and DNG special and distinct from one another.
The main differences between the two can be summed up into 5 categories:
1. Architecture:
The first huge difference between DNG and DOORS is that DNG is web-based. What does this mean and what are the impacts? In short, being web-based, means that most of the logic is on the server as opposed to on the client. This makes it possible for DNG to load quickly (1-8 seconds), however it cannot handle large volumes of views because of limitations. Being web-based also allows it to excel in availability and accessibility. DNG is available on multiple devices so that you can always have the possibility to use it if the need arises. The accessibility is best reflected in how easy it is to assign and onboard new users. Since it is web-based, all they need is to sign in from their device. Management of projects is also simpler, since you can add, move around and manage different people working on different projects according to your needs with a few clicks.
DOORS Classic is as the name suggests, very classic in its architecture. Some of the logic is on the server but most of it is on the client. This is why there is the disadvantage of having to install thick clients, which takes a lot of time and is cumbersome. However it also means that with DOORS, you have the ability to perform ad-hoc calculations (calculations that you can create and update as you work with a field in the view) which have not been really written on the database in the UI and to perform recalculations of DXL attributes. The disadvantage in logic being mostly client-side is that the UI is often overloaded by users and there are long initial loading times for modules.
2. User Interface:
DNG has a novel, user-friendly web-based user interface that is very extendable. It has been designed to be modern with the IBM Carbon design system. DOORS Next web client offers tools for defining requirements in rich-text documents. One of the strong points of the DNG user interface is also intuitive visual representation in the form of storyboards, user interface sketches, use case diagrams, business process diagrams and screen flows.
DOORS Classic has a complex desktop application that can take some time to learn. Users can customize the layout of the user interface to suit their needs. However the look of the DOORS UI is not very modern as it was created in the 1990s and it shows. It would certainly take some time to get used to for new users and can be considered one of the biggest disadvantages of DOORS Classic as the user interface is a very important part of any software product since it usually determines how convenient and intuitive the use of that specific software is.
3. Collaboration:
Users may collaborate in real-time on requirements thanks to the real-time collaboration tools provided by DOORS Next Generation. It enables simultaneous work from several users on the same requirement, enabling real-time collaboration. Additionally, the comments, alerts, and traceability capabilities provided by DNG aid in team collaboration. DNG is built on the Jazz platform, which is designed to support collaborative development. Another advantage of DNG in this regard is the aforementioned accessibility and availability, which make the process of collaboration simpler for everyone and less-time consuming for managers and new users.
DOORS Classic has a complex desktop application that can take some time to learn. Users can customize the layout of the user interface to suit their needs. However the look of the UI is not very modern as it was created in the 1990s and it shows. It would certainly take some time to get used to for new users and can be considered one of the biggest disadvantages of DOORS Classic as the user interface is a very important part of any software product, since it usually determines how convenient and intuitive the use of that specific software is.
DOORS Classic is designed more for individual use and has limited collaboration features. It offers basic collaboration features, such as user access control, version control, and traceability. However, it lacks modern collaboration features, such as real-time collaboration, co-authoring, and commenting. It also needs to be stated, that the process of collaboration is made more problematic with DOORS because of the need to go through several time-consuming steps when introducing new users and the added complexity with managing projects through the bit outdated UI.
4. Flexibility and Customization:
Flexibility and customization go hand in hand as flexibility of a tool is mostly a result of how customizable it is.
Given that it can be accessible from any web browser and that it may be hosted on-premises or in the cloud, DOORS Next Generation offers tremendous flexibility in terms of deployment and accessibility, however it is limited in customization. It may be deployed and integrated with other IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) solutions. It operates as an application on the Jazz server. DNG has several open options for customization (Python, Java, Angular), however customizing it to your exact needs may be problematic as you may need to use REST APIs or reverse engineering to make everything work as intended.
Softacus can help you with making this process easier through our premade libraries and by giving you the know-how you need to get started and improve rapidly in customization.
DOORS can be customized through DXL (DOORS Extension Language), which is somewhat similar to C and C++. It does provide a fair amount of customization and setup freedom, much more than DNG. The tool's capability may be increased by using scripting and automation, which are supported by DOORS version 9.
5.Technical Design
Regarding the technical design of DNG, an important fact is that the support for global configuration includes for example branching, merging and others, which enable you to reuse configurations in different versions or variants of software and product lines.
With DNG, baselines are per component or project area (baseline is an unchangeable object that represents a configuration of a component at a specific point in time), which is something that brings certain advantages but also certain disadvantages.
Another very important and useful thing is that in DNG, you can write future versions of a requirement via future stream or changeset.
With DOORS Classic, there is support for baselines, which are done on a module level and it can utilize baseline sets (provide the baseline version number, baseline suffix, and baseline description for each of the modules that you baseline to the set), however they are rarely used due to their complexity.
One of the drawbacks of the technical design in DOORS is that object types are just an enumeration attribute without any function. All objects share the same set of attributes per module in DOORS, whereas in DNG each artifact type can be defined with its own set of attributes which are shared in one component.
DOORS Classic is also always working on the current stream, which means that you cannot continue on old streams or baselines even if you wished to change something on them. This is different in DNG, since it allows you to do so by branching from any baseline or other stream.
Regarding Modules = Modules can be defined as a structured document that is composed of multiple artifacts. In DOORS Next Generation, one of the main roles of modules is to embed artifacts. However, the artifacts are also unique in the form of base artifacts (artifacts created and managed in a project independently from a module). They can be reused across modules in the same project.
In DOORS Classic however, modules are a bit more restricting, for example an object belongs strictly to a module and so cannot exist without a module. IDs are also module specific.
Comparison
So in conclusion to summarize.
If your organization is looking for a more collaborative and agile approach to requirements management with advanced features for requirements management, collaboration, and scalability and less flexibility in terms of customization and configuration is not a problem, then DNG may be a better option. It is an all-around great modern web-based requirements management tool that is relatively easy to get into with very good accessibility and availability.
In the case that you require a highly customizable and controlled environment for requirements management with a high degree of flexibility and customization but can compromise on the lack of modern features (e.g. in collaboration), DOORS Classic may be a better fit. It also has to be mentioned that its 90s design and UI can be a problem for some and that most of the logic is on the client.
If you are already using DOORS Classic and you decide that you want to migrate to DOORS New Generation, Softacus is here to help you. You can exchange licenses for DOORS Classic with DNG for free or use a ratio of DOORS to DNG (for example, if you have one hundred DOORS licenses, you can decide to use fifty licenses for DOORS and fifty for DNG).
Softacus can provide you with the tools, procedures and know-how for your transitioning from DOORS Classic to DOORS Next Generation. Don’t hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to help you.
Here is a link to some of the extensions WE provide for DOORS Next Generation: https://softacus.com/products/application-lifecycle-management/doors-next-generation/extensions
3.) DOORS - DOORS Next Comparison Table Overview
Softacus Services
We, in Softacus, are experts when it comes to consulting and service delivery of IBM software products and solutions in your business. We help our clients to improve visibility and transparency when licensing and managing commercial software, providing measurable value while increasing efficiency and accountability.
Here are some of the services we offer that relate to DOORS Next Generation: https://softacus.com/products/application-lifecycle-management/doors-next-generation/services
Related and Referenced Topics
Blog Articles:
Basics of Links and Link Types in IBM DOORS Next Generation - learn the basics about the linking and link types in IBM DOORS Next.
IBM DOORS NG Extending Capabilities - learn how to extend DNG and the limitations and possibilities of these extensions
DOORS NG Modules, Artifacts and Project Area Templates - Learn About the types of Templates available and used in DOORS NG
Softacus Widgets:
Link Switcher - widget developed by Softacus, that converts the context of artifacts links in a very short time.
Module Link Statistics - extension that provides users with a quick overview of the amount of the links in specific link types in a module.
Link Type Change- extension developed by Softacus designed to enhance the functionality of DOORS Next Generation by allowing users to manipulate the direction of a link or convert it to another type of link.
Links Builder- extension that allows the users to create a link between two artifacts in DOORS Next Generation according to the certain rules.
Link by Foreign Attribute - this extension allows users to create links between artifacts in the selected module(s), based on the attributes values.
Show Attributes of Linked Artifacts - this extension shows the attributes and links of the artifact that is currently selected.
