Google Wave

2009-05-30T19:08:00.008+02:00

I'm really excited about this one:

Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year. Watch the demo video below. It will come with an API similar to Google Maps and is being developed using the GWT (Google Web Toolkit), which - btw - rumours say - is currently also used by CA Development for the new CA Clarity PPM User Interface. This new UI may be part of the next major release of CA Clarity PPM.

Introduction

2009-05-02T14:55:00.011+02:00

In this blog I'm trying to focus on various points - functional and technical - relevant when looking for a PPM solution or when you already use CA Clarity.

First of all - if you found this page - I assume you do not need introduction to the Enterprise Project- and Portfoliomanagement Application CA Clarity PPM.

In case you're fairly new to the "Clarity" topic here's a short 'about' :

The vendor CA (Computer Associates) describes it like this : "Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) processes and tools enable an organization to improve investment decision making, enhance productivity and efficiency, and quickly adapt to dynamic business conditions. CA Clarity PPM is a functionally rich and comprehensive PPM solution that provides the control and flexibility necessary to improve investment decision-making and subsequently, strengthen your organization's ability to deliver on those commitments."

As a consultant with 7 years + experience in this field and especially with Clarity I can absolutely back this up. You might throw in that this is totally vage and doesn't say much about your actual situation ? Good point and this is going to be a big topic for future Blog postings, so hang in there.

The tool provides the following core modules:

CA furthermore provides pre-configured sets and best practice content named "Add-Ins".
They usually help customer to not start from scratch when building data containers, workflows and views on their Portfolio.

And finally the technological archticeture is based on a state-of-the art J2EE application. It provides easy and quick integration potential based on XML and Webservices, maximum fexibility and scalability by cluster support and highest accesibility by supporting a zero-client environment - means that you do not necessarily need to install something on your computer (no Java, no Active-X, no local application setup) in order to use CA Clarity for most scenarios.

The marketing guys love to pull out the following Gartner Magic Quadrant:

Source: http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/microsoft/157924.html

It somehow reflects the "shark tank" of the PPM application vendors and Clarity is leading it for years now.

Clarity was originally born within Niku, a San Jose based company that was aquired by CA in 2005.
Before that Niku aquired the New York based company ABT in 2000 out of which the Niku Portfolio Manager (NPM) arised.

The version history looks like this - at least for the versions I previously had the pleasure to work with :

Niku Portfolio Manager 5
Niku 6.0.13
Niku 6.1.3
Niku 6.1.4
Niku 6.1.5
Clarity 7.0.2
Clarity 7.5
Clarity 7.5.1
Clarity 7.5.2
Clarity 7.5.3
CA Clarity 8.0
CA Clarity 8.1
CA Clarity 12
CA Clarity 12.0.1 (latest Service Pack)

So much for history, marketing and 'about'. Enjoy the weekend. More on how this helps YOUR situation next time.

Clarity Insider

Google Wave

Introduction