Template: Tool Information
This template provides a simple tabular format for collecting information about tools under consideration to support an organization's software development capabilities.
Relationships
Main Description

Tool Features and Functions

Create a list of features and functions for the type of tool you are studying. In most cases the tool vendors provide such lists. The table below shows a fraction of a list for configuration management tools.  

Features & Functions 

Versions all file system objects 
Versions directories 
Mixing of file types 
Compresses text and binaries 
... 

Tool and Vendor Criteria

Collect information about each tool for the following criteria. 

Tool
Criteria 

Comments 

Features  &
Functions 
The functionality that tool provides. This should be the overall conclusion of the 'Tool Features' table.  
Integration  The level of integration with other tools. How is information transferred between different tools? How well does the tool fit with your existing tools, and other tools that you are evaluating. Level of integration is often more important that features. Well integrated tools are more likely to be easier to use and maintain. 
Applicability 

How well the tool support your delivery process. Do you have to change the way you work in order to use the tool? Can you accept the trade-offs? Lack of applicability means that you may have to change the way you work, "design-to-tools". But, this may be worth considering if the tool has other strengths.

 
Extendibility  The ability to extend and customize the tool. Extendibility, is good since it means that you can adapt the tool to your needs. However, make sure that it doesn't take too long time to configure the tool, to make it  work. 
Team support  The ability to support a team of users. Does the tool support a team that is geographically distributed? 
Usability  The ease of learning and using the tool. Focus on the most common ways to use the tool. How long time does it take to be productive using the tool? Is the tool suitable for people who will use it infrequently? Be sure to look at the most commonly used functions. The fact that some rarely used function is difficult to use, can often be ignored. 
Quality  Depending on the kind of tool, the quality of the tool will determine the quality of the product you are building. Quality is important, especially when if have direct impact on the product  you develop. For example, a compiler that produces slow code, or an HTML editor that produce bad HTML. 
Performance  The total effectiveness of the tool, including capacity, accessibility, and response times. Bad performance may be acceptable if it affect functions or capabilities that are seldom used.  
Maturity  The tool's level of maturity. Some organizations would not buy a version 1 of a tool from a new vendor, regardless of how good the tool is supposed to be.  

Vendor
Criteria 

Comments 

Stability  You risk your future on the future the vendor. How long has the company been in business? How stable is the company? Are they investing in the tool? Is the tool in the main line for the company, or is it a sideline? 
Support availability  What support is available from the vendor, and/or potential partners? You may need help to install and configure the tool, and continuous support for the users. 
Training availability  What training is available from the vendor, and/or potential partners?  
Growth direction  How well the tool supports the direction where your development is going. Consider what direction your development is going. Will the tool support that direction, and other direction that you may want to go?  

Cost

The costs associated with acquiring and owning the tool, includes acquisition costs, implementation costs and maintenance costs. Decide how many users you have and for how long period of time, you want to calculate the cost. 

Cost

 

Comment 

Acquisition cost  The cost to purchase the tool. 
Implementation cost  The cost to have the tool installed and integrated with your existing development environment. This includes cost of training the users of the tool, both the users and people that will administer the tool. 
Maintenance cost  The on-going cost to make sure that the tool work and is used. This includes both the cost to administer the tool, to handle upgrades, and the on-going training cost for both the people that administer the tool, and the users of the tool.