What Does Application Life Cycle Management Platform as a Service Mean?
Application life cycle management platform as a service (ALM PaaS) is a platform that makes use of cloud technologies and tools to deliver the core functionalities of application life cycle management (ALM). The core ALM capabilities are combined with the extensive features of Web services and cloud infrastructure to support both on-premise and cloud-based applications. ALM is the process of managing an application throughout its entire lifespan, right from its conceptualization to its retirement. It is an extension of software life cycle management and includes all the activities, including financing, performed by an organization in the development, promotion, maintenance and termination of the life cycle of an application.
Techopedia Explains Application Life Cycle Management Platform as a Service
ALM is a continuous process that is used for managing an application in the major aspects of governance, development and operations throughout its life cycle. An application’s life cycle starts from the conceptualization and ends with its removal when its business value has been outgrown or is considered to be no longer relevant.
ALM has to make sure that the various activities with respect to governance, development and operations are carried out properly and appropriately. Governance ensures that the business needs are satisfied, and development refers to the actual building of the application and its deployment. The operations are the work carried out by the application that needs to be monitored and managed. These three aspects of ALM must be managed well for optimization and are tightly connected. There are tools available that allow organizations to automate the process of ALM to improve efficiency and productivity.
PaaS is a cloud service that provides all the necessary platform and tool support for application development through cloud infrastructure and service delivery facilities. As a part of the set of tools provided by PaaS, ALM PaaS forms a specialized cloud service that caters to the ALM needs of applications developed using cloud technology or on-premises.
ALM PaaS eliminates the need to buy expensive ALM tools and provides the advantage of cloud computing to carry out ALM activities effectively. It reduces the cost, time and computing resources needed by an organization for managing its applications. It also promotes collaborative development and continuous delivery of an application. ALM PaaS also allows continuous integration and multistage development testing, and offers a productive environment during the application development life cycle.
