>>>>>Does anybody here have a good suggestion for an inexpensive RM tool? The big players in the field (DOORS, Caliber, etc.) have some terrific tools, but at a startup cost of around $15,000, they're too expensive for my company's president.
>>>>>
>>>>>Suggestions?
>>>>
>>>>www.rational.com
>>>
>>>
>>>Yeah, I've looked into Rational. The RequisitePro tool is okay, but not isn't particularly strong on reporting and traceability. Rational's stuff is best when integrated deeply with UML, which RequisitePro isn't. And to get the whole suite, we're back at $6-8,000. Sigh.
>>>
>>>Looks like it may be time to roll my own... :)
>>
>>Hi Scott:
>>
>>Sorry I didn't see this last night when I had access to my home PC, and could give you the info directly. Someone from a collaborative group I belong to had a free tool for this, used for government contract work, several months ago. I took a quick look, and it seemed relatively easy to use and understand.
>>
>>I'm going out of town & computer-less until Monday, but if you have a more urgent need to look into this, contact: David Chilcott at drc@outformations.com, and ask him to forward the link to you (from the E-Groups forum he hosts/runs).
>>
>>HTH
>>
>>Rob
>
>Hi Scott:
>
>Just got back in town and looked up the ARM tool I mentioned on Friday. Here was the message I was thinking of:. Not sure its what you had in mind
>after all...
>
>*****************
>Subject: NASA's Automated Requirements Mgmt (ARM) Tool V2.1
> Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 12:26:53 -0800
>
>Interesting... check this out at spi@eGroups.com
>To subscribe use: spi-subscribe@eGroups.com
>
> I have uploaded the latest version (V2.1) of NASA's Automated
> Requirements Management (ARM) tool. It can be found in the VAULT section
> under Tools (arm95_v2_1.zip). Here is some background information about the
> tool (courtesy of NASA's website
> http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/tools/arm/index.html):
>
> The Automated Requirement Measurement (ARM) Tool was developed by the
> Software Assurance Technology Center (SATC) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight
> Center as an early life cycle tool for assessing requirements that are
> specified in natural language. The objective of the ARM tool is to provide
> measures that can be used by project managers to assess the quality of a
> requirements specification document. The tool is not intended to evaluate
> the correctness of the specified requirements. It is an aid to "writing the
> requirements right", not "writing the right requirements".
> The ARM tool searches each line of the requirements document for specific
> words and phrases the SATC has identified as quality indicators. Using these
> indicators, the ARM tool creates a file that includes three reports. This
> file contains a Summary Report, a detailed Imperative Report and a detailed
> Weak Phrase Report. The ARM Summary Report includes the total number of
> times each quality indicator occurs in the requirements document. The
> location within the source file of each specification statement identified
> by the tool and a copy of the specification statement are listed by the
> Imperative Report. The Weak Phrases Report lists the location and
> specifications that contain indicators that are considered to be phrases
> that weaken the specification.
>
> I've used the tool before (previous assignment) and was really
> impressed with the tool and the results. It was used not only on
> Requirements documents, but Functional Descriptions and Statements of Work
> as well. It made a BIG difference in the quality of the documents! And, you
> can't beat the price (freeware).
>
> Mike
>
> MICHAEL S. BANDOR, TSgt, USAF
> Officer PRISM Programmer Analyst
> AFPC/DPDMSC
> 550 C Street West Suite 23
> Randolph AFB, TX 78150-4725
> DSN 665-6668 Commercial: (210) 565-6668
> Email: Michael.Bandor@afpc.randolph.af.mil
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> If you know of someone interested in Software Process Improvement, click the link below to Recommend-It(r)
> to them.
> http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=477078 eGroup home: http://www.egroups.com/group/spi/fullinfo.html
> Subscribe via mailto:spi-subscribe@egroups.com or to me at mailto:spi-owner@egroups.com
>
>*********************
>
>As I say, this may not really be what you want, but you might find it interesting all the same.
>
>Good Luck.
>
>Rob

Rob...

Thanks for the link. I downloaded it and read about its functionality. Interesting, and I might be able to use it if I'm not able to get up and running with a genuine RM tool.

Thanks again!

Scott