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The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) helps organizations apply agile practices at scale. This article covers the top 10 SAFe tools to manage agile practices effectively:
- ServiceNow - Provides dependency visualization, collaboration features, and integrates with agile development tools.
- Rally Software - Offers portfolio management, collaboration tools, metric charts, capacity planning, and strategic alignment.
- SpiraPlan - Supports portfolio management, task management, risk management, planning boards, and reporting.
- Targetprocess - Visualizes dependencies, supports PI planning, and offers portfolio and product management features.
- Planview - Includes lean portfolio management, financial planning, agile delivery, and enterprise architecture modules.
- Digital.ai - Provides visual planning, collaboration, execution tracking, and flexible SAFe configurations.
- Atlassian Suite - Offers tools like Confluence, JIRA Software, JIRA Align, and Roadmaps for collaboration and portfolio management.
- SwiftEASe - Supports visual planning, lean execution, and collaboration across SAFe levels.
- Clarizen - Offers task management, project finances, and roadmaps for project management and collaboration.
- Jira Align - Provides sprint analysis, team metrics, quality management, and sprint progress tracking.
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Quick Comparison
| Tool | Portfolio Management | Collaboration Features | Sprint Analysis | Quality Management | Sprint Progress Tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ServiceNow | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rally Software | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SpiraPlan | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Targetprocess | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Planview | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Digital.ai | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Atlassian Suite | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SwiftEASe | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Clarizen | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Jira Align | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
This table compares the key features of each SAFe tool, allowing you to quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of each option based on your specific needs.
1. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a tool that helps manage digital workflows for large organizations. It combines various features to provide visibility into dependencies, sprint capacity, and workload.
Dependency Visualization
ServiceNow offers a unified backlog to manage all agile work in one place. This helps teams see dependencies, track work items, and collaborate across groups.
Collaboration Features
The tool provides agile/scrum planning boards for product owners and scrum masters to plan work, manage stories, and tasks. It also integrates with project portfolio management and performance analytics to help project managers build and run complex projects.
ServiceNow's IntegrationHub connects agile development tools like Jira and VersionOne with broader IT workflows. This single source of truth increases visibility and alignment, helping teams deliver software products faster and with higher quality.
2. Rally Software
Rally Software is an enterprise Agile planning tool designed to align work with business goals. It supports real-time iterative work for teams using various Agile methods, including SAFe and Value Stream Management (VSM).
Portfolio Management
Rally Software offers portfolio management, allowing users to link and view the entire hierarchy from themes to tasks. This helps product management see all product features and manage tasks effectively.
Collaboration Features
Rally Software connects teams, increasing collaboration and using data to boost productivity. It serves as a central hub for teams to plan, prioritize, and track work, which can be visualized in lists, boards, or timeline views. The tool also provides roll-ups of progress, dependencies, alignment, and plans, helping teams make informed decisions and stay focused on delivering value.
Key Features:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Metric Charts | Visualize key metrics to track progress and performance. |
| Capacity Planning | Manage team capacity to ensure balanced workloads. |
| Strategic Alignment | Align work with business goals and strategies. |
| Cumulative Flow Diagrams | Track work in progress and identify bottlenecks. |
| Custom Dashboards | Create personalized dashboards to monitor key metrics and progress. |
Notable brands such as Verizon and Honda use Rally Software, showing its effectiveness in large-scale Agile development and collaboration.
3. SpiraPlan
SpiraPlan supports various agile methods, including SAFe. It offers a rich set of tools for both product and team levels. Its visualization and mind mapping features help understand how release trains link to product releases and team iterations.
Portfolio Management
SpiraPlan provides a program and portfolio management module. This lets you manage solution trains, programs, solution backlogs, and deliver increments of functionality based on features, epics, and enablers.
Collaboration Features
SpiraPlan offers Agile tools, automations, and reporting features. It supports task management, requirements management, and risk management. All features are available regardless of the plan you choose.
Key Features:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Planning Board | Visualize projects and track progress. |
| Kanban Board | Manage tasks and workflow. |
| Gantt Charts | View project schedules and timelines. |
| Workload Planning | Manage team capacity and workload. |
| Long-term Planning | Plan and track project progress over time. |
| Reporting Features | Generate reports to track progress and performance. |
SpiraPlan is a useful tool for agile portfolio and risk management, offering a complete solution for managing and tracking multi-team agile software development.
4. Targetprocess
Targetprocess is a visual platform that connects Portfolio, Products, and Teams. It helps companies scale agile across the enterprise with pre-built templates for SAFe, LeSS, Nexus, and other frameworks. The tool is customizable to fit your project management needs.
Portfolio Management
Targetprocess supports creating iteration plans for teams. The Kanban board shows the status and progress of work. The Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) displays the amount of work in different Kanban stages. Burn-down and Burn-up charts provide visibility into team progress.
PI Planning
Targetprocess supports PI Planning for Teams in the ART. The visual Program Board shows dependencies between teams. The dashboard offers insight into the Program Predictability Measure. Features can be prioritized using the WSJF method. The RTE can manage cadence and milestones visually.
Dependency Visualization
Targetprocess supports online planning, communication, and execution of a Planning Interval (PI).
Collaboration Features
Targetprocess is useful for large-scale product management. It helps manage work, resources, and portfolios while aligning them to the strategy. The tool is configurable and can be used for SAFe implementations.
5. Planview
Planview is a cloud-based tool for managing work and resources. It helps companies move from planning to delivery, making it easier to handle changes and focus on delivering value.
Portfolio Management
Planview's Lean Portfolio Management helps adjust planning and funding to match market and customer changes. It includes modules for innovation, portfolios, lean management, financial planning, agile delivery, and enterprise architecture.
Collaboration Features
Planview supports various work methods, allowing teams to use tools like Jira and ADO. It connects strategic plans to costs and delivery, helping organizations plan, fund, and deliver value. The tool offers financial management features to explore different funding, cost, and capacity scenarios, keeping the focus on key outcomes and objectives.
Planview's Enterprise Agile Planning supports distributed Agile teams in planning, coordinating, and delivering business value. It offers:
- End-to-end visibility
- Dynamic Agile planning and prioritization at team, program, and portfolio levels
- Support for both traditional and Agile portfolios
- Support for Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
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6. Digital.ai
Digital.ai is a tool that helps organizations scale agile practices with value stream management software and services. It offers features for release planning, reporting, collaboration, and delivery predictability.
Portfolio Management
Digital.ai's VersionOne/CollabNet provides a centralized environment to simplify the adoption and implementation of the Scaled Agile Framework. It supports key constructs, practices, and metrics defined by SAFe, including Communities of Practice and DevOps.
Collaboration Features
The tool is used for visual planning, collaboration, and execution. It allows instant visibility of the strategy and investment across portfolios. Digital.ai's flexible planning hierarchy makes it easy to use any mix of configurations, from Essential to Full SAFe.
Key Features:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Visual Planning | Plan and track work visually. |
| Collaboration | Enhance team collaboration and communication. |
| Execution | Manage and execute tasks efficiently. |
| Strategy Visibility | See strategy and investment across portfolios. |
| Flexible Planning | Use various configurations for different SAFe levels. |
Digital.ai's VersionOne/CollabNet helps organizations align strategy with execution, enabling teams to deliver maximum impact and optimize ROI.
7. Atlassian Suite
Atlassian Suite offers a range of tools to support Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) implementation. It includes Confluence, JIRA Software, Easy Agile for JIRA, JIRA Align, BigPicture, and Roadmaps.
Collaboration Features
Atlassian Suite helps teams work together on requirements, documentation, decisions, and risks.
- Confluence: Teams can collaborate on content.
- JIRA Software: Offers scalable workflows and fields.
- Easy Agile Programs for JIRA: Enhances cross-team planning and management of dependencies.
Portfolio Management
JIRA Align helps large teams align their work with top-level goals. It includes dashboards, reports, and retrospective modules for flexibility in large organizations. Advanced Roadmaps assist in long-term planning and keeping stakeholders informed.
Key Tools:
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Confluence | Content collaboration |
| JIRA Software | Scalable workflows |
| Easy Agile Programs for JIRA | Cross-team planning |
| JIRA Align | Align work with goals |
| BigPicture | Project management |
| Roadmaps | Long-term planning |
Atlassian Suite provides a flexible solution for scaled agile transformation, making it a good choice for organizations implementing SAFe.
8. SwiftEASe
Portfolio Management
SwiftEASe is a visual tool for planning, execution, and collaboration in Lean/Agile software development using SAFe. It supports all 4 levels of SAFe and focuses on visual management and ease of use. SwiftEASe links strategic themes to business and architectural Epics, tracking both high-level Epics and team-level tasks.
PI Planning
SwiftEASe helps track risks and how they are addressed. It provides SAFe metrics to support IT governance and continuous improvement.
Collaboration Features
SwiftEASe allows business owners and leaders to track high-level goals alongside ground-level tasks. It offers a comprehensive view, enabling effective team collaboration.
Key Features:
| Feature | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Visual Planning | Supports all 4 levels of SAFe |
| Lean Execution | Focuses on visual management and ease of use |
| Collaboration | Tracks high-level goals and ground-level implementation |
SwiftEASe is a useful tool for software development teams, providing visibility and detail for team, program, solution, and portfolio levels. It integrates with other project management tools, making it a good choice for organizations using SAFe.
9. Clarizen
Portfolio Management
Clarizen is a cloud-based tool for managing projects, programs, and resources. It helps businesses keep track of multiple projects, providing visibility over workflows, resources, budgets, and timelines.
Collaboration Features
Clarizen makes it easy for teams to work together and align their tasks with business goals. It offers:
- Task Management: Manage tasks, track time, and integrate applications.
- Project Finances: Monitor project budgets and profitability.
- Project Roadmaps: Plan and manage project timelines.
Key Features:
| Feature | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Task Management | Manage tasks, track time, integrate apps |
| Project Finances | Monitor budgets and profitability |
| Project Roadmaps | Plan and manage project timelines |
Clarizen is a solid choice for project management and team collaboration, offering tools to help businesses manage their projects effectively.
10. Jira Align
Portfolio Management
Jira Align is a software tool for managing agile practices at scale. It supports various agile frameworks, including custom ones, making it suitable for large organizations.
Collaboration Features
Jira Align offers several features to help teams work together:
- Sprint Analysis: Provides a report comparing the team plan at the start of the sprint with the results.
- Sprint Team Metrics: Displays statistics like velocity, story splits, team emotion, and sprint goals across all sprints.
- Quality Management: Shows a visual snapshot of quality for each product line, including defect and test case breakdowns.
- Sprint Progress Tracking: Offers a detailed view of sprint progress per story, including the status of acceptance criteria and task breakdowns.
Key Features:
| Feature | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Sprint Analysis | Report for sprint planning and review |
| Sprint Team Metrics | Track team performance and velocity |
| Quality Management | Visualize quality metrics for product lines |
| Sprint Progress Tracking | Monitor sprint progress and story completion |
Jira Align is a strong tool for scaling agile practices across an organization, providing features for portfolio management, collaboration, and reporting.
Feature Comparison
Here is a comparison table of the key features of each tool listed in the article:
| Tool | Portfolio Management | Collaboration Features | Sprint Analysis | Quality Management | Sprint Progress Tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ServiceNow | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rally Software | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SpiraPlan | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Targetprocess | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Planview | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Digital.ai | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Atlassian Suite | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SwiftEASe | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Clarizen | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Jira Align | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Note: ✅ indicates that the tool has the feature. ❌ indicates that the tool does not have the feature.
This table provides a clear comparison of the key features of each tool, allowing readers to quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of each tool.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right SAFe tool for your organization can be challenging. By understanding your specific needs, you can narrow down the options and select the tool that best fits your business goals. The top 10 SAFe tools listed in this article offer various features to help you scale agile practices effectively.
Consider the following factors when evaluating SAFe tools:
- Portfolio Management
- Collaboration Features
- Sprint Analysis
- Quality Management
- Sprint Progress Tracking
By focusing on these aspects, you can ensure that your chosen tool aligns with your organization's needs and helps you achieve business agility.
We hope this article has provided useful insights to help you make an informed decision when selecting a SAFe tool. Happy exploring!
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