Ill requirement management leads to many software projects failing. That is why a systematic way of prioritizing, documenting, and analyzing requirements is necessary and for this purpose, requirement management tools are used.
Traditionally, most organizations capture requirements by using requirements management tools and software. That’s why this article will look at the list of requirement management tools software teams are using in 2021.


What is RM?
Requirements management tools or software help remove uncertainty from a project’s requirements, such as assumptions, gray areas, wishful thinking, interpretations, etc. Therefore, free requirement management tool’s primary goal is to operate with exact, credible, and consented requirements.
Also, you use these requirement-gathering tools throughout the development process to conveniently test a project to ensure it is working as expected.
What is Requirements Management Software?
Requirements Management software helps companies align practical needs with IT functionality during the systems development or upgrade process.
Why Requirements Management Tools are Important?
While project management, we come across many vague and ambiguous situations where twisted requirements fail our projects and harm our business relationships. Also, sometimes, project managements fail due to a project manager’s limited technical and domain knowledge.
Naturally, you know well that documenting a project requirement is a tedious task. Also, it needs to spend your time creating a 100-page printout of an Excel spreadsheet.
As a project management expert says, the documentation of specifications appears to be the first deliverable to go. consequently, the last deliverable to be considered is when budgets are thin, deadlines are short, and scope creeps.
Simply, requirement management is an intense undertaking. But luckily, there are various tools out there to make requirement management easier for stakeholders to monitor, test, evaluate, visualize and communicate.
So, in this best requirement management software 2021 review, we will explain the features of these tools, what they do, and how to select the right device for your use.
Important Features of Requirements Management Tools
Firstly, let’s see some of the key features of modern requirement management tools.
Support for Different Software Development Methods
There are so many ways to develop software. Thus, a requirement management tool must be flexible and should accommodate a variety of software development techniques. Possibly, you develop your taste of it, even though you follow a specific methodology. As the team does the same, a requirements management tool that adopts different software development methods will adapt and change cosequently.
Traceability
A requirement traceability matrix helps ensure every functionality during Testing. A core aspect most teams search for in a requirements management tool is relating practical requirements to test cases, design specs, and other objects.
Hierarchical Organization
Sometimes you need to split down some requirements into smaller sub-items. For example, in agile, you call it “epic.” Effectively, an epic includes many different tasks, feature requests, or technical and business requirements.
At the same stage, a requirements management tool does not pigeonhole you into categorizing all the same way. Instead, be sure to use a hierarchy that works for you and your team to organize your requirements.
Security and Permissions
Some requirements might include classified information. So, a requirements tool should take safety seriously. Do the homework and see how the organization positions itself regarding security procedures.
Permissions or role-based access control helps you to include the whole team in the tool without worrying that they have so much access.
Collaboration Features
They all try to work harder and more successfully. However, when remote work becomes more critical, teams need reliable resources to work together.
Commenting, communicating, and interacting with team members on a requirement management tool will save you time and improve productivity.


What are Requirements Management Tools?
The management tools you require would differ depending on your project approach and objectives. Similarly, Your response to requirements can also vary depending on the methodologies. For example, some teams use different words for requirements such as “product requirements,” “user stories,” or simply “features.”
Basic Requirements Tools
Generally, you can use a word document template or simply a spreadsheet to fill in your requirements documentation for basic requirements management planning. Also, google sheets, Excel, or a Word document works as a basic requirement tool.
However, they might be problematic in some cases. As you rely on individuals to update the requirement document, it takes time and effort to guarantee that you are using the most recent version across teams.
Similarly, Managing reviews in a central location is difficult. Often, you need to handle email strings and in-person feedback that need to be entered manually in your documentation.
Complex Requirement Tools
Further, In more complicated requirements management planning, the tool may be an entire automated framework for handling the relationship between requirements, assessing the effects of changes, managing permissions, and more.
Luckily, from Atlassian, Jira is the most popular tool available in the market. It suggests some requirements management functionality, but it is not suitable in all cases.
Requirements Management Tools Selection Criteria
Whatever requirements management tool you use, there are some essential functions that any requirement tool has to achieve:
- Serve as a reference point for tracking project requirements and execution.
- Serve as a blueprint to help customers understand what to expect from the project.
Moreover, there is a wide range of requirements management tools, including portfolio management, modules for product management, customer management, release management, etc.
Here our primary focus is functionality that any requirements management tool presents to fulfill the main purpose. Therefore, you should look at the tool that exactly helps you collect, document, and manage requirements.
Here are our selection criteria for requirements management tools available in 2021:
Requirements Visualization
This criterion contains interactive flows and stimulations, graphical tools and reports, and functionality for graphic modules like SysML or UML modules, storyboards, and dashboards.
Requirements Management
This criterion contains the ability to classify requirements, model relationships between them, import-export requirements, and reuse requirements data for forming requirements documentation.
Real-Time Impact Analysis and Traceability
Impact analyses and Traceable analysis provide the ability to execute test cases. In effect, this helps you reduce risks by changing management processes as staff, requirements, decisions, and deadlines change inevitably over a project.
Collaboration
Reasonable requirements management tools can provide features for interacting with users and certain simple task management functionalities to allow for project coordination.
And This gives the ability to authorize, check, including electronic signatures, gather feedback and get updates about other users’ actions inside the software.
Integrations with Other Tools
The basis integrations you must look for are integrations with SW development tools, spreadsheet tools, and document tools. And all these tools should give accessible export/import reports and data to Excel and software requirements documents to Word.
The Best Requirements Management Tools
Here are some best requirements management tools for data gathering in 2021
Modern Requirements
Modern requirements help the team manage their requirements documents and enhance productivity. Also, automatic traceability analysis quickly and easily scans for requirements coverage. Moreover, they offer VSTS, a cloud, and a server version of their products.
Further, this requirements software is fully embedded with Microsoft’s Axure DevOps. And it provides your team with the chance to turn new and existing projects into a single source of truth. Also, they offer full integration by using their Sync Bridge.
Features:
- Allows Customizable document generation.
- AI-inspired BA Assistant- Alice.
- Three visualization types: Mock-ups, Diagrams, Use Cases.
- Baselining, Requirements reuse and Impact assessment
- Test Case Automation and User Story generation.
- Online review and approval.
- Planning boards and Customizable dashboards.
- Supports BABOK Agile, BABOK, Hybrid taxonomies, and Scrum.
- Online document authoring in pre-defined templates.
Jama software
Likewise, this software develops tools that help teams create better software. And their connect product allows you to run and assign tests directly associated with the requirements and features. This ensures test coverage and closing of all gaps. And this results in increased quality.
This tool can accurately communicate and capture goals, requirements, interdependencies, and progress throughout the development process. Also, it enables you to align firmware, hardware, and software development, improve efficiency, stakeholders, manage change, and prove compliance.
You can integrate Jama Connect requirements and test plans with PLM, ALM, and MBSE to ensure complete visibility, traceability, and collaboration across the process.
Features:
- Accurately capture and communicate goals, requirements, progress, and interdependencies during the development process.
- Integrate with PLM, ALM, QA, MBSE.
- Real-time impact analysis shows the effect of upstream and downstream requirements changes.
- End-to-end live traceability of data, people, and processes.
- Define, organize, and execute requirements-based test cases and plans.
- Reuse validated requirements to replicate features across products quickly
Visure Requirements
Visure Solutions is a trusted technical requirement ALM partner for all sorts of companies. It offers innovative, specialized, and user-friendly requirements management products to execute requirements engineering processes and efficient RM.
For collaboration management, Visure provides a commercial database and role-based sign-off methodology. This approach helps streamline the requirements review and approval process. And you can do configuration management via baselining, requirements versioning, and history tracking.
Features:
- Round-Trip integration with MS Word/Excel.
- Support various development processes, V-model, Agile, Waterfall.
- Collaborative role-based sign-off for Approval and review process.
- Test Management, Risk Management, Bug Tracking
- Requirements quality checker using semantic analysis and Natural Language Processing.
- Customizable standards compliance templates for IEC62304, ISO26262, IEC61508, DO178/C, FMEA, SPICE, CMMI, CENELEC50128, etc.
- Open environment integrated with various tools such as DOORS, Siemens Polarion, PTC, Jama, Perforce, JIRA, HP ALM, Microfocus ALM, PTC, TFS, Word, Excel, Enterprise Architect, Test RT, RTRT, LDRA, VectorCAST, and other tools
CA Agile Central
This is enterprise-class software. And it is built for scaling agile development practices. For instance, one of the best requirement tracking tools is to check predictability, productivity, and responsiveness using real-time performance metrics.
Features:
- Most importantly, it is a collaborative SaaS platform for agile software development.
- Also, it gives Real-time status tracking.
- And Customizable dashboards.
- Also, It is a highly scalable platform.
- Moreover, it helps business holders to achieve their business goals.
Agile Manager
The agile manager is for agile project management solutions to track, plan and execute agile projects. Also, it helps users remove latencies and adopts continuous improvement using on-premise or Saas development.
Features:
- Drag and drop interface gives easy capacity management and task allocation.
- Task and release planning boards let’s get a quick insight into the whole project.
- Advanced development analytics helps aggregate source code.
- It also allows information to get profound insights into application changes.
- Aligning agile teams with enterprise business objectives
- Also, it offers the highest quality of code.
Enterprise Architect
Enterprise requirement tool is the best requirement tractability tool. It supports integration flawlessly with other development tools by creating requirements in the model.
Features:
- First of all, it allows to build maintainable and robust systems
- Secondly, it loads extensive models in seconds.
- Also, it Collaborates effectively globally.
- It Offers complete traceability as well.
- And Improve business outcomes.
- Moreover, it Supports Single click HTML and document generation.
- Helps in Code execution to visual diagrams.
SpiraTeam
SpiraTeam is an integrated quality management and requirements tool by inflectra. And this platform is ideal for regulated industries where end-to-end and trial traceability is a must.
Features:
- It helps in the Management of project requirements and test cases.
- Also, it helps in Agile software development planning and Management.
- It provides Project portfolio management with executive dashboards for real-time analysis and reporting.
- Also, it gives Baselining for robust configuration management and version control of artifacts.
- It tracks bugs, issues, and tasks.
- Further ,it has Electronic signatures and document collaboration.
- Instant messaging and work collaboration.
- also it is available on-premise and cloud-hosted.
- Over 60 integrations, including Visual Studio, Jira, IBM doors, Perforce, Jama, Excel, etc
IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next
This is the best requirement management tool for optimizing, verifying, and collaborating requirements across the organization. So, this RM tool allows trace, capture, manage, and analyze changes to information.
The primary difference of IBM Engineering Requirements management Doors Next is its interoperability with other similar tools. This includes lifecycle management, system/software engineering, and team collaboration.
Features:
- Most importantly, it performs requirement management from the centralized location for better team collaboration.
- Also, it gives tractability by linking requirements to test plans, design items, test cases, etc.
- Most importantly, it presents scalability to address changing requirements management needs.
- It has a Test tracking toolkit for manual test environments to connect requirements to test cases.
- Also, It helps users to manage changes to requirements
Accompa
Accompa is the best requirement management tool. And it helps the user to track, capture, and manage requirements for any project. Moreover, it is cloud-based that is why there is no need to install or download.
Accompa does not offer a valuable collection of essential features. And these include automatic change, requirements traceability, and dependency tracking for impact analysis.
Features:
- First of all, you can customize it according to specific business needs.
- Secondly, it Stores and Manages Requirements in a Central Repository.
- Also, it allows automatic Requirements Gathering.
- And it Automatically tracks Changes and Dependencies.
- It Shares Requirements & collaborates in Real-Time.
- Also, it Prioritizes requirements by using a systematic methodology.
- Above all, it Saves Time & Reduces time for requirement management
Innsolate
Innsolate is a helpful requirement management tool. Also, it allows users to create or import documents easily. And a user can edit and review requirements directly.
Features:
- It is easy to use tool with continuous customer support.
- Swiftly capture requirements from other tools with the help of an import analyzer.
- Also, It runs on several devices like PC, MAC, Android, etc.
- Customize and extends according to the project’s needs.
- Also, it Evaluates requirements using natural language processing technology.
- Manage project changes with baseline and version control.
Gatherspace
Gatherspace is one of the first hosted web-based requirements management solutions. Moreover, it helps to address problems of project management catastrophes.
Features:
- Test cases/issues tracking
- Observing and collaboration
- Also, it Permits role-based permissions
- Help for REST and email API
- Easy Report generation
- Lastly, it acts as a dedicated account manager


Other Requirements Management Tools List
Here are some other Requirements management tools to check out:
- Valispace
- BlueprintmicroTOOL’s objectiF RPM
- Aha
- TopTeam Analyst
- ReqView
- Visual Trace Spec
- Cradle
- SpiraTeam
- Omnitracker
- Yonix
- Product Board
How to Pick the Best Tool for Your Team?
Learning to use and implement a requirement management tool is an investment in time and energy. Therefore, you want to make sure that you choose the ideal fit for your projects before you dive in.
so, here is some simple question you can ask during the selection process to narrow down your options.
What Do You Need It For?
If you need something that’s only one level up from Google Docs and a spreadsheet or are you searching for an enterprise-grade platform that can accommodate massive amounts of data and distributed teams?
Will you need additional features such as task management, risk management, or the ability to build mock-ups? Are you going to use applications exclusively for analyzing software?
So, generally speaking, here’s the primary software division to get you started: the lighter specifications management software includes ReQtest, Accompa, ReqSuite, and Pearls.
More comprehensive requirements management software includes Logical Gate, Orcanos, Perforce Helix RM, and Jama Software. Center of the lane, huh? Look at the Modern Requirements4DevOps and Caliber.
Do You Want to Buy a License or Obtain Cloud-based Software?
Most of the necessary documentation software includes a cloud-based service and an on-site implementation option. Though, with this in mind, there are some entirely cloud-based platforms, such as ReQtest, Accompa, and Orcanos.
So, you should value the ability to host an on-site solution. Consequently, you will be able to narrow down the options.
How Easy is it to Learn and Implement?
A few variables relate to how easy a solution is to understand and execute. Therefore, You can find the following underneath:
On-premise or cloud-based: A cloud-based Saas will be adequate to implement than an on-premise solution.
Availability of support and training: If you expect the staff to need some training and ongoing assistance, look at the requirements management tool that has gained recognition for its above-average training and support: ReqSuite, Accompa, Rational Doors, and Perfect Helix Rm.
Pre-built integrations: The requirements tools with the most extensive pre-existing integration are Accompa, JAMA, and Perfect Helix RM.
Top 5 Frequently Asked Questions
Requirements management tools help remove doubt, assumptions, gray areas, and interpretation from a project’s requirements.
What is the requirements management process?
Requirements management collects, evaluates, improves, prioritizes product requirements and then plans for their delivery. Therefore, objective of requirements management is to guarantee that the company confirms and meets its customers’ needs and internal and external stakeholders.
What is an ALM tool?
Application Life Cycle Management is a web-based tool that facilitates companies to manage the application life cycle right from requirements gathering and project planning until Testing & deployment, which is time-consuming.
What is the requirement life cycle?
The requirements life cycle starts with depicting a business need as a requirement. So, it persists through the development of a solution, and closes when a solution and the requirements that signify it are.
What are the five stages of requirement gathering?
Here are five steps:
• First of all, understand pain following the requirement.
• Reduce language ambiguity
• Pinpoint corner cases
• Write user stories.
• Lastly, make a definition Of “Don”