Integrating with Perforce with Jazz – It is possible!

Just read a great new article on IBM Developerworks by Ken Kumagai.  It’s titled Integrate Perforce configuration management with Rational Team Concert 3.0, and it is a long article explaining how you can integrate with Perforce and use Perforce as your SCM solution in the Jazz environment.  The article goes over some of the use cases addressed by this solution, and it also provides guidance around the installation of the integration.  Ken does a great job of explaining how the integration is done, and provides the Perl scripts and plugin that are used to implement this integration.

Keep in mind that you will not have all of the functionality that you would have if you were using Jazz SCM, the integration just provides for the linking of Perforce changelists to Jazz work items.  This is not an integration that is done at the OSLC level.  For those customers that have an absolute need to keep Perforce as their SCM solution, this allows them to enjoy the advantages of the Jazz architecture without having to change SCM systems.

For those of you who don’t care about Perforce, the article is still informative.  It provides a nice example and reference implementation for the linking of other SCM solutions with the Jazz architecture.  Ken’s approach is something that you can use to link other tools and repositories into the jazz environment.

Innovate 2011 – Drop by the Jazz Cafe

It’s been a busy first half of the year for me, with a change in jobs, and the new CLM release.  This year I also get the pleasure of pulling together some subject matter experts for sessions at the Jazz Cafe, with a lot of help from Robin Garside.  I have an early copy of the schedule and agenda for the Jazz Cafe, being held again this year at Innovate 2011, which you can check out below.

The Jazz Cafe is going to be much more interactive this year.  We have had customers give us very positive feedback on the informal help and conversations that they have had with our experts in the Jazz Cafe.  This year we will also be running our own miniature conference, with subjects covering a wide array of topics.  Even if you have questions on a topic that is not on the schedule, I strongly encourage you to drop by.  We will have members of the Jazz Jumpstart team available to answer questions and address your issues (even if they aren’t on the schedule, or if you missed one of our sessions).  We’ll also have some people just grabbing coffee and relaxing between sessions in the Jazz Cafe.

So be sure to drop by the Jazz Cafe to make connections with our experts, meet other Jazz users, exchange ideas and approaches to address software development issues, and just relax in an informal and creative atmosphere.  The Cafe will be open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, from 9:45am to 11:00am, and again from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.

Here is a link to the schedule of events in the Jazz Cafe:

Jazz_Cafe_2011

Here is a quick look at it – but it might be small in your browser….