Perhaps you’ve heard of “glue” scripting, which is scripting designed to pull together various tools and processes into an integrated process automation.For example, suppose you have both ClearQuest from IBM and CA Harvest. Neither IBM nor CA have a real stake in integrating with the competitor’s tool, but you do. So what do you do? You create some nifty Perl scripts (because there are no other real scripting languages) to associate Harvest package promotion with ClearQuest record changes.

Well, we in OM Services have become sort of a people form of the same thing. We’ve had multiple engagements with the same companies, providing a consistent level of expertise and proprietary knowledge of each company’s software processes and automation technology.

Sometimes we even smooth out transitions from staff turnover and that’s where I think we act as “glue” in time. OK, so I have a physics background and can’t distinguish between time and space, but providing connectivity between two points is sort of what we do.

The goals of an SCM team charged with build management is to NOT have proprietary knowledge outside the team, but well, that can be expensive and sometimes impossible even when the funds are there. So, while we strive to meet the needs of our customers through services, we think the tool should provide that bridge, keeping the proprietary knowledge in house, and we in services are constantly feeding back our input into product development to achieve that goal.