PTC Integrity Reviews

I am still working with PTC Integrity because we have a lot of customizations and we have been working for the past 10 years on it. We are planning and proposing to go to a different tool such as Codebeamer, but since our customers are still using Integrity, we cannot have a one-to-one replica or mirror replica of Integrity with Codebeamer because our customization is very high. That is the reason I am still working with Integrity itself.

PTC Integrity's key use case is document management and requirement management. However, the use case which we are using is glossary management, test order management, and product chain management, which means document product chain management. These are the things which we use it for primarily: document chain management, glossary management, and requirement management. As a generic ALM tool, we use it for all three of these, and also for test order management. The reason is because we had test order in some other tool and we wanted a fast way to import it into a reliable tool five to six years back. The only reliable tool at that time was PTC Integrity, and nothing such as Codebeamer existed at that time, and we did not have any AI during that period. PTC Integrity was something which was used in NASA and by companies such as Boeing and all the major aeronautical manufacturing industries. This was the go-to tool for everything, particularly for whoever had indulged in customization.

PTC Integrity provides some set of APIs which makes it very flexible to build an end-to-end SaaS product and an end-to-end software product. For example, I currently work with Java and .NET, and we are using PTC Integrity as one layer on top of Java and .NET while trying to build upon our business modules. Java and .NET are just very raw languages where you have a language but nothing else, and you need to code everything out. I can take PTC Integrity as another box on top of Java, .NET, or Python, and on top of that box, we are building our own module. This gives us one more level of granularity for us. I don't need to do everything from scratch. I don't need to create a text box from scratch, and I don't need to create a relationship field. Whether I am doing it in Python, Java, or .NET, I would have to create a relationship field from scratch, but I don't need to do it with PTC Integrity. The amount of APIs which PTC Integrity gives is also valuable.

PTC Integrity should get rid of the old thick client and move everything to the thin client. The thin client should be made the single source of truth, the way it is for Codebeamer. PTC Integrity should try to integrate this with AI and should have automatic requirement to test case mapping and other AI features that are in Codebeamer.

It is not easy for people to migrate from one tool to another, even though it is from the same product. PTC took over the In-Link product, so if I have to migrate my Integrity to In-Link, why would I replicate everything here? People are happy with what they have. The only headache is the thick client, which is a problem for the installation team. By having a thin client, people can directly open it from the web browser and it would be much easier and much better than a thick client on the system. With a thick client, you have Java installation that needs to be done and you have all those certificates to be installed for SSL. With a thin client, it would be much better and you could do all the administrative things also in that. I don't understand why they want a thick client. They could replace it with a thin client, the way it is for Codebeamer. They should incorporate all the AI things. PTC Integrity should become another tool with all the new features and new enhancements, and they should eliminate the thick client altogether.

I would rate the stability of PTC Integrity as a seven because when we were using a highly customized product, and we reached around 3,000 fields with relationship fields and all, the performance of the system became very slow. There is no way to optimize the fields. PTC says to minimize the fields, but our requirement is that we cannot go with one field and do magic because our customization will be more if we try to manipulate with one field. To simplify our customization, we try to use more fields. When we use more fields, the performance hits back and slows down. There is a limit in the way the database handles things. Any tool, even Codebeamer, does the same thing, but the only thing is that we cannot restrict a person from using many fields and tell them to not use this many fields because I want to use different fields and I cannot do my whole functionality with a single field. I want to use ten relationship fields and twenty IBPL fields, and then thirty IBPL fields because I want to minimize on the triggering scripts which I need to write. PTC Integrity is great in this way, but if the number of these fields increases, it takes a very slow time to load.

When we talk about scalability, we are currently trying it for 2,000 users, but as I mentioned, when the number of fields increases, it does not become scalable and becomes very slower. That is why I am giving both stability and scalability a rating of seven.

I would rate technical support from PTC around six to seven, but when it comes to customization, they wash away their hands and said that I should talk to their services sector and services group. They are not ready to share some inbuilt plugins which they have, which may be a violation of their intellectual rights, but support is only good for some small issues. I can do that with ChatGPT and get answers without needing PTC support for it. I only need help when we need to put some additional plugins into this thing. Nowadays, with AI coming up, PTC support is just okay. If they have an internal LLM and can share it, I don't think we would really need that support either. We could directly do it through a chat. I would say it is six or seven because that is their limitation. They support well, but only for some small things. That is okay for some smaller things because they also search through the documents and provide answers. What I had suggested is that they should give an AI LLM model for us which they are using internally. We would only find the answers based on the error message instead of putting a support ticket and then running behind them.

Positive

The initial setup process for PTC Integrity is very simple. I am not saying client setting is very simple. The only thing what I want is that PTC Integrity requires you to have SQL Server Enterprise Edition or Oracle Enterprise Edition. Why can't they have something like a community edition for PostgreSQL or MySQL? Why should a customer put money for having licensed Java on his system? Why should they go for an enterprise SQL Server or enterprise Oracle?

Additionally, PTC Integrity has something called an "Edit in Word" functionality where you can edit in Word. For that, you require Office 365 64-bit. Some companies, like ours, have Office 365 32-bit because we need it for some other applications which are in the company. These people in Integrity said we need a 64-bit system. What happens is that just for one tool, the whole 100,000 people cannot change their software. This is one more thing. These "Edit in Word" functionalities which are binded with the thick client, we don't want because they say you should use a 64-bit system, not a 32-bit Office 365. So we are using 64-bit Office 365. We cannot migrate all the 100,000 users of our organization to 64-bit because other applications such as SAP and ERP are using 32-bit. Just because of Integrity, we cannot do this. This is not flexible enough as a product.

Second, why should I have Java installed on my system? If a vulnerability exists in Java, I should push a new patch to all the 3,000 systems whose end users are using it.

I don't go with pricing for PTC Integrity because what happens is we have a series of PLM products. We have Windchill, Creo, SLM, PTC Integrity, and Windchill RV&V. For us, we may get it at a discounted price. That price only matters for people who only want PTC Integrity. For us, it comes at a discounted price because we use a PTC suite of products. We use the same license for Codebeamer as well. For you, if you want to do a standalone installation, you have different products and it may be costly. We are using it as a different thing and it comes at a discounted price for us.

Regarding the traceability feature, we don't use traceability to such a high level because, as I mentioned, we are not using any safety modules for our applications which are out-of-box. We use traceability at a very minimal level. We are using this ALM tool as a software development tool rather than an ALM tool. We are not exploiting the whole ALM features, but primarily we are using it as a module for our custom development.

We are not using the analytics function of PTC Integrity. What we do is we export the XLS of Integrity and put it into a third-party tool such as C-level procurement analytics. We have a third-party vendor and they display all the dashboards and indicate which zone is making which amount of profit. We don't use PTC Integrity or PTC in our application for this.

When we talk about collaboration, PTC Integrity is easy to integrate and collaborate with other solutions. Codebeamer has come because Integrity does not have AI-related features because it is a pretty old tool. PTC Integrity is causing us a headache. We have to install it in 3,000 different systems. You cannot install PTC Integrity through right-click and run as administrator. It has to come through iTunes or a LANDesk package from a central repository. What happens is that it uses Java. If there is a vulnerability in some Java, the LANDesk team or the central packaging team has to redeploy everything and push the new package when there is a vulnerability attack. This thick client is causing a lot of pain in the long run. We are looking for a thin client solution, but we have such a high level of customization that we cannot mirror it in a different tool. I want to mirror it in some Jama tool or a Codebeamer or IBM DOORS, but it is next to impossible because our customization is tied to this particular tool itself.

I would rate this product overall as an eight out of ten.

Neutral

I use the tool to create tasks or change requests and documentation. Earlier, I used it for configuration management, requirement analysis and writing of test cases. Currently, I'm only using it for creating tasks or change requests.

I personally like PTC Integrity because it provides everything within the software. You can store and access your data and perform various tasks. Compared to other products, I find it user-friendly, which can sometimes feel complex. I think PTC Integrity is user-friendly, making it nice to use. The tool is easier to learn. 

The tool has a dashboard that details our projects and products, including the number of tasks, change requests, and their statuses (incomplete or complete). Having all this data within the solution makes collaborating easy for our project team. Unlike using multiple tools, having everything we need in one software platform is convenient.

I rate the tool's user experience and interface a nine point five out of ten. 

From my experience over the years, I believe there might be room for improvement in PTC Integrity. While it's already a good product, it tends to be slower than other software. When it becomes bulky, it slows down even more, sometimes leading to crashes or hangs that require restarting the computer before being able to use PTC Integrity again. This has been my experience multiple times.

I have been using the product for six years. 

Overall, PTC Integrity is generally stable but occasionally breaks down. However, these occurrences are rare. When it breaks down, it requires restarting and regaining work progress, especially when responding slowly.

My company has 10,000-20,000 employees. About 80 percent of our employees use it. People in technical fields, particularly configuration management, are using PTC Integrity. The number can be between 10,000-15,000. It's the best software to add more users. 

I haven't contacted the technical support team yet. 

The tool's deployment is easy. The deployment time varies. Sometimes, it can happen within a minute, while other times, it might take longer.

I would recommend using PTC Integrity for your needs. In my experience, it's easier to understand and work with than other tools. PTC Integrity is user-friendly; you can understand how it works within a few days.

I would rate it a nine point five out of ten because sometimes it becomes slow. Overall, in my experience, PTC Integrity is user-friendly. The environment of PTC Integrity is understandable. It's easy to understand what features are for which application and what we are doing. It's easy and understandable when working on projects that require collaboration with PTC Integrity. You always have a flow when working on it. It integrates well, and you can easily track versions and modifications. Overall, it's nice to use PTC Integrity for project collaboration.

The solution is flexible in terms of customization. You can bend and reformat it in many ways. You can also customize the APIs and public functions. 

The web version does not have all the functionalities of the non-web version. Administration and adding/removing fields, etc. cannot be done on the web version. People want solutions that are compatible with Android. I also want to have a version by which I can bulk edit all the fields. 

I have been using the solution for five years. 

We have faced some weird issues with the tool's stability. 

I would rate the tool's scalability a seven out of ten. The tool's users for my clients vary between 100-2000. 

We use the solution's platinum and gold versions that come with technical support and it is good. 

Positive

The tool's setup is simple if you have the supported version. 

I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

We use the tool for Application Lifecycle Management. It's an ALM tool to manage the product from inception to providing support and maintenance.

I have found that previously, the OEM sector was managing everything, possibly manually. However, with the introduction of the product, it has become much easier for customers to handle their products. Previously, customers were using different software to manage their products. However, PTC Integrity offers a solution for requirements management, test management, and even development to support live ticket management. So instead of using multiple software tools, we can use it for all these purposes.

Instead of spending money on different companies for various software, using one product like PTC Integrity saves money and offers all the needed functionality in one place.

I would rate the product's user interface and experience an eight out of ten. 

The tool's web-based UI needs improvement. Some functionalities don't work yet, and querying items is slow. Also, it's not in the cloud yet. I don't know if they'll do it in the future because they already have core agreements with customers. If they offer these functionalities, customers will likely buy their product.

I have been using the product for five years. 

The tool has bugs, and they haven't been fixed yet. We have reported them in the portal. 

My company has seven users. 

I have contacted support to report the bugs.

We chose the product since our client uses it. 

Deployment is easy with PTC Integrity because it offers features like one-stage and two-stage server configuring fusion. With a one-stage server configuration, you only need one development server and one production server, making deployment straightforward. It provides a two-stage configuration as well. This involves setting up one development server, a testing server, and a production server. It's simple to use – select the items for development and click to push them to the next server.

The solution can be difficult for beginners but will become easy with continuous work. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

Our primary use case is to develop tasks and controls. 

It's a good tool to manage software versions, update the status, and manage tasks. 

It's not easy to plan on this solution and it's not user-friendly. The interface should be more like a web interface. It's not easy to use. 

For example, if I need to attach pictures then relate items together, it doesn't work well. It doesn't look nice and it doesn't show you how it will look.

I have been using PTC Integrity for five years. 

It is stable.

It seems scalable but it's not really relevant to me. I only use it. 

I haven't contacted technical support. 

I would rate it a six out of ten. To make it a ten they should improve the interface. 

I am a solution manager and I manage a portfolio of applications in the company. We have been conducting a PTC Integrity pilot.

We use it for documentation and requirements management. We do not use it for test management, yet. It is for requirements collection and then creating and maintaining specification documents.

The most valuable feature is traceability starting from the requirements until the end of a project. This works provided it has been properly managed.

We are unhappy because everything that we needed required customization and this is not a plug-and-play type of solution at all. It is like for every small thing, you need a dedicated team around to do the customization. Even very simple needs that are generic in the industry are not available out of the box. Overall, it needs to be more plug-and-play.

The integrations that PTC has built are not fully integrable.

The version that we are using is not web-based, but client-based. I have received feedback from our team who is doing the most recent PoC and they are not happy with the web-based interface. Apparently, it does not have all of the features that the client-based one has.

Our client-based version is not helping us because each machine needs to have the application separately installed, which is a big problem for us.

The user interface is difficult to navigate.

We have been using and evaluating PTC Integrity for almost two years.

With respect to stability, I can only say that I have not seen any escalations for support being generated by my team.

This is a scalable solution because it is cloud-hostable. So, there is no problem. But again, the scalability when it comes to the client-side, where we have to install it on every system, it becomes a roadblock. In that regard, I don't know whether we should really call it a scalable solution.

We have about 200 users.

My team has been in touch with technical support but I have not heard any feedback in regard to things like response time.

The initial setup is complex because if I have 1,000 users then the setup cannot be done at one time. You need a dedicated infrastructure person to install it separately on each machine.

We are still in the process of evaluating other solutions.

We have not integrated this solution with our PLM system, yet.

Overall, we are not very happy with PTC Integrity.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

This solution is used for lifecycle management.

The tool is quite structured and has a good command set.

I would like to see better integration from the architectural side. It is difficult to use when it comes to linking models.

I have been working with PTC Integrity for the past five to seven years, and in the organization, it has been used for between ten and fifteen years.

It is a stable product.

We have approximately 1,000 people who are using it on a daily basis.

The technical support is very good.

We have our own dedicated support team for this solution.

In general, PTC Integrity is a good tool, although from a system perspective it is somewhat lacking.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Our primary use case is for all kinds of data management right through to test case management. We have offices in both Germany and India with about 600 licenses in total.

The most valuable feature relates to traceability, we have complete traceability as per process requirements.

The most significant improvement I would like to see would relate to speed. I work in India and our server here is quite slow sometimes, so I would like to see performance improvement. I would like to see an improvement there in the next release, but I'd also like to see a lot more reports. Nowadays people lean towards JIRA where they are able to see a lot of reports. In PTC there are more ways to create them but more chance of things going wrong. People would like to see something similar to what is available in JIRA.

I've been using the solution for about eight years. 

It's a stable product. 

Scalability is a little difficult because the product gets slower as it's scaled. I'm not sure how long we'll be able to scale with the application. 

Technical support is good although sometimes it can take a while before we receive a response. 

It's easy to install.

I would rate the product an eight out of 10. 

We were evaluating PTC Integrity for the deployment for one of my clients. The major problem we faced regarding Integrity are the developments.

We found the requirement management and the version control features to be the most useful for our client. We missed out on the traceability part. For traceability, you need to develop a lot of scripts and you need a lot of background work.

The development environment is only on JavaScripts but other languages are not. For example, .NET platforms. It's not so customizable. Compared to other tools, defining user stories is a slightly more cumbersome process as an ALM engineer.

It is quite mature. 

I don't find it that scalable. Scalability is a concern for this particular tool.

The client that we have worked with for the department that we have deployed this particular solution has 120 to 140 members.

It's used on a regular basis. 

Technical support is excellent from PTC.

The initial setup was slightly complex. When we decided to have an isolated solution, PTC was not that user-friendly.

The complete deployment took around nine months to one year.

It requires four engineers for deployment and maintenance.

I head the complete ALM department at my organization. We have a team of ALM engineers across different tools, not only for PTC Integrity but also for IBM codeBeamer. 

Requirement management and software configuration management had better options. We found that they're more stable though they're not so scalable. During production time or during work time we don't have many production delivery issues.

My advice to someone considering this solution is to prepare yourself by having a good programming team that has good customization engineers. It requires a lot of programming skills.

I would rate it a seven out of ten. 

In the next release, I would like for there to not be so many scripts and programs to do workflow customization. It should be easily customizable.