Those who have worked in IT for any length of time are likely familiar with the project management tool Kintana. The software is showing its age as businesses move toward more agile processes and DevOps. Kintana, also known as Micro Focus PPM, is no longer viable for enterprise due to several reasons:
- Outdated technology: Kintana was built on older technology that has become outdated and cannot keep up with the demand of modern enterprise environments
- Lack of innovation: Kintana has not seen significant upgrades or feature enhancements for many years, leading to a lack of innovation and falling behind competitors.
- High maintenance costs: Maintaining and upgrading Kintana can be expensive, with many enterprises finding it more cost-effective to migrate to newer, more flexible cloud-based solutions.
- Difficulty integrating with other tools: Kintana is not easy to integrate with other enterprise tools, making it less effective in modern, integrated enterprise environments.
Some of the problems afflicting Kintana users include the very expensive upgrade path and the tool’s stagnation. It also suffers from limited technical support. Simply put, it doesn’t meet the long-term needs of enterprises. For these reasons and more, organizations are searching for alternatives.
FlexDeploy is a compelling technology that addresses the needs of present and former Kintana users. This comprehensive, open DevOps platform supports release automation and includes cloud migration functionality for even the most complex projects. Organizations that move from Kintana to FlexDeploy’s richer feature set experience major gains in productivity.
Why It’s Time To Move On From Kintana PPM
The Kintana PPM application has undergone various changes of ownership and is now called Micro Focus PPM. Over the years, this tool has lost its ability to keep up with modern demands. What’s more, the complex upgrades and shortage of product information deter users.
But perhaps most importantly, Kintana simply lacks the necessary functionality to drive IT in the modern age. Let’s look at some of the downsides users experience.
Difficult and Pricey Upgrades
Upgrading to the latest version of an application should be easy and affordable. After all, the newest versions generally include security fixes and functionality improvements. However, Kintana is quite cumbersome to upgrade.
The process requires buying new licenses, migrating data, and training employees to use the new edition. All these charges add up to make Kintana upgrades cost-prohibitive for many organizations. Only the larger companies can pay the high price, and even then it’s of questionable value.
On the other hand, hanging onto an older and unsupported version of Kintana also poses problems. Without recent security fixes, you’re compromising business-critical data. Known security holes make the system vulnerable to criminals.
Reduced Productivity
Ancient Kintana versions’ lack of feature upgrades also mean lost productivity for your team. Software evolves to improve how people work, but staying put on an older version deprives users of these improvements. You can’t compete with internet tools using a fax machine, and you can’t stay ahead of the competition with archaic versions of Kintana.
Outdated forms of Kintana also aren’t compatible with other technology. Companies typically have multiple interdependent tools, but unsupported Kintana can’t connect with the ecosystem. This leaves you with silos and a massive drain on efficiency.
Limited Technical Support and Community
The quality and quantity of technical support have a strong effect on how useful a piece of software is. Unfortunately, Kintana doesn’t have much in the way of support and community—the many changes of ownership have interfered with customer assistance. There’s also a lack of publicly available information to help use Kintana.
Users who need assistance often waste a lot of time trying to find answers. This of course impedes progress when the organization relies on Kintana for project management. You’re stuck trying to figure out the problem without necessary information while important work goes undone.
It’s not just a shortage of official documentation and support but also the lack of community. Other IT project management technologies generally offer active user communities, such as the FlexDeploy User Group, where you can share, network, and learn.
Inability To Meet Modern Technical Needs
We use project management tools or other applications to resolve ongoing issues. But given the constraints of Kintana, you can’t tackle today’s challenges, such as using DevOps or continuous integration and discovery. This inability to meet modern technical needs is sufficient reason to move on to more capable solutions like FlexDeploy.
DevOps in particular has gained popularity as it enables enterprises to reach their markets faster and with better products—all at lower cost. That’s why FlexDeploy caters to DevOps needs, including for Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS). By contrast, you can’t enjoy the advantages of DevOps with Kintana, making it a no-go for staying relevant.
A Lack of Agility
A related trend in IT is the use of agile methods. Accelerating market conditions require rapid adjustments. Again, this precludes using outdated Kintana, which doesn’t handle agile methodology. It’s time to use a newer technology built for the present digital age.
Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) are processes through which organizations iterate rapidly. New releases contain features and fixes to advance time-to-market and eliminate problems that reach customers. CI/CD relies on automation of the kind that Kintana lacks.
While competitors are busy innovating, Kintana users are tied down. Containers and other useful features help only those who leave behind old tools. So, now’s the time to drop Kintana and adopt new and improved technology. FlexDeploy is designed for agile and continuous methods to deliver a competitive edge.
FlexDeploy: Your Next DevOps and Release Automation Solution
Flexagon’s FlexDeploy is the unique offering that provides enterprise-grade support for DevOps with Oracle EBS and other systems. It also supports release automation with CI/CD. In short, it’s everything Kintana isn’t: a modern solution to manage projects.
The Oracle EBS support in FlexDeploy includes native understanding of all object types. Developers and admins alike appreciate the easy-to-use tools that simplify automation, saving time and removing human error from the equation.
What’s more, the ample supply of plugins and integrations ensure FlexDeploy works seamlessly with cloud, middleware, and database products. In fact, you can integrate your entire toolchain thanks to the extensive support for popular open source and proprietary applications.
FlexDeploy streamlines development and testing without the need for complex and risky customization. And unlike Kintana, it’s easy and affordable to license the latest editions of FlexDeploy, with abundant support and community included.
Upgrade From Kintana to FlexDeploy
While Kintana offers some basic functionality for Oracle EBS, it has numerous limitations and doesn’t offer a viable long-term solution. Worlds away is FlexDeploy, a modern DevOps solution with powerful automation.
Where Kintana is subject to difficult and pricey upgrades, lacking technical support and up-to-date functionality, FlexDeploy excels. By making the move, you’ll see straightforward upgrades to the latest technology with top-notch technical support and all the functionality developers expect.
Request a demo to see the advantages of FlexDeploy for yourself.
