Clearcase Users - Codice Software

Clearcase Users

Plastic SCM is a high adaptable SCM solution. Even if you have background with high-end systems like Clearcase you will like Plastic features and you will not miss the power you are used to.

The following table compares Plastic SCM and Visual SourceSafe focusing on qualitative aspects such as distributed development and administration, as well as quantitative metrics such as the time it takes to branch a codeline.

Feature	ClearCase	Plastic SCM
Installation	ClearCase installation and setup is a very complicated process and requires a planning phase to configure server storage, security, and the network. A typical ClearCase installation takes not only a specialist involved but also a few days of work.	Plastic SCM installation is easy and fast, in a few minutes developers can start working with it.
Security	ClearCase security system uses triggers to manually define the company´s security policy.	Plastic SCM implements ACLs for each one of the elements defined in the system with no restriction, so you are free to decide your security policy without any restriction. Furthermore, Plastic provides different automated authentication options ranging from its own user/password system to LDAP or ActiveDirectory integration.
Distributed development	ClearCase distributed system requires once more an increase on administration and additional user processes.	Plastic SCM distributed system is as easy to use as the tool itself, or even more: with a single command you can replicate back and forth your changes.
Atomic transactions	ClearCase does not natively support atomic transactions. Instead, ClearCase UCM simulates atomic transactions during the delivery of code to parent branches, so users risk potential inconsistencies during concurrent check-ins to shared branches.	Plastic SCM groups every check-in done on a "group of changes", which is given a specific number. This way it is very easy to identify which changes made up a certain feature. Going even further, every change related to a specific task can be put together on a branch, as creating branches and merging them with others is a very automated and efficient process with Plastic.
Visualization	ClearCase provides with various visualization tools but does not have useful tools such as a code review system or a multipleview GUI	Plastic SCM offers a wide variety of visualization tools to increase performance and provide a clearer view of the project at any stage: 3D version tree, branch explorer, multipleview GUI, statistic tool, code review tool, three way merge tool, etc.
System administration	Clear Case requires one full-time administrator for every 25 users.	Plastic does not require a full time administrator but just a part-time one for hundreds of users.
Cost	ClearCase price starts at 4000$ per floating license, and further administration costs must be taken into account	Plastis SCM Professional price per license is less than 800$ and it does not require administration costs.