Code Collaborator

Asynchronous Reviews

With Collaborator, reviews happen asynchronously. And they happen on your time. So at night, while one of your authors of code in the U.S. is sleeping, one of your code reviewers in India can be reviewing their code. No meetings¿ and nothing to interrupt you from the work you¿re doing!

User Threaded, Contextual Chat

Collaborator links file changes, chat conversations and defects together in your code review. You can view each conversation, threaded by file and line number, simultaneously with file content. There¿s no need to toggle back and forth between emails and editors. Choose between multiple views or download differences to your local machine for further inspection and testing. You can even hyperlink directly to a file or line numbers.

Real-time Chat

Collaborator¿s web-based 'chat' interface acts just like an instant messenger. Whenever another user chats, your screen will automatically update in real-time ¿ no need to refresh the screen.

Test and Diff Files Locally

With Collaborator, you can compare any diffs easily. Download a ZIP file containing the latest contents of all files under review. Expand code into your development environment for manual testing, checking the build, and running unit tests. Or click a button to download all diffs and view in a local diff viewer such as DiffMerge or Araxis Merge.

Customisable and Automated Workflows

Customisable workflows and fields help ensure that Collaborator can be modified to your workflow rather than the other way around. You make the rules; we just help you execute them. Change the rules for the review depending on pre-defined, configurable review types and desired workflow. For example, a 'Self Check' review might only require that the author look over his own files. A 'Formal' review might require a moderator, author, one or more reviewers, and a recorder. Configurable roles allow you to specify expectations for each person in the review and control what each user can do and view.

Defect Tracking & Management

Find a problem, create a defect. It¿s as simple as that. This defect management feature helps you create defects using customisable fields so you can collect as much (or as little) data as you like. Once you log a defect, the software tracks it as part of the review and ensures all defects get addressed before review completion. Authors can correct defects and upload changes back to the review for verification. Even when line numbers shift as a result of a defect fix, Collaborator is smart enough to thread all chat conversations and defects back to the correct logical line of code. Collaborator even shares the defect details with your Issue Tracking system, such as Bugzilla or FogBugz.

Easy Deployment & Administration

Collaborator adapts to your environment. Authenticate users internally or by using corporate LDAP or Active Directory. Manage privileges, activity, and monitor usage through intuitive metrics reports that detail inspection rates, defect rates and more.

IDE & SCM Integrations

Collaborator integrates with more SCMs than any other code review tool ¿ 16 in all including: AccuRev, CMVC, CVS, Git, Mercurial, MKS Integrity, Perforce, Rational ClearCase (including ClearCase Remote Client), Rational Synergy, Rational Team Concert, Subversion, StarTeam, Surround SCM, Team Foundation Server, Vault, and Visual Source Safe. Collaborator also integrates with Eclipse and Visual Studio.

Metrics & Reporting

Collaborator provides over 100 reports designed to give you visibility into how your team is using it ¿ and to help your tem improve their development and review work. Customise reports to show metrics like status of pending code reviews and detailed audit trails. View results on-line, print, or export as CSV files. Easily compute key metrics such as defect density, inspection rate, and defect detection rate so you can gauge your performance ¿ and your improvement!

Regulatory & CMMI Compliance

Many users of Collaborator are in regulated environments and those that have to comply with CMMI. With Collaborator you can quickly implement the standardised and documented peer review processes required for CMMI, and accelerate and simplify the CMMI audit review process with centralised reporting. With this reporting, you can enable continuous process improvements to get the most from CMMI and peer review.