Ticket System or Requirements Management Tool: The Decision-Making Aid

Mixing up tools leads to inefficient processes

Many companies are faced with the challenge of managing their requirements efficiently. They often pragmatically fall back on an existing ticket system or look for a supposedly comprehensive requirements management tool without analyzing exactly which requirements and goals they are actually pursuing.

The result: The selected tool does not match the actual task, which leads to inefficient, confusing or even counterproductive processes.

Typical problems from practice

• A company uses a ticket system such as Jira or ServiceNow to manage requirements but it lacks basic functions such as hierarchies, prioritization, dependencies or variant creation. The result: requirements are recorded in a flat and disjointed manner, while strategic goal tracking or systematic further development are hardly possible.
• Another company introduces a fully comprehensive requirements management tool, although the real challenge is not in the quality of the requirements, but in the cross-team coordination and processing of individual processes, i.e. in something that a ticket system with workflows and comment functions could map much more efficiently.
• There is often a lack of clear separation between bug tracking, change requests and strategic requirements development. Everything is managed using the same tool, regardless of the fact that these topics require different processes, levels of detail and participants. This leads to confusion, inefficient information flow and a lack of focus.

In short, if tools are not used for their intended purpose, clarity suffers both in the professional elaboration of requirements and in the technical implementation and coordination. Employees work “past the tool”, so that relevant information is hidden in comments or lost altogether. Decisions are delayed, quality decreases and trust in the entire process suffers.

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Ticket system vs. requirements management tool

To avoid the mistakes mentioned above, it is worth first understanding the basics of both types of systems. Because only those who know what each tool is made for can make an informed decision and really improve processes.

What is a ticket system?

A ticket system is primarily used to record and process individual requests, problems or tasks in a structured manner. Such systems are often used in IT support, customer service or in the context of change requests. The focus here is less on the strategic development of requirements and more on the fast, traceable processing of operational processes.

Typical features of a ticket system:

• Tickets are independent units that are usually handled in isolation from each other.
• The processing focus is on speed, efficiency and responsibility.
• Tickets run through clearly defined workflows (e.g. “Open → In progress → Resolved”), often with SLA tracking.
• Systems offer comment functions, notifications and status tracking to support communication.
• Very well suited for bug tracking, support requests, task management or operational process control.

Examples of ticket systems: Jira Service Management, Zendesk, Freshdesk, OTRS

For many companies, ticket systems are a valuable tool, but for operational tasks, not for strategic requirements engineering. As soon as complex relationships between requirements, variants or versions come into play, ticket systems reach their limits.

What is a requirements management tool?

A requirements management tool is specially designed to capture, analyze, link, manage and track requirements along the entire lifecycle in a structured manner. It is typically used in software, system or product development, where requirements not only need to be documented but also embedded in a methodical development process.

Typical features of an RM tool:

• Requirements are structured, classified and organized in hierarchies or categories (e.g. functional, functional, technical).
• Dependencies, relationships and traceability to other artifacts, such as objectives, test cases or system components can be displayed and analyzed.
• Changes, versions and histories are automatically documented (including impact analyzes).
• Supports release processes, role models and review workflows for quality-assured implementation.
• Can be integrated into development and test environments (e.g. ALM or PLM systems).

Examples of requirements management tools

Established requirements management tools include reqSuite® rm, Jama Connect, IBM DOORS and Polarion.
You can find a detailed comparison of the best-known tools here.
Why are Jira and Confluence missing from this list? We explain that in this article.

‍Requirements management tools offer a completely different methodological depth and flexibility than ticket systems. They specifically support the planning, detailing, linking, evaluation and maintenance of requirements, which are crucial for high-quality and risk-minimized product development.

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Similarities and differences

While ticket systems are faster and more flexible in day-to-day processing, requirements management tools offer a deeper structure and better long-term control over requirements.

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When does which system make sense?

The decision between a ticket system and a requirements management tool depends largely on which tasks you want to solve, how complex your requirements are and how your development processes are structured. There is no 'better' or ‘worse’, only 'more suitable' depending on the objective.

A ticket system makes sense if your requirements are manageable, independent of each other and largely operational. If you are primarily concerned with recording and processing individual tasks, change requests or errors in a structured manner, and if the focus is on processing speed, clear responsibility and workflow transparency. Even if you don't need to map complex dependencies and are already working with tools such as Jira, Zendesk or OTRS, for example in support or DevOps teams.

A requirements management tool, on the other hand, is the better choice if you are developing complex products or systems where requirements need to be structured, versioned and analyzed. If you want to link requirements with objectives, test cases or standards and are dependent on consistent documentation and traceability. Especially in regulated industries or in projects with many stakeholders, such a tool offers the necessary methodological depth.

In many cases, a combination of both tools is also worthwhile: while a ticket system channels operational tasks, change requests or bug reports, a requirements management tool serves as the methodical backbone of requirements development. However, it is important to have a clear allocation of roles and, ideally, technical integration between the systems in order to avoid redundant maintenance or loss of information.

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Making the right decision for your company

Ticket systems and requirements management tools pursue different objectives. Even if there are overlaps in some areas, they serve fundamentally different objectives. Ticket systems are designed to process operational tasks and individual requests quickly and efficiently. They are ideal for situations that require an immediate response, simple workflows and clearly defined processes.

In contrast, requirements management tools such as reqSuite® rm offer the possibility of systematically recording, structuring and correlating requirements and maintaining them consistently throughout the entire course of the project. This structured approach is essential, especially for more complex projects with many participants, products with many variants or regulatory framework conditions.

The right decision therefore depends heavily on whether your main goal is to quickly process operational processes or whether the focus is on methodically sound and long-term sustainable requirements development. If your focus is on quality, traceability and scalability, you will benefit considerably from a specialized requirements management tool.

Would you like to find out how reqSuite® rm can sustainably improve your requirements management? Then I would be happy to show you in a no-obligation live demo. Make an appointment now and get a direct insight into the functions and benefits.

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