Upgrading your OpenText ALM & Quality Center? Here’s how we did it with Record Speed!

When it comes to upgrading OpenText ALM (formerly HP ALM and Micro Focus Quality Center), most organizations know the story too well: complex environments, outdated integrations, and upgrade paths that stretch for weeks, even months.

The good news? We’ve changed that narrative.

Upgrading your ALM & Quality Center to stay Future-ready

Enterprises rely on ALM as the backbone of their software delivery lifecycle. It keeps testing, quality, and release processes running smoothly at scale. Upgrading your ALM environment ensures better performance, stronger security, and better integration with evolving DevOps, automation tools and IT ecosystems.

Moreover, it also helps you avoid high extended-maintenance fees on legacy versions while unlocking new features that keep your ALM environment future-ready: without the pain or risk you might expect! (Side note: email us with the subject line ‘Future-ready my ALM’ and we'll help you with a strategy or this)

The Pain of Modernizing your ALM Service

An ALM or Quality Center upgrade means migrating your existing ALM/QC environment from an older version to a newer supported version, for example: from HP QC 10 → ALM 12.6 → ALM 17.0, or from Micro Focus ALM 15.2 → ALM 25.1.

As you know, upgrading ALM isn’t as simple as clicking ‘Upgrade’. Each version often requires multiple upgrade hops, for example: QC 10 → ALM 11 → ALM 12.2 → ALM 15.5 → OpenText ALM 25.1.x is the correct migration path and the previous examples would cause hours of troubleshooting. Every hop can involve schema changes, data conversions, and revalidation, especially if the organization has many simultaneous projects, custom workflows and fields, integrated tools (LDAP, SSO, CI/CD systems) and large user bases.

Enterprise Grade Reliability with Merito’s Custom Upgrade Plan

Recently, the Merito team completed an upgrade of 350 projects over two version hops in just 16 hours. Yes, you read that right! This level of efficiency is virtually unheard of in the ALM world.

Traditionally, upgrades of this scale take days of downtime, extensive manual effort, and often leave teams scrambling to resolve post-upgrade issues across a multitude of users. While such upgrades are incredibly complex, Merito’s streamlined approach eliminates most of the pain points:

• Automation-Driven Process: Proprietary scripts reduce manual intervention by up to 80%
• Zero Data Loss Guarantee: Full validation ensures integrity across all projects
• Legacy Support: From Test Director v8 to the latest OpenText ALM versions
• Custom Upgrade Plans: Tailored for highly customized environments and third-party integrations

We still see many teams holding off upgrades because they assume the process will take weeks of disruption. But with 1000s of successful upgrades, we’ve proven that with the right partner and methodology, upgrades can be a single-day event. And the ROI is immediate.

Better performance, tighter integrations, and reduced support costs.

Why companies choose Merito for ALM Upgrades

Our ALM Upgrade Service is built to simplify and accelerate even the most challenging migrations. We’ve refined our process through years of hands-on experience working with customers across regulated industries, large-scale enterprise teams, and global development environments. The results speak for themselves.

1. Proven Track Record: Thousands of successful multi-version upgrades.
2. Accelerated Framework: Reduce downtime from weeks to hours.
3. Compliance Alignment: ISO, FDA, SOX-ready processes.
4. End-to-End Guidance: From assessment to post-upgrade performance tuning.
5. Post-upgrade tuning and optimization: Ensure stability and performance
6. Cost-saving renewal strategies: Minimize extended maintenance fees

Ready to Modernize your SDLC? Talk to a Merito expert!

Merito has invested in automation, years of technical expertise, and proven repeatable methods that make upgrades fast, reliable, predictable and secure.

If your organization is still running on older versions of ALM or Quality Center, it’s time to modernize without the usual headaches. Merito can help you upgrade confidently and we’ll minimize surprises with no downtime chaos, and no lost weekends.

Ready to plan your upgrade? Reach out to our team to learn how we can help modernize your ALM environment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is an ALM upgrade?
   An ALM upgrade is the process of moving from an older version of MF or OpenText Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) to a newer release. Keeping on the latest version ensures you are secure, compatible with modern DevOps tools, and supported by the vendor. A well-planned upgrade reduces downtime and makes for a less frustrating experience for your end-users.
   
2. What are the benefits of ALM Octane?
   ALM Octane is OpenText’s modern, cloud-ready platform built for Agile and DevOps teams. It offers real-time dashboards, CI/CD and Jenkins integration, advanced analytics, and scalable test management. Key benefits include faster release cycles, better team collaboration, and full visibility across requirements, testing, and delivery pipelines.
   
3. What is the purpose of ALM?
   The purpose of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is to manage every stage of the software lifecycle. It facilitates planning and requirements, testing, defect tracking, and release management. ALM connects teams, ensures traceability, maintains quality, and supports compliance across complex enterprise development environments.
   
4. What is the difference between HP QC and OpenText ALM?
   MF Quality Center (MF QC) and HP Quality Center (HP QC) are the earlier versions focused mainly on test case management and defect tracking. OpenText ALM, which evolved from QC, adds capabilities for requirements, test planning, and release management which offer a full lifecycle control. The latest OpenText ALM further improves automation, integrations, and cloud scalability.
   
5. How much does OpenText ALM license cost?
   OpenText ALM licensing depends on edition, number of users, and deployment type (on-premise or SaaS). There are strategies to minimize your license footprint but pricing for enterprise deployments can get into the five-figure range annually. Merito helps customers optimize renewals and minimize extended-support or maintenance costs during upgrades.
   
6. How to check HP ALM version?
   To check your ALM version, log into the ALM client and go to Help (in the bottom left corner) → About Application Lifecycle Management. The main window pane will show the version and build number. This information helps identify the right upgrade path and compatibility with integrations.
   
7. How do I upgrade my ALM or Quality Center?
   Upgrading ALM involves analyzing your current setup, identifying version hops, backing up data, and validating projects. Because older versions require step-by-step migrations, it’s best handled by an expert partner. Merito’s ALM Upgrade Service uses automation to complete multi-version upgrades in hours, ensuring zero data loss, full validation, and minimal downtime.

To read more about the latest ALM Octane updates, visit What's New in 24.3