Audit-ready by design
Electronic signatures, immutable execution records, and traceability enforcement are native. Regulated programs do not have to bolt compliance onto generic QA tools.
OpenText • Application lifecycle management
OpenText Application Quality Management
Application Quality Management is the regulated QA product carrying the Quality Center and ALM lineage into modern packaging. Merito delivers audit-ready rollouts.
Merito sells OpenText Application Quality Management (Quality Center / ALM lineage) and delivers regulated QA rollouts for life sciences, financial services, government, and defense programs needing audit-ready evidence.
- Best for
- QA Leaders in regulated industries, Compliance Officers approving QA audit trails, Validation Leads in life sciences and medical devices
- Hosting
- Hybrid
- Time to value
- Small regulated team running with a focused test plan in as little as one week. First regulated project live in three to five months with Merito-led workflow design. Meaningful audit-ready coverage in six to nine months depending on regulatory scope.
- Security posture
- FDA 21 CFR Part 11, EMA Annex 11, SOC 2 Type II (SaaS deployment)
- Last reviewed
- 2026-04-26
What it is
OpenText Application Quality Management in the enterprise stack
OpenText Application Quality Management (AQM) is the current branding of the product most customers know as HPE ALM (previously Quality Center). It is the regulated QA product and test case libraries, requirement traceability, defect workflows, execution evidence, and 21 CFR Part 11 compliance patterns that survive an FDA or auditor review. Life sciences, financial services, government, and defense programs keep AQM specifically because the audit posture is proven.
AQM's closest modern alternative in the OpenText catalog is Core Software Delivery Platform, and for unregulated programs Core SDP could be the right upgrade path. For regulated programs, the conservative call is often to stay on AQM until the regulated-workflow coverage in Core SDP matches AQM's depth. Merito's engagement clarifies which path fits the customer's compliance profile.
The implementation work on AQM is mostly about workflow rigor and defect lifecycle rules, traceability enforcement, electronic signatures where required, and evidence export that survives an audit. The product configuration enforces the process; the process design is where Merito adds value.
Ideal use cases
- FDA 21 CFR Part 11 regulated software validation
- Financial services compliance (SOX, MiFID II, DORA) with audit-ready QA evidence
- Government and defense programs with formal validation gates
- Life sciences clinical and manufacturing software validation
- Regulated programs transitioning from Quality Center to AQM without losing audit history
What it is best at
Where OpenText Application Quality Management earns its seat
Thirty years of regulated-industry deployment history
The Quality Center / ALM lineage is deployed across pharma, banking, and defense programs globally. The audit-acceptance posture is known to regulators.
Defect and requirement discipline at enterprise scale
AQM enforces defect lifecycles and requirement traceability that regulated programs cannot skip. The rigor is the product.
Core capabilities
OpenText Application Quality Management capabilities, grouped by outcome
Test management and traceability
Test case libraries, plans, runs, and bidirectional requirement traceability.
Test case and test plan libraries
Hierarchical test libraries with versioning and reuse across releases.
Requirement and defect traceability
Bi-directional links from requirements through tests to runs to defects.
Coverage analysis
Coverage reports on requirements, risk, and business processes.
Regulated execution evidence
Execution records, electronic signatures, and audit-ready evidence export.
Electronic signatures
21 CFR Part 11 compliant signatures on test execution and defect closure.
Immutable execution records
Execution history with full evidence trail for auditor review.
Evidence export
Regulated evidence packages for FDA, EMA, and financial auditors.
Defect and workflow management
Defect lifecycles, custom workflows, and cross-team governance.
Custom workflows
Defect and test lifecycle customization to match regulated process requirements.
Multi-project and multi-team structures
Shared libraries and cross-project reporting for enterprise QA organizations.
Business Process Testing
Reusable business-component libraries for regression across releases.
Where it fits in the stack
How OpenText Application Quality Management connects to the rest of your landscape
OpenText DevOps catalog (native)
Native- OpenText Functional TestingAutomation results logged as regulated execution evidence in AQM.
- OpenText Functional Testing for DevelopersShift-left test evidence consolidated in AQM for regulated programs.
- OpenText Performance EngineeringPerformance test evidence linked to requirements in AQM.
- OpenText Core Software Delivery PlatformReporting alignment for customers running both; migration path for unregulated portfolios.
Identity and work trackers (certified)
Certified- SAML SSOIdentity from corporate IdP with electronic signature support.
- Jira, Azure BoardsDefect and requirement sync for hybrid regulated and agile programs.
Evidence export (custom)
Custom- Regulated evidence repositoriesEvidence export for FDA, EMA, and financial-auditor reviews.
- Data warehouse exportAQM data export for cross-system compliance reporting.
Deployment and implementation
How it rolls out
- Hosting
- Hybrid (North America, EMEA, APJ)
- Implementation complexity
- High
- Typical time to value
- Small regulated team running with a focused test plan in as little as one week. First regulated project live in three to five months with Merito-led workflow design. Meaningful audit-ready coverage in six to nine months depending on regulatory scope.
- Prerequisites
- Defined regulated scope (21 CFR Part 11, SOX, DORA, or equivalent)
- Named validation or compliance owner
- Existing test assets and defect history for migration if upgrading from Quality Center
- Workflow requirements documented (defect lifecycle, signature rules, evidence export)
- What Merito usually handles
- AQM is available as on-prem, customer-managed cloud (BYOC), and SaaS; Merito picks the deployment shape that fits the customer's regulated hosting compliance. Merito handles environment setup, workflow design, migration from Quality Center, electronic signature configuration, evidence export, and regulated audit preparation. Validation sign-off stays with the customer's compliance function; Managed Services and Staff Augmentation can take on day-to-day administration when the program needs that scope.
Licensing and packaging
How it is bought
- Model
- Subscription
- What to expect
- OpenText Application Quality Management is subscription-licensed with user-tier packaging and volume bands. Pricing depends on user count by tier, deployment shape, and add-ons (Performance integration, Business Process Testing). Merito sells AQM alongside the workflow design and migration work that turns it into a regulated-QA capability.
- Editions and modules
AQM standard
Test management, requirement traceability, defect workflows, and execution evidence.
Best for: Regulated QA programs with formal validation requirements.
AQM with Business Process Testing
Standard plus Business Process Testing for reusable regression libraries.
Best for: Large regulated programs with long-running regression scope.
- Common expansion areas
- Additional user seats as adoption spreads across regulated projects
- Business Process Testing for regression reuse
- Performance Engineering integration for regulated load testing evidence
- Managed Services for long-term run support
- Migration to Core Software Delivery Platform for unregulated portfolios
Merito services
How Merito helps you win with OpenText Application Quality Management
Merito sells licenses and the delivery work around them. Pick the service that matches where you are in the lifecycle.
01
Regulated QA Rollout
Workflow design, electronic signature configuration, evidence export, and regulated-audit preparation.
Explore service02Upgrade and Migration
Quality Center and HPE ALM to OpenText Application Quality Management transitions without losing audit history.
Explore service03DevOps Consulting
AQM wired into CI/CD pipelines for regulated release gating.
Explore service04MAPS Assessment
Regulated QA operating-model assessment before AQM configuration.
Explore service05Premium Support
Named engineer, priority SLAs, and release-time coverage for AQM in regulated production.
Explore service06Managed Services
Long-term run support for AQM including workflow evolution as regulations change.
Explore service07Training and Enablement
Role-based training for test authors, validators, defect managers, and compliance reviewers.
Explore service08Staff Augmentation
Merito-placed AQM administrators and regulated QA consultants.
Explore serviceAQM licensing
Buy AQM from the partner that also designs the regulated workflow.
Merito sells OpenText Application Quality Management and delivers the workflow design, electronic signature rules, and evidence export that turn AQM into a passing audit.
Merito point of view
AQM keeps its seat because the audit posture is proven. Do not give that up lightly.
Merito has advised customers evaluating moving off AQM onto Core Software Delivery Platform for unregulated portfolios, and onto Core SDP or a third-party test management tool for agile teams. The recommendation for regulated portfolios is almost always the conservative one and stay on AQM until the regulated-workflow coverage in the alternative matches AQM's depth. The cost of a failed audit is larger than the cost of staying on a less modern product.
For hybrid programs (some regulated, some not), Merito usually recommends AQM for the regulated footprint and Core SDP or Software Delivery Management for the non-regulated footprint, with integration between the two. That is better than forcing one product to cover both and compromising on either regulated depth or agile flow.
Quality Center to AQM transitions are primarily a modernization of the hosting and licensing shape rather than a re-platform. The test and defect history is preserved; the workflow configuration carries over. Expect a three-to-five-month project, not a year.
What buyers usually underestimate
- Moving regulated QA off AQM before the replacement product has proven audit posture.
- Skipping workflow design and relying on default AQM configuration for a regulated program.
- Not preserving audit history when upgrading from Quality Center.
- Running AQM and Core SDP without a clear division of which teams own which product.
- Adding electronic signatures without aligning them to the program's actual regulated obligations.
Related from Merito
Continue exploring OpenText Application Quality Management on Merito
Related solutions
Related services
Related products
- OpenText Core Software Delivery PlatformModern consolidation target for customers moving off AQM on unregulated portfolios.
- OpenText Software Delivery ManagementAgile delivery governance that pairs with AQM for hybrid programs.
- OpenText Functional TestingAutomation engine whose runs log as execution evidence in AQM.
- OpenText DevOps AviatorAI-assisted test generation grounded in AQM requirements.
- OpenText (vendor portfolio)OpenText hub and the full DevOps and Content catalogs.
Frequently Asked Questions
OpenText Application Quality Management FAQs
Consultation request
Talk to Merito about OpenText Application Quality Management
Share your regulated scope (21 CFR Part 11, SOX, DORA, or equivalent) and current QA posture. A Merito regulated QA specialist follows up within one business day.
Audit-first configuration
Workflow before product
Merito designs the regulated workflow first and configures AQM to enforce it. The audit is the outcome, not a retrofit.
History preserved
Quality Center transitions without losing audit trail
Merito's migration approach preserves test, defect, and execution history so the audit trail is continuous.
Next step
Design the workflow before configuring the product.
A Merito AQM engagement starts with the regulated workflow, signature rules, and evidence export requirements. Product configuration follows the workflow, not the other way around.