What is our primary use case?
I am using it for database design. I am using it to architect and generate one database platform from another. It involves reverse engineering and SQL generation.
How has it helped my organization?
Its biggest benefit is the conversion from one database platform to another database platform and reporting.
What is most valuable?
It provides flexibility with the code. You can change the code as you want. Basically, you can change SQL based on what's best for your project.
What needs improvement?
There are some bugs here and there. The default code that comes with the customizable packages is a bit buggy on some platforms such as PostgreSQL. erwin has its own language in the backend, and the packages that come for PostgreSQL are a bit buggy. They should fix them.
It would be nice to have it on the Linux platform, not just Windows. If they can support Linux, there would be a huge market for it.
Currently, we can import only 80% of features from other platforms. We would like to be able to get the remaining features. These import tools or plugins are not from erwin. They are from different companies. Ideally, erwin should take them over and make some of those better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. This is something very nice about it.
We have three users who use this solution. They are from the database administration team. For its administration, we have the database administration team lead.
It is used for database architecture and design. We use it only when we have to make some changes. We then produce documentation of the database design changes. As long as there are changes to be made, it is in use. Otherwise, it is not in use.
How are customer service and support?
Their technical support is very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used System Architect from UNICOM, which was outdated.
How was the initial setup?
It was very straightforward. The deployment took three days, which included evaluating our upgrades. Installing and configuring erwin took only 10 minutes.
What about the implementation team?
What was our ROI?
We have not got a whole lot of ROI. We use it restrictively for database administration. I know it can be used for other plans of architects, but in our case, it is not fully used.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We didn't go for a subscription. It was a one-time fee. I don't understand who does subscriptions on such solutions. PowerDesigner comes with yearly subscriptions, and I can't understand how that is possible. Who in the world keeps on changing the database engine? Once you have such an application, you cannot just upgrade it like your phone. So, I cannot understand how they're pushing this.
erwin has this option where you pay a one-time fee and you have the license for six years, which makes sense because I don't upgrade my database engine every other year. I have an application that depends on it. This is something weird about PowerDesigner.
There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also evaluated PowerDesigner. It has an excessively high price. It is ridiculous. It was not that the company could not afford it, but the price was just unnecessary.
What other advice do I have?
It is a very good product if you want to import existing designs. It is a tremendously flexible product for reverse engineering and database generation.
I would rate it an eight out of 10. The main reason is that it has lots of features. It is extremely flexible, but some of the areas need a bit more debugging, testing, and fixing.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
