BusinessGenetics xBML vs erwin Data Modeler comparison

BusinessGenetics and Quest Software are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. BusinessGenetics is ranked #33, while Quest Software is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.3. BusinessGenetics holds a 0.3% mindshare in BPD, compared to Quest Software’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of BusinessGenetics users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Quest Software users who would recommend it.

BusinessGenetics xBML

Read 1 BusinessGenetics xBML review

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159 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler

Read 40 erwin Data Modeler reviews

5,123 Views
1,537 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

BusinessGenetics xBML

erwin Data Modeler

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 19, 2025

BusinessGenetics xBML and erwin Data Modeler compete in business modeling and data management. Erwin Data Modeler has the upper hand with its comprehensive features that validate its cost, while BusinessGenetics xBML is noted for its affordability and support.

Features: BusinessGenetics xBML provides intuitive business modeling functions, enhancing understanding and communication in business processes. It focuses on clear business process articulation, aiding in streamlined organizational operations. Erwin Data Modeler offers robust data modeling, easily handles complex databases, and specializes in comprehensive data architecture management, empowering organizations to manage intricate data landscapes effectively.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: BusinessGenetics xBML is known for straightforward deployment, ensuring seamless business integration with minimal disruption, supported by a responsive service team. Erwin Data Modeler presents a more complex deployment reflecting its advanced features but is backed by reliable support structures. The distinction lies in BusinessGenetics xBML's quick and smooth deployment against the more involved erwin Data Modeler implementation process.

Pricing and ROI: BusinessGenetics xBML offers a cost-effective solution with rapid ROI due to its simplicity in addressing business communication challenges. In contrast, erwin Data Modeler has a higher initial setup cost yet provides significant long-term ROI through its powerful data management capabilities. BusinessGenetics xBML's affordability and quick ROI differ from erwin Data Modeler's justified higher cost for extensive data management efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Business Process Design Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Business Process Design

August 2025

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Helped 867,497 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

BusinessGenetics xBML

Ranking in Business Process Design

33rd

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

erwin Data Modeler

Ranking in Business Process Design

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Architecture Management (4th), Data Governance (16th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of BusinessGenetics xBML is 0.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
erwin Data Modeler	2.1%
BusinessGenetics xBML	0.3%
Other	97.6%

Business Process Design

Featured Reviews

Phumi Maduna-Ogbechi

Co-Founder and Managing Director at E&I Business Enterprise

Has built-in, existing processes that can be easily modified

In terms of what could be improved, I would not say that the solution itself needs improvement, meaning the product side, but more that the overall approach of the organization does. At the moment there are very few people who can lead training for the product. I think that area needs to improve. They should train more organizations because now they're the only ones that do training. As the product gets more and more customers, it takes longer to schedule a training. They need to get more training providers. The vendor is the only one doing the training. You schedule it in March and you find you can only do training quite far down the line and maybe you also want to do deployment. They're still entering the South African market, but I think now they have enough customers to get other providers so you won't have wait too long for the training before you can start running with the product.

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JorgeSanz

Data Governance Senior Advisor at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company

Streamline data modeling and automate network changes for increased efficiency

The initial setup depends on the tool if you are using the data model environment. Stopping the server could be complex and require strong expertise. If you have everything set up and configured, Erwin is straightforward. You can deploy it in a few hours. In our case, it took a couple of months to address internal conditions, assign machines, and set up everything for the services. I rate the initial setup a six out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"One of the things that I have found most valuable is that it is very easy to use. For example, they have built-in existing processes that you can easily modify."

"The product lets us import different types of models from various databases."

"The solution is excellent in providing a visual representation of a database and can generate DDL for implementing changes. We use DDL for logical purposes to review with business people, ensuring they have the required fields for processing. We also use it as a data dictionary for the physical data model to understand all the purposes of the terms. This helps us map the logical and physical terms with the business definition to understand our data."

"The visual data models for helping to overcome data source complexity and enabling understanding and collaboration around maintenance and usage are excellent. A picture speaks 1,000 words. Seeing a picture that shows you how the data relates to each other helps you better understand what the data is and how to use it. Pairing that information with a dictionary, which has the definitions of the tables and columns or the entities and attributes, ensures that the users understand what the data is so that they can use it best and most successfully."

"Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution."

"The most valuable feature is the physical or visual representation of the database, showing the tables, the columns, the foreign keys, and the ability to generate DDL, so you can physically implement databases."

"It allows us to create logical data models. We can represent a database model in business terms, which is very useful for us."

"The most valuable features are the ability to reverse engineer and do model comparison. With the reverse engineering, I can understand the databases from third-party products. With the model comparison, I can track the differences between two versions of the same database."

"We can create mappings in erwin and possibly data dictionaries."

More erwin Data Modeler pros

Cons

"At the moment there are very few people who can lead training for the product. I think that area needs to improve."

"I find the UI very clunky and very difficult to use. If I add columns to a table the whole workflow could be so much easier. I get frustrated using it. I've tried other tools. I've tried to get off of erwin a few times. I always come back to it because every tool has its own set of problems, and it seems like if I have to pick my poison, I stay with erwin. But so many things that are clunky with it."

"erwin generally fails to successfully reverse engineer our Oracle Databases into erwin data models. The way that they are engineered on our side, the syntax is correct from an Oracle perspective, but it seems to be very difficult for erwin to interpret. What I end up doing is using Oracle Data Modeler to reverse engineer into the Oracle data model, then forward engineer the DDL into an Oracle syntax, and importing that DDL into erwin in order to successfully bring in most of the information from our physical data models. That is a bit of a challenge."

"One of the things I've been talking to the erwin team about through the years is that every data model should have the ability to be multi-language... When I was working at Honda, it became very difficult to work with the Japanese teams using just one model. You can have two models, one in English and one in Japanese, but that means you have to keep the updates back and forth, and that always increases the risk of something not being updated."

"I would like to see the ability to support more NoSQL platforms more quickly. In addition, enhancing the graphics to render more quickly would be beneficial for any user."

"I'd really like to see the PDF function become available. It would make my life much easier than what it is at the moment because whenever I need to collaborate with people that do not have erwin, I have to go through the wonkiness of going to Word and then save it from Word into PDF. There's a lot of differences between erwin 4.4 and 2020."

"The erwin Data Modeler is quite complex to use."

"I would like to see more support for working with the big-data world. There are so many new databases evolving and it's very hard for them to keep up with all of the new technologies. It would be good if they were able to dynamically support big-data platforms, other than Hive and Teradata."

"The only real complaint I have is the time it takes to do a database comparison on a large model. If they could speed that up, that would be the only thing I can think of that needs improvement."

More erwin Data Modeler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The primary reasons that erwin was selected were that it was much more affordable for us [than Embarcadero] and it was easily maintainable."

"The tool is expensive."

"erwin is expensive compared to other solutions. We are paying almost $6,000 per seat a month."

"We've continued to use the product for many years and compared it with others on the market. The pricing is reasonable considering what the solution offers and what we pay. There are cheaper tools, but they may not be as robust and easy to use, so it's worth the money."

"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."

"erwin Data Modeler by Quest is an expensive solution."

"This company had bought the license for three years, and it's not an individual license. While you can buy a license for each individual, that would be very expensive. There is something called concurrent licenses where you can purchase licenses in bulk and 15 to 20 people can access the license and model. Concurrent licenses are scalable to the number of users and are proportional to the cost."

"It is not a very expensive solution. Only the licensing and maintenance fee needs to be paid."

More erwin Data Modeler pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

18%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	29

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a nine out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

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What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

As a documenting tool, it's solid, though its reporting could be more robust. The reporting mechanisms could be more intuitive regarding report creation. It can generate reports in CSV files, displ...

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Comparisons

No data available

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Business Process Design

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler

September 2025

Download erwin Data Modeler product report

Also Known As

xBML

erwin DM

Overview

BusinessGenetics xBML (extended Business Modelling Language) is an intuitive graphical language that unlocks the DNA of a corporation using a system of diagrams based on five Ws (Who; What; Which; Where; When). xBML gives companies an complete and accurate map of their enterprise, that can then be re-used repeatedly to describe, plan and create improvement.

BusinessGenetics

Erwin Data Modeler provides an effective approach to visualizing and managing data models. It assists in creating, reversing, and synchronizing data models with ease, supporting logical and physical transitions while enhancing understanding across teams.

Erwin Data Modeler is a comprehensive tool designed for professional database management. It offers capabilities to organize and enforce standards, automating script generation with robust reverse engineering and DDL output. Users can manage complex data environments, capitalize on integration with data intelligence, and maintain large-scale databases smoothly. Despite its strengths, improvements in multi-language support, database integration, and reporting features are needed. Users benefit from extensive support for conceptual, logical, and physical database modeling, enhancing architectural design and data governance for platforms like SQL Server, Oracle, and Teradata.

What are the key features of Erwin Data Modeler?

Visual Representation: Facilitates clear visualization of data models, aiding comprehension.
Versioning and Editing: Enhance usability with versioning and bulk editing capabilities.
Reverse Engineering: Offers powerful tools for reverse engineering and DDL generation.
Integration: Aligns with data intelligence to streamline database management.
Naming Standards: Enforces consistency with automated script creation.

What benefits should users consider in Erwin Data Modeler reviews?

Collaboration: Promotes team understanding and collaboration through visual tools.
Automation: Reduces manual effort through automated processes and integration.
Scalability: Handles large database management efficiently, crucial for enterprise settings.
Data Governance: Facilitates effective data governance with structured modeling.

Erwin Data Modeler finds application in industries focused on robust data management, implementing it for enterprise data warehouses, business domain models, and operational systems. It supports architectural design and governance, aligning with business applications demanding precise data representation and visualization.

Quest Software

Sample Customers

Qwest, Wachovia, Corporate Express, State of Colorado, Bank of America

Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples

Buyer's Guide

Business Process Design

August 2025

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