We performed a comparison between IBM Rational System Architect, IDERA ER/Studio, and Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about LeanIX, Sparx Systems, erwin by Quest and others in Enterprise Architecture Management.
"There are a lot of features I find valuable, but I think that the metamodel customization is one of the best features that the solution offers."
"The solution is pretty stable."
"The user interface is good. It's both clear and comprehensible. It's easy to work with."
"We have seen ROI with this solution over the years that we have used it."
"The interface is really simple to use and it allows me to pick and choose which tables I want to reverse engineer."
"It does the job."
"Modeling with Data Architect: We can quickly reverse-engineer a database from an existing database or create a model from scratch."
"The data modeling and reverse engineering features are most important to us."
"We use the solution to create data models which describe our company's data architecture"
"We have been able to quickly create models for our enterprise-wide databases, even when some of them are third-party databases."
"The most important features are logical and physical models that we can compare and develop. Also, the Data Dictionary can be created out of your studio. Finally, database schemas help understand the logic that's behind the scene, behind the SQL tables. Especially when there are a lot of them, the schemas help everyone understand the business processes."
"It's easy to model and has a user-friendly interface. I like the team portal because, once we upload, the entire team can see the model."
"The installation was very easy."
"The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect supports multiple modeling languages like ArchiMate for database design, software lifecycle visualization, and team management."
"It's a stable and scalable solution. I like that it's similar to Rational Rose."
"The profiles and ready-made templates are an extremely helpful feature. This is one of the biggest features that I find very useful in Sparx."
"It is a very rich tool in terms of the functionality, and the types of diagrams, that you can create in this tool."
"It's a very practical solution. You don't need to do an advanced course to start using this tool."
"It's like a repository. So far, we use it only for Information Modelling."
"This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards."
"There needs to be more information at the outset about how to use the solution and how to deploy it. The deployment process needs improvement."
"The solution needs to better integrate with other products, like Microsoft."
"The reverse engineering of the database is already there, but in the next release I would like to see some pilot supplied with the solution in order to address any database."
"The solution could be sped up, as it is a little slow (e.g., when it's doing its database compare)."
"Whenever there is a new version, there are a lot of release notes on the technical side of it, but I would like to be told why are we doing the upgrade... What I would like to really see is how this benefits us from the business point of view. What are the real benefits that the user gets? I want some kind of way white paper. The release notes describe the technical enhancements but, from the layman's point of view, if someone asks me what are the business benefits of this upgrade, I don't have any documentation to explain it to the business."
"The number of options can be overwhelming at times. That is not necessarily a bad thing but for a newbie, it can be daunting."
"It isn't easy to compare the thousands of tables in the model against the database. The tool should improve the synchronization within the large organization"
"One limitation I have found in ER/Studio is that when you want to make some changes to the table definitions, you have to go item by item. You cannot do it globally. Another issue concerns defining the foreign keys between the different tables. It is a little more tedious in the ER/Studio than in ERrwin. With ERwin it is direct."
"The visual presentation is a little too colorful and seems that it is dumbed down."
"What I would like to see improved is the reliability of the releases, releases that are a little less buggy."
"I would like to see better documentation/help for the Data Architect tool. Creation of tutorials would be nice, as there are some features which are not as clearly defined as they should be."
"The solution needs to offer better support for the mobile-based system. Right now, it's not working."
"Using EA involves a steep learning curve if you want to understand its capabilities and functionality."
"Inconsistent UI elements must be tidied up with the toolbox gaps removed."
"The templates for documentation should be enhanced to include complex documents such as template RFP, or Non functional requirements template."
"The fact that you can do a lot yourself is a plus point, but it also becomes a challenge because you need an understanding of the programming languages to get things to work. It becomes challenging for those who are not very good at programming. You have standard reports, but if you want to make your own reports, you have to program it. Similarly, if you want validations rules, you have to take care of them yourself."
"One room for improvement in Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is that it's not very friendly. Another room for improvement in the tool is that it doesn't enable you to import the metadata from a database very easily, so reverse engineering of a database was very difficult. Its database modeling and entity-relationship modeling functions need improvement."
"What should be improved are the integration capabilities of the solution with Bizagi."
"No way to implement data integrity and referential integrity constraints."
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