We performed a comparison between SAP PowerDesigner and Visio 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."In PowerDesigner, I primarily use BPM and modeling standards. I find it beneficial for process analysis, although I use data modeling to a lesser extent."
"Very good repository features."
"The feature I found valuable in SAP PowerDesigner is extraction. I also like that my company hasn't faced any issues because of the clear documentation about SAP PowerDesigner."
"It's a stable system. It never crashes."
"The solution is a very pragmatic tool. It's quite easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is that it is a very fast reverse engineering process. It does a very expansive comparison."
"Has a specific template that's very helpful for importing metadata."
"SAP PowerDesigner is an excellent tool that does what I need it to do. What I like most about it is that it's stable, fast, and easy to understand."
"Visio has allowed us to create good diagrams for our technical employees to consume. The solution provides templates, is straightforward, and has tools for the easy creation of diagrams."
"The most valuable feature is the set of diagramming tools."
"It is very easy for people to start using this tool, and we can import Visio templates that are already published by vendors such as Azure without any issue."
"The interface is the most valuable aspect of this solution."
"A lot of built-in templates are really phenomenal. They cut down the time when you're trying to get something out. They reduce the complexity that technical folks like to put into things that have to be given to technical folks."
"The most valuable features are that the user experience is simple, and it's customizable."
"It is a scalable solution."
"It works really well for flowcharting, it can label."
"The focus is more on mainstream development environments, and I see a lack of focus on the open source world. I think SAP PowerDesigner probably interfaces better with SQL Server and Db2 but not with open source databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL."
"One disadvantage of SAP PowerDesigner is that you cannot reverse engineer the ALTER statements, so that's an enhancement or area for improvement I'm looking forward to seeing from the SAP team in the future. That should directly reflect on the physical data models my company builds."
"I've tried to use Power Designer to bring in images, which didn't work very well at all."
"Not very intuitive or user-friendly."
"The user interface could be more user-friendly."
"Connectivity can be improved because it's not very good."
"Regarding improvements, I suggest enhancing the connection between objects in process and data models. It's crucial to define the structure of objects, especially when dealing with standard frameworks like VMM. There should be better visualization of arrows between BPM and data modeling objects, specifying their structure and impact. For future versions, a feature similar to Bizagi, allowing users to see forms or SQL representations of objects, would be valuable for demonstrating and presenting project details to stakeholders."
"Technical support could be better and more human."
"Lacks stencils for new technologies in the solution."
"Lacks the ability to analyze the different relations between activities, positions and roles."
"The only downside to Visio is the learning curve."
"Searching for specific templates within the program can be difficult. For example, if I need a template for an electrical diagram with certain symbols, it can be challenging to find it."
"We need the place and route capability for the lines when we have a database. I use it for architectures, and between the boxes, there are lines or interfaces from one tool to another. I wish those lines could be easily drawn without having to place them mechanically. I wish that there was some kind of place and route capability, so I just press a button, and all the lines get drawn."
"System architecture could be improved."
"There are some issues in Visio with the connectors, and it gets tricky when you want to connect objects with each other."
"To be able to extract a report for business project management notations would be ideal."
SAP PowerDesigner is ranked 4th in Enterprise Architecture Management with 32 reviews while Visio is ranked 1st in Business Process Design with 101 reviews. SAP PowerDesigner is rated 8.0, while Visio is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of SAP PowerDesigner writes "It has a good repository and is stable, fast, and flexible". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Visio writes "A software for drawing a variety of diagrams which include flowcharts, org charts, building plans, floor plans, data flow diagrams". SAP PowerDesigner is most compared with erwin Data Modeler by Quest, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, IDERA ER/Studio, LeanIX and MEGA HOPEX, whereas Visio is most compared with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, Bizagi, Visual Paradigm, IBM Blueworks Live and Mindjet MindManager.
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