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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
	UML diagram in Enterprise Architect
Developer(s)	Sparx Systems
Written in	C++
Operating system	Microsoft Windows, supports Linux, Mac OS
Available in	English, German, Japanese, Spanish
Type	Software modeling, Software development
Website	www.sparxsystems.com

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Revision as of 05:32, 30 June 2011

Based on the OMG UML, standards, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is a visual modeling and design tool. The platform supports: the design and construction of software systems; modeling business processes; and modeling industry based domains. It is used by businesses and organizations to not only model the architecture of their systems, but to process the implementation of these models across the full application development life-cycle.

Overview

Systems modeling using UML provides a basis for modeling all aspects of organizational architecture, along with the ability to provide a foundation for designing and implementing new systems or changing existing systems. The aspects that can be covered by this type of modeling range from laying out organizational or systems architectures ^[1], business process re-engineering, business analysis, and service oriented architectures and web modeling Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page)., through to application and database design and re-engineering, and development of embedded systems ^[2].

Along with system modeling, Enterprise Architect covers the core aspects of the application development life-cycle, from requirements management through to design, construction, testing and maintenance phases, with support for traceability, project management and change control of these processes, and facilities for model driven development of application code using an internal integrated-development platform.

The user base ranges from programmers and business analysts through to enterprise architects, in organizations ranging from small developer companies, multi-national corporations and government organizations through to international industry standards bodies ^[3] ^[4].

Standards

Enterprise Architect supports a range of industry standards for designing and modeling software and business systems. The following are the core standards supported:

Enterprise Architect also supports industry Frameworks such as:

Zachman Framework
TOGAF
OMG UPDM framework that supports DoDAF, MODAF and NAF

Modeling

Underlying UML modeling are several key aspects that most modeling tools support. The core aspects supported by Enterprise Architect include:

Profiles
Patterns
MOF
OCL
MDA Transforms
Corba IDL

UML Validation can be run against the model ^[5].

UML based Run-time model simulation of Behavioral diagrams is also supported for;

State Machines
Interaction (Sequence diagrams)
Activities

General Features

Requirements Management

The common features of Requirements Management supported by Enterprise Architect include customization of how requirements are documented, linking requirements to the design and implementation details, and providing Requirement Traceability through the design and construction phases ^[6]. These requirements can be subject to change management, workflow processing ^[7], baseline comparison and auditing ^[8]. There is also a model glossary that is interactive with notes for requirements.

Business Modeling and Analysis

Enterprise Architect supports a number of methods of modeling business processes using UML as the foundation modeling language. The core languages for business modeling and analysis include BPMN and BPEL, with various historic profiles such as the Eriksson-Penker profile ^[9]. Enterprise Architect also supports the definition of Business Rules with the ability to generate executable code from these rules ^[10]. Business modeling can be combined with GAP analysis to view potential gaps in proposed solutions.

System Development

In line with the Model Driven design principles Enterprise Architect supports MDA transforms of PIM Class structures to PSM Class structures, Round-trip engineering of code for 10 software languages and several key embedded HDL systems languages ( Ada, VHDL and Verilog). It also supports code generation from Behavioral models ^[11].

Languages supported:

ActionScript
C
C# (for both .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0)
C++ (standard, plus .NET managed C++ extensions)
Delphi
Java (including Java 1.5, Aspects and Generics)
PHP
Python
Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET

In accordance with Model Driven Development principles, Enterprise Architect provides an Integrated Development Environment that supports code editing (with Syntax highlighting and Intellisense), for Building, Debugging and Code Testing all from within the model.^[12]

Compilers and interpreters supported:

Microsoft Windows Native C
Microsoft Windows Native C++
Microsoft Windows Visual Basic
Microsoft .NET Family (C#, J#, VB)
Sun Microsystems Java.
PHP

Add-ins are available for integration with MS Visual Studio and Eclipse.

Test Management

For code based testing there is support for:

xUnit Testing

This involves MDA transformation of Classes to NUnit or Junit Classes with the ability to generate unit tests from the model and automatically record the results against the tested Classes.^[13]

Testpoint testing

This is a model based code testing. It is parallel to test contracts defined in ‘Design by Contract’ and it runs using debug definitions.^[14]

In terms of model based testing; both of these methods support the test definitions and test results being logged against related Classes in the model.

Visual Execution Analysis

Integrated with building and debugging code Enterprise Architect allows the developer to perform abstract analysis of the software using Profiling and Sequence diagram generation:

Sequence diagram generation provides a means to analyze the general process flow and iron out inconsistencies ^[15]
Profiling summarizes, by thread and routine, the codes general efficiency ^[16]

System Engineering

System Engineering is supported with SysML 1.2 modeling which can be coupled with executable code generation. SysML supports modeling from requirement definition and system composition using SysML Blocks and Parts, through to parametric model simulation.^[17] The executable code generation supports embedded HDL system languages ( Ada, VHDL and Verilog), or it can be coupled with behavioral code generation of the standard code languages defined above.

Data Modeling

Enterprise Architect supports Data Modeling from the Conceptual to Physical levels, Forward and Reverse Engineering of Database Schemas ^[18] , and MDA transformation of the Logical (platform independent) to Physical DBMS(platform dependant).^[19] Diagram types supported include:

DDL notation
ERD notation
IDEF1X notation
Information Engineering notation

Supported DBMSs:

DB2
Firebird/InterBase
Informix
Ingres
MS Access 97, 2000, 2003
Access 2007
MS SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008
MySQL
SQLite
Oracle 9i, 10g and 11g
PostgreSQL
Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (Sybase ASA)
Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (Sybase ASE)

Project Management

Features supporting project management include:

Resource Allocation and Tracking using Gantt charts
Event Logging using model calendars
Workflow scripting for setting workflow processes
Security
Model Metrics
API Scripting (macros).

Change Management

The key facilities supporting change management are:

Auditing ^[20]
Baseline Difference and Merge ^[21]
Version Control ^[22]

The auditing feature supports logging changes to the model. The Baseline Management feature allows snapshots of parts of a model to be created periodically. A baseline can be compared and merged with the current model or a branch of that model. This supports Branching model information to another repository, then adding updates and merging them back.

The Version Control interface supports the major version control applications:

Subversion
CVS
Team Foundation Server
SCC interface to any SCC compatible version control system.

Team Based Development and Collaboration

The Team Interaction facilities include:

Model Mail: Internal model based mailing system.^[23]
Team Review: Inter-repository forum for lodging discussion on issues. ^[24]
Model Views: User definable Views, prompting users on relevant model updates

Client Customer Collaboration:

User definable Word Compatible RTF reporting
HTML reporting
EAlite – provides free read-only viewing of models with support for client/customer interaction via the Team Review

Service Oriented Architectures

Supports the core Service Oriented Architectures:

SoaML
SOMF

Along with Round Trip engineering of WSDL, XSD used to facilitate BPEL generation.

Integration with Other Tools

The key features that support integration with other tools include:

XMI Import/Export: Supports the XMI 1.1, 1.2 and 2.1 specifications (and import of .emx files).
CSV import/Export
Automation interface – supports a comprehensive API interface for use with any COM based language (and Java).
MDG Add-ins are available, supporting interfaces to:
- VS .Net
- Eclipse
- TcSE
- HP Quality Center
- Import Visio diagrams
- Import DOORS requirements
- Atlassion JIRA integration
- SAP netweaver Integration

Reporting

Features for creating model documentation include:

User-definable (MS Word) compatible RTF Reporting ^[25]
User-definable HTML generation of the model^[26]
Model slide show presentations^[27]
User definable query based reporting^[28]

Logistics

There are many scenarios for deployment. For the multi-user and multi-site development there is support for WAN based connectivity using a WAN Optimizer. Information can be exchanged and merged between repositories for off-site analysis and development or for exchanging models between diverse development groups. The core logistics are:

Repository Types:

Supports .eap files as well as DBMS repositories (the 10 more commonly used DBMS).

Tool Deployment:

Supports a simple workstation installation and, if required, a simple DBMS installation.

Scalability:

The tool is very scalable with options for large scale cross-corporate or WAN based interconnections.

Platforms supported

Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit)
Linux & Mac OS installations are supported using Crossover Office

History

Sparx Systems initially released Enterprise Architect in 2000. Originally designed as a UML modeling tool for modeling UML 1.1, the product has evolved to include other OMG UML specifications 1.3 2.0, 2.1, .2.3

References

^ "Developing an Enterprise-wide Architecture IAG" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Embedded Systems Development using SysML". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Geoscience Australia and CSIRO Developing the GeoSciML interoperability standard with Enterprise Architect" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Safety Standards Online". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ Enterprise Architect Help. "Model Validation". Sparx Systems. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
^ "Requirements Management". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Workflow Scripting". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Tracking Changes". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Business Models". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Business Rules Code Generation". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Behavioral Code Generation". Sparx Systems.
^ "Software Developement". Sparx Systems.
^ "Unit Testing". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Testpoint Management". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Recording Sequence Diagrams". Sparx Systems.
^ "Profiling Native Applications". Sparx Systems.
^ "SysML". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Database Engineering". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Built-in MDA Transforms". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Auditing". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Baselines". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Version Control". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Internal Mail". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Team Review". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Word Compatible RTF Reporting". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "HTML Reporting". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Model Slide Shows". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
^ "Model Search". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)

GeoSciML Testbed

External Links

List of Articles

Case Study for using Enterprise Architect

Geospatial Standards

Safety Standards

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Community site

User Community (run by users)

Enterprise Architect You Tube Channel

SD Times

SD Times 100 Winners Profile - September, 2010

SearchSOA.com - EA modeling tools communicate across disciplines - May 2009

Dr Dobb's Portal - Sparx Systems Updates Enterprise Architect - April 2009

SD Times - Sparx update gives enterprise architects a hand - April 2009

@@ Line 199: / Line 199: @@
 *	User-definable (MS Word) compatible RTF Reporting <ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/9.0/reporting/rtfdocuments.html| title = Word Compatible RTF Reporting | Publisher = Sparx Systems}}</ref>
 *	User-definable HTML generation of the model<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/9.0/reporting/htmlreports.html | title = HTML Reporting  | Publisher = Sparx Systems}}</ref>
+*	Model slide show presentations<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/9.0/reporting/htmlreports.html | title = Model Slide Shows | Publisher = Sparx Systems}}</ref>
+*	User definable query based reporting<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/navigate_search_and_trace/search_view.html| title = Model Search | Publisher = Sparx Systems}}</ref>
-*	Model presentations
-*	User definable query based reporting
 === Logistics ===