UML diagram in Enterprise Architect |
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| Developer(s) | Sparx Systems |
|---|---|
| Development status | Active |
| 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 |
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is a visual modeling and design tool based on the OMG UML. 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.
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,[2][3] through to application and database design and re-engineering, and development of embedded systems.[4]
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, as well as, 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. [5][6][7]
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:
Underlying UML modeling are several key aspects that most modeling tools support. The core aspects supported by Enterprise Architect include:
UML Validation can be run against the model.[11]
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.[12] These requirements can be subject to change management, workflow processing, [13] baseline comparison and auditing.[14] There is also a model glossary that is interactive with notes for requirements.[15][16]
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.[17] Enterprise Architect also supports the definition of Business Rules with the ability to generate executable code from these rules.[18] Business modeling can be combined with GAP analysis to view potential gaps in proposed solutions.
Model simulation of Behavioral diagrams is supported for:[19]
Execution flow is defined using Triggers, Guards and Effects. The simulation is performed using a debug type scenario that supports simulation re-runs with alteration to the triggers and events.
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.[20]
Languages supported:
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.[21]
Compilers and interpreters supported:
Add-ins are available for integration with MS Visual Studio and Eclipse.
For code based testing there is support for:
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.
Integrated with building and debugging code Enterprise Architect allows the developer to perform abstract analysis of the software using Profiling and Sequence diagram generation:
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.[26] 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.
Enterprise Architect supports Data Modeling from the Conceptual to Physical levels, Forward and Reverse Engineering of Database Schemas,[27] and MDA transformation of the Logical (platform independent) to Physical DBMS(platform dependant).[28] Diagram types supported include:
Supported DBMSs:
Features supporting project management include:
The key facilities supporting change management are:
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:
The Team Interaction facilities include:
Client Customer Collaboration:
Supports the core Service Oriented Architectures:
Along with Round Trip engineering of WSDL, XSD used to facilitate BPEL generation.
The key features that support integration with other tools include:
Features for creating model documentation include:
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.[41] 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:
Platforms supported
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 and 2.4.1.