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erwin Data Modeler vs. OpenText Dimensions CM

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    erwin Data Modeler

    Score10 out of 10
    N/Aerwin Data Modeler by Quest is a data modeling tool used to find, visualize, design, deploy and standardize high-quality enterprise data assets. It can discover and document any data from anywhere for consistency, clarity and artifact reuse across large-scale data integration, master data management, metadata management, Big Data, business intelligence and analytics initiatives, accomplishing this whil esupporting data governance and intelligence efforts.N/A

    OpenText Dimensions CM

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ADimensions CM is Software Change and Configuration Management for Agile development, developed by Serena Software and now sold by OpenText.N/A
    Pricing
    erwin Data ModelerOpenText Dimensions CM
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    erwin Data ModelerOpenText Dimensions CM
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    erwin Data ModelerOpenText Dimensions CM
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    GitHub
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    ER/Studio
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Git
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ER/Studio
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Perforce P4
    Score7.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    erwin Data ModelerOpenText Dimensions CM
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.1
    (7 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    erwin Data ModelerOpenText Dimensions CM
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Quest Software
    I have had a chance to use few other data modeling tools from Quest and Oracle, but I am most comfortable using erwin Data Modeler. They understand your data modeling needs and have designed the software to give you a feeling of completeness when you are designing a data model.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    Serena CM is well suited to highly controlled, audited, and process driven environments. It will allow strict segregation of duties, and change traceability. If implemented correctly it will help you quickly build trusts with your auditors. It is also well suited to environments that require constant branching and merging. Due to the complexity of the product and learning curve for your development and operations team it may be overkill in a small shop with loose rules
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Quest Software
    • Reverse Engineering: I love the way we can import an SQL file containing schema meta data and generate ER diagram out of it. This is specifically useful if you are implementing erwin Data Modeler for an existing database.
    • Forward Engineering: We use this feature very frequently. Where we do database changes in our physical and logical data models and then generate deployment scripts for the changes made.
    • Physical vs Logical Models: I like to have my database model split into physical and logical models and at the same time still linked to each other. Any changes you make to logical model or physical model shows up in the other.
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    OpenText
    • Code Promotion: Dimensions CM allows supervisors to control changes to code, in that they delegate requests to developers, and act as a gatekeeper prior to promoting to the next environment. This functionality is configurable so you can set up a workflow that best fits the structure and requirements of your own company.
    • Code Repository for changes and versioning: Code can be checked out by item or by synchronizing folders. Code revisions can be compared against other revisions or work files. Item histories show which developers made which modifications, and which supervisor and operations personnel were involved in assigning the request and promoting the code to each environment. Additionally a pedigree will show a stream diagram which graphically displays branches and merges.
    • Deployment: Serena Change Management offers help automating deployment including integrations with SVN and Jenkins. Its newer versions also have a powerful graphical deployment automation tool (Serena Deployment Automation- SDA). It comes with a certain amount of licenses built-in. If you have a many nodes to deploy to there will be separate licensing costs for that.
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    Cons
    Quest Software
    • Cost is the single largest barrier to entry with this tool.
    • Would like to see a greater variety of export options available for use outside of the tool, for example as a vector graphic.
    • Support has been uneven at times.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    • The only major negative that I have encountered with Serena CM product is that the very power and flexibility of the tool means there is a risk that you will make a mess of things. In other words it gives you plenty of rope to tangle yourself with. I recommend careful, well thought out deployments implementing the built in roles and workflows that can be turned on and configured, using a consistent methodology.
    • My experience with the Serena help desk support has not been impressive. Though reasonably polite and diligent, the technicians were well trained, and often gave bad advise and terrible scripts. On several occasions I had to rewrite scripts they have me; if I had run them as provided they would have caused even more difficulties than the problem I was trying to solve. I speak of the support in the past tense because I conditioned myself not to call them, it was usually just easier to solve nay problems my self. They do have a good account management team though, and for any major issues you can go thru them.
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    Usability
    Quest Software
    I had a lot of experience using erwin Data Modeler for designing data models. I think it's pretty intuitive and easy to use. It has enough features to represent your database requirements in form of a model.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Quest Software
    CA customer support and our account manager have been able to support us with any issues that we have had, from managing our serial keys to issues we logged tickets to resolve. There are aspects of key management that have made it difficult over the years but support usually has worked with us.
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    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Quest Software
    Not listed, but I've only used alternatives built into something like the Squirrel SQL editor. That one is semi-functional but lacking many features and, in some instances, just plain wrong. The only pro there is that it's freely available and works over ODBC. I've tried some of the other free ones like Creately but didn't have much success.
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    OpenText
    Serena CM is superior to Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) in overall functionality, but does not have very good native integration with Microsoft. Therefore in a Microsoft centric shop with no audit needs ,TFS would be better. Otherwise I would choose Serena CM
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    Return on Investment
    Quest Software
    • It is difficult to assign a monetary value to it. The initial learning curve was fairly long.
    • It allows us to have better support documentation.
    • It allows ease of communications between functional units.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    • Serena has facilitated our annual completion of various audit and technology control certifications. These certifications make a huge difference to our company's reputation and bottom line.
    • There has been no negative impact on our company.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    erwin Data Modeler Screenshots

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