Likelihood to Recommend Enterprise Architect can be used to capture business requirements, design and management of all successive models, algorithms, process flows/workflows, design of business data objects and other artifacts. The strong point is the ability to link the items in all models with each other, the more time the analysts and designers "invest" into making nice and clearly defined models, the higher the future pay-off by any successive changes to the systems. Enterprise Architect is not a good tool for capturing rather unstructured business requirements, use e.g. Confluence or other solutions instead. EA should comprise the extracted models with very little unstructured information. Management of the changes process should not be done in Enterprise Architect, rather use JIRA/Confluence or similar.
Read full review Given the versatility and diversity of the diagrams that can be created with Microsoft Visio, we use this tool for the most diverse activities. With our students, we use it to organize group activities and manage the tasks that everyone has to complete. In research groups, we use it to divide tasks and create organization charts. For research activities, especially the more complex ones carried out, for example, in PhD programmes, the diagrams allow us to display all the work phases graphically.
Read full review Pros Open Architecture - A wide and extensive set of options, plug-ins and customization options make Sparx EA more of a tool kit than just a tool. Most tools allow customization but Sparx EA is built from the ground up with this in mind. Wide variety of formats, lexicons, standards and data import export capabilities allow different roles to interact with the information in different ways. Automated report generation allows architects and designers to spend less taking on word processing and more time on performing architecture and design. Read full review Visio comes with icons that can help differentiate processes within a map. These can be used to be a legend and helps create a visually appealing flow. Visio is user-friendly and allows the user to easily navigate through the different creative options that can be used. Because this is a Microsoft product, Visio works well with other Microsoft products for easy translation. Read full review Cons Needs someone that is very conversant with business modelling terminology Read full review For me personally I cannot highlight anything specific that has any bearing on how I use the product. Everything is very straightforward and clearly signposted including template desgins and categories. The layout is easy to navigate and as it's part of the MS Office ecosystem means there is less to learn as I'm used to a lot of the cross product functionality. Read full review Likelihood to Renew We use Microsoft Visio to keep our diagrams updated and to that end we will need the subscription to keep using the software. Otherwise we will be left with PDF versions of the diagrams.
Read full review Usability Some things that I think should be easy to do are not, at least not for a beginner user. I'm sure it's easy once you get the hang of it but the two main issues I have with Visio are the connecting of different states and searching for graphics/icons after you have chosen a starting template.
Read full review Support Rating The support team of Sparx EA, based in Australia, is always willing to help and give direction.
Read full review Overall, I feel that Microsoft's support is weak. They are now such a behemoth that their model of putting documentation online for their users to sift through is totally outgrown. Given the amount of money you pay for these licenses, Microsoft should provide easy one-on-one support for their products via email or chat. The idea of paying their rates for support incidents is ridiculous. If you have an enormous amount of time on your hands, use their support websites and you will eventually find a solution most of the time.
Read full review Alternatives Considered BiZZdesign represents a different new concept to enterprise architecture, its gravity center is not technical modelling, but rather a view on capturing the whole end-user experience or customer journey. It also allows to grasp areas as internal company capabilities, required for adoption/changes and operation of the solution, uses the same Archimate modelling language. This solution is in my opinion a new generation enabling to not only design the solutions, but also manage the whole application portfolio with respect to capabilities and requirement parameters.
Read full review Even though it’s a more expensive solution, Vizio is built for the enterprise. Therefore, it integrates perfectly with our existing Microsoft stack, and quite frankly, because it’s such a more mature product, it provides exactly the functionality we need and expect.
Read full review Return on Investment This program speed up the development process. It generates the actual code with my model classes after modeling Read full review Visio diagrams have help us streamline processes that reduce costs and improve efficiencies. It is a very complete program, it allows you to make industrial and civil works diagrams. It also allows you to design 3D graphics. It is a very reliable program. Its ability to work with vectors is a big plus. It can easily import SVG graphics, edit their individual lines and then being able to export the edited SVG again. Read full review ScreenShots