ER\Studio: The Model Modeling tool
October 07, 2015

ER\Studio: The Model Modeling tool

Jay Coppola | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

11.0

Modules Used

  • Cross Platform and RepoClient

Overall Satisfaction with ER/Studio

We use ER/Studio within our data modeling team here at UConn Health. I'm the lead data modeler and I'm responsible for the maintenance and administration of the ER\Studio application and repository. We use it for our application databases (3NF) and data warehouse database (Dimensional) designs. I've found it to be a very useful tool and makes creating the physical database as easy as a few clicks of a button. Of course there is effort in doing the analysis and creating the conceptual and logical models but writing DDL is a thing of the past with ER\Studio.
  • ER\Studio supports the concept of a domain. You can create a custom domain (data type) and give it a name and use it as the data type for attributes. I use this to define my surrogate PK and several other "standard" attributes we populate into every relation (table).
  • ER\Studio supports the coding of Macros. This is VB code that leverages their API to automate manual process. Very helpful as you could imagine. They supply a large set of pre-canned macros and are very good about helping you write your own if you need help. I have several macros that help me implement naming conventions on attributes and FK names.
  • The repository is a handy feature that allows you to save off your models to a database to be safe and also to allow for collaboration between other modelers on you team.
  • Several different licensing models allow for flexibility, usage. They support a single user workstation as well as concurrent licensing, for multiple part time users.
  • ER\Studio licensing can be cumbersome and upgrading from one version to another usually takes several phone calls and emails to the licensing group to get the update installed and running.
  • The repository can be slow when the model count gets larger. By large I mean 20 to 30 models.
  • A nice feature that I would like to see is table comments be displayed on the model along with the attributes. Currently you have to choose between the two.
  • Using ER\Studio to create models and eventually the actual database schema allows for a picture that is understandable to the customer and saves significant time writing DDL to create the database objects (tables, indexes, relationships, constraints...)
  • A nice customer interface tool so you can create a web based interface to the metadata for a particular design.
  • The tool also supports sub-models so you can break a large project into smaller parts, I find this feature very helpful.
  • Sybase Power Designer Data Architect and CA ERwin
My first modeling tool was Sybase's Power Designer and it was a fine tool to get the job done. When I changed companies 10 years ago I was introduced to ER\Studio and have been using that ever since. More recently I looked into CA ERwin and found it to be unintuitive but to be fair I didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.

It's a data modeling tool that will generate the DDL for your database, so you need to know your target database system (SQL Server Oracle, DB2).

They have single target versions and multiple target versions. The multiple target includes just about every conceivable DBMS including XML.

ER/Studio Data Architect Feature Ratings

ER/Studio Support

I can call or email support and both get quick turn around. The only issue is they are on the west coast (US) and have a west coast work schedule and I'm on the East coast.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
No - We have the basic support; not even sure premium support is available. We get good responses from their support staff and they are very helpful with righting macros for you.
When I first starting working with macros and I had a question, the support person didn't just help me she actually wrote the macro for me and I've used it as a template for several other macros.