Item: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Rating: 9
Author: Allan Kowalski

Overall Satisfaction with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Sparx EA is being used as a centralized single source of truth of architectural specifications, representations and related information and meta-information.

The user interface provides a set of customized views of the information, appropriate to the individual user's role and expertise.

As gatekeeper, I ensure proper governance, auditing and guide its evolution and use.

Pros and Cons

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.

Cons

It is not necessarily a user friendly tool, but then again neither are any of the others EA tools. They provide excellent tutorials and webinars. They should keep adding those.
The RTF document templates can be challenging to create.
Setting the sort ordering of searches in model views is complex(require a custom SQL query)

Return on Investment

The time saved on not using MS Word alone is huge. BY generating reports, spreadsheets, user friendly output and so on it has saved hours per week per user.
By allowing so many different roles to use a single source of truth, information is much easier to access and maintain. Several hours a week not spent looking for information . or the latest information is the result.
BY allowing customization, days of detailed training of staff in UML, Archimate, etc.. are avoided.

Alternatives Considered

IBM Rational System Architect, Troux, Avolution ABACUS, MEGA and BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio

Price: Sparx blows away the competition being less expensive by orders of magnitude Features: It compares favorably with the competition w.r.t. modeling architecture. It's not an APM, risk management or any other kind of tool. Support: It provides excellent e-mail technical support but not any kind of consulting or professional services. Of course, there are a plethora of companies that will happily step in to fill this slot but be prepared to pay. My advice - hire a very skilled independent consultant.

Other Software Used

JIRA Software, Atlassian Confluence, Visual SourceSafe

Likelihood to Recommend

You need to have a Sparx EA go to person to help socialize the tool and ensure it is properly used (but again, this is true for most tools). IF a company is looking for a tool they can just buy an have people use they should stick to Visio because any true modeling tool requires expertise.

In an environment where you do not have a highly trained group of architects who are familiar with all the standards and strategies of modeling, Sparx EA , more than most tools, allows you to wrap user friendly menus,and windows around it to make it easier to use.

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Sparx EA - An Unpolished Gem