We performed a comparison between IBM Rational System Architect and SAP PowerDesigner based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Enterprise Architecture Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."We have seen ROI with this solution over the years that we have used it."
"There are a lot of features I find valuable, but I think that the metamodel customization is one of the best features that the solution offers."
"The user interface is good. It's both clear and comprehensible. It's easy to work with."
"The solution is pretty stable."
"The most valuable feature is the way you can extend it and customize it. With most modeling tools, you fit your modeling process to fit the tool. In PowerDesigner, you can make the tool fit the way you want to work."
"The initial setup was very easy."
"In PowerDesigner, I primarily use BPM and modeling standards. I find it beneficial for process analysis, although I use data modeling to a lesser extent."
"Provides the flexibility to create logical and conceptual data models."
"I like the property sheet capability and the user-defined attributes that you can set up."
"Very good repository features."
"It offers a lot of features in one solution. You would have to get multiple other products to bundle together all of the capabilities that you get in just this product."
"Has a specific template that's very helpful for importing metadata."
"There needs to be more information at the outset about how to use the solution and how to deploy it. The deployment process needs improvement."
"The reverse engineering of the database is already there, but in the next release I would like to see some pilot supplied with the solution in order to address any database."
"The solution needs to better integrate with other products, like Microsoft."
"This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards."
"The data governance should be improved, like ER/Studio."
"It would be helpful if there were glossary, catalog and governance tools. It would help make it a true end-to-end product."
"I have found the solution not easy to use. When publishing you have to download the HTML, make adjustments against the updated HTML, convert it to HTML, then finally paste the HTML. There is not an on-the-fly function available to bypass the step-by-step converting process that other solutions have."
"This product lacks artificial intelligence that should be very good in terms of automatically identifying the classification of elements."
"SAP PowerDesigner can improve the ease of use. It is not the best tool on the market because it is tough to navigate and use. A beginner would not be able to use it well, it requires some experience. If the solution was more user-friendly it would be able to be used by more audiences. I do not think many people are aware of this solution and they should use it."
"There are many areas of this solution that needs to be changed."
"Pricing for small consultancies needs improvement. They sustain prices to competing tools. The competing tools tend to do special offers. PowerDesigner SAP doesn't pay much attention to the pricing of it and there are no special offers."
"One disadvantage of SAP PowerDesigner is that you cannot reverse engineer the ALTER statements, so that's an enhancement or area for improvement I'm looking forward to seeing from the SAP team in the future. That should directly reflect on the physical data models my company builds."
Earn 20 points
IBM Rational System Architect is ranked 20th in Enterprise Architecture Management while SAP PowerDesigner is ranked 5th in Enterprise Architecture Management with 34 reviews. IBM Rational System Architect is rated 7.4, while SAP PowerDesigner is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of IBM Rational System Architect writes "Modeling is useful, but many features need improvement and technical support is lacking". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP PowerDesigner writes "Effective in terms of validating everything, but sometimes they don't allow us some flexibility and GUI could improve". IBM Rational System Architect is most compared with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, whereas SAP PowerDesigner is most compared with erwin Data Modeler by Quest, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, Visio, IDERA ER/Studio and LeanIX. See our IBM Rational System Architect vs. SAP PowerDesigner report.
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