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ARIS Architect and Designer vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest comparison

Software AG and erwin by Quest are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. Software AG is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.4, while erwin by Quest is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.2. Software AG holds a 0.9% mindshare in BPD, compared to erwin by Quest’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of erwin by Quest users who would recommend it.
Sponsored
IBM Blueworks Live
Read 20 IBM Blueworks Live reviews
  • 2,669 Views
  • 1,721 Comparison Views
90% willing to recommend
ARIS Architect and Designer
Read 8 ARIS Architect and Designer reviews
  • 892 Views
  • 481 Comparison Views
88% willing to recommend
erwin Data Modeler by Quest
Read 38 erwin Data Modeler by Quest reviews
  • 2,329 Views
  • 1,270 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Erwin Data Modeler by Quest and ARIS Architect and Designer are prominent products in the data and process management categories. While Erwin shines with its database-focused capabilities, ARIS is distinguished by its process governance and user-friendly design.

Features: Erwin Data Modeler is recognized for its reverse-engineering of databases, comprehensive versioning, and visual data modeling that assists in database structure understanding. ARIS Architect and Designer provide extensive customization options, robust process governance, and the ability to transform process designs into comprehensive data analyses.

Room for Improvement: Users of Erwin Data Modeler suggest enhancements in its interface for better big data integration, improved multi-language support, and refined reporting capabilities. For ARIS, licensing cost is a major hurdle, and enhancements in data export and usability are needed, especially regarding browser-based functionalities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both solutions are primarily deployed on-premises. Erwin users find technical support helpful yet occasionally slow, whereas ARIS customers note supportive but sometimes sluggish assistance. Both maintain loyal user bases due to reliable support but could improve in interface adaptation and support efficiency.

Pricing and ROI: Erwin Data Modeler is seen as costly, but users find its ROI justified through productivity and automation gains. ARIS faces criticism for high fees, restricting smaller organizations, yet both are valued for significant time savings when features are fully utilized.

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To learn more, read our detailed ARIS Architect and Designer vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest Report (Updated: December 2024).
Buyer's Guide
ARIS Architect and Designer vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest
December 2024
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Helped 824,067 peers since 2012
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Blueworks Live
Sponsored
Ranking in Business Process Design
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ARIS Architect and Designer
Ranking in Business Process Design
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
erwin Data Modeler by Quest
Ranking in Business Process Design
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.5%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ARIS Architect and Designer is 0.9%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of erwin Data Modeler by Quest is 2.2%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
An easily scalable and affordable solution that enables users to document and digitize processes with ease
IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts. There is only one kind of BPMN 2.0 diagram. It is a process diagram. It doesn't have the concept of separate tools, which other products offer. If I had to do a hardcore BPMN 2.0 modeling, the product would have its own reservations. There were features we could not explore from a BPMN 2.0 perspective. Most of the time, people who are shifting from Microsoft Office tools to a digitized way of working still want the reporting capabilities to be strong. Some tools, like ARIS or Signavio, offer customized solutions from the reporting perspective. If I have documented my whole finance process and want to fetch out a complete SOP report in a very customized manner, IBM Blueworks cannot provide it. We have to rely on some other services. So that's one area in which we always struggled, how to really customize the reporting aspects. I understand that we need to keep the tool a little more asset-light. It's very difficult to keep adding many options, but at least a few BPMN 2.0 options were needed. We have been suggesting to IBM that we should have some way of customizing the reporting. At least we should get a custom way of reporting it into different formats like Excel or putting up a logo for one of the clients so that their SAP can be printed that way.
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MohamedSalah13 - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is stable and has a responsive support team, but it is not flexible, and exporting data is difficult
I am not satisfied with the solution. The product is not flexible. There are some issues in exporting the data. It is very hard. Importing from other formats is also very hard. Once we work with ARIS, we are stuck with it. We cannot switch to a different solution because migration is very hard. Also, the UI is not the best. The tool must allow users to export data into different formats, especially common ones. Sometimes, we need to export it to Word files.
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JorgeSanz - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamline data modeling and automate network changes for increased efficiency
The initial setup depends on the tool if you are using the data model environment. Stopping the server could be complex and require strong expertise. If you have everything set up and configured, Erwin is straightforward. You can deploy it in a few hours. In our case, it took a couple of months to address internal conditions, assign machines, and set up everything for the services. I rate the initial setup a six out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.
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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It has the ability to document in different formats. It is not tied to a specific model. You can look at it from different angles and see the intuitive nature of it. It always generates a valid diagram. You cannot create something that is not BPMN compliant."
"It's very easy, very quick to create a process map. It has templates. The look and feel is very nice. What we want to achieve out of the process map, we can achieve it using Blueworks."
"The ease of documenting and digitizing the processes was valuable to us."
"The stability is pretty good. It is highly available, which is key. You don't lose your work and can autosave."
"It is a stable solution since there has not been any downtime. Everything loads fast."
"In terms of the collaboration features, from the point of discovery, it was useful to go to load up the policies and the rule sets that the client had. And in terms of exploring options and being able to model a variety of different processes, that was incredibly useful as well."
"Collaboration is most valuable. You can collaborate online with many people. People can comment, and you can comment back. It is just like a social network, and that, for me, is very good."
"It has a built-in capability to capture process owners and managers against processes along with other process governance roles."
More IBM Blueworks Live pros
"It is suitable for banks, insurance companies, public administration, etc. The method is very adaptable and can be applied independently of the business."
"We use the product for modeling, conducting process checks, doing process flow, running, and analyzing the report."
"The support team is very responsive."
"One of the standout features for me is its synchronization to a publication server. It makes sharing diagrams and links with non-users easy."
"The most important feature is ARIS's ability to turn a process design into data to analyze anything you want. For example, we have some analysis reports in ARIS that can guide us when we want to change a system. It shows us how this change will affect all of the organization's processes."
"It's really fast. It's much faster compared to Enterprise Architect."
"The user interface is easy to work with."
"One of the most valuable features is how user-friendly ARIS is, compared to other BPM tools. This tool has very diverse types of assets available. ARIS also has a lot of customizable options, different model types, object types, a number of attributes, and a lot of customization is possible. In comparison, Signavio is very limited in terms of model types and object types. So these customizations ARIS offers are really valuable to any client who wants to create a BPM repository."
"It has centralized storage so that a data model can be shared by different teams."
"The solution’s code generation ensures accurate engineering of data sources, as there is no development time. Code doesn't even have to be reviewed. We have been using this solution for so long and all the code which has been generated is accurate with the requirements. Once we generate the DDLs out of the erwin tools, the development team does a quick review of the script line by line. They will just be running the script on the database and looking into other requirements, such as the index. So, there is less effort from development side to create tables or build a database."
"The ability to collaborate between different members across the organization is the most valuable feature. It gives us the ability to work on the same model, regardless of where we are physically."
"We use the Forward and Reverse Engineering tools to help us speed things up and create things that would have to be done otherwise by hand. E.g., getting a database into a data model format or vice versa."
"I have worked with erwin Data Modeler for quite some time and familiarity is its most valuable feature."
"We can create mappings in erwin and possibly data dictionaries."
"We use the macros with naming standards patterns, domains, datatypes, and some common attributes. As far as other automations, a feature of the Bulk Editor is mass updates. When it sees something is nonstandard or inaccurate, it will export the better data out. Then, I can easily see which entities and attributes are not inline or standard. I can easily make changes to what was uploaded to the Bulk Editor. When taking on a new project, it can save you about a half a day on a big project across an entire team."
"The solution is excellent in providing a visual representation of a database and can generate DDL for implementing changes. We use DDL for logical purposes to review with business people, ensuring they have the required fields for processing. We also use it as a data dictionary for the physical data model to understand all the purposes of the terms. This helps us map the logical and physical terms with the business definition to understand our data."
More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pros
 

Cons

"IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts."
"I can't insert any images. For example, within the process map, if I want to put it in the box or rectangle, or circle. If I have to use one image or icon, that's not possible."
"The user interface is quite easy at first but process analysts soon run into roadblocks of limited functionality, which is disappointing."
"In the solution Signavio, they have a customer journey mapping feature that should be added to IBM Blueworks Live. It's valuable to map or document the customer journey to identify the pains and opportunities in this process."
"The solution is a very basic discovery product so it doesn't have that much modeling capability. This can be improved."
"I would like to see integration with ERP systems. This would help us to simulate the process and see where the problems are. Though IBM Blueworks Live is a good tool for documenting, it is not good for simulating."
"In the Blue Works Live software boxes and lines are automatically placed by the programme and can't be easily manipulated."
"Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use it very effectively."
More IBM Blueworks Live cons
"You can have a collaboration feature, but it's necessary to have ARIS Connect which is a separate, costly product."
"The simulation part still has some way to go. It's a good feature, and it's something that other vendors don't have right now, but it can still be improved. Some features are needed in ARIS Architect, so advanced users can do things through drag-and-drop functionality."
"The support team takes a long time to respond to our queries."
"Even with a formal modeling language, users can still draw freely and make a bit of a mess in your repository. It should also improve usability."
"Sometimes, it's not easy to convince customers to use this methodology because it's a bit rigid."
"We face problems when the product's capacity is increased."
"This product could be improved by lowering the licensing cost. More organizations could use ARIS if they slashed the licensing costs even a little bit."
"The product is not flexible."
"There is a lack of local support in the China region."
"The modeling product itself is far and above anything else that I've seen on the market. There are certain inconsistencies when it comes to keeping up with other platforms' databases in the reverse-engineering process. It should also support more database platforms."
"I would like to see the ability to support more NoSQL platforms more quickly. In addition, enhancing the graphics to render more quickly would be beneficial for any user."
"I still use Visio for conceptual modeling, and that's mainly because it is easier to change things, and you can relax some of the rules. DM's eventual target is a database, which means you actually have to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts, but in a conceptual model, you don't often know what you're working with. So, that's probably a constraint with erwin. They have made it a lot easier, and they've done a lot, but there is probably still room for improvement in terms of the ease of presentation back to the business. I'm comparing it with something like Visio where you can change colors on a box, change the text color and that sort of stuff, and change the lines. Such things are a whole lot easier in Visio, but once you get a theme organized in erwin, you can apply that theme to all of the objects. So, it becomes easier, but you do have to set up that theme."
"In terms of new features, it would be great to have a cloud base. We should be able to put it on the cloud for better collaboration and data models sharing."
"I'd really like to see the PDF function become available. It would make my life much easier than what it is at the moment because whenever I need to collaborate with people that do not have erwin, I have to go through the wonkiness of going to Word and then save it from Word into PDF. There's a lot of differences between erwin 4.4 and 2020."
"The Bulk Editor needs improvement. If you had something that was a local model to your local machine, you could connect to the API, then it would write directly into the repository. However, when you have something that is on the centralized server, that functionality did not work. Then, you had to export out to a CSV and upload up to the repository. It would have been nice to be able to do the direct API without having that whole download and upload thing. Maybe I didn't figure it out, but I'm pretty sure that didn't work when it was a model that sat on a centralized repository."
"The erwin ETL functionality has room for improvement when it comes to mapping databases with a classic entity-relationship model to a data warehouse model."
More erwin Data Modeler by Quest cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."
"The solution is very, very cost-effective."
"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."
"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."
"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."
"Based on the licenses purchased, from a footprint perspective, you can have as many people as you want. You have multiple different categories of licenses to keep the cost low."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"Making it less expensive would be good."
"The licenses are very costly. I've seen many people who are hesitant or not able to use ARIS Suite just because of the license cost. Even though they like all the functionalities and understand the value of everything ARIS provides, they aren't able to implement it."
"Many customers find the licensing configuration confusing. There are many different sub-details in the licensing, making it very difficult for us to understand what we are buying and what we are using with what."
"The product is expensive."
"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."
"This company had bought the license for three years, and it's not an individual license. While you can buy a license for each individual, that would be very expensive. There is something called concurrent licenses where you can purchase licenses in bulk and 15 to 20 people can access the license and model. Concurrent licenses are scalable to the number of users and are proportional to the cost."
"We've continued to use the product for many years and compared it with others on the market. The pricing is reasonable considering what the solution offers and what we pay. There are cheaper tools, but they may not be as robust and easy to use, so it's worth the money."
"It is not a very expensive solution. Only the licensing and maintenance fee needs to be paid."
"Price-wise, erwin Data Modeler is okay. You can purchase a single license and it is not very expensive."
"The tool is expensive."
"Pricing is very high compared to any other product."
"erwin is expensive compared to other solutions. We are paying almost $6,000 per seat a month."
More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
12%
Insurance Company
12%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put an...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.
See all answers
What needs improvement with IBM Blueworks Live?
Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use...
See all answers
What do you like most about ARIS Architect and Designer?
The support team is very responsive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with ARIS Architect and Designer?
At this moment, we are moving all of these features to the web, which makes it easier to use in a browser. It can be ...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for ARIS Architect and Designer?
ARIS Architect is like a nuclear product in the suite. Users have the Designer and the administration module as well....
See all answers
What do you like most about erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a nine out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
The solution's model mark could be better because it crashes sometimes.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Visio vs IBM Blueworks Live Logo
Visio vs IBM Blueworks Live
Compared 37% of the time
SAP Signavio Process Manager vs IBM Blueworks Live Logo
SAP Signavio Process Manager vs IBM Blueworks Live
Compared 17% of the time
Lucidchart vs IBM Blueworks Live Logo
Lucidchart vs IBM Blueworks Live
Compared 15% of the time
ARIS Cloud vs IBM Blueworks Live Logo
ARIS Cloud vs IBM Blueworks Live
Compared 9% of the time
Camunda vs IBM Blueworks Live Logo
Camunda vs IBM Blueworks Live
Compared 8% of the time
More IBM Blueworks Live Competitors
ARIS Cloud vs ARIS Architect and Designer Logo
ARIS Cloud vs ARIS Architect and Designer
Compared 100% of the time
More ARIS Architect and Designer Competitors
SAP PowerDesigner vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest Logo
SAP PowerDesigner vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest
Compared 28% of the time
IDERA ER/Studio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest Logo
IDERA ER/Studio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest
Compared 17% of the time
Lucidchart vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest Logo
Lucidchart vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest
Compared 15% of the time
Visio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest Logo
Visio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest
Compared 10% of the time
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest Logo
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest
Compared 8% of the time
More erwin Data Modeler by Quest Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
IBM Blueworks Live
December 2024
IBM Blueworks Live reportDownload IBM Blueworks Live product report
Buyer's Guide
ARIS Architect and Designer
December 2024
ARIS Architect and Designer reportDownload ARIS Architect and Designer product report
Buyer's Guide
erwin Data Modeler by Quest
December 2024
erwin Data Modeler by Quest reportDownload erwin Data Modeler by Quest product report
 

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint
ARIS Architect & Designer, ARIS Architect, ARIS Designer
erwin DM
 

Learn More

IBM
Software AG
erwin by Quest
 

Overview

IBM Blueworks Live is a cloud-based business process modeling tool that helps you discover, map and document your processes. It is easy to use, allowing you to learn and perform business process modeling in minutes.


With Blueworks Live you can:

Simplify business process modeling
Quickly build business processes in a straightforward, cloud-based interface designed for both IT and business users.

Improve process efficiency and accuracy
A central process repository eliminates version control and consistency issues by providing users real-time access to process workflows.

Enhance cross-team collaboration
A shared team workspace engages all business process owners, encouraging cross-team participation and continuous process improvement.

ARIS is the market-leading solution for professional business process management and modeling. Whether you want to document the "as-is" state of your operations for quality or certification reasons or design the "to-be" in terms of continuous improvement in your transformation program, ARIS is the best choice for establishing a single source of truth regarding all process excellence topics in your organization. It is for any organization looking to digitally transform their business, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution. ARIS helps you to make the most out of your processes with Process Mining, Risk & Compliance Management, RPA and much more.

What makes the difference?

  • The most comprehensive platform for process excellence in the market
  • Easy to use
  • Covers business & IT architecture from all angles
  • Full flexibility and >100 diagram types
  • Customer-driven development based on best practices
  • Strong partner ecosystem

ARIS is the market-leading solution for any organization and ideally suited to digitally transform the organization, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution.

erwin pioneered data modeling, and erwin Data Modeler (erwin DM) remains trusted, award-winning software for data modeling and database design, automating complex and time-consuming tasks. Use it to 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 – all while supporting data governance and intelligence efforts.

 

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
Tesco, Weifu, Airbus, Siemens, Proximus, Alicorp, Sekerbank, Bancor, Philips,Sky, Emirates NBD, Dubai Municipality, Suva, U.S. Army, Australia Post, Westfalen Weser Energie - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as the market leader for process excellence with more than 30 years of experience in the market, 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.
 Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples
Buyer's Guide
ARIS Architect and Designer vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest
December 2024
Free Report: ARIS Architect and Designer vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest
Find out what your peers are saying about ARIS Architect and Designer vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
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