IBM Rational System Architect vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest comparison

erwin by Quest and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. erwin by Quest is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.2, while IBM is ranked #20. erwin by Quest holds a 11.0% mindshare in AM, compared to IBM’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of erwin by Quest users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of IBM users who would recommend it.

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Read 38 erwin Data Modeler by Quest reviews

4,727 Views
2,584 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Rational System Architect

Read 5 IBM Rational System Architect reviews

1,084 Views
602 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

IBM Rational System Architect

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

IBM Rational System Architect and erwin Data Modeler by Quest are enterprise architecture and data modeling tools, respectively. erwin Data Modeler holds the advantage due to superior features and quick deployment, despite IBM's competitive pricing aspects.

Features: IBM Rational System Architect supports complex frameworks and integrates with multiple tools, providing a versatile modeling platform. erwin Data Modeler efficiently manages large data volumes and offers detailed visual representations. It excels in metadata management and collaboration, distinguishing it from IBM's capabilities.

Room for Improvement: IBM Rational System Architect could improve its deployment speed and user interface for better accessibility. erwin Data Modeler might enhance its pricing flexibility and expand support for diverse database systems. Both products can benefit from refining their integration capabilities with third-party tools

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Rational System Architect requires a traditional deployment approach, often leading to longer setups. Despite this, it offers extensive documentation and dedicated customer service. erwin Data Modeler ensures a more intuitive deployment with responsive support, promoting user satisfaction efficiently.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Rational System Architect has a higher initial cost but brings long-term value through its comprehensive features. erwin Data Modeler's premium price is justified by its efficient capabilities and quick deployment, delivering significant ROI by reducing long-term operational expenses.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Rational System Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Rational System Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (9th)

IBM Rational System Architect

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

20th

Average Rating

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler by Quest is 11.0%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Rational System Architect is 1.9%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

JorgeSanz

Data Governance Senior Advisor at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company

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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Entrprsarch67

Enterprise Architecture Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Modeling is useful, but many features need improvement and technical support is lacking

I find that almost every feature related to the models requires improvement. For example, I would like to see more trendy models, the look and feel of the models can be improved. This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards. The impact analysis feature is in need of heavy improvement. The is a standalone product that lacks integration with a business process automation engine. I would like to see the workflow improved, where it integrates seamlessly with the artifacts.

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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

"Any tool will do diagramming but I think the ability to put the stuff up in a graphical fashion, then think about it, and keep things consistent is what's valuable about it. It's too easy when you're using other methods to not have naming consistent standards and column consistent definitions, et cetera."

"It is a scalable solution...The technical support team is fine."

"The generation of DDL saved us having to write the steps by hand. You still had to go in and make some minor modifications to make it deployable to the database system. However, for the data lineage, it is very valuable for tracing our use of data, especially personal confidential data through different systems."

"We can create mappings in erwin and possibly data dictionaries."

"The logical model gives developers, as well as the data modelers, an understanding of exactly how each object interacts with the others, whether a one-to-many, many-to-many, many-to-one, etc."

"It supports a wide variety of databases, including the latest ones. We have chosen to go for a cloud-based database, and it supports that, which is very useful."

"It reduces monthly savings by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Think about a company like Costco and all of the points of sale systems in Costco, all of the systems, the applications, but if all the applications in Costco all had their own data model, trying to integrate those, upgrade them and manage their different versions of the same model throughout the store, is an absolute nightmare. It's phenomenally expensive. This helps reduce that cost significantly. I'm talking on the orders of hundreds of thousands of dollars."

"erwin has versioning so you can keep versions, over time, of those models and you can compare any version to any version. If you're looking at a specific database and you want to see what changed over time, that's really useful. You can go back to a different version or connect that to your change-control processes so you can see what was released when."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pros

"We have seen ROI with this solution over the years that we have used it."

"The solution is pretty stable."

"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."

Cons

"This is a very complex product."

"It is not a very stable solution. I rate the stability five out of ten."

"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."

"I love the product. I love the ability to get into the code, make it automated, and make it do what I want. I would like to see them put some kind of governance over the ability to make changes to the mart tables with the API, so that instead of just using the modeler's rights to a table -- it has a separate set of rights for API access. That would give us the ability to put governance around API applications. Right now a person with erwin and Excel/VBA has the ability to make changes to models with the API if they also have rights to make changes to the model from erwin. It's a risk."

"We are planning to move, in 2021, into their server version, where multiple data modelers can work at the same time and share their models. It has become a pain point to merge the models from individual desktops and get them into a single data model, when multiple data modelers are working on a particular project. It becomes a nightmare for the senior data modeler to bring them together, especially when it comes to recreating them when you want to merge them."

"The solution's reporting side needs to be improved."

"I would like to see more support for working with the big-data world. There are so many new databases evolving and it's very hard for them to keep up with all of the new technologies. It would be good if they were able to dynamically support big-data platforms, other than Hive and Teradata."

"It would be nice to have it on the Linux platform, not just Windows. If they can support Linux, there would be a huge market for it."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest cons

"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."

"This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not a very expensive solution. Only the licensing and maintenance fee needs to be paid."

"The tool is expensive."

"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."

"I wish it wasn't so expensive. I would love to personally buy a copy of my own and have it at home, because the next job that I'm looking at is probably project management and I might not have access to the tool. I would like to keep my ability to use the tool. Therefore, they should probably have a pricing for people like me who want to just use the solution as an independent consultant, trying to get started. $3,000 is a big hit."

"There are two license options and the pricing is reasonable."

"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"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."

"The primary reasons that erwin was selected were that it was much more affordable for us [than Embarcadero] and it was easily maintainable."

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

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

15%

Government

13%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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.

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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.

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What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

The solution's model mark could be better because it crashes sometimes.

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

December 2024

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Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

December 2024

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Also Known As

erwin DM

Rational System Architect

Learn More

erwin by Quest

IBM

Overview

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.

IBM Rational System Architect is an enterprise architecture solution for visualizing, analyzing, and communicating enterprise architecture and business process analysis. This solution provides decision support, process optimization, and integration into solution delivery. Rational System Architect addresses all aspects of your organization's enterprise architecture, including modeling, publishing, analysis, and execution.

Sample Customers

Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples

Wuxi Lake Cloud, Nationwide, ETI, IDS Scheer

Buyer's Guide

IBM Rational System Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

December 2024

Free Report: IBM Rational System Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

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