Visio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest comparison

erwin by Quest and Microsoft are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. erwin by Quest is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.2, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.9. erwin by Quest holds a 2.2% mindshare in BPD, compared to Microsoft’s 12.5% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of erwin by Quest users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Visio and Erwin Data Modeler compete in the diagram and data modeling category. Visio appears to have the upper hand for general diagramming and process visualization due to its integration with Microsoft Office and cost-effectiveness, while Erwin is preferable for complex data modeling and enterprise-level database management.

Features: Visio provides extensive capabilities for diagramming, seamlessly integrating with Microsoft Office. It includes a robust shape library and various templates, supporting diverse use cases such as BPMN 2.0 validation, network diagrams, and flowcharts. Users benefit from its ease of use. Erwin Data Modeler focuses on database design and management, offering tools for reverse engineering and data model visualization. It excels in managing complex data structures and helping with enterprise data governance.

Room for Improvement: Visio could improve by enhancing pen input functionality and better supporting XPDL for process definition. It also needs modern integrations and better usability for complex diagrams. Erwin Data Modeler can enhance its user interface for better intuitiveness and expand its model versioning and comparison tools. Improving cloud capabilities and simplifying licensing could also benefit users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Visio offers flexible deployment options across public, private cloud, and on-premises environments, but lacks real-time updates. It generally requires minimal technical support, though feedback indicates some gaps in Microsoft's support. Erwin is mostly limited to on-premises deployments, requiring detailed setup but provides enterprise-level support with the need for knowledgeable vendor assistance for complex issues.

Pricing and ROI: Visio offers competitive pricing with integration options in Office 365 and additional educational discounts, providing cost-effective solutions. Erwin Data Modeler is more expensive, reflecting its specialized focus, but delivers value for enterprise-level solutions. While both products save documentation and modeling time, Visio provides a more immediate ROI due to lower costs and simplicity.

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

Buyer's Guide

Visio vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

IBM Blueworks Live

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 erwin Data Modeler by Quest is 2.2%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Visio is 12.5%, down from 13.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur

Global Innovation Director at Ernst & Young

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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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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IckyDu Buisson

Enterprise Architect at Employment and Labour; Compensation Fund, Unemployment& Insurance Fund

Good modeling and flexibility but object oriented features needed

Visio should be object-oriented to enable the reusability of objects across different models. Currently, changes made in one model do not automatically reflect in other related models. Having a repository behind the objects would significantly improve its utility, providing a structured environment for managing various architectural components and their relationships.

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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

"Valuable features include real-time modeling and design work, the ability to perform workshops with clients in real-time with the tool, and getting instant output."

"We are you using the product as a process mapping tool and as part of a larger process improvement project. We use it with IBM BPM and IBM ODM. We get an automated workflow solution for our customers, an improved workflow automation."

"The licenses are transferrable between different users."

"For me the most valuable feature is that it's one depository for our bank. So it's not like everybody has their critical processes on SharePoint or on their desktops. Everything is centrally located. It's very intuitive, easy to use. The support that I get from IBM is always great."

"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 solution is stable. All the refreshes run very well."

"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 enables decisions based upon processes that we do model, and ultimately move forward with."

More IBM Blueworks Live 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."

"The modeling portion of the tool is the most valuable. There are some notes, naming standards, and other functions that we use as well. There's a whole boatload of functionality in this thing and we use maybe 10% of it. It seems to be pretty common that not all the functionality is fully utilized. But it's just got gobs and gobs of stuff that you can implement if you so choose to."

"I have worked with erwin Data Modeler for quite some time and familiarity is its most valuable feature."

"The principal feature that I liked is that the solution has a very graphic interface."

"It has centralized storage so that a data model can be shared by different teams."

"The most valuable feature is the physical or visual representation of the database, showing the tables, the columns, the foreign keys, and the ability to generate DDL, so you can physically implement databases."

"Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution."

"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."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pros

"What I like most about the solution is that It's quite easy to use."

"The fact that you could program in VBA is most valuable."

"The main reason I choose Visio is that it is easy to use. The user interface is familiar and straightforward. Additionally, it offers a variety of templates, such as those for Cisco solutions, which make it easy to create diagrams for specific use cases. For example, we use a Cisco Meraki switch and we can find the exact template for it, then we can easily drop in the components and connect the cables to create the diagram."

"Simple to use and very intuitive."

"The most valuable aspect of Visio is enabling comprehensive coverage of architectural elements."

"One of the things that I like is the automation from external data."

"We can easily add templates to SharePoint for collaboration."

"Visio is stable."

More Visio pros

Cons

"There should be an option to import from and export to Microsoft Visio. Being able to move files back and forth between Blueworks Live and Visio would be good."

"We'd also like to see it be Six Sigma or Lean compatible, a lot of people have asked about that."

"The initial setup is neither straightforward nor complex however you do need to know what you are doing."

"Some of the import functionality was a bit restrictive, in terms of loading data in from other data sources. Something as simple as Excel, loading data tables from Excel, wasn't great. And vice-versa. Some of the export and import functionality with something like Visio - which, I know it's a slightly different tool - but being able to work seamlessly with those other tool sets would've been quite useful. I know it was something that was in the pipeline to be looked at. So that would be useful."

"IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts."

"It is BPMN-compliant but the tool needs to be more involved to get into a completely 2.0 oriented tool. It has a few things but it's not the complete BPMN model."

"We would like the ability to add additional custom colors. We would like to color additional items to add notes to the blueprint."

"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."

More IBM Blueworks Live cons

"The only real complaint I have is the time it takes to do a database comparison on a large model. If they could speed that up, that would be the only thing I can think of that needs improvement."

"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."

"The navigation is a little bit of a challenge. It's painful. For example, if you've got a view open and you want to try to move from side to side, the standard today is being able to drag and drop left and right. You can't really do that in the model. Moving around the model is painful because it doesn't follow the Windows model today."

"I am not so happy with its speed. Sometimes, it can have problems with connections."

"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."

"There is a lack of local support in the China region."

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

"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."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest cons

"There are some issues in Visio with the connectors, and it gets tricky when you want to connect objects with each other."

"The solution could improve by having more integration."

"In terms of features, it could provide more automation to display data flowing through architecture."

"The auto-routing feature could be better."

"In terms of enterprise architecture, Visio is limited."

"I would like to see traceability. It doesn't have it. You cannot find one object amongst several sheets of Visio diagrams."

"It should be easier to transition into a new version without having to spend so much time in just one area."

"Indeed, Visio should progress beyond its current stage of solely drawing diagrams and transition into a more advanced phase, possibly integrating with different packages or aligning with Microsoft's offerings. It could potentially evolve into a comprehensive business process management solution, comparable to tools like Addis or Signavio, thereby competing in the realm of process management tools. It might be advantageous to explore functionalities such as process simulations or benchmarking, introducing simulators to discern potential bottlenecks or errors within complex flow diagrams. This addition would prove valuable for business analysts seeking insights into the intricacies of their diagrams, aligning with the evolving trends observed over the past six years."

More Visio cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is very, very cost-effective."

"Making it less expensive would be good."

"The solution is not very expensive."

"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."

"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."

"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."

"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."

"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."

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

"There is either a one-year or three-year license. It is not a pay-as-you-go license like a SaaS solution. It’s more of a traditional licensing. They are a little bit on the pricier side."

"erwin has this option where you pay a one-time fee and you have the license for six years, which makes sense because I don't upgrade my database engine every other year. I have an application that depends on it. This is something weird about PowerDesigner. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee."

"An issue right now would be that erwin doesn't have a freely available browser (that I am aware of) for people who are not data modelers or data engineers that a consumer could use to look at the data models and play with it. This would not be to make any changes, but just to visually look at what exists. There are other products out there which do have end user browsers available and allow them to access data models via the data modeling tool."

"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."

"The pricing of the solution is cheap. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"The price of erwin Data Modeler is very expensive, in particular for this part of the world."

"The price should be lower in order to be on the same level as its competitors."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pricing and cost advice

"There are some cheaper as well as free solutions."

"You can purchase a corporate license for more users to use the solution. We have purchased a stand-alone license and which could be cheaper."

"Visio is included with our Microsoft enterprise license."

"My organization has paid for the solution. However, I have used it personally without payment. There is a free option available."

"Visio is about a $180 dollars to purchase. It is a one-time licensing fee."

"We have about 10 to 15 people with Visio licenses in my company, but I wasn't involved in the direct negotiation of the prices since this was taken care of by my administrative office."

"The product is expensive, but it is cheaper if you buy it as a part of a bundle or an enterprise-level agreement."

"The solution is expensive. The solution does come bundled in other packages."

More Visio 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

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

12%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?

The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.

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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...

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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.

See all answers

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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How easy is it to migrate process flow charts (modeled using tools like Visio) into Bizagi?

I have been using Bizagi with a major project for a state government agency for about four years now. It is pretty st...

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What do you like most about Visio?

The diagrams Visio creates are quite impressive in the sense that we can cooperate with more colleagues in one task a...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Visio?

One of the main problems with Visio is its licensing options and associated issues, which lead to discussions about t...

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Comparisons

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 17% of the time

Lucidchart vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 14% of the time

ARIS Cloud vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 9% of the time

Camunda vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 8% of the time

ARIS BPA vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 5% of the time

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SAP PowerDesigner vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 28% of the time

IDERA ER/Studio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 17% of the time

Lucidchart vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 15% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 8% of the time

AWS Well-Architected Tool vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 5% of the time

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest Competitors

Bizagi vs Visio

Compared 16% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs Visio

Compared 14% of the time

Visual Paradigm vs Visio

Compared 10% of the time

Lucidchart vs Visio

Compared 7% of the time

ARIS BPA vs Visio

Compared 4% of the time

More Visio Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Blueworks Live

December 2024

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Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

December 2024

Download erwin Data Modeler by Quest product report

Buyer's Guide

Visio

December 2024

Download Visio product report

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint

erwin DM

Microsoft Visio

Learn More

IBM

erwin by Quest

Microsoft

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.

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.

Visio is an innovative collaborative solution that enables users to quickly visualize data-connected business process flows with a host of integrated intuitive features that bring the power of Microsoft 365 to Visio. Visio allows users to easily create professional diagrams, graphs, and other visual data, easily anywhere, anytime, and with anyone. Users are able to confidently and easily transform data into creative powerful visuals. Visio provides dozens of easy-to-use templates along with thousands of customizable colorful shapes that bring a user's best ideas to life. Visio is available for all Microsoft 365 commercial users and is available on desktop and Web applications.

Visio Features

Visio can easily create visual data for today’s business needs. Some of its most useful visual data include:

Flowcharts: Users can easily bring business concepts to fruition with Visio’s robust flowchart features. Visio provides a huge library of shapes, stencils, and templates to transform numbers and data into impactful, easy-to-understand business stories.
Organizational charts: Visio makes it easy to design articulate org charts to better visualize team, reporting, and hierarchy structures. Users are then able to seamlessly share the charts with stakeholders, teams, and employees.
Network diagrams: Users are able to creatively display how a system design processes function and visually illustrate how devices and networks interact with each other using a variety of network shapes, templates, and connector tools.
Brainstorming: Visio makes brainstorming simple and actionable with a wide range of templates designed specifically for interpreting problems and mapping out solutions, including fishbone and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) diagrams.
Floor plans: Users can design ergonomic workspaces, retail store layouts, new homes, and more with accurate, scalable templates and tools to help them better visualize function, flow, and overall aesthetic appeal.
Accessible: Visio is able to integrate with a wide variety of accessibility tools, such as Narrator, Accessibility Checker, and high-contrast support, to ensure Visio diagrams are available to your entire team.

Reviews from Real Users

“Visio has improved my workflow by making it easy to create charts, diagrams, and essential illustrations to use in my client reports and proposals. It has saved me a lot of time I would otherwise spend creating visuals for clients manually.” - Michael B., Principal Consultant at Lexington Consulting

“I use it for diagramming networks, racks, data centers, data flow applications, etc. It is a useful tool to map data flows, network objects, and computer science technology and to show to clients. It does what I need it to do. It's a tool I've used the longest, so I know it the best, and that's probably the claim to fame.” - Greg S., Director of Solution Architecture at Winslow Technology Group

“We use Visio for architecture modeling. We also use it to facilitate communication with other people. The feature I like most about Visio is that it acts as a facilitator of communication, as it displays information in a way that's easier to understand.” - Guy M., IT/Business Architect at a financial services firm

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council

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

Thomas College, Hamburg Port Authority, Portigon AG, Conseil G_n_ral du d_partement des Hautes-Alpes, AAA Auto a. s., Commonwealth Financial Network, ICA, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company

Buyer's Guide

Visio vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

December 2024

Free Report: Visio vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Find out what your peers are saying about Visio vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.

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