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Michael Wolski
Michael Wolski (PhD. in computer science) has extensive knowledge in the areas related to software development processes, including the Rational Unified Process methodology and Agile methodologies. In addition, he is characterized by high, practical proficiency in CASE tools, which support IT systems’ design and modeling.
He is the author of several trainings and publications in the field of software engineering.
Preparing Reports in Enterprise Architect - Online Course
The online course is designed for all those who are interested in preparing reports directly from Enterprise Architect.
The course consists of 10 video lessons. You will not find any theory in it. I also post the EAP files on which I have worked. All templates are made available to you.
Course content:
- Introduction to the Preparing Reports in Enterprise Architect
- Structure of the Repository
- Reports Based on Existing Templates
- HTML Reports
- Custom Document Templates
- Virtual Documents
- Fragments and Filters in Reports
- Template Selector
- Diagram Generation Options and Additional Filters
- Sql Queries Inside Enterprise Architect
- Reporting Directly from the Database
I adapted the scope of the course so that the knowledge and presented solutions can be easily absorbed by a slightly wider audience, not exclusively from the IT industry.
More information can be found on the course website: https://courses.wolski.pro/about-preparing-reports-in-enterprise-architect/
Example of the Application of the Use of the Case Points Method
This text is the second one of the series of articles concerning projects estimation using the function points method. In the first part entitled: “Theoretical Aspects of Projects Estimation Using the Use Case Points Method" theoretical aspects of the function points method have been presented. Here, an example along with mathematical calculations will be discussed.
Theoretical Aspects of Projects Estimation Using the Use Case Points Method
This text is the first one of the series of articles concerning projects’ estimation in Enterprise Architect. In this section, theoretical aspects of function points methods have been presented.
Reports based on change in many repositories of Enterprise Architect
Configuration
When generating documentation, the Tormigo Integration module uses the API of the Enterprise Architect program. In order to include the diagrams and linked documents (LinkedDocument) in the generated documentation, indicate the directory of the Enterprise Architect installation in your Tormigo configuration. Tormigo configuration can be opened by selecting File / Application configuration from the main menu. In the Tormigo configuration window, the "Enterprise Architect installation directory" field should indicate the path to the EA installation.
Project management
Tormigo Integration allows you to define projects which can be assigned to more than one repository. In order to display the list of projects, select Integration / List of projects from the main menu. The picture below shows an example of a ‘List of projects’ window.
Highlighting the project from the list and pressing the "Show" button will open the window used for managing the project. It allows you to define the parameters of the project, generate documentation and scan documentation (searching for comments to the project). In order to define a new project, use the "Add" button which, when clicked, opens the project defining window. Use this window to set the basic parameters of the project such as: code, title, authors, company, keywords, category, subject and note. The code of the project must be unique within the Tormigo application. These parameters can later be used in the documentation template. Presented below is an example of a project configuration window. On the right side of the project there is a panel which allows to define the repositories associated with the project. The "+" button allows to add a repository, the "…" button allows to edit the selected repository and the "-" button allows to delete it. The up and down arrow buttons allow to move the highlighted repository one position up or down in the list. In order to add a new project, use the "+" button. Presented below is an example of a dialog window allowing to select a repository. In the "The section name in the document" field, enter the name which will mark the chapter which starts documentation generation for this repository. Next, select the connection to the repository defined in the program from the dropdown list. Confirm the entire operation with the "Save" button. If there is no defined connection to the repository, you can use the "New" button in order to define a new connection. If it is necessary to edit an already defined connection, select it from the dropdown list and then click the "Edit" button. In order to add a new connection, click the "New" button. Define the parameters of the connection to the repository in the opened window. Tormigo, in order to display diagrams and linked documents (LinkedDocument) in the documentation, requires the provision of the path to the EAP file in the connection configuration. If you are using a repository based on DBMS, you can create an EAP file with a connection alias to the selected repository. In order to do this, open the project in Enterprise Architect and then select File | Save Project Shortcut from the main menu. Next, enter the path to this file using the "EAP shortcut" tab in the connection configuration window. The tab will be active only when defining a connection to a database other than an EAP file. Presented below is a window allowing to define the parameters of an EAP file alias. Enter also the ‘Repository UserID’ and ‘Repository password’ if the repository requires authorization. These parameters will be stored in the Tormigo configuration. Tormigo stores all passwords in an encrypted form. Presented below is an example of a project configuration window containing three assigned repositories. Documentation generation for a project is opened by clicking the "Generate documentation" button in the project configuration window. Clicking this button will open the documentation generator window. The contents of the generated MS Word document will vary depending on the configuration of the template and the kind of generated documentation. The user can define what types of elements will be included in the documentation. The documentation generator window allows to define the parameters of documentation and to generate change documentation or documentation for selected packages. When generating change documentation, the application will post the following within the documentation: all packages which contain the change code in their name, all packages which are assigned a Maintenance Change element which contains the change code in its name, all elements which are assigned a Maintenance Change element, which contains the change code in its name, all diagrams which contain the change code in the Notes field. It is possible to determine the change code after launching documentation generation. By default, the change code matches the project code. If documentation is generated for selected packages, the user can select packages which will be included in documentation for each repository. Presented below is an example window of the documentation generator: The documentation generator window is divided into tabs which allow to specify documentation template parameters, contents of documentation and buttons used to generate documentation. Tab: Properties The tab allows to specify the documentation template and its basic parameters. The Template file field – allows to determine the path to the file with the documentation template. The First chapter number field – allows to determine the value of the first generated documentation chapter. Setting the value to 0 disables assigning chapters with numbers. The Maximum number of header to be used in the chapter’s name field – allows to determine the highest number of the style which will be used in names of subsequent subchapters. The Template panel – allows to open, save and delete documentation template settings. Tab: Styles The tab allows to define style names in a template. Default style names will be generated for the language used by Tormigo. Upon each defining of a template, check whether the template contains thus defined style names. During the document generation process, an attempt to use a style which is not defined in the template will terminate the document generation process providing an adequate notification. In addition, within the tab it is possible to define two parameters: Use header styles for element names – defines whether heading styles are to be used for element names (keeping the subchapters hierarchy). Leaving this field empty will cause the use of the Element style for the name of the element. Add numbers of pictures – determines whether the generator is supposed to number diagrams added to documentation. Tab: Element types to include The tab allows to highlight the element types which are to be included in the documentation. In order for an element type to be included, the checkbox next to the name of the type has to be checked. The “Select all” button causes the selection of all element types while the “Deselect all” button analogically deselects all element types. Tab: Content The tab allows to determine which element and package properties will be displayed in documentation. There are three panels in the tab: Element properties – defines which element properties will be displayed in the documentation, Package properties – defines which package properties will be displayed in the documentation, Options – defines which elements associated with packages and other elements will be displayed in the documentation. Documentation is generated based on a template file. The template file is the pre-formatted MS Word document. The document must contain a clause {doc.Content} which will be replaced with the generated content. Within the template you can use the fields containing the following properties of the document: Title, Author, Company, Keywords, Category, Subject, Comments. During document generation these fields will be completed with the values defined for the project. In the MS Word program, use the option Insert / Text / Quick elements / Document properties / Author in order to insert a field with the authors of the project. Presented below is an example snippet of a template. Change documentation contains: all the packages which contain the change code in their name, all the packages which are assigned a Maintenance Change element which contains the change code in its name, all the elements which are assigned a Maintenance Change element which contains the change code in its name, all the diagrams which contain the change code in the ‘Notes’ field. Also included for each package and element which fulfils these criteria will be all the packages and elements they contain, which pass the filters defined in the template generator, such as e.g. Maintenance elements. The change documentation generator searches the repositories assigned to the project one by one. In the first step it searches in the repository for packages which contain the change code (project code) in their name. For instance, if the generator (for the "PR-DK-01” change code) finds a package with the name "Description of the PR-DK-01 project”, it will include it with the generated document along with all the elements from its structure which were marked in the documentation generator window. In subsequent steps the system will search for the packages, and then model elements, which are assigned a change (Maintenance Change) with a name containing the change code. The last step of generating change documentation for a given repository is searching all the diagrams which contain the change code in the ‘Notes’ field too. In order to assign a Maintenance Change in Enterprise Architect, mark on the project tree the element to which the change is to be assigned. Next, in the Maintenance window (ALT + 4) select the ‘Changes’ tab and click on the ‘New’ icon. Enter the (project) change code in the ‘Name’ field of the change description form. The change name can be supplemented with short information on what it is the change concerns. Complete the other fields of the form. After completing, click on the ‘Save’ icon to save the changes. Presented below is an example of a form describing the change of a requirement. Change documentation generation is started by clicking the "Generate documentation of changes" button in the documentation generator window. The application will display a dialog window with a request to enter the code of the change in the project. By default, the change code value is the project code. Clicking the OK button will start the documentation generation operation. Presented below is a part of the generated documentation containing a section from the documentation: package containing the change code in its name, requirement assigned to which was the ‘Maintenance Change’ change containing the change code in its name. Generating documentation for selected packages is done by clicking the „Generate packages documentation” button in the documentation generator window. After launching the generator, the user can indicate the packages which will be included in the documentation. Selecting the „Insert the repository as a new section in the document” option will result in adding a separate subchapter for each repository. Clicking the OK button will start documentation generation. Included in the generated document will be all selected packages along with the elements and diagrams posted in them. Presented below is a section of documentation for selected packages. The Tormigo Integration module also allows to scan project documentation when searching for notes to a model. The operation will find all the notes assigned to model elements in the indicated document. The condition for model element identification in a repository of a project is the inclusion of the element’s GUID number in the text to which the note refers. Presented below is an example of note assignment to a model element. After starting the documentation scanning operation, the user must select the file with the documentation. Next, the application will try to find the model element in the repositories of the project for each note in the document. If the element is identified, the application will display a dialog window allowing to add a note as a Maintenance element to the model element. The user can define the Maintenance element type and its basic properties. Selecting the „Apply the selected type to everybody and do not show this window” option will result in skipping this dialog window and saving all notes with default settings. After clicking on „Save”, the element will be added to the model as a Maintenance element of the selected type, which will be assigned to the element to which the note referred. Presented below is a Maintenance window from Enterprise Architect with the Issue element added during the documentation scan. Read more about Tormigo on the TORMIGO and TORMIGO movies websites.
Generation of documentation
Description of the documentation generator
Template file
Generation of change documentation
Generation of documentation for selected packages
Documentation scan
How to import comments from MS Word into Enterprise Architect?
The Tormigo Integration module also allows you to generate project documentation and scan project documentation when searching for notes to a model. The operation will find all the notes assigned to model elements in the indicated document. The condition for model element identification in a repository of a project is the inclusion of the element’s GUID number in the text to which the note refers. Presented below is an example of note assignment to a model element.
You can select a large batch of text. It is important for the selection area was with the guid element.
Before you can analyze the document you need to add the repository to tormigo and name the group changes. For example: Consult with X.
In order to define a new project, use the "Add" button which, when clicked, opens the project defining window. Use this window to set the basic parameters of the project such as: code, title, authors, company, keywords, category, subject and note. The code of the project must be unique within the Tormigo application. These parameters can later be used in the documentation template. Presented below is an example of a project configuration window.
On the right side of the project there is a panel which allows you to define the repositories associated with the project. The "+” button allows to add a repository, the "…" button allows to edit the selected repository and the "-” button allows to delete it. The up and down arrow buttons allow to move the highlighted repository one position up or down in the list.
In order to add a new project, use the "+” button. Presented below is an example of a dialog window allowing you to select a repository.
In the "The section name in the document" field, enter the name which will mark the chapter which starts documentation generation for this repository. Next, select the connection to the repository defined in the program from the dropdown list. Confirm the entire operation with the "Save” button. If there is no defined connection to the repository, you can use the "New” button in order to define a new connection. If it is necessary to edit an already defined connection, select it from the dropdown list and then click the "Edit” button.
In order to add a new connection, click the "New” button. Define the parameters of the connection to the repository in the opened window. Tormigo, in order to display diagrams and linked documents (LinkedDocument) in the documentation, requires the provision of the path to the EAP file in the connection configuration. If you are using a repository based on DBMS, you can create an EAP file with a connection alias to the selected repository. In order to do this, open the project in Enterprise Architect and then select File | Save Project Shortcut from the main menu. Next, enter the path to this file using the "EAP shortcut” tab in the connection configuration window. The tab will be active only when defining a connection to a database other than an EAP file. Presented below is a window allowing to define the parameters of an EAP file alias.
Enter also the ‘Repository UserID’ and ‘Repository password’ if the repository requires authorization. These parameters will be stored in the Tormigo configuration. Tormigo stores all passwords in an encrypted form.
Presented below is an example of a project configuration window containing three assigned repositories.
After starting the documentation scanning operation, the user must select the “Analyze documentation” button and find the MS Word file with the documentation. Next, the application will try to find the model element in the repositories of the project for each note in the document. If the element is identified, the application will display a dialog window allowing to add a note as a Maintenance element to the model element.
The user can define the Maintenance element type and its basic properties. Selecting the "Apply the selected type to everybody and do not show this window” option will result in skipping this dialog window and saving all notes with default settings.
After clicking on "Save”, the element will be added to the model as a Maintenance element of the selected type, which will be assigned to the element to which the note referred. Presented below is a Maintenance window from Enterprise Architect with the Issue element added during the documentation scan.
For more information about Tormigo, please visit the TORMIGO website.
Business processes estimation with the use of activity diagrams method
During design and analytical works, the necessity to calculate the parameters of a business process or to estimate the complexity of the built software arises repeatedly. Most formal methods often require quite difficult calculations. On the other hand, during analytical or design works an activity diagram is usually created, which presents, in a natural way, the components of the business process or the elements of a use case scenario. In this article, I will attempt to present how to calculate selected parameters of the business process using activity diagrams modeled in Enterprise Architect and additional tool (Tormigo).
The fundamental reason why the described feature is present in Tormigo (the module is called Tormigo Analytics) is the need for knowledge about the parameters of a given business process. When describing the business process using the activity diagram, we wanted to know how much the service delivery will cost and how long it will take. In case of unforked business processes it is easy to calculate it, whilst in case of more complex diagrams it was tedious and prone to errors made by the person calculating these parameters.
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Fig. 1: Underlying business process (AS-IS)
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TORMIGO’s capacity in the scope of calculating business process parameters pre-defined by an analyst will be presented on an example of a pizza ordering process (Fig. 1).
In this case, the use of TORMIGO Analytics will help in answering the question of how the change of the business process will affect the order processing time. The change relates to the requirement that the employees of the customer service department should propose additional pizza toppings. The change in the ordering process has been marked red in the diagram below (Fig. 2)
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Fig. 2: Business process after changes (AS-WILL)
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After creation of diagrams, the next step is to describe the parameters based on Tagged Values. These parameters may be defined in Tormigo in Analysis → Definition of TAP Tag (Fig. 3)
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Fig. 3: Defining analysis parameters (TAP)
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Next, clicking the Add button allows one to add a parameter. In our example it will be the maximum time (TIME_MAX). Tormigo added an appropriate column automatically (Fig. 4).
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Fig. 4: Activities with the column allowing one to enter the value of the parameter
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Using filters that can be found to the right (Fig. 5) allows one to find more quickly the activities that we want to describe
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Fig. 5: Filtering the activities
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It is important that the values of the parameters may be described in Tormigo not only in the place indicated above, but also by selecting from menu Analysis → Activities, Tagged Values tab (Fig. 6)
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Fig. 6: Alternative method for entering parameters in Tormigo
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or in Enterprise Architect in the properties of the activity in Tagged Values tab (Fig. 7)
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Fig. 7: Entering values of TAP parameters in Enterprise Architect
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After defining the parameters, it is time to see the analysis results. In order to prepare the report, one should select from the Analysis menu -> Analysis of TAP for activity diagrams. Next, from the drop-down list one should select the diagram that will be analyzed and confirm the selection with the Select button (Fig. 8 )
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Fig. 8: Preparing the analytical report in Tormigo
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In Summary tab one can view the list of activities that compose the process. Report description tab allows one to define additional parameters such as the title of the report, data of the person preparing the report, date of preparing it and a version (default date format is YYYYMMDD). By clicking Generate report button, the report preview is generated. Sample reports are defined in Figures 9 and 10.
Those reports indicate the time expressed in seconds, but this type of variable value serves only as an example. It may be currency, number of parts, mass or any other unit of measurement as well.
It is time to mention limitations: Activities marked with an asterisk mean looped actions. When Tormigo Analytics finds the occurrence of a loop, it will repeat it only once.
Tormigo Analytics is limited by its functionality to activity diagrams, since it does not analyze the types of gates but only traces the sequence of the activity determined by connections.
Summing up, Tormigo Analytics is a very good tool for estimating the changes resulting from the modification of the business process. Calculation of the sum of values of particular parameters is one of the simplest forms of estimation. In many cases, this method may prove to be sufficient to demonstrate gains or losses resulting from the implementation of modeled changes.
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Fig. 9: Report created on the basis of AS-IS diagram
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Fig. 10: Report created on the basis of AS-WILL diagram
Feel free to download TORMIGO. |
TORMIGO - rational change report based on Enterprise Architect baseline mechanism
1. Preparing baseline for the package
1.1. Select the package for which the baseline is to be created from the project repository in EA, and then from the popup menu (right mouse button) select Package Control -> Manage Baselines or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+B on the selected package.1.2. Create new baseline in the open Manage Baselines window by clicking New Baseline button.
1.3. Enter the version number in New Baseline window, that will help you identify the modelling stage at which the baseline was created. Leave the Include sub-packages checkbox selected to include nested packages.
Figure 1. Adding new baseline.
1.4. Click OK to start creating a new baseline. After successful completion of generation in the Manage baselines window, a newly created element will be displayed (see: Figure 2).2. Preparing change log file on the basis of baseline
/* Enter the changes in a current model so that the content of the log file was not empty. */2.1. Select baseline which is to be compared to the current model in Manage Baselines window, and then click Show Differences button.
Figure 2. Launching the comparison of the current model to baseline.
2.2. Information about the differences between baseline and the current model will be displayed in Compare Utility window. The elements that have changed are displayed in the tree in the left panel. After clicking on the selected element, the properties of the element in the model and in the baseline will be displayed in the right panel. The differences will be highlighted.
Figure 3. Display of differences between the current model and the baseline.
2.3. Click the element for which the change log file is to be prepared in Model Elements tree, and then click Log to XML icon on Compare Utility bar in the upper part of the window.
2.4. Enter the name of the file and its location in Select Export Filename dialog box. Acceptance of the file name will save the change log in XML format on the disk.
3. Preparing change log file on the basis of model export file
3.1. Enter changes in the package in the additional repository, and then export the package to XMI file.3.2. In the main repository, select the package that is to be compared, and then go to Manage baselines window (see item 1.1).
3.3. Select Compare Model To File button in Manage Baselines window and select the file with the exported package from item 3.1.
3.4. The information about the differences between the exported package and a package in the current model will be displayed in Compare Utility window.
3.5. Click the element for which the change log file is to be prepared in Model Elements tree, and then click Log to XML icon on Compare Utility bar in the upper part of the window.
3.6. Enter the name of the file and its location in Select Export Filename dialog box. Acceptance of the file name will save the change log in XML format on the disk.
4. Generating Tormigo Baseline Report
4.3. Select change log file using Load log file button in Raport Baseline (Baseline Report) window
Figure 4. Tormigo Baseline report generation window.
4.4. If the structure of the selected log file is correct, Tormigo will display information about the compared package and the elements included in the log file in the Log File Status. Should the structure of the file be not correct, the system will display the appropriate message.
4.5. Click Generate report button to display Report Preview window which will allow you to preview the report, save it to the selected file type and to print the report.
Figure 5. Fragment of the report preview window.
5. Example of the final report with TORMIGO
Figure 6. Tormigo Baseline sample report.
Feel free to download: http://tormigo.modesto.pl/downloads
Requirements management in Enterprise Architect using Google Docs
Group work in the cloud is a very convenient solution. Anyone who has tried to write the text with another person at the same time in applications such as Google Docs knows how effective and valuable these solutions are. Thanks to products such as the aforesaid Google Docs, the group work gained another dimension.
In the present text, I will try to present how to manage requirements collected in Enterprise Architect using Google Docs spreadsheet.
Construction of sequence diagrams in real-time in Enterprise Architect 9
This text shows, how in just a few steps one may generate a sequence diagram in a running application. The example has been written in Java and demonstrates the building of a contact book.
New version of MANEA
We are pleased to inform you that MANEA - a plugin allowing for synchronization of entries from MANTIS Bug Tracker with Enterprise Architect has been updated.
I would like to remind that MANEA is the plugin to MANTIS BUG TRACKER that allows for two-way synchronization of selected entries from the MANTIS BT system with the requirements repository contained in Enterprise Architect.
We are pleased to inform you that currently the plugin is used by dozens of companies around the world.
MANEA version 1.28 means, above all, the possibility to work with version 1.28 of MANTIS Bug Tracker - the current stable version of this tool.
In the new version, we have removed some minor bugs. Moreover, we have simplified the possibility of using the demo version. Now you do not have to register to use the demo version of our plugin. All you have to do is download the demo files and key. Instructions for downloading and activating the demo version may be downloaded from http://manea.modesto.pl/downloads/
On completion of your evaluation, you can buy MANEA for 100$ (net) till the end of 2011. Orders for the special price can be placed on the platform http://takeit.modesto.pl/en/manea/207-manea.html