Exploring Enterprise Architect through video

I have had the pleasure of working with Phil Chudley over the last 8+ years at Dunstan Thomas Consulting & last year we were working very closely on the online training project. While putting together the various materials that make up our online content we recorded a series of helpful video clips to supplement the materials and we thought we would now share these with the wider EA community.

In these videos Phil Chudley, Principal Consultant & OMG Certified UML Professional at DT Consulting, will be walking us through the Sparx Systems modelling tool, Enterprise Architect.  This series of videos will talk us through the basics from the portals screen right up to some of the more specialised modelling functionality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iZuGbsHPvs  

If you can't wait to view all of our videos from this series please visit our YouTube channel ... and don't forget to subscribe!

New training course from Dunstan Thomas Consulting

Course design by Phil Chudley

Who Should Attend?

This course is suitable to anyone who models ArcGIS Geodatabases and wishes to create both a visual representation of the ArcGIS Geodatabase and an XML ArcGIS workspace file for input to other tools such as ArcCatalog.

What will I learn?

Upon completion of the course you will have learned the following:

• How Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect supports ArcGIS Geodatabase Modelling
• How to configure Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect for ArcGIS Geodatabase Modelling
• How to structure a model repository for efficient ArcGIS Geodatabase Modelling using libraries of re-usable elements
• The practical skills of creating and maintaining ArcGIS Geodatabase Modelling via a worked example
• Productivity tips and tricks when using Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
• How to validate an ArcGIS Geodatabase Model
• How to import and export a ArcGIS Geodatabase Modelling via XML
• How to import a ArcGIS Geodatabase Model created in Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect into ArcCatalog

Course Content

• Overview of Enterprise Architect and its support for ArcGIS Geodatabase Modelling
  • Practical – Configuring Enterprise Architect for ArcGIS Geodatabase modelling
• Development of an example:
  • Design;
  • Practical use of Enterprise Architect to create an ArcGIS Geodatabase model
  • Productivity Aids when use Enterprise Architect
  • Capturing ArcGIS data within Enterprise Architect using ArcGIS tagged values
  • Dealing with relationships
• Validation
  • Validating the model using the ArcGIS validation script
• Implementation
  • Exporting the model to ArcGIS Workspace XML
  • Importing to the ArcGIS workspace XML to ArcCatlaog

Pre-requisites

It is assumed that all attendees for this course will be familiar with the ArcGIS Geodatabase Meta-Model. Previous knowledge of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is desirable but not essential.

If you would like to know more about our training & consulting services then please visit our website or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The next EA User Group events are scheduled for 17th September 2015 in Paris and 18th September in Brussels.

For just €75, attend either of these events and get instant access to all the presentations from both!

Our sponsors:

EA User Group Paris

VISEO will host the first EAUG in France on Thursday, September 17th 2015.

This first edition will introduce talks and presentations in French on a wide array of topics including Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF, ArchiMate), modelling IT and software applications, generating and validating documentation from the models, and Systems Engineering (MBSE, SysML).

Enterprise Architect add ins will be shown in a dedicated area, where users and experts will be able to share their opinions and experiences on notations, languages, methodologies around a coffee, tea or other refreshment.

You can view the agenda for the day here.

EA User Group Brussels

The next English speaking Enterprise Architect User Group event will be in Brussels on September 18th 2015, sponsored by ACV-CSC.

This conference will provide an opportunity to discuss many aspects of Enterprise Architect and its use. We are currently appealing for speakers to make this a memorable day.

The preliminary agenda for Brussels is available here.

BOOK NOW

New courses released onto the DT schedule & virtual learning environment!

With no small amount of effort we have managed to bring forward the release of the phase 2 online training courses available via the Dunstan Thomas virtual learning environment.

The list of options now available is; 

• An Introduction to UML
• Reporting with Enterprise Architect
• SysML 1.3 Made Practical with Enterprise Architect
• Putting TOGAF into Practice with Enterprise Architect
• Business Process Modelling using BPMN and Enterprise Architect
• Enterprise Architect; The Practicalities
• An Introduction to ArchiMate
• Enterprise Architecture Modelling using Enterprise Architect and ArchiMate 2.0
• UML with Enterprise Architect for Beginners
• UML with Enterprise Architect for Business Analysts
• UML with Enterprise Architect for UML Practitioners

You can find all these sessions in the training directory on our website; 

Visit our online training page & use the subscription calculator to get a quote for your online training needs.

New to our classroom offering... 

Modelling Applications for Mobile Devices using Enterprise Architect 

This two day training course for Sparx Systems UML modelling tool, Enterprise Architect. It is designed to provide Business Analysts and Solution Architects with the necessary practical skills to create, using Enterprise Architect, design solution models for applications that will be running on mobile devices. 

For any information on these or any of our other courses or services please do not hesitate to contact us. 

EA User Group - London 2015

The response to the London User Group conference call to speakers has been phenomenal this year and even right at the 11th hour we've had another great speaker proposal through to finish off the line up.

So without further ado here's the official line up for May; 

Obviously the massive coup for us on the organisation committee is to have Tom O'Reilly at the event to deliver the keynote!

The Venue

The venue for this conference is; the Park Plaza County Hall, 1 Addington Street, London, SE1 7RY, United Kingdom.

Tickets

"Where can I get my ticket(s)?" I hear you cry, well, I'm glad that you asked! Tickets for the London User Group conference are available from the EA User Group website at a bargain £65.00 per person. Do swing by & pick up your ticket now to avoid disappointment.  

We hope to see you all in London on May 19th for what is promising to be the best London EA User Group meet yet.

EA User Group Conference; London - The agenda takes shape...

We have received an amazing level of response to the call for speakers for the London conference and can now provide a preview of how the agenda is shaping up for London; 

We're still in the draft stages and so timings and presentations are still subject to change.

The call for speakers doesn't close until the end of the month so if you have a story to share and would feel like sharing it with the community then This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The conference will be taking place at the Park Plaza County Hall, 1 Addington Street, London, SE1 7RY, United Kingdom.

Tickets for this event are already on sale via the EA User Group website.

We look forward to seeing you all in London.

European Enterprise Architect User Group Conference

London 2015

Call for Speakers

If you are a user of Sparx Systems’ Enterprise Architect, we’re inviting you to share your user stories with the EA community at the next User Group event in central London on May 19th 2015.

We are interested in just about everything you do with Enterprise Architect, from the organisation of your model to enhancements you have made using MDG or the automation API, or even just a project with which you are especially happy. That said, we are not just after the sunshine stories and would be interested in hearing about any experiences learned the hard way.

Presentations of an obvious or purely commercial nature will not be accepted.

Some example topics are:

• Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF, DoDAF/UPDM)
• Business Architecture, Capability Mapping, Process Modelling
• Systems Engineering
• Business Analysis, Requirements Management
• Modelling Languages (UML, SysML, BPMN, ArchiMate)
• SOA, DDS, GIS, NIEM
• Data modelling
• Code generation/IDE integration
• Project management
• EA-based reporting
• EA scripting and automation
• Simulation
• Tool adoption/deployment
• MDG Technologies/UML profiles
• Model collaboration and management
• Test management

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. If so, please let us know and send us the title and synopsis of your proposed presentation along with a short bio.

Call for Speakers closes on 24th April, 2015

Enterprise Architect London Conference 2015

London, England on May 19th 2015

Conference Takes place at:

Park Plaza, County Hall, London
You will be confirmed as a speaker no later than 29th April, 2015.

Can you help us?

Planning is underway for this year's UK UserGroup Event in May with the new features of EA12 to discover and best practice from users around Europe to share. But unfortunately the venue we hoped to use is not now available 

Do you have a suitable venue?

In order to keep our costs down for all attendees we rely on the generosity of EA users donating facilities. In exchange we give a number of free places so that the host organisation can get maximum benefit from the event.

Ideally we'd like a room in or close to London that can hold approximately 120 - 150 people, with one or two break-out rooms nearby for parallel streams of presentations and a space for refreshments/lunch and networking. If you have something which is not exactly like this, but similar, then we can be flexible! We pay for the food and any other charges, and do all the organisation.

The London location is important as many international delegates fly in to attend this, our largest annual European event.

If your company can help, or you think you may know of a suitable venue, please reply to this email or contact us via the form on the website at http://www.eausergroup.com/contact-ea-user-group as soon as possible. Thank You very much!

If you are not familiar with Dunstan Thomas Consulting we have been Sparx Systems Global training and solution partners for the past eleven years and over that time have been instrumental in delivering solutions to a variety of industries. Our clients range from Waitrose and John Lewis Partnership in retail, Vodafone and EE in the Telecoms space, GE Aviation & EADS Astrium in the aviation sector, Allianz and Deutsche Bank in the financial sector and Transport for London, and The Intellectual Property Office in the public sector.

Why on-line training?

The discussion about adding an online training service to our portfolio is one that has come up several times over the last few years but were unable to justify the time needed for R&D to make it work when our Consultants are already so busy.

However we began to notice a pattern. These days it is harder and harder for organisations to release their employees for days at a time regardless of how necessary the training in question may be. With this in mind the option of on-line training was raised again but this time we were specifically thinking about a self-paced option, something that will allow users to dip in and out without time constraints.

We also came to the realisation that we already have a wealth of existing materials to build on and so there wouldn’t be a need to redevelop thereby enabling us to progress from having our already popular instructor led sessions to also having an online version. This would enable us to offer our clients a blended learning solution.

How to deliver?

Having decided that we were going to go ahead and put together an on-line training environment we needed to do some research on available platforms for delivery. This prompted a visit to the Learning Technologies Exhibition in January of 2014 to meet and speak with platform vendors as well as attend various presentations to see what was out there and how we could use it.

Coming away from the exhibition we had several options to investigate but the standout platform seemed to be Moodle. You can read more about Moodle at; https://docs.moodle.org/28/en/About_Moodle

Following the setup of a test environment we had to decide on how best to present our materials. From competitor research we found that most common uses of environments like this were video and PDF delivery to students but we wanted more than a document delivery system after all you can achieve that with an email.

Using some sample material we had a look into the different presentation options within the environment and settled on full lessons delivered by HTML via web browser. This would then be supplemented with documentation and video to deliver a well-rounded and nicely packaged learning experience.

Course development

While we have an abundance of material begging to be adapted for on-line delivery we chose to launch the service with two brand new sessions. This is where Colin Coates and Phil Chudley (names most of you are familiar with I’m sure) joined the project.

With Colin having only recently published his article on documentation generation with EA to the Sparx Community site he decided he would take this opportunity to completely rework our documentation session from the ground up building on the snippets from his article; Learn through pictures: Fundamentals of HTML Reporting.

Phil decided that with the latest version of SysML he would do a complete rebuild of our SysML and EA training course and so SysML 1.3 made practical using Enterprise Architect was born.

Both of these undertakings started with story boarding sessions followed by weekly meetings with deliverables to be transposed into the test environment. After several months our courses were ready so all that was left was to get someone to test it. We approached some of our clients and they agreed to test the system and provide us with feedback, which led to some revisions and aesthetic changes.

The environment goes live!

Early February of 2015 saw not only a complete overhaul of the look of the environment but also the live deployment of the site with the two new courses as well as a “How to use the virtual learning environment” course (this session is included in every subscription) but we were also able to launch the adapted Introduction to UML session.

What comes next?

The upcoming releases for the DT Consulting on-line training courses are as follows;

• Business Process Modelling using BPMN 2.0
• Business Process Modelling using BPMN and Enterprise Architect
• An Introduction to ArchiMate
• UML with Enterprise Architect for Beginners
• UML with Enterprise Architect for UML Practitioners
• Enterprise Architect – The Practicalities

 

If you would like to know more about our online training service please visit our online training page.

Executive Summary

Dunstan Thomas Consulting (DTC) worked with the Waitrose IT Strategy & Architecture team to understand how to get maximum value from using Sparx Enterprise Architect (EA). The team wanted to explore the capabilities of the tool to optimise its existing investment in EA skills and software

Background

Waitrose IT has used Sparx Enterprise Architect since 2008 for UML modelling as part of the Partnership Systems Development Methodology (PSDM). This methodology is used across the John Lewis Partnership as part of the development lifecycle. In December 2013 the Waitrose IT Strategy & Architecture team started to investigate how to extend the existing use of EA from an analysis and development tool to an enterprise architecture tool. The IT Strategy & Architecture team was starting to work collaboratively across the business areas so they needed to be able to capture more stakeholder views to represent the enterprise architecture landscape. An Architecture Methods and Tools group was responsible for setting up how the IT Strategy & Architecture team worked with other teams and for setting up the architectural governance mechanisms.

Challenge

Wider use of EA comes at a time when the Waitrose IT Strategy & Architecture team is growing in size and forging closer links with the rest of Waitrose. A demand for greater transparency also puts the onus on EA to help visualise some key high level elements which are crucial for business and IT planning, helping to illustrate: ‘What is our vision and objectives?’ and ‘Why are we doing this?’ Waitrose wanted to map the motivation, business, application, technology and implementation landscapes using ArchiMate notation in EA.

ArchiMate is a standard modelling notation to describe enterprise architectures. It presents a clear set of concepts within (and relationships between) architecture domains, and offers a simple and uniform structure for describing the contents of these domains. The team identified a few missing key elements from ArchiMate that they wanted to be included in the Waitrose metamodel. The team wanted to be able to model new elements, such as ‘Capabilities’, and to enhance existing elements, such as ‘Application Interface’, to display more information.

As Iain Plank, Enterprise Architect explained:
“The IT landscape within large organisations has generally become way too complex. It really is crucial to rationalise and centralise expertise pools as much as possible. If this work is not done, you end up with lots of systems with over-lapping capabilities. IT silos waste resources and prevent systems talking to each other which invariably generates more inefficiencies. We need to plan holistic IT systems to avoid these inefficiencies. Modelling our understanding of the enterprise is part of the solution.”

Solution: Enterprise Architect Super User & Reporting Training

Waitrose contacted Dunstan Thomas Consulting (DTC), the EA training specialists to investigate Sparx Enterprise Architect’s potential capabilities. Dunstan Thomas provided training on EA with a specific focus on enabling Waitrose to extend ArchiMate and to create the new elements required by Waitrose. In discussion with Waitrose, DTC designed a specific two day course for five Waitrose analysts based on DTC’s ‘EA Power User’ and ‘EA Reporting’ training courses. The training was completed during March 2014.

Sparx EA Power User modules:

1. UML Profiles - Extending the UML and ArchiMate through the use of Profiles within Enterprise Architect thus allowing customised modelling.
2. Tagged Values - Tagged Value types, enumerated tagged values, pre-defined structured tagged values.
3. Shape Scripts - Use and definition with stereotypes, use and definition within Profiles, structure of Shape Scripts, predefined functions creating Shape Scripts, use of Tagged Values within Shape Scripts.
4. Model Driven Generator (MDG) technologies - to create re-useable project structures, encapsulating UML Profiles and RTF templates in MDG, customised tool boxes and diagrams.

Generating Documentation with EA modules:

1. HTML documentation
2. Customisation of the output of HTML documentation
3. RTF documentation using the templates as supplied with Enterprise Architect
4. Producing customised templates
5. Selecting the content
6. Specifying the data to be output
7. Formatting the output
8. Use of tables
9. Filtering and selecting the project content using report options, properties and model documents
10. Use of model documents, Enterprise Architect master documents , Word master documents, and template fragments
11. Batch production of documentation using Resource Documents

Dunstan Thomas Consulting were called back in June 2014 to assess how effectively Waitrose had done the configuration since the initial training and made sure that the tool was ready to be used in production of the architectural artefacts. During two days of trouble-shooting, stumbling points and additional queries were addressed and the Waitrose configuration of Sparx Enterprise Architect was good enough to be deployed to the EA user communities.

Results

Dunstan Thomas Consulting training made it clear that Waitrose’s IT Strategy & Architecture team could do a great deal more with EA than was previously thought possible.

Stephanie McMahon, Business Systems Analyst:
“The Dunstan Thomas consultant who led the training, Phil Chudley, was brilliant for us. He helped us see what was possible with EA and taught us what could be done and what couldn’t be done, which is just as valuable. Together we made EA really sing for the first time. We are now able to model our landscape much more effectively with a tool we already had in-house. No additional licenses have been needed. It has been a great exercise in unlocking the potential of an existing tool.”

Iain Plank, Enterprise Architect:
“Enterprise Architect can now be used to build models using the actual terminology they use in the business. For example we have ‘Capability’ which flows through our models and is used when talking to the business. But that object does not exist in ArchiMate ‘out of the box’. Dunstan Thomas Consulting taught us how to create the new object and tag relevant properties and features to it.”

The IT Strategy & Architecture Methods and Tools group has passed on the new ways of working using EA around the Waitrose IT department. A number of ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions for Architects, Business Analysts, Developers and Testers were delivered. The team are now starting to explore some of the EA capabilities around reporting.

For Waitrose’s Lead Information Architect Ian Batty the insights provided by the training were invaluable:
“Dunstan Thomas’ training helped us to link the logical to the physical data models. We could link the logical to the conceptual already but to go a step further to link logical to the physical was a breakthrough which the training enabled.”

“Following the training we have been able to get a long way down the road towards gathering a holistic picture of how systems link to each other. With this view we can now run an accurate and timely impact assessment if we want to make a change. We are constantly looking for new efficiencies and that means exploring different ways of doing things. EA helps us make the right decisions when planning systems changes.”

Howard Burgess, IT Systems Developer and the Waitrose ‘Super-User of EA’ has been using EA since 2008 when Partnership Services Training first selected it. He used it for development and code generation in the past but today, as a key member of the IT Strategy and Architecture team, he is using it to define the core business data model which the development teams use as the basis for interfaces between systems

Howard Burgess explains:
“It is critical to have one common definition of what a ‘line’, ‘branch’ or ‘customer’ is. This definition, its attributes and relationships will then be used by all teams. This commonality enables systems to pass data to each other more easily. It also speeds up IT projects as the work can be reused.”

“Dunstan Thomas’ training has helped with development of the data model in specific areas. For example we were able to find out about EA’s facility to demarcate Controlled Packages which are pieces of a data model which can be used across multiple projects. We had not used this functionality before. We did some proto-typing and we decided that this was our preferred route to implement our common data model. Phil Chudley helped clarify the value of this.”

“He made us think about new ways of capturing information, this led us to innovate more in this area. For example, we wanted a security classification so that certain data such as ‘customer address’ can be tagged ‘private’ while any Waitrose branch name and address remains public. We are now able to tag data according to this new security classification to ensure personal data on all systems is kept private. The MDG in EA captures and records this. We are now building up this meta-data, the data behind the data.”

In DTC’s EA reporting training course Waitrose also learnt how to report more effectively. Waitrose has up to 700 data objects and each has between one and 30 attributes. It is a huge, complex model. They wanted to do a report which printed the whole model as a PDF. Discussions in the training on the use of MDG got the team at Waitrose thinking about further plug-ins for EA. The team have used a wiki page plug-in so they can publish the definition of a specific technical phrase without the business users having to use EA.

Howard Burgess explains:
“Some of the components of the common data model are owned by specific parts of the business. We wanted the business managers to feel like they had more visibility and control over these pieces. Rather than installing EA on each of their PCs and giving them extensive training on how to use it we built a wiki server and began populating it with descriptions of what specific elements mean and contain. Business managers are able to click on a specific term and read the wiki definition of what a technical term is. In this way we can promote better understanding of common terms and bridge any gaps of knowledge between business and IT.”

“I like the fact that it is so open: you can create, manipulate, export and customise data models using it. EA is a great little piece of software. With Dunstan Thomas’ help we are now exploring its full potential.”

This case study is available to download from the DT Consulting website.