Expert-IT has been an official Sparx partner since 2004 and as such, we can offer you the possibility to purchase licenses easily through us.

Depending on the number of licenses and services requested, we can offer you an attractive budget.

Depending on the needs and profiles of the users, a training plan can be developed to avoid overly generic training, leaving participants perplexed as to how to put it into practice in their working context.

These training courses will be organised taking into account, among others, the following aspects:

• Design of course materials adapted to the client's needs
• Basic and advanced training according to profiles
• Training for system administrators
• Training in the EA tool, but also and especially in the selected method and ratings
• Additional training in other techniques such as: documentation management; code (retro)-generation; EA automation; possible use of add-in software; physical data management; XML-XSD modeling;...
  
  
  

The installation of Enterprise Architect requires the choice of a deployment scheme and a repository storage location for the models, in particular a scheme with a single site or multiple sites, with single-project or multi-project management per repository, with the choice of either one or more files shared or not in EA format, or on a centralized database, with one or more instances.

The installation mode of the EA software should also be defined, either by simple installation or via remote network installation techniques.

Sparx Systems' Pro Cloud Service opens access to repositories via the http/https protocol, which can be a very useful opportunity to integrate all stakeholders into the modeling effort via secure access for model review and discussion.

Installing the Pro Cloud Service involves setting up an infrastructure. We can help you to build this environment.

From this infrastructure, we can also help you install additional components, such as:

• WebEA: This module provides a real-time view of the content of an Enterprise Architect Cloud repository to share with anyone with a smartphone, tablet or computer using a simple Web browser.
• OSLC RESTFul API: Using this API allows you to exchange information between your model repository and other systems.
• Integration: the integration modules available with EA 14 and the Pro Cloud server, allow data exchange with other modeling and project management tools such as Jira, Confluence, TFS, Sharepoint, DropBox, Jazz,...
  
  

EA enables the activation of repository access security, based on user, group and lock concepts applied on repository elements and packages.

In order to best define the security policy, it is necessary to analyze the needs and constraints and apply them to the context of Enterprise Architect.

Depending on requirements, the use of the row level security technique proposed by Sparx may also be considered.

The different evolutions and versions of models and other artefacts can be managed in different ways with EA, including the use of external XMI files, baseline, use of external version servers or others.

As explained, one of the possible techniques is the use of a version management system, such as, for example, Subversion or Team Foundation Server from Microsoft.

This integration has consequences on the repository organization and software deployment, so it is essential to analyze the situation and needs and consider this option.

Other solutions exist through third-party products such as LieberLieber's Lemon Tree.

For the installation, we find, among others and according to the context, the following activities:

• Installing EA software on client workstations
• In case of Linux or Mac OS client, installation of emulator and necessary components
• Installation of the server part according to the deployment scheme, possibly with additional software such as: shared file server, centralized database, floating key server, etc.
• Pro Cloud Server Installation if needed
• Installation of software and related components: optimizer for Wan connection, complementary dictionaries, image libraries, help files, EA Lite edition, Web server for HTML documentation distribution,...
• Implementation of access security with creation of groups and rules of use, and users
• Implementation of a version management system with the installation of the version server, the client in connection with the selected server, and the necessary resources for centralized and local copies.

The main objective is to set up, with the help of EA and using an existing or non-existent method, a process of gathering needs and constraints, analysis, architecture and collaboration with the various teams in place. This objective also includes documentation by modeling the existing situation.

The main activities during this phase are:

• Analysis of the general context
• Analysis of methodological aspects and processes in place
• Review of existing documentation
• Analysis of the various stakeholder profiles involved: analyst, architect, developer, project manager, client, etc.
  
  

The deliverables would be, among others:

• Definition of the different types of models to produce for existing and future developments
• Definition of the sets of relevant notation elements, connectors and diagrams, these would be selected from the UML vocabulary elements with complements that could come from other notations such as Archimate, BMPN,...
• Define the organization of the repository(s) of the models using package
• Definition of conventions, standards and naming of artifacts
• Implementation using EA, the customer's method and processes
• Definition of the relationships to be established between modeling artifacts
• Definition of the different report templates required
• Design of example models in the context of a pilot project in order to validate the approach.
  
  

These activities must take into account the following needs, with, among others:

• The language or languages used for writing the analyses
• Business rules management needs
• Change management
• Risk Management
• Traceability and impact analysis

Based on these analyses and deliverables, a training plan could be developed to transmit all the knowledge and methods required for the client's teams.

During the project phases, analysts and architects will be confronted with different operating situations in the Enterprise Architect modeling studio.

A tangible deliverable could be the development of a knowledge base and a collection of good practices.

For the initialization of an EA project, it is possible to start from a «skeleton" project including all the necessary definitions, resources and organization according to the client's context.

This "skeleton" project can be designed in part by Expert-IT and, based on knowledge transfer, maintained by the client's teams.

Enterprise Architect provides a mechanism to generate documentation and reports based on templates, which can be either docx, rtf or pdf formats, or linked HTML pages.

The design of these templates involves a thorough knowledge of the EA organization, the tool and the template design language. Expert-IT can take in charge the design of these templates and, from a knowledge transfer, make these techniques accessible by the client's teams.

Some complementary solutions can be considered in the context of documentation generation such as MDG Microsoft Integration from Sparx and eaDocX which is a third party product.

The EA modeling workshop supports UML notation but also other notation and modeling techniques such as BPMN, Archimate, XML Schema in XSD, SysML, Mind Mapping, data modeling, and others.

This new notation is designed using UML profiles and other resources integrated using Sparx MDG technology, and the EA tool can then be configured to use this vocabulary and deployment facilities exist.

Based on the combined experiences of Expert-IT and the client, a collection of best practices and modeling conventions can be developed and subsequently maintained by the client.

To some extent, these best practices could be applied concretely in EA, using different techniques such as: model validation; development of specific notation in the form of UML profiles; use of EA's MDG technology; design and use of modeling patterns; development of skeleton projects.

In the start-up phase, existing documentation can take various forms: Excel and Word files, Visio models, other modeling tools, various databases, XMI files, etc.

In order to recover this existing documentation, a technical analysis is performed and a procedure is developed including the development of possible import scripts.

In order to share, in the case of multiple projects, jargons and other vocabularies, a centralized glossary technique can be set up and maintained by the client's teams.

According to the needs, certain complementary activities can be taken in charge all or part by the Expert-IT team, namely, among others :

• Development of specific EA views
• Development of EA automation scripts, EA add-in software
• Effective participation in analysis and modelling
• Model transformation template development
• Reusable Asset Service Installation
• Training in notation and modeling techniques, such as BPMN, SysML, Archimate or others
• Training in EA project management and testing features
• Business rule design and code generation
• Development of model validation rules
• Others, the EA tool offering many features