We performed a comparison between IBM Rational System Architect and SAP PowerDesigner based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Enterprise Architecture Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The user interface is good. It's both clear and comprehensible. It's easy to work with."
"We have seen ROI with this solution over the years that we have used it."
"There are a lot of features I find valuable, but I think that the metamodel customization is one of the best features that the solution offers."
"The solution is pretty stable."
"It has helped me to develop the as-is state, design its to-be state, and track the capital investment according to gap analysis."
"SAP PowerDesigner is an excellent tool that does what I need it to do. What I like most about it is that it's stable, fast, and easy to understand."
"I like the property sheet capability and the user-defined attributes that you can set up."
"The most valuable features of the solution are it's built very well, easy to use, and simple to describe freely what is needed in logical and physical data models."
"I like the connectivity or the lineage between the models and usability."
"It's a great tool for documentation."
"It allows us to have proper documentation in terms of the databases."
"SAP PowerDesigner is fairly stable."
"The solution needs to better integrate with other products, like Microsoft."
"There needs to be more information at the outset about how to use the solution and how to deploy it. The deployment process needs improvement."
"The reverse engineering of the database is already there, but in the next release I would like to see some pilot supplied with the solution in order to address any database."
"This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards."
"It would be helpful if there were glossary, catalog and governance tools. It would help make it a true end-to-end product."
"The portal of SAP PowerDesigner could be better. The tool also needs more features and integration with other products, such as Collibra. It would be interesting for SAP PowerDesigner to have more integration."
"SAP PowerDesigner could improve by making the repository easier to understand. It is difficult to understand how the repository works because when I used logical models as part of the team, we wanted to use them together and update the older versions of the data model version but it was confusing. The repository needs to be explained."
"Connectivity can be improved because it's not very good."
"You have the possibility to complete a connection for abbreviations if you are creating columns or names of the tables. In the Citrix environment, this has been lagging to the point where the PowerDesigner was not usable."
"Pricing for small consultancies needs improvement. They sustain prices to competing tools. The competing tools tend to do special offers. PowerDesigner SAP doesn't pay much attention to the pricing of it and there are no special offers."
"The tool lags in the area of customer service."
"I've tried to use Power Designer to bring in images, which didn't work very well at all."
Earn 20 points
IBM Rational System Architect is ranked 21st in Enterprise Architecture Management while SAP PowerDesigner is ranked 5th in Enterprise Architecture Management with 34 reviews. IBM Rational System Architect is rated 7.4, while SAP PowerDesigner is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of IBM Rational System Architect writes "Modeling is useful, but many features need improvement and technical support is lacking". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP PowerDesigner writes "Effective in terms of validating everything, but sometimes they don't allow us some flexibility and GUI could improve". IBM Rational System Architect is most compared with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and erwin Data Modeler by Quest, whereas SAP PowerDesigner is most compared with erwin Data Modeler by Quest, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, Visio, IDERA ER/Studio and LeanIX. See our IBM Rational System Architect vs. SAP PowerDesigner report.
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