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."
"The solution is pretty stable."
"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."
"We have seen ROI with this solution over the years that we have used it."
"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 mostly work on the conceptual and logical side of things, and I enjoy how easy it is to use."
"The initial setup was very easy."
"SAP PowerDesigner is fairly stable."
"In PowerDesigner, I primarily use BPM and modeling standards. I find it beneficial for process analysis, although I use data modeling to a lesser extent."
"The physical database model is definitely the most valuable feature because it describes normalization exactly the way you understand the data, and it deploys it perfectly with open source systems."
"Provides the flexibility to create logical and conceptual data models."
"It's a great tool for documentation."
"This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards."
"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."
"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 solution needs to better integrate with other products, like Microsoft."
"The focus is more on mainstream development environments, and I see a lack of focus on the open source world. I think SAP PowerDesigner probably interfaces better with SQL Server and Db2 but not with open source databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL."
"SAP PowerDesigner can improve the ease of use. It is not the best tool on the market because it is tough to navigate and use. A beginner would not be able to use it well, it requires some experience. If the solution was more user-friendly it would be able to be used by more audiences. I do not think many people are aware of this solution and they should use it."
"This product lacks artificial intelligence that should be very good in terms of automatically identifying the classification of elements."
"There should be a better usage of current hardware including multicore CPUs, higher resolutions, and multiple displays."
"In terms of improvement, the pricing is a bit high."
"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 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."
"One disadvantage of SAP PowerDesigner is that you cannot reverse engineer the ALTER statements, so that's an enhancement or area for improvement I'm looking forward to seeing from the SAP team in the future. That should directly reflect on the physical data models my company builds."
Earn 20 points
IBM Rational System Architect is ranked 20th 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, 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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