I have found the solution not easy to use. When publishing you have to download the HTML, make adjustments against the updated HTML, convert it to HTML, then finally paste the HTML. There is not an on-the-fly function available to bypass the step-by-step converting process that other solutions have.

The versioning system could be improved. We have to identify the connections and there are lots of limits in certain areas, such as the JDBC driver. I do not have a computer able to do the versioning system because we do not have a database to use. We do not have the budget for that. They should use something, such as GitHub, it would be helpful.

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.

The only restriction comes when you have to work on the NoSQL databases and typically when you have to work on any JSON structures. There are some limitations. For example, it cannot work on NoSQL databases, and there is no update on that as well. However, you can still do the Logical Modeling for NoSQL applications. You can do logical models - just not physical ones. The tool should support NoSQL databases, like MongoDB, etc. 

When you implement PowerDesigner, and you do implementation on the server, you also set up a portal. The portal is a web browser link you set up, where a person can use the browser and easily see what models were submitted to the repository. If you want to manage access and edit a file from the browser, you can easily do so without installing Client.exe. However, that portal is very slow. The portal takes a lot of time to respond if you have a number of tables in the schema it will take minutes to populate these tables. Portal performance needs improvement. Everything else is good and it's really a good tool, however, if these things can be improved, it can be even better.

The user interface could be more user-friendly. We have not worked with other models, but the user interaction or the visualization of the tool should be improved because it looks like an old tool, even though it provides good features. A visualization feature would attract users and make it easier to use.

The automation could be improved because it does not provide the framework or automation but provides data modelling capability. So you have to do it on your own or get a third-party contractor to develop the automation. For us, a company integrated with Bosch and generated a stable framework. Other tools provide automation capability available on cloud.

There was a pain point when we downloaded, configured and installed the software in our local systems. So we thought to put this particular software somewhere in a central system where we can directly access using Citrix workspace because when you install this in your local systems, there is a probability that you will not be able to check in your developments to the central repository.

Organizations that are using SAP PowerDesigner or are thinking of using it may have a big problem if they are moving particular projects to offsite centers or offsite nations. We faced many issues with check-ins of our models where the central server was sitting in Germany. We were located in India, and it was hard or near impossible to check in our models after our developments. We were dependent on our German colleagues to check in our models. We used to send requests via Outlook or Microsoft Teams, and then they would check in the models on our behalf. So we started using Citrix workspace, and there was a central system where SAP PowerDesigner was installed for us. We used it to develop our models and to do the check-ins and checkouts.

Regarding improvements, I suggest enhancing the connection between objects in process and data models. It's crucial to define the structure of objects, especially when dealing with standard frameworks like VMM. 

There should be better visualization of AROs between BPM and data modeling objects, specifying their structure and impact. For future versions, a feature similar to Bizagi, allowing users to see forms or SQL representations of objects, would be valuable for demonstrating and presenting project details to stakeholders.

I think that the user experience could use a lot of improvement. 

It would also be good to have a connection with CMDB. In particular, the gap analysis. Usually, when we work on a project, on enterprise architect tools, we start with a paper version and then connect the CMDB. PowerDesigner cannot analyze the gap between reality and the theoretical schema we build.

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.

It would be helpful to have a checking system on the objects that are generated from the physical data model on the specific database to help see if there is a difference on the database side and on the SAP PowerDesigner documentation side.

I'm trying to find some of the requirements for data cataloging within Power Designer. There are some minor things that could be easier. We're writing up procedures to bring all the modeling back into one group as this reduces delays in production.  

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.

I also want SAP PowerDesigner to be able to generate ALTER statements in the future.

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. Various patches to fix this have not worked. Ultimately, we have abandoned PowerDesigner on Citrix. 

After working with SAP to resolve this, we found that this could be an issue with VPNs or with a firewall inside a bank institution. We haven't concluded on this for certain but definitely need an improvement when using PowerDesigner on the Citrix Server. 

In a future release, we would like to have the ability to improve the visibility of changes when doing check-ins. I have been working on a model for a few days and in those few days the repository got updated by up to 20 people. We would like to have a list of changes, the name of the user which created a change, or the login of the user who created this change in the change book. This would save us a lot of time. 

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.

I'm an Apple user and not a Microsoft user, so I would love to have SAP PowerDesigner be available on macOS and not just on Microsoft. Right now, I am forced to install parallels and run a virtual machine on my Apple.

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.

In a future release, more features should be added. Other solutions have more features.

I've tried to use Power Designer to bring in images, which didn't work very well at all.

I think it's probably one of the best solutions, but it is not at all easy to deploy in a big organization. I think it's a problem because of internal processes, and you have to find the right person to help you. SAP as a whole is a very big, complex animal.

Although the presentation for viewing the models is good, I think it could be better. From my experience with other products, the SAP UI could be improved by enabling simpler navigation, especially for non-technical users. It would be ideal if there was a more seamless viewing experience of the models. Another improvement would be to adopt more industry models, especially from the enterprise architecture dimension. You could be adopting the industry standard as with made models, UML and other forms of industry enterprise architecture models. That would enhance the whole usability and enterprise nature of the modeling t

Additional features could support other model types which would improve the connectors to the increasing number of software to service packages now that a lot of the applications are moving into the cloud. We need to connect on all fronts. There is still a lot of room for improvement on the web portals in terms of the usability and the visual. 

Checking-in models to the repository, especially when working remotely, is a slow process than can sometimes have problems with models being corrupted. Between the client tool and the repository, the process is very chatty. Consequently, sometimes it takes forever to download a model and if it is corrupted then you won't be able to check it in or out again.

It would be a nice feature if we had the ability to generate a JSON file from a model.

Better support for integration with open-source technologies is needed. For example, I try to use open-source databases such as Postgres and MySQL instead of Microsoft, DB2, or Oracle. However, I think it's lacking in capability from the tool to the database.

In the future, I would like to see data manipulation capability where you can actually write SQL queries and manipulate data from directly within the tool.

The tool requires a level of specific knowledge in order to be able to use it so it's not user-friendly at all. It could be more intuitive. I'd like to see better data quality and a dictionary feature in an upcoming release. 

Connectivity can be improved because it's not very good. I would expect data catalog types of products to connect to the database, the repository of PowerDesigner, and get the metadata out more easily. 

I think as a company, once Sybase purchased SAP PowerDesigner, SAP's investment decreased. I think the number of new features and the product's development is much slower than before.

The one issue I've found goes a long way back, especially from version 6.0 onward. In 6.0 there was a fantastic modeling functionality called "Process Analysis Modeling." It was very simple and very straightforward, yet it covered practically all of the three or four important components, which the software should have.

Later, that capability was taken out of PowerDesigner. It got lost somewhere. Yet it was something that was very, very nice to have. SAP, they missed it somehow. Maybe it was removed in error? If they could bring it back, that would be amazing. 

When we had done some of the model icons to other models attached business process modeling, was far easier. The functionality has gone away. 

The solution is very, very expensive. It would be ideal if it was a more affordable product.

This product does not have a good BPMN Modeler. Also, the simulations for BPMN modelers are not integrated well enough. If we want this functionality then we have to use another program. Compare this to Visual Paradigm, where we do have a good simulation for the BPMN modeler. 

In terms of improvement, the pricing is a bit high. 

I didn't investigate whether we could run business process simulations like you can do with erwin's process modeling tool. I know you can do process modeling in PowerDesigner. I just don't know if you could run simulations of the process.

SAP PowerDesigner could improve by being more intuitive and user-friendly. It does not enforce some of the integrity of the model that we would like it to retain.

There are many areas of this solution that needs to be changed.

The solution itself does not need to be improved. However, they could add support for different languages.

SAP have invested a lot of time and effort into improving and extending the capabilities of the PowerDesigner Web Portal. Following the most recent release, users can create and edit Conceptual, Physical, Requirements, Business Process, and Enterprise Architecture models using a standard web browser as well using the client software.

I'm looking forward to the day when the Web Portal supports every type of model, including Logical Data Models. I also would like to see better support for NoSQL databases.

No issues encountered.

I would like to see better team collaboration in PD. Passing models (or objects in it) from one role to another. Today, we have to solve it by custom extensions and modelling rules just written on paper (and not enforced automatically).

Support for ArchiMate would be an improvement.

There should be a better usage of current hardware including multicore CPUs, higher resolutions (UHD, 4K), and multiple displays.

I would also like to see better troubleshooting options for repository issues. In case of problems during check-in of the model to the repository, the error message just says "checkin was cancelled", but id doesn`t give you any details or hints where to look, what to repair.

I don't know of any features the solution is lacking.

It would be helpful if there were glossary, catalog and governance tools. It would help make it a true end-to-end product.

Technical support could be better and more human.

• The UML simulation should be improved to avoid designing other tools out of the application. 
• The data governance should be improved, like ER/Studio.

Reverse-engineering of late JDK and .NET.

Use third party parsers and enhance Object-Oriented metamodel to cater for newer language features.

The meta-model (a.k.a. how objects are supposed to be connected to each other) seems to be proprietary.