SAP PowerDesigner Reviews

SAP PowerDesigner is a tool that helps us create our database and monitor our data to reduce redundancy. I will provide a use case: currently, we are filling timesheets for people who are working in different kinds of offices. We arrange the numerical data into virtual data to show how much data is currently available and what kind of data is in each table, including its use. For example, a person named Ali swipes his ID card when he enters at 9:00 AM and leaves at 6:00 PM. All these details are generated in one database. We analyze timesheet details throughout the organization, focusing on the Hyderabad office, to identify how many people visited the office and how many did not. This information, stored in Oracle, allows us to merge details from various areas such as swipe card numbers and infrastructure details to create a structured data model that captures all available data. I define the business aspects of each table and column, such as the last updated timestamp, which indicates when an associate left the office. This use case helps business persons understand the expertise I provide.

The lineage analysis helps my organization understand data dependencies at an enterprise level. As a SAP PowerDesigner developer, I monitor data across the organization, creating data models that reflect not just one data warehouse but comprehensive organizational information. If you have a small company, lineage helps track employee data across different areas such as finance and HR. Data governance prevents duplicate records, so when tracking employee details, SAP PowerDesigner highlights where data exists in various areas, helping ensure we only use the appropriate sources. This functionality allows us to assess the impact of data deletions effectively.

I utilize the reverse engineering capabilities in SAP PowerDesigner. Reverse engineering is helpful, especially since I have colleagues new to SAP PowerDesigner. They often do not know which columns are available where. In SAP PowerDesigner, we can reverse engineer existing data from its source and identify errors in production. For instance, by using Ali's example, if an error arises, I can trace it back to the table and environment it originated from using the reverse engineering feature.

The best features of SAP PowerDesigner, from my perspective, are its ability to keep the connectivity between the source database and the new system, data redundancy and availability, and impact analysis. The first feature acts as a bridge between systems. The second allows us to see what data is already available and what new data can be brought in. The third, impact analysis, helps determine how many tables will be affected if a specific table is deleted. This critical point allows us to capture how much data will be lost if any table is removed. Currently, these features shape my daily work.

SAP PowerDesigner primarily benefits business management units by offering three types of data modeling structures: conceptual, logical, and physical models. The conceptual model communicates high-level insights to top executives, while logical and physical models address complex queries faced by developers in analytics.

SAP PowerDesigner enhances the clarity of our data management significantly, as around 80% of data can be searched quickly and maintained in our SAP systems. The tool enables mapping from end to end, making my work faster and more efficient than using other ER data modeling solutions. The interface allows easy creation of data models and searching for existing data, ensuring I can complete my tasks significantly quicker.

The importance of SAP PowerDesigner's collaboration capabilities lies in fostering a unified data management approach. It acts as a unified tool, preventing the duplication of existing data in analytical processes, thus saving both effort and storage costs, which is essential for effective data management.

We utilize collaboration capabilities in SAP PowerDesigner with various source systems such as PG admin, Postgres, Oracle, and Snowflake. Recently, we have added Snowflake for cloud data modeling and POC work, streamlining the collaboration process across different systems.

There are areas in SAP PowerDesigner that could be improved. One issue is the cost, as it is a high-priced tool coming from SAP. Additionally, maintaining versioning tools for updated data models necessitates personnel oversight during enterprise-level data modeling, which presents some drawbacks.

I would like to see a feature added to SAP PowerDesigner where, upon extracting data from a source, it automatically identifies relationships between tables. Currently, this feature is available in other tools such as Erwin, improving the developer's experience by highlighting primary keys upon data extraction.

I am working with SAP PowerDesigner for the past 3.5 years, where I have created different kinds of logical data models for around 200 plus sub applications.

The initial setup of SAP PowerDesigner is moderate in complexity. Its operational requirements include LAN IP and port details for access, limiting usability to specified network configurations. While installation is straightforward, the need for specific access can be challenging.

In terms of stability and performance, we occasionally encounter issues, particularly during complex query generation in finance. This may lead to frequent downtimes requiring server maintenance; thus, it is not suitable for highly complex solutions, but moderate complexities can be handled.

Currently, there are no scalability limitations in SAP PowerDesigner, allowing us to create numerous data models for various projects. The flexibility supports a large scale of applications without restrictions.

Regarding technical support, after a recent licensing issue caused a temporary halt, we realized the importance of tracking licensing and version updates to avoid future disruptions in service.

I would rate the technical support from SAP at around nine out of ten, due to prompt assistance provided during critical issues, which kept us on track to meet deadlines even when faced with operational challenges.

Positive

My evaluation of SAP was influenced by a comparison to Microsoft Azure tools such as Microsoft Data Fabric, which integrates functionalities that SAP PowerDesigner currently offers. In advocating for SAP, I found end-to-end encryption for data analysis to be a significant factor.

The initial setup of SAP PowerDesigner is moderate in complexity. Its operational requirements include LAN IP and port details for access, limiting usability to specified network configurations. While installation is straightforward, the need for specific access can be challenging.

There are areas in SAP PowerDesigner that could be improved. One issue is the cost, as it is a high-priced tool coming from SAP. Additionally, maintaining versioning tools for updated data models necessitates personnel oversight during enterprise-level data modeling, which presents some drawbacks.

My evaluation of SAP was influenced by a comparison to Microsoft Azure tools such as Microsoft Data Fabric, which integrates functionalities that SAP PowerDesigner currently offers. In advocating for SAP, I found end-to-end encryption for data analysis to be a significant factor.

I prefer Microsoft Data Fabric because it is an all-in-one environment for managing data sources. It is less costly than SAP PowerDesigner and allows for data cleaning, validation, and visualization, which is advantageous. However, if payments are missed, data access will be obstructed.

My advice for users considering SAP PowerDesigner is to ensure it is suited to enterprise-level operations, especially for industries with over 10,000 employees. It is a capable tool for larger operations, while smaller businesses might find alternatives such as Microsoft Data Fabric more advantageous.

Regarding pricing, I oversee the SAP PowerDesigner server and manage 40 licenses assigned based on employee roles. I monitor who accesses the tool and the operations performed. SAP PowerDesigner features various environments such as dev, SIT, UAT, and production, offering controlled access for different users.

Currently, I work with SAP HANA, where we create calculated views for complex queries and extract data for clients at specified frequencies. Additionally, I use Qlik for visualizing data and displaying dashboards related to various metrics such as HR and financial data flow.

I have not used other solutions for metadata management extensively, but I attended a couple of seminars on Collibra as a data catalog tool, which helps monitor and manage data across varying categories.

I would rate SAP PowerDesigner eight out of ten as a product and solution.

I prefer Microsoft Data Fabric because it is an all-in-one environment for managing data sources. It is less costly than SAP PowerDesigner and allows for data cleaning, validation, and visualization, which is advantageous. However, if payments are missed, data access will be obstructed.

We mainly use it for logical and physical data modeling. Our main objective is to keep a repository of our logical and physical model, and then generate DDL files for Oracle out of it. This is our main usage. Our installation is simple with only two users, so we don't have a multi-user environment.

The main valuable features are the logical and physical data modeling capabilities. Our main purpose is to keep the data model in a repository and then be able to generate DDL files for Oracle. The product is excellent. For the last four years, we haven't faced any issues. While we are experiencing a one-off issue during migration at the moment, things should be sorted soon. Apart from customer support, I would definitely give the product 9 out of 10.

It was a long time back when my company purchased it, but I am now participating in upgrading it to the latest version. I found customer support to be tedious during the upgrade process to the latest version. I tried to upgrade to a trial version before purchasing a new license. During that process, I had some technical issues. When trying to go from 12.5 to 16.5, I could migrate but faced technical challenges. When I approached customer support, they informed me that even 16.5 is not supported. They stated I would need to go to 16.7 before they could look at my issue. They didn't spend any time on the issue because according to them, 16.5 is not supported. Until I get 16.7 and complete the migration, I'm not getting any help from them. I was not too happy with the customer support.

This was my only interaction with customer support, and I haven't received any resolution to my issue. It can be rated as low as zero because that's the only time I approached them. I cannot even say zero out of ten because I approached only once. Perhaps they are correct that they don't support 16.5, so they don't want to spend any time on that.

We have been using the solution for about four years now.

The product is reliable. For the last four years, we haven't faced any issues. We are experiencing a one-off issue during migration at the moment, but things should be sorted soon.

Our main objective is to upgrade to the supported version and be able to do whatever we are doing at the moment. It should behave exactly the same way as it was behaving in 12.5. That is the objective. If there are any differences, we will address them when we discover them.

I found customer support to be tedious during the upgrade process to the latest version. I tried to upgrade to a trial version before purchasing a new license. During that process, I had technical issues. When trying to go from 12.5 to 16.5, I could migrate but faced technical challenges. When I approached customer support, they informed me that 16.5 is not supported. They stated I would need to go to 16.7 before they could look at my issue. They didn't spend any time on the issue because according to them, 16.5 is not supported. Until I get 16.7 and complete the migration, I'm not getting any help from them. I was not too happy with the customer support.

This was my only interaction with customer support, and I haven't received any resolution to my issue. It can be rated as low as zero because that's the only time I approached them.

Negative

A long time back I was using Erwin. It was quite good. I found Erwin really good for analytical applications and data warehousing. Now we are using SAP PowerDesigner for more operational systems. Both solutions are good.

It was a long time back when my company purchased it, but I am now participating in upgrading it to the latest version. Our installation is simple with only two users, so we don't have a multi-user environment.

We have a simple installation with only two users, so we don't have a multi-user environment.

A long time back I was using Erwin, which was quite good. Erwin was excellent for analytical applications and data warehousing. Now we are using SAP PowerDesigner for more operational systems. Both solutions are good.

We mainly use it for logical and physical data modeling. Our main objective is to keep a repository of our logical and physical model, and then generate DDL files for Oracle. The customer support needs improvement, particularly during version upgrades. I experienced difficulties when trying to upgrade from 12.5 to 16.5, and support would not assist until upgrading to version 16.7. Overall, I rate this solution 9 out of 10.

My use cases for SAP PowerDesigner involve data modeling.

What I appreciate best about SAP PowerDesigner is that it is a very detailed and comprehensive tool. It can produce data design definition language scripts and perform source-to-target mapping. The data modeling is what I do. It can also do process mapping and IT systems architecture design.

It provides a full suite of conceptual, logical, and physical data models, but we tend to focus on the physical data models here. In terms of what I appreciate best about it, it is very comprehensive and covers all the bases. The flip side of that is that it is quite a complex tool to learn.

Besides that, it has a web portal feature that can be improved. It is an application that you install on your device and you fire the application up and you work on that. It also has a web portal feature, which is much more convenient for giving people access to look at entity-relationship diagrams, but that web portal is unstable and does not work. It freezes up all the time.

I have been using SAP PowerDesigner for about eight years.

The scalability of SAP PowerDesigner is very good. I have never had any issues with scalability. We have some big models in there. We have a lot of detailed information stored in SAP PowerDesigner and it works very well from that perspective. You can have a lot of people using it, and you can share the models.

Regarding their support team, we have not really reached out for support for several years. When we did reach out, this was quite a long time ago, probably pre-2020, they were responsive, but they were not always able to fix all of our challenges or it took them a long time. I could not rate that very highly.

We have been on our own for a while due to the response time. There is not any support anymore as far as I know. We have reached out once or twice, and they have not really been able to resolve issues. We had problems with the slow portal, but we have largely fixed them in-house.

Neutral

In terms of the initial setup and deployment of SAP PowerDesigner, your IT department will need to help anybody actually get SAP PowerDesigner and to pay the license fees. In terms of installing it, from my perspective as a front-end user rather than an IT expert, installing it on people's devices does not seem to be too difficult as long as the correct security access is given. It is not too tricky.

Not everyone can use SAP PowerDesigner. You need to have experience and knowledge. It has an abundance of features, but you have to know where they are.

I am just a customer with them. I would recommend SAP PowerDesigner to other people, notwithstanding the fact that it is going to be discontinued, likely in a few years.

For data modeling, I am not using anything else at the moment. In general, I am not using anything else from SAP. I give SAP PowerDesigner an overall rating of 8 out of 10.

I use SAP PowerDesigner for data modeling, which greatly enhances the clarity of my data management processes. I manage data across multiple databases, including cloud databases, Teradata, and Oracle, and SAP PowerDesigner provides the necessary support to handle various data management scenarios effectively. For example, I leverage SAP PowerDesigner to facilitate data injection processes and streamline the handling of information throughout different database environments.

The features and capabilities of SAP PowerDesigner that I find most valuable and useful are its step-by-step approach to creating models. First, I gather requirement information and create a conceptual model, which is only a high-level abstract with some entities and relationships. Then, I focus on creating the logical model in SAP PowerDesigner, defining entities, setting up primary keys and foreign keys, and ensuring proper data types. I create tables and views to facilitate end-user access. Additionally, I use naming conventions and define domains for columns to maintain standardization across multiple models. SAP PowerDesigner helps in extracting reports and supports reverse engineering by allowing me to create models from existing databases using DDL scripts. This capability proves essential when models do not exist for existing databases. I design both dimensional models and 3NF models based on client requirements, whether they involve OLTP or OLAP databases.

I use SAP PowerDesigner's reverse engineering capabilities, which come in handy especially when clients have existing databases without any corresponding models. For example, I have used existing Teradata databases with various tables, establishing relationships among them; however, technical teams understand the joins better than some business users. Thus, I reverse engineer by utilizing DDL scripts to create a model, analyze it, and refine it to ensure it accurately reflects the relationships, primary keys, and foreign keys that dictate how data loads between tables. This method helps determine the correct loading sequence, where dimension tables load first before fact tables, and I document these processes to provide clarity to product owners and business analysts.

SAP PowerDesigner's impact and lineage analysis features support my organization in understanding data dependencies effectively. I operate within a middle-in architecture where data is loaded into a raw layer before being transformed in the silver layer and eventually structured in the gold layer for reporting purposes. In the silver layer, I often design 3NF models or data vault models to minimize redundancy. The gold layer predominantly incorporates dimensional models, where I might apply star or snowflake schemas depending on requirements. For lineage purposes, I model how data moves from the staging layer to the target tables, stating which tables load first and establishing dependencies, which is crucial for creating accurate reports and ensuring smooth data flow across multiple systems.

The importance of SAP PowerDesigner's collaboration capabilities in fostering a unified data management approach is significant. It allows for a single source of truth for data standardization and consistency in data definitions, helping align business requirements with technical solutions. I can create conceptual models that business users understand while also providing detailed logical data models including entities, attributes, relationships, indexing, and physical data models that facilitate the extraction of DDL for the DBA. This integration is vital, especially when dealing with various product identifiers across different systems, allowing me to unify disparate data into a common model.

Synchronization is vital since I experience multiple problems, such as mismatched models and manual DDL handling. Improving the synchronization between models and databases can enhance integration and mitigate weak implementations. Additionally, enhanced version control integration with tools like Git would facilitate better management of changes and provide greater control over the modeling process.

Regarding pricing, SAP PowerDesigner is relatively high-cost compared to other tools, though its extensive capabilities justify the expense. While many freeware options exist, SAP PowerDesigner stands out as a robust tool that handles various aspects of data standardization, lineage tracking, and modeling efficiently. Although access can be limited to a select number of users, SAP PowerDesigner is worthy of its price tag given its performance compared to alternatives like Erwin or Oracle Database Designer.

I worked with SAP PowerDesigner for five years, delivering four projects as a data modeler using SAP PowerDesigner for data modeling purposes.

I evaluate SAP PowerDesigner's stability and reliability as quite good, as I experience very few crashes or bugs, even with multiple users or complex databases. Although there may be occasional performance issues, such as when working remotely or during peak periods, SAP PowerDesigner generally manages large-scale data architectures and long-term data governance very effectively. I rate its reliability at 4.5 out of 5, given its ability to handle extensive modeling projects.

I often communicate with the technical support of SAP PowerDesigner, raising incidents through the portal whenever I encounter issues. I can download necessary patches and updates, and I value the documentation and foundational support provided for installation and best practices. For advanced support, I can connect with SAP PowerDesigner experts who can offer guidance and address productivity monitoring.

I rate SAP's technical support a 9 out of 10 due to their responsiveness and the quality of assistance provided.

SAP PowerDesigner is worthy of its price tag given its performance compared to alternatives like Erwin or Oracle Database Designer. I rate this review a 9 out of 10.

In all the use cases, we are using SAP PowerDesigner to create data models. These data models are used to create data warehouse solutions. I'm always using SAP PowerDesigner in a scenario where, as a developer, I can model the structures and data flows, and then we use a code generator to generate the actual software from it.

For our specific scenario, the way we use SAP PowerDesigner has two factors. Since we are in a world where we do a lot of automation, the product, the software that you create, is generated based on the model. The model is automatically a documentation of your end product because it's the starting point for generating the software. One of the nice features of SAP PowerDesigner is that it's also able to generate reports, for example, to HTML, so you can provide the information that's in SAP PowerDesigner to all the users within your organization, whether they have a PowerDesigner license or not. This ability to generate documentation from SAP PowerDesigner is one of its nicest features.

There are two features where SAP PowerDesigner stands out from other modeling tools. One is that it doesn't only allow you to model the structure of your database, but you can also model data mappings or data flows or lineage. You have the ability to model how data flows from a certain data model to a different data model, for example, from a source system to a data warehouse. The other feature is that it's very extensible. You can customize SAP PowerDesigner to add additional properties that you want to be able to put into a model, and you can also generate all sorts of output from the models that you create in SAP PowerDesigner.

When you look at traditional projects that we work on, a lot of software is created manually. In a data warehouse project that evolves over the years, you have a situation where there's a very complex product created by multiple people and some of them have probably already left the organization, so it's hard to maintain. You can always see that certain parts of the software were created at the beginning of the project where there was a different point of view, and parts of the software that are created more recently will be created in a different way because insights and experience change. By using SAP PowerDesigner, we are able to create a product that is always up to date, so the model always represents the implementation. We're always able to refactor the application so that the complete software is not an evolution, but stays conformed to the latest insights.

For collaboration, it's a two-sided coin. SAP PowerDesigner does pretty good at allowing you to compare models. If you have two or more people who work on the same data models, it has a capability of merging those two models. You can see the changes from person A and the changes from person B, and you can merge them together to get a result where all the changes are merged properly. What's not so great is that the SAP PowerDesigner repository, a product within SAP PowerDesigner that allows you to implement version control, is very user unfriendly. The performance is not that great, and it also has some issues that are really annoying if you work with it.

SAP PowerDesigner does not have a cloud option. It's only on-premise.

For how long have I used the solution?

If you use vanilla SAP PowerDesigner, it's pretty stable, but the stability decreases once your modeling environment gets complex. If you have larger models, you get more crashes. If you use a lot of customizations, especially using VBScript, it becomes less stable. You have more crashes. It's not that stable, but it's also not really unstable.

SAP PowerDesigner doesn't scale efficiently.

SAP PowerDesigner is not a product that's really actively developed anymore in the sense that the user interface is outdated. The support from SAP is not that great. If you have issues, it takes a long time before there comes a hot fix, if it's fixed at all. It relies heavily on VBScript, which is something that will be end of life in a few years in Windows. To my knowledge, SAP also does not have a road map. SAP PowerDesigner appears to be end of life within now and a few years.

Regarding support quality, though we've had some occasions where consultants of SAP were involved and they were pretty knowledgeable. If you get someone to support you, they have people that know what they're doing, but usually it takes a lot of time before someone actually is involved in your issue.

Neutral

I have experience with ER/Studio from Embarcadero, a bit with Erwin and with various other simpler data modeling software. These products are usually only capable of modeling physical data models and no lineage.

It's really easy to set up SAP PowerDesigner. It becomes more complicated if you use the repository, but other than that, you can start it really quickly.

I cannot put a number on it, but if you think about developing software manually or using a tool to generate software and considering the license cost of SAP PowerDesigner, the ROI is pretty positive relatively quick because it's not that expensive.

The pricing of SAP PowerDesigner is reasonable.

SAP PowerDesigner is pretty capable of storing lineage. What I mentioned is also something that we use a lot, creating those mappings so that you can put your lineage in a model. For dependency analysis, it's pretty good if you do a specific analysis, if you want to see for a certain entity or for a certain attribute, where it is used or where it is consumed. But the capability of creating a global overview of lineage is not that great because usually you get a way too complex diagram with a lot of lines and entities and it doesn't make sense anymore.

If you're not already using SAP PowerDesigner, I would advise looking at different products given the uncertainty about the life cycle of it. It appears to be end of life. SAP does not have a road map. That's the reason not to get into it if you're not already using it. If you are using it, I would say do not use the repository unless you really have to and be considerate about how you use customizations because if you do it in a wrong way, you can get a lot of issues with it. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 6.

My use cases are more in terms of data modeling.

My organization primarily uses SAP PowerDesigner in data architecture projects.

It allows us to have proper documentation in terms of the databases.

It's really effective in terms of validating everything, but sometimes they don't allow us some flexibility if we compare it with other tools in the market. So, it's doing too many validations that are not necessary.

Also, on the graphic user interface, PowerDesigner could improve.

There is room for improvement in the UI.

I have been using it for one year and a half.

With the tests that we have done, the stability is around six out of ten, with ten being high stability and one being low stability. Because when we are trying to import all the tables, it takes a while and it doesn't capture all the details. So that's why.

There are around six end users in my organization using this solution. They are Database Developers.

So, I didn't test the scalability of this solution. We didn't use the solution too much. It's more in an exploratory way now.

I used Erwin in the past. But it was bought by the company. So, the company had that solution, and that's why we were exploring PowerDesigner.

I would recommend SAP PowerDesigner to others for data architecture management. It provides all the functionalities in terms of data modeling, so it's also a good tool for that.

I see trends in terms of data classification, but I don't see this tool with the intelligence to do that automatically. So, like, with artificial intelligence.

Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten because there are too many validations. 

Also, I found some gaps in terms of relationships; they didn't appear when you do reverse engineering. 

Also, this tool lacks artificial intelligence that should be very good in terms of automatically identifying the classification of elements and maybe also to incorporate some artificial intelligence in providing descriptions for each data element included in the solution.

I use the solution in my company for information architecture modeling and partly for business architecture.

The solution's most valuable feature is that it is a really good data modeling tool. Based on what I understand, the tool is one of the best in the market. My company does face some challenges with the web portal that the solution has introduced, which doesn't provide all the features that we are looking for compared to the desktop deployment. My company is investigating the tool right now.

The tool lags in the area of customer service. There are issues with the customer service maybe because my company still uses the desktop client application. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement.

I have been using SAP PowerDesigner for three years. My company is a customer of the tool.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

I think it's quite a scalable tool. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Though I have never interacted with the product's support team, the unit with which I work has had problems with them. The technical team's response time is long. I rate the technical support a four or five out of ten.

Neutral

The product's initial setup phase is not complex. Some of the features are not available in the tool, and I have personally not looked at the product's web portal, but I have heard from some of the other organizations that I am in touch with that are having some issues with some of them not working properly. I don't exactly know what the other companies mean by some features that don't work properly in the tool.

The product has been in our company for the past seven or eight years, and there are about 40 people using it. The new web version of the product has not yet been installed in our company.

In terms of operational efficiency and cause savings or return on investment, I can say that with SAP PowerDesigner, our company saves a lot of time. There is a lot of reuse that my company does based on the information architecture modeling baseline that we have created. I don't know how to calculate the return on investment.

The tool supports data integration and architecture tasks since my company has projects, so we use the tool to generate some documents or submit information architecture, and that gets governed by a governing party. My company has to deliver and meet the information standards around there, and this is where SAP PowerDesigner helps us generate customized reports that will meet the guidance provided in various organizational submissions as well as standards.

My company has tried to overcome the challenges that we have faced with the tool by trying to talk with SAP if my company doesn't get a resolution from SAP for a deal and request proposals to see the other tools that are available in the marketplace and also look into what the other vendors have to offer.

I recommend the product to others since it is a good information architecture modeling tool.

The tool itself is good and I believe that it is currently allowing NoSQL database modeling, but then I feel that you need to have PowerDesigner Web, so that is why my company considers itself to be in a limbo right now.

I rate the tool a six out of ten.

This product helps us to handle documentation for travel expenses and calculate costs upon returning from a trip. It is a straightforward product with many applications. In PowerDesigner, I mainly use BPM and modeling standards, shifting to it for its capabilities in process and data modeling. I also explore data model generation and demo data creation.

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. 

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 have been using SAP PowerDesigner for the past two years. 

Stability is around 8 to 9 out of 10. 

Regarding scalability, it depends on project complexity and team size. 

When comparing with Bizagi, PowerDesigner excels in BPMM standards and follows a strict relation model in data modeling. However, Bizagi surpasses in application organization, form creation, and process testing.

The deployment varies, with some projects on Azure and others on Oracle.

The pricing varies based on functionality and users.

Overall, I rate PowerDesigner between 8 and 9, acknowledging its strengths but noting room for improvement.

We use the solution for LDM, PDM and scripts implemented in the database. 

When it comes to doing logical or physical Data Modeling, you can do that in other tools as well, or you can do that in Excel. What's best about this tool is that it is easy to use and productive, and it supports a number of databases like Oracle, Informant,  Db2, and many more. This is a stable tool.

PowerDesigner is the market's best tool for Data Modeling. It provides a number of features like multiple team members can work using the repository function. They can work and submit the change into the repository and pull from it. Therefore, you do not need to maintain manual files and do not need to make any comparisons manually. The tool is pretty good at handling that stuff.

It provides you with the capability of having dynamic licenses that you install on the server, and every user borrows the license at each login and returns it after use. This helps maintain the efficient use of the service and is cost-effective.

We are able to work seamlessly with PowerDesigner.

All the features are in working condition, and the product is in good shape. You can easily compare two databases, and you can easily compare two models. You can easily take out data dictionaries and re-import models. You can work on existing models too. ..

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.

I started using the solution in 2015 and have about seven years of experience with it. 

It's a stable system. It never crashes. The only thing to look out for is if you're using low-end machines for repository services. However, that's the problem on your end. That's not the fault of the product. We do not recommend a low-configuration machine. There needs to be a minimum configuration of two CPUs, which is the machine they recommend. Depending on the load, you have to increase that. When you purchase the product, you will get a technical assessment for the installation. At that time, you can mention the requirements, and they will give you guidance on what machine type you can use.

I'd rate the general stability an eight out of ten. 

It's a scalable product. PowerDesigner does come with a Load Balancer to support multiple license servers. Adding new licenses for users is also a bit easy.

It is very scalable. I'd rate the ability to expand a ten out of ten.

Technical support needs improvement. 

I implemented the product about three years ago and got help from support when I was implementing this for my company. I just kept on raising the request and not getting a response for five or six days. When you are buying technical support, it needs to be solved much faster and shouldn't take five or six days. Make sure you agree on SLAs.

Negative

In my current organization, we are not using this solution, however, if I was asked to change solutions, I would change back to this product. 

For the deployment process, you need a minimum of one server or you can have three servers at a maximum. You need two CPUs and a four GB machine at a minimum. However, if you wanted to do all the installation on a single machine, you can use the eight GB machine instead of a four or six GB. 

For the distribution of the license, you can install the license server and do a dynamic distribution of the license where a person opens the .exe on their local system. They can use the license and return after use by closing the .exe. This feature can only be achieved by implementing the license server.

Another .exe needs to be installed on the server to store the model in repository services. You can do your work on your local server and after you are done, you submit the model to the repository. When the model submitted to repository services is saved on the server, other users can connect to the repo and take the latest copy when required to refer to and work.

Portal services can also be installed and used for model sharing. For example, If you have 50 people, you wouldn't want to buy a license for everyone, and therefore, you can create 50 accounts in PowerDesigner's portal instead of passing out 50 licenses. 

One person is sufficient in terms of handling deployment. It takes two to three days to set up everything. The ideal process takes three to four hours only, however, before that, you have to set up the server, and you have to do other activities on the server, including first-time logins and Java updates. Those things sometimes take time. If you don't have anyone from IT helping you on the server part and if you're doing everything yourself and the server is available, it takes only three hours. On the cloud, it is a little easier. On-premises you also have to open the firewall ports and everything. On the high end, it might take three days, however, not more than that.

The licensing is manageable. Earlier, they had multiple license styles, and they used to charge differently. Nowadays, they have only two categories, an enterprise version, and a data architect version. It is around 5,000 euros.

If you compare it to the market and other tools and look at the functionality, it's pretty good. For a big organization, the cost would not be a big concern.

If you decide to pay for support, you get one year free when you buy a license. After that, they charge 30% of the license every year for support coverage.

The documentation, however, is pretty good, making it feasible to go without support since you can likely troubleshoot on your own.  

I'd advise others that, when you are considering licensing if you need bulk licenses, you can easily get a deal from PowerDesigner. You can easily negotiate with them since they do like to negotiate if you are buying in bulk. 

When you are doing this negotiation, at that time, you can negotiate a contract in which they will be responsible for implementing it in your environment. If you are doing the installation on your own, you can ask for technical support that will provide quick responses during the implementation to avoid waiting on tickets during setup.

I mainly use it to create application maps and to connect other applications to IOS platforms. Usually, we use PowerDesigner in order to study the impact of modifying columns and the cut-offs in order to deploy a new data model. I also use it to handle change requests on IS, for example, pushing data models or applying the follow-up on changes done directly on other IOS.

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.

I have been using SAP PowerDesigner for about four to five years.

It is quite stable. The tool is widely used among big companies here in France and North Africa. It has evolved through the years. When it comes to stability, I would give it a ten out of ten.

It can handle everything. It can reproduce all data models, all connections, all APIs, and so on. I would give it a nine out of ten. 

So far, I have not had any need to contact SAP's technical support. 

I would say that the Linux and MEGA are intuitive, but not complete. Linux cannot track down the data model inside the databases, but it's very intuitive and user-friendly. So PowerDesigner is complete, but it's for experts and cannot be used by junior teams.

The onboarding of the solution is very difficult when we're creating a project from scratch. Even with the new version of the design, it's very difficult to create a new project and start building blocks around it. It is a very efficient tool once the first scheme is created, the first version. Then we create the business view, then the platform view, then the application view, but what could use improvement is the user experience. We cannot start without a very long tutorial, and I would say it's not very user-friendly.

The licensing model is quite expensive. It costs approximately one hundred thousand euros to initially set it up.

I would rate PowerDesigner an eight out of ten.