Scottish Gathering
A Scottish Gathering of EA Users was held in Livingston Scotland, hosted by Hippo Software, on 23rd October 2018.
More information can be found at http://www.hippo-software.co.uk/pages/EAGathering.htm
A Scottish Gathering of EA Users was held in Livingston Scotland, hosted by Hippo Software, on 23rd October 2018.
More information can be found at http://www.hippo-software.co.uk/pages/EAGathering.htm
Sparx EA as a cloud-based solution has been available for a few years, and it addresses many of the issues that on-premise, on-desktop EA implementations face. The Post-Pandemic Era has seen a swift move to a cloud-first strategy, and the Cloud Offerings for Sparx Products now allows businesses to achieve faster time to go-live, lower infrastructure costs, and eliminate setup and maintenance tasks. This session will cover how advancements in the Sparx Ecosystem and Cloud platforms have aided businesses in implementing the Sparx EA platform on the cloud.
Nizam Mohamed is a seasoned EA consultant with over 16 years of Sparx EA experience. Nizam is currently the Product Manager of Sparx Systems Prolaborate. He also leads the team that configures and manages cloud-based platforms for Sparx Systems' global clients.
Business rules can be modelled as process flows, but EA does support Decision Tables in form of DMN (Decision Table Model Notation). Business Rules can be modelled and tested using multiple data sets. These DMN models can then be integrated to Systems / Software Dynamic Models in the form of Executable State Machines. Together these techniques provide a powerful modelling technique for Business and Software Design. This presentation presents on overview of the method to integrate DMN and ESM and will provide a demonstration of the integration in action using models built in EA.
I currently work as a Principal Consultant at Dunstan Thomas where I have been for past 16 years. I have used EA for 16 years, modelling in mostly UML, SysML, BPMN, ArchiMate. In addition to modelling I tend to specialise in developing custom MDGs, including Shapescripts, scripted solutions for automating tasks in EA, documentation generation including SQL and Script driven Template Fragments. I have also developed addins for EA.
In this session, Matt will explore Martin-Baker's journey with MBSE and EA, what has driven them to adopt a model-based approach to Systems Engineering, what they have achieved so far and how it has enabled them to tackle increasingly complex challenges. He'll also look at where they would like to be in the future and what some of the challenges they face are. Martin-Baker are the world's leading supplier of aircrew ejection seats, with over 70 years of design, development and manufacturing history in aircraft escape systems.
Matt is a Systems Engineer for Martin-Baker where he uses EA to manage aircraft escape systems across their life cycle, working on escape systems pre-development, in qualification and in-service. Matt has worked with SysML and UML, along with EA’s automation capabilities, including the internal API for generating complex model outputs and document generation, alongside eaDocX. Matt enjoys developing tooling to integrate EA with other software, such as Martin-Baker’s internally developed ejection modelling software, and in his spare time enjoys software development and flight simulation.
Managing multiple projects in the same EA repository has produced many solutions. In this session, Ian will review the available options, and present a new approach to managing models where there are many competing projects, in a 'continuous change' mode. Jackie will give a Project Managers perspective on what these solutions can deliver to the wider business, in terms of impact analysis and understanding project dependencies. And they will demonstrate a time machine...
Ian has been a Sparx user for 18 years, and a teacher and consultant in business analysis and architecture for much longer than that. His company - Ability Engineering - has been a Sparx partner for 12 years, and he writes the all-time most successful EA addin - eaDocX, the smart document generator for Word and Excel, Model Expert the model quality tool, and Portfolio Manager, the new version control extension for EA. Despite being a long-time passionate supporter of EA, he's also not afraid to say where Sparx can improve, so be prepared for some honest and open discussions.
Jackie is the CEO of Ability Engineering, and has many years experience of project and programme management and training in the aerospace, telecoms and construction industries. The last 12 years have been spent supporting users and development of eaDocX, Model Expert and now, Portfolio Manager.
Peter will look at how we can use threatget.eu - a Cyber-Security-by-Design solution for the Automotive Industry. Industries with security-critical infrastructure are now required by the regulator to have an up-to-date cyber security management system, for example the new European Security Directive for the automotive industry (UNECE WP29 / ISO/SAE-21434)
I am an extrovert promoter and results-oriented controller and director. It like creating new partnerships and relations. I like people that are talking with me and it is important for me to help and motivate others. I'm very self-motivated and I prefer doing thinks I really like. I need a lot of creative and open space. But I also need people doing the administrative tasks and people realizing the ideas.
My highest motivation is doing creative work with and around Enterprise Architect. (www.sparxsystems.de)
SP Energy Networks - Our journey so far
SP Energy Networks started their EA journey during a large SAP programme when they mapped their new Business Processes using BPMN and ArchiMate. This work proved critical to the success of identifying and communicating change within the organisation. Post programme SPEN maintained the new BAU model in a static state, created an applications catalogue, dabbled in data models and use case diagrams. During the last Covid WFH period SPEN relaunched their BPMN strategic goal and implemented Prolaborate. Joyce Bianchi will describe their journey over the last 6 years describing what worked well, not so well and using EA in lockdown.
Joyce has 30 years of experience in the electricity industry and is currently a Technical Process Leader in the Centre on Excellence within SP Energy Networks. She has spent the last 2 years working to develop SP Energy Networks Digitalisation and Data Strategy for the RIIO-ED2 regulatory cycle. Prior to this she worked on the implementation of a Network Asset Management System programme where her journey with EA started in the use of BPMN and AchiMate. She is a Prosci Change Management Practitioner and is currently working on an agile data squad to implement the provision of Open Data.
How we in NHS Wales are resolving the competing requirements for free-thinking and creativity in our modelling work, with the needs for standardisation, reuse and model governance. I'll show how that tension between creativity and formality has been approached using centralised catalogues of architecture building blocks to model multiple solutions in multiple workstreams without tripping over one another. I outline how a cloud EA repository surfaced through Prolaborate acts as the drawing board for wide stakeholder input and how a more tightly managed on-premise repository acts as our fully governed source of truth, and how we workflow between them.
Matt is a Lead Applications Design Architect for the NHS in Wales where he engineers solutions to improve health outcomes, e.g. the pandemic response. His current assignment is providing architecture oversight to the Genomics Programme in Wales. Alongside this, he leads an initiative to redefine the NHS Architecture Ways of Working, drawing upon 17 years of Enterprise Architect experience, that was preceded by a further 14 years of model based systems engineering with various tools and techniques.
Industrial- and Infrasystems are build for a long life-cycle. The developing time is short in relation to de whole system life-cycle, so Asset Management is the leading process for keeping systems on performance level and to initiate upgrade- en replacement projects. These projects have to perform in a tide schedule. Most of these projects have to realise these upgrades or replacement in a operational environment. Therefore actual documentation is mostly the critical factor.
Jan has more than 25 years of experience with the application of Systems and software engineering in various industrial domains of which the last 15 years in infrastructure. Specialisms: Systems engineering, requirement engineering, System modeling, functional analysis, Industrial automation, model based (systems) engineering.
Mark has been working with Sparx EA on assignment with the Home Office. Mark will provide an insight into the use of Sparx EA at the Home Office and on the Transformation Programme that he is currently assigned to.
Mark has over 30 years of industry experience gained across multiple sectors. At Chaucer, Mark has predominantly worked at the Home Office for the last 8 years as a senior technical/solution architect on a portfolio of policing programmes. For the last 2 years Mark has been using Sparx EA to help define the Baseline, To-Be and Interim Transition State Architectures on a Home Office transformation programme. Mark is currently the chair of the Home Office Sparx Community forum.
Learn tips and tricks to streamline the EA user interface and personalise the look & feel of EA. Setup custom workspace layouts, ribbons, perspectives, toolboxes, working sets and landing pages to focus on specific tasks and navigate your model with ease. Help novice EA users to be become productive rapidly with minimal training and mentoring.
Gillian is director at Hippo Software (services partner for Sparx Systems in the UK and Northern Europe). Gillian studied joint honours Mathematics and Computing Science at Glasgow University and is a Chartered IT Professional Member of the British Computer Society. Gillian was one of the first adopters of UML and Sparx EA in the UK (using EA from V2 onwards). She is also an expert in SysML, BPMN and ArchiMate. Gillian enjoys swimming and is a cub scout leader.
In Pay.UK, we’ve been on an exciting journey to explore our architectural underpinnings, and plug into Sparx in a big way. Using ArchiMate, we’ve sorted out a metamodel, set a baseline, and learned some fun lessons along the way in positioning Sparx to address some of our problems.
Aaron is an Enterprise Architect with experience in multiple domains and is a keen proponent of Agility in architecture (whatever that means). When not getting his hands dirty in architect-y stuff, Aaron enjoys playing the guitar, and has recently been trying to tame his back garden.
Daniel will show how Git, Pro Cloud Server, Prolaborate and WebEA can work together for a super powerful Collaboration experience.
Daniel has been involved with model-based engineering since 2000. He first experienced model-based engineering with Together, and then moved on to the current focus: Enterprise Architect by Sparx Systems. He gained deep experience handling critical software projects around the world in the IT, apparel and footware industries. The next logical step was to join European-based LieberLieber, the Enterprise Architect Specialists, in 2006. In his role as developer of international business he also became CEO of LieberLieber Software Corp, based in Houston, TX, in 2014. Daniel is heavily involved with LieberLieber's Automotive and Logistics clients, helping them to build tools to develop their products in a more efficient way. He is passionate about UML/SysML, embedded systems, and industry standards like AUTOSAR. He is an experienced speaker, a founding member of the Enterprise Architect User Group and represents LieberLieber at the Object Management Group, INCOSE and ProStep. Daniel lives with his family in Vienna, Austria.
Session 5
In this session Geert will explore how we can use EA to model data lineage:
Geert Bellekens started his freelance career in 2004 and has always had strong focus on UML, modelling and analysis methodology. He has helped several of the larger Belgian organizations to define and document their modelling method, train and coach the modelers and develop supporting tools. Geert Bellekens is an acknowledged Enterprise Architect expert and has written numerous add-ins for Enterprise Architect, including the free open source EA Navigator and the commercial EA-Matic. He is also one of the founding members and a regular speaker on the EA User Group events.
The presentation is based on my experiences in a large investment Bank from 2015 to 2021. Sparx was used for their corporate Business Process Model, where one of the use cases was to demonstrate regulatory compliance with something called BCBC 239. The title is a provocation that reflects my initial rejection of the product, while the presentation as a whole describes why this changed and what was needed to make it happen.
After 12 years as a consultant at Casewise, who developed a Business Process and Enterprise Architecture Modelling toolset, Malcolm took a contract role with a major investment bank, where Sparx was the tool of choice for Business Process Modelling. More recently, he's been exploring "systems' thinking", presenting at both the "Cybernetics Society" and "Systems & Complexity in Organizations".
Using the AUTOSAR modelling approach (knowl of which is not required to emjoy his talk) Markus has used to EA to model key elements of the SW architecture and perform safety analysis if his solution.
The talk will cover
I've studied Physics (MSc) at the University of Osnabrück. I'm working in the automotive and other industries for >10 years now on safety-critical hardware and software. Frequently I'm faced with the task of reverse engineering software. I'd like to share some key ideas on functional safety, MBSE and software architecture that I collected over the years.
MORNING SESSION 1
EA4BI by Example
Learn how to model business intelligence architectures and designs with the help of the EA4BI framework, a free MDG technology for Sparx Enterprise Architect (https://community.sparxsystems.com/community-resources/1124-ea4bi-enterprise-architecture-modeling-for-business-intelligence). After a short introduction of the framework by means of some practical examples, the trainees get the opportunity to model a small case study in cooperation with the trainer. As the timeframe of the training session is rather limited, the trainer will model the case study in real-time together with the trainees. They can either choose to view and/or follow this sample solution or create their own.
Rudi Claes - INNO.COM
I am a senior solution architect and enterprise architect, associated with inno.com (www.inno.com). Since 2006, I have been implementing, teaching, coaching, and realizing projects with Sparx Enterprise Architect for various organizations in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. With a specialization and certification in the Microsoft business intelligence (BI) stack since 2008, I have also delivered various BI training courses and realized multiple BI projects. EA4BI combines all my favorite ICT topics –enterprise architecture, modeling, business intelligence and Sparx.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudi-claes-39a696b
-v-
MORNING SESSION 2
Model Harvesting – A systematic way to build and institutionalize Architecture practices
What does it take to start using EA? Just use the toolbox and start creating diagrams? If yes, why not stick to Visio? Modelling in EA is all about standardizing on specific modelling convention (aka metamodel) and adhering it. One may argue there are standards (UML, ArchiMate, etc.) to do that, however most standards are far too generalized that only 20% of it is consumable, and any architecture practice should span across multiple frameworks. This session will discuss the following • Defining a metamodel for a basic architecture practice, that uses standard notations from ArchiMate, BPMN, Requirements and Usecases • Customizing EA with standardized toolboxes and quicklinkers to align with Metamodel • Importing information from various external sources Excel, Word into EA based on the aligned Metamodel • Creating Kanban diagrams, Heatmaps, diagram legends based visualizations etc from the harvested model • Custom SQL Searches to exactly find the right model information • Generating Reports and publishing model to wider stakeholders. Takeaways • A user manual on the discussed approach • Sample Data Collection Templates (Excel) • MDG definition model • Custom Searches • Reporting Templates
Nizam Mohamed - Prolaborate
Experience with Sparx Enterprise Architect – 13 Years
Core Skills – Sparx EA Customization and Rollout, Training and Consulting.
Clients – Ericsson, Westpac, Vodafone, Digi, Infineon, MLC Insurance (Nippon), Kellogg
-v-
MORNING SESSION 3
Advanced data modelling in Enterprise Architect
Data modelling has multiple dimensions and layers. Think about the conceptual, logical or physical data model layers or modelling languages like UML, ERD or ArchiMate. In this hands on session we are going to create a small but full model on a sample case in Enterprise Architect. We will practically apply techniques like UML class modelling, ArchiMate Passive Structure viewpoints, CRUD matrix and ERD. Furthermore we will discuss and apply a technique for integrating the three modelling layers. At the end of this session you will have an example of an integrated data model which you can extend to your own situation. When you want to participate in this session it is best you bring a laptop with EA installed on it with you.
Bert Dingemans - EAxpertise
Bert is a data architect working often with Enterprise Architect mostly for UML class diagrams and ArchiMate 3.0. He uses Enterprise Architect for generating message documentation, ETL scripts, Database models and XSD files. Furthermore he is modelling enterprise architectures with ArchiMate 3.0. IDEA and the WPP are developed by Bert and these OSS products can be found at http://eaxpertise.nl
-v-
AFTERNOON SESSION 1
The Fundamentals of MDG Creation
During this training workshop, Phil will provide attendees with hand-on experience in the development of a Metamodel using Enterprise Architect’s MDG technology. Specifically, attendees will gain practical experience in
• What an MDG can contain
• Defining tagged values prior to developing an MDG
• Using the Model Wizard to structure an MDG Project
• Defining stereotypes for Elements and Connectors
• Overview of shapescripts to define appearance for elements and connectors
• Defining a custom toolbox
• Defining a custom diagram
• Generating, deploying and testing the MDG
• Overview of Quicklink definition
Phil Chudley - Dunstan Thomas Consulting
Phil Chudley is a principal consultant at Dunstan Thomas Consulting Ltd. He has been using Enterprise Architect for over 12 years, and has vast modelling experience ranging from UML, BPMN and SysML. He has provided training consultancy for numerous organisations in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. These organisations cover sectors ranging from financial to aerospace and defence.
Phil has also developed two extensions for Enterprise Architect, BPMN Generator and EA Safe Delete.
Phil’s latest consultancies are the development of scripts for automated project workflow and validation /export of elements and relationships, and the management of RDF vocabularies including the import and export of RDF XML files
-v-
AFTERNOON SESSION 2
Workshop “Pro Cloud Next Generation”
Part 1:
Technical Overview, Hands On (Bring your own (virtual) Windows Server): How to setup Pro Cloud Server incl. WebEA and Key Store Server
If you don’t have a license please request one short before installation: http://sparxsystems.com/products/procloudserver/index.html#registerform and remark in comments:
For EAUserGroup Workshop in London purposes (Session of Sparx CE, Peter Lieber) – duration till 30th June 2018
Part 2:
Hightlights of the new Pro Cloud Server:
• Key Store over https
• Row Level Security – configure directly in EA14 who is allowed to see what
• WebEA: Context Browser, Matrix, MiniProps
• External Data Sources: Jira, TFS, WRIKE, DropBox, ServiceNow and EA (Cloud) – one of the most interesting ones :)
Peter Lieber - Lieber Lieber Software
Peter Lieber is the founder and owner of a number of software and related companies, and since 2014 he has held the position of President at the Austrian Software Industry Association (VÖSI) (www.voesi.or.at). He enjoys sharing his business knowledge with entrepreneurs, managers and students, and with an underlying commitment to promoting the further evolution and global integration of Austria's software sector. As the founder of SparxSystems Central Europe (www.sparxsystems.eu) and LieberLieber Software (www.lieberlieber.com), Peter focuses on the so-called model-based development of software and systems. This new approach is paving the way for innovation in even the most challenging projects, such as the engineering of complex safety-critical systems in alignment with the principles of Industry 4.0.-v-
AFTERNOON SESSION 3
Enterprise Architect and ArchiMate for Strategic Planning
This ½ day training session is aimed at architects and managers responsible for business strategy, change management and/or performance improvement. It provides an accelerated introduction to creating ArchiMate V3 Strategy models within Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect. Delegates will create a capability map defining a landscape of current and desired organisational capabilities. Tagged values will be used to add custom properties to record maturity levels and an auto-colour legend will create a heat map to identify areas of focus. Composite diagrams will be created for those capabilities that require attention, documenting courses of action and resources involved. We will also demonstrate an agile approach by adding courses of action to a Kanban diagram to schedule and track their implementation. Delegates who bring their own laptops running Sparx EA V13 or V14 will have the opportunity to follow demonstrations and create their own ArchiMate Strategy models.
Gillian Adens - Hippo Consulting
Gillian Adens is director at Hippo Software, an authorised services partner for Sparx Systems in the UK. Gillian studied joint honours Mathematics and Computing Science at Glasgow University and is a Chartered IT Professional Member of the British Computer Society. Gillian was one of the first adopters of UML and Sparx EA in the UK (using Sparx EA from V2 onwards). She is also an expert in BPMN and ArchiMate industry standard notations. Gillian currently provides formal training and consulting services to a wide range of organisations in finance, education, utilities, healthcare, travel and government market sectors.
-v-
Agenda 5th October 2017 Brussels
Back to the Agenda
EA4BI: Modelling a BI architecture in EA |
|
The current mainstream enterprise architecture modeling languages provide little syntax to describe the primary goal of any business intelligence (BI) project, i.e. the transformation of data into information and knowledge. |
|
Rudi Claes Inno.com |
|
Rudi is a senior solution architect and enterprise architect, associated with inno.com. Since 2006, he has been implementing, teaching, coaching, and realizing projects with Sparx Enterprise Architect for various organizations in the Benelux. With a specialization and certification in the Microsoft business intelligence (BI) stack since 2008, he has also delivered various BI training courses and realized multiple BI projects. EA4BI combines all his favorite ICT topics –enterprise architecture, modeling, business intelligence and Sparx. |
Back to the Agenda
Advanced Document Generation with standard RTF templates |
|
Document generation is important in most organisations that work with Enterprise Architect. Storing information in the model is good, but most stakeholders still require documents.
Enterprise Architect comes with a sophisticated document generator that has seen great improvements in the last versions (v10, v11, v12 and v13). You also get a standard set of document templates that will quickly generate a document for a part of your model.
The problems arise however the moment you try to do something a bit more sophisticated with the document templates. Get information from different packages, use different templates for the same (set of) elements, etc… You will quickly realize that the approach of having one large template that generates the whole document is not useful for real-world document requirements.
In this training Geert will teach you how to tackle this problem using a Virtual Documents, Template Fragments and Scripting in order to create professional documents from your EA model. You will learn about - Basic Templates - Basic Template fragments - Custom SQL Fragments - Custom Script Fragments - Virtual Documents - Automating the creation of the virtual document At the end of the training you will have created a document template for a use case diagram containing all the details that usually are required in that type of document. |
|
Geert Bellekens Bellekens IT |
|
Geert Bellekens is an acknowledged Enterprise Architect expert and has written numerous add-ins for Enterprise Architect, including the free open source EA Navigator, EA-Matic etc.. Geert has helped several of the larger Belgian organizations to define and document their modelling method, train and coach the modelers and develop supporting tools for Enterprise Architect. He is also one of the founding members and a regular speaker on the EA User Group events |
Back to the Agenda
Collaboration with EA – Cloud Server, OSLC WebEA, Version Handling – third party solutions |
|
In this Session Peter and Daniel will demonstrate how to setup and use some of the server features of Enterprise Architect – we will have enough time to talk about scenarios and your requirements.
|
|
Daniel Siegl - Lieber Lieber Peter Lieber - Sparx System CE |
|
Daniel has been involved with model-based engineering since 2000. He first experienced model-based engineering with Together, and then moved on to the current focus: Enterprise Architect by Sparx Systems. He gained deep experience handling critical software projects around the world in the IT, apparel and footwear industries. The next logical step was to join European-based LieberLieber, the Enterprise Architect Specialists, in 2006. In 2009 he became CEO, and in his role as developer of international business he also became CEO of LieberLieber Software Corp, based in Houston, TX, in 2014.Daniel is heavily involved with LieberLieber's Automotive and Logistics clients, helping them to build tools to develop their products in a more efficient way. He is passionate about UML/SysML, embedded systems, and industry standards like AUTOSAR. He is an experienced speaker, a founding member of the Enterprise Architect User Group and represents LieberLieber at the Object Management Group. Daniel lives with his family in Vienna, Austria Peter Lieber is a Serial Entrepreneur in Software Industry and since September 2014 president of the Austrian Association of Software Industry (www.voesi.or.at). He is committed to sharing knowledge with students, entrepreneurs and managers. In his most relevant businesses: SparxSystems Central Europe (www.sparxsystems.eu/www.sparxsystems.de) and LieberLieber Software (www.lieberlieber.com/www.lieberlieber.us) he is focused on model based systems and software engineering. |
Model Curation - getting other people to understand your models |
|
As EA users we’re great at creating ever more complex and wonderful models, using multiple modelling languages, and maybe with subtle improvements of our own. These take lots of effort and thought to create, and even more to maintain. So it’s especially annoying when other people don’t understand or appreciate what we have created. This makes it hard to check that the content of our models is right, and makes them much less useful to the rest of the business. So this workshop will explore some ways of making models more accessible to non-EA experts. We’ll quickly review some the EA features which allow this, and some of the other ways we can ‘curate’ content for other people. Most of the workshop will be spent looking at particular scenarios and examples, and collecting together some “best practice”, using the knowledge and experience of all the delegates. So come along and be prepared to learn AND contribute. Requires laptop with EA – yes, one between each 2 delegates EA version needed: Instructor will be using EA 13, so if you decide if you want to use a previous version be prepared to translate. |
|
Ian Mitchell Ability Engineering |
|
A long-standing EA user, business analyst mentor and teacher, Ian is the author of the popular eaDocX® document generator for EA, as well as being heavily involved with the design of Prolaborate. He also shares his observations from 30+ years in IT at www.theartfulmodeller.com. |
Back to the Agenda
Traceability in practice (Novice and average) |
|
The need for traceability has always been one of the drivers in the selection of an analysis case tool. In this workshop, we will take a look at the variety of out of the box and custom possibilities EA provides in the successful implementation of traceability within EA. his 1/2-day training session is aimed at novice or average users of Enterprise Architect. The main part of this workshop will be hands-on. A laptop with a working version of EA is required to get the best out of this workshop. It’s also possible to work in pairs. |
|
Dennis Geluk Di Vetro |
|
Dennis is a senior information analyst and partner at DiVetro in the Netherlands. He has over 15 years of experience in IT. During this period, he has fulfilled a broad spectre of roles at different customers. Dennis helped numerous customers in the configuration and implementation of EA. (configuration management and best practices). Currently Dennis is working at KLM as a business analyst and coach in implementing a new agile way of working. Over the years Dennis has worked with a variety of case tools. He has been using different versions of Enterprise Architect and always tries to get the best out of the use of a case tool. |
CALL TO ACTION:
Call for Speakers and/or Teachers
Brussels
Dear Enterprise Architect enthusiast. Our next EA User Group event is planned on the 5th and 6th October 2017 in Brussels.
Similar to the event in London in May we will organize a two-day event. The first day, 5 October will be the training day. This day will be filled with 1/2 day hands-on training sessions to allow us to go into detail on a variety of subjects.
The second day, 6 October will be a classical EAUG day filled with 45-minute sessions covering all kinds of EA related topics. We are interested in just about everything you do with Enterprise Architect, from the organisation of your model to enhancements you have made using MDG or the automation API, or even just a project with which you are especially happy with. That said, we are not just after the sunshine stories and would be interested in hearing about any experiences learned the hard way. Presentations of an obvious or purely commercial nature will not be accepted. Some example topics are: · Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF, DoDAF/UPDM) · Business Architecture, Capability Mapping, Process Modelling · Systems Engineering · Business Analysis, Requirements Management · Modelling Languages (UML, SysML, BPMN, ArchiMate) · SOA, DDS, GIS, NIEM · Data modelling · Code generation/IDE integration · Project management · EA-based reporting · EA scripting and automation · Simulation · Tool adoption/deployment · MDG Technologies/UML profiles · Model collaboration and management · Test management Do you have a story to tell or a course to teach? If so, please let us know. |
*** Everyone attending will bring a question for the group, and we will work on answering them together. Here are some ideas to get you started...
Wednesday February 20th 2019.
Beforehand:
Each person coming will submit at least one ‘problem statement’ of a particular aspect of model management in EA that they are grappling with.
Problem statements to include as much supporting information as possible.
These will be accessible by everyone in a private Google group for a few weeks so that everyone can comment/discuss and think about them beforehand.
From the problem statements and discussions, we select 6 that are representative of the whole or of wide interest/application. (Selection date = Thursday 31/01/19)
On the day:
The authors of those 6 problems will give a short (no more than 9 minutes each) presentation to the assembled Summit.
Everyone present votes, and the top 3 are chosen to be work-shopped.
We split into teams and each team works on one of the three chosen issues.
Each team comes up with some options/impacts/recommendations and presents back to the whole Summit for review and comment.
And after:
That will be up to you.
Your chance to learn from, and share your EA experience with, the EA community - In Real Life! Book your ticket now
Since we announced the date, we had so many offers of talks, and sold so many early tickets, that we quickly filled the space in our original venue booking. Which means we've decided to expand. Now there are three streams of talks covering a wide range of topics. So there is plenty to interest, challenge and inform everyone. And room for lots more to join in..
More info: Abstracts and Speaker Bios
Sponsored by:
Join us
It will be great to meet up and connect with each other face to face.
What happens in Reading stays in Reading
The event won’t be live-streamed, and many of the presentations are demos, so won’t be published on-line afterwards. Which means that only those people ‘in the room’ will have exclusive access to the event.
So get your tickets today to make sure you don’t miss out.
We’ve booked the conference suite at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Caversham, Reading – with good road and rail links to London and Heathrow. And there’s a wide terrace overlooking the river for open air networking if the weather is good.
Do you need more EA talent? This is an ideal opportunity to showcase your company and meet up with the kind of people you need. Ask us about advertising your EA job vacancies.
VENUES:
User group attendees are provided with copies of the presentations from the events they attend.
If you were unable to attend an event but would like to have a copy of a presentation, then please contact the author directly.
The agenda details for each event can be found under the Past Events menu.
Peter Lieber - Lieber Lieber Software
Peter Lieber is the founder and owner of a number of software and related companies, and since 2014 he has held the position of President at the Austrian Software Industry Association (VÖSI) (www.voesi.or.at). He enjoys sharing his business knowledge with entrepreneurs, managers and students, and with an underlying commitment to promoting the further evolution and global integration of Austria's software sector. As the founder of SparxSystems Central Europe (www.sparxsystems.eu) and LieberLieber Software (www.lieberlieber.com), Peter focuses on the so-called model-based development of software and systems. This new approach is paving the way for innovation in even the most challenging projects, such as the engineering of complex safety-critical systems in alignment with the principles of Industry 4.0.
Community Speech “EA14”
Special inside to EA14 (the biggest launch of an EA version ever!). See and feel the new highlights and that your input from last year finally arrived also in the new release. Clearer Navigation Structure, Docked Property Windows (no need of any modal windows) for almost everything in a diagram, Easy change of views and technologies, Decision Modelling Notation (DMN) integrated to BPMN, SysML and SoaML, Journal functionality, and much more… (https://www.sparxsystems.eu/ea-sparx-systems/ea-news/article/news/enterprise-architect-14-beta-release-announcement/)
The main focus of this huge release is: Focus on your business not on the tool, raise productivity with your models.
-v-
Ewald Müller - Lieber Lieber Software
Enterprise Architecture Management
Enterprise Architecture Management is very often over-engineered. A lot of information is collected, but nobody is aware of using it and so at some point in time, nobody cares anymore. Enterprise Architect as a tool provides huge number of modeling standards (>60) and a fascinating trick to leverage the issue of creating information silos nobody cares about is to identify domain specific needs in preferred and customized domain specific languages.
Adminstration and controlling of business processes is for management of huge organizations essential. Currently EAM focuses on business processes and IT cares about IT processes. To leverage current needs of Industry 4.0/IoT and modern finance industry we identified that you have to find a circle and even a new best-of-breed customized modeling language (based on Archimate, BPMN and UML using MDG technology for specific diagrams, toolboxes and more) to allow to have fulfilled either the needs of management, IT and software development.
In this speech you will see the reference model of a mid-sized german insurance company with some thousand applications and a lot of different stake holders and how they found a way to really life EAM to achieve their goals.
-v-
Stephen Channell - Deutsche Bank
Continuous Integration with Sparx and Visual Studio – a pattern for ArchOps
1. Presentation of framework tools (https://www.nuget.org/packages/EA.Gen.Model/ , https://www.nuget.org/packages/EA.Gen.Pool/ ) that enable Sparx models to be used within the batch environment of build servers.
2. Walkthrough of an example code-generation implementation using sparx models and Gen tools.
3. Demonstration of automated Continuous Integration from model-change through to tested code.
-v-
David Faus - Gemalto
David is a knowledge management evangelist at Gemalto and is responsible for the modeling platform based on EA and several tools, methods and services he developed. He has over 20 years of experience in modelling business requirements, functional specifications and also very technical and operational processes. During years and until now, David built a new modelling method based on a mix between UML based methods, GUI specification methods and knowledge management concepts. He is currently using a viral strategy within the “Open IS” group (an agile oriented IT department) to launch inception phases (through POCs) in almost all Gemalto business units, with more and more success
GMOD modelling platform (Gemalto MODeling): A Process (or model) Driven Knowledge Management platform based on EA
The GMOD (Gemalto MODeling) platform involves some advanced technical and methodological features implemented thanks to EA API openness and completeness:
- A client / server web structure with a dedicated architecture for deploying models web views, involving model versions management.
- A "Model Driven Knowledge Management" approach based on the life cycle where the model is considered as an information which may be capitalized as an enterprise knowledge. The innovation lies in the proposal of a multi meta-model environment that will be compliant with any business specificities, and deliver diagrams that can be considered and used as search engine inputs. As a result, diagrams are indexed and searched through the Gemalto search portal like any other indexed document (e.g. office documents).
- The "UC method" (I am the author) implementation thru an EA add-on. UC represents a great alternative of the well-known standards such as ArchiMate and BPMN (we tried to use them twice but without any success).
- An external tool called "SPARX EA Companion Tool" developed by using the very open EA API to:
1. Define automated deployments of HTML sites. This feature involves an html export post processing phase to make the diagrams more user friendly and consistent with the used meta-model. It also generates model diagrams which can be indexed by any search engine (which is not the standard case in EA).
2. Run models integrity checks (and the implicit business rules involved by the used meta-model)
3. Generate model reports: these are often used to generate the version comments in the source configuration management tool (for model versions management)
-v-
Phil Chudley - Dunstan Thomas Consulting
Phil Chudley is a principal consultant at Dunstan Thomas Consulting Ltd. He has been using Enterprise Architect for over 12 years, and has vast modelling experience ranging from UML, BPMN and SysML. He has provided training consultancy for numerous organisations in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. These organisations cover sectors ranging from financial to aerospace and defence.
Phil has also developed two extensions for Enterprise Architect, BPMN Generator and EA Safe Delete.
Phil’s latest consultancies are the development of scripts for automated project workflow and validation /export of elements and relationships, and the management of RDF vocabularies including the import and export of RDF XML files
Lessons learned from the API
Over the past few years, Phil has developed many scripts and extensions for Enterprise Architect, many of which have “pushed the limits” of the API. During this session Phil will share his experiences of using the Enterprise Architect API for both scripting and extensions. Phil will highlight common mistakes when developing scripts and extensions and will share specific experience in: • Adding elements to diagrams • Adding legends to diagrams • Adding attributes to elements • Managing tagged values
-v-
Martyn Harris - Asystsu
Formed in 2012, Advanced Systems Understanding Ltd (AsystsU) is a privately owned UK company specialising in Systems Engineering and Enterprise Architecture. The company is 21 full time employees strong but has an active associate programme to draw in further specialists. AsystsU has a mix of retired military personnel and deep subject matter experts. It has generated a strong track record within defence, but applies its bespoke Model Driven Systems Engineering and Architecture (MDSEA) approach across many industries. The MDSEA has proven extremely successful at enabling widespread architectural federation and the ability to link different repositories and even the products of different tools. However, Sparx EA remains the tool of choice for modelling throughout.
UTILISATION OF SPARX ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT IN NATO FEDERATED MISSION NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
INTRO
MISSION THREAD APPROACH
TOOLS
EVOLUTION
CONCLUSION
The NATO approach to architecture is still immature yet the basis for utilising it to take the entire organisation forward is growing real impetus. There is a need for experienced modellers and architects of all specialities, to evolve and professionalise the whole endeavour. Sparx EA isn’t the tool of choice for the end product but it remains the easiest tool to utilise when understanding and exploiting information. It has proven readily translatable in to a variety of end architect tools such as MooD, Archi, BizzDesign and ARIS.
-v-
-v-
Guillaume Finance - VISEO
After several years of experience in software programming, Guillaume has worked for more than 11 years with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect tool to build and maintain models for software projects and produce functional and technical specifications based on the expected level of deliverables. As a modelling and EA expert/consultant at VISEO, official Sparx Systems Value Added Reseller in France, Guillaume also provides support, expertise and coaching services on UML, SysML and Sparx EA. Guillaume runs training sessions on Sparx EA with UML or SysML.
www.umlchannel.com | www.eautils.com
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Twitter: @umlchannel
Extending EA with custom scripts to cater for specific needs and user requests using Sparx API
Enterprise Architect supports most modelling languages and notations i.e. UML, BPMN, SysML, and ArchiMate. Whether EA is used to build models for a software application, identify business processes, define the system with the MBSE approach, or carry the IT landscape via the business, application and technical layers, customizing the notation with stereotypes and adding tailored features is almost a recurring request. Automated tasks and additional features can be built using EA API via scripts, add-ins, external tools, etc.
Based on a large number of scripts implemented for clients involved in software, data, and systems engineering, Guillaume will share his experience on this growing activity over the past years:
Overview of the covered topics (custom Excel import/export, model QA, save users' time in avoiding repetive or time consuming tasks, manage EA users & groups via Excel, run a reverse on unsupported languages such as Fortran...)
Demonstration of a selection of scripts.
The need to organize and name scripts.
Debug scripts.
Compatibility with different DBMS and the Cloud connexion
Hints and custom scripts to publish scripts from the "dev EA project"
Addressing the lack of sub menus with more than 20 scripts
Automatically trigger scripts with Geert's free ea-matic add-in
-v-
Bert Dingemans - EAxpertise
Bert is a data architect working often with Enterprise Architect mostly for UML class diagrams and ArchiMate 3.0. He uses Enterprise Architect for generating message documentation, ETL scripts, Database models and XSD files. Furthermore he is modelling enterprise architectures with ArchiMate 3.0.IDEA and the WPP are developed by Bert and these OSS products can be found at http://eaxpertise.nl
Using Enterprise Architect for architecting a Big Data Platform
Many organisations are investigating the possibilities of Big Data solutions, for example in the energy sector. Introducing Big Data is new and traditional approaches are of limited use. Think about introducing data-lab functionalities, innovative and agile approaches, new technologies like NoSql or Hadoop. How are you going to support these activities in an organisation as an architect and how can Enterprise Architect support you in adding architectural value.
In this session we will discuss a reference architecture for a Big Data Platforms, modelling techniques, architectural patterns and agile approaches all supported by the use of Enterprise Architect. You will see examples of big data patterns, solutions and templates based on ArchiMate.
-v-
Jasen Mitchell - Airbus
Getting more out of Enterprise Architect in large software development projects
Exploiting the strengths of Enterprise Architect we have benefited from EA throughout the software life cycle at Airbus Defence and Space. In this talk Jasen explores how EA has provided improved access to information, saved time by auto-generating documentation, provided automatic software test creation and can simplify the compliance problems associated with software development on large space projects.
-v-
Robert Sheridan
Robert started his career in IT in 1991 after completing an MSc at the University of York which gave him a broad foundation. After a stint in the NHS as a jack of all IT trades Robert worked as a developer before switching to business analsis (though he keeps his hand in at SQL). Doing the MSc gave Robert an interest in methods and he started using UML around 2000 on the recommendation of a colleague who was researching methods. In the mid 1990s Robert had been introduced to case tools; an evaluation of the market it about 2006 led Robert to start using Sparx Enterprise Architect and he has since seen no reason to move away from it.
Robert has succesfully set up EA repositories and trained and mentored people on using EA for business analysis in a number of companies as well as using it to model data, processes and applications and generate documents. Why use EA? Using EA my productivity is far higher than when I used Word and Visio, especially in complex projects where the revisions need to be tracked.
Using Class Diagrams for Data Migration
In this presentation, Robert will show direct mappings and mappings via transformations that are needed to move data from one application to another.
-v-
Bert Dingemans - EAxpertise
Bert is a data architect working often with Enterprise Architect mostly for UML class diagrams and ArchiMate 3.0. He uses Enterprise Architect for generating message documentation, ETL scripts, Database models and XSD files. Furthermore he is modelling enterprise architectures with ArchiMate 3.0. IDEA and the WPP are developed by Bert and these OSS products can be found at http://eaxpertise.nl
Integrated Data Architecture Add On for Enterprise Architect
Enterprise Architect has great implementations of multiple techniques for creating data models. For example UML class diagrams, the extended data model, ArchiMate and matrix views for specific association types. This gives you the opportunity to create conceptual, logical and physical data models. However integration of these modelling layers is possible but can be rather tedious. Therefor http://eaxpertise.nl is developing an Open Source extension named IDEA (Integrated Data Entity Architecture) This Add On is based on numerous scripts and screens making the integration of the before mentioned data modelling layers simple and fully automated. Furthermore the extension has an advanced web interface giving non modellers access to all your (integrated) data models. Participants of this session will receive a sample repository containing the automation scripts.
-v-
-v-
Rudi Claes - INNO.COM
I am a senior solution architect and enterprise architect, associated with inno.com (www.inno.com). Since 2006, I have been implementing, teaching, coaching, and realizing projects with Sparx Enterprise Architect for various organizations in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. With a specialization and certification in the Microsoft business intelligence (BI) stack since 2008, I have also delivered various BI training courses and realized multiple BI projects. EA4BI combines all my favorite ICT topics –enterprise architecture, modeling, business intelligence and Sparx.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudi-claes-39a696b
Practical business intelligence modeling with EA4BI
After the introduction of the EA4BI framework to the academic world (https://kuleuvencongres.be/poem2017/articles/program-IndustryTrack) and the Sparx community (http://www.eausergroup.com/past-events/october-2017-brussels/13-past-events/155-brussels-event-trainings-2017), it has been used during a couple of real-life projects. After a short introduction of the framework by means of some practical examples, the experiences gained with business intelligence modeling in general and EA4BI during these projects will be shared and discussed.
-v-
Ian Mitchell - Ability Engineering
A long-standing EA user, business analyst mentor and teacher, Ian is the author of the popular eaDocX® document generator for EA and the EA model quality tool Model Expert, as well as being heavily involved with the design of Prolaborate. He also shares his observations from 30+ years in IT at www.theartfulmodeller.com.
Modelling with Instances in EA
Most of our EA modelling happens with Elements: Requirements and Use Cases, Classes and Components. But there’s another bit of EA which deals with the Instances of those elements. But what does that mean? And is it useful?
In this session, Ian will see not just how to create and manipulate instances in EA, but also how they can add another dimension to (some parts of) your models. We’ll look specifically at the lower layers of your Architecture models, where abstract ideas start to become real live ‘things’: servers, locations, software systems, and see how the combination of EA abstract ideas and real instances can create some useful insights, when instances get populated with real numbers.
-v-
Jan de Liefde - The Collective
Jan de Liefde is working as a senior consultant for public and private parties. His working field is mostly related to Model Based (Systems) Engineering and Technical Management during the different stages of the System Life Cycle of Infrastructure systems such as tunnels, sluices, water surge barriers and metro.
Enterprise Architect as an modelling platform for the integrated design of a metro system
In this presentation we look at the modelling of a large infrastructure system like a metro system by using Enterprise Architect. We present not only how we made the design by using Use Cases, Functions, Objects and Interfaces but also how we integrated test coverage in relation to release management , Hazard analyses, Geographical deployment, management reporting and specific rail items such as track zones and safe working areas in the design. We will close our presentation with a view on the next steps we are taking to model a network oriented system like a public transportation system.
-v-
Nizam Mohamed - Prolaborate
Extending the value of models by reaching beyond the Modelling fraternity
Modellers spend a big deal of time and efforts to create models that are of immense value. But most models fail to be that indispensable part of the enterprise information ecosystem due to lack of visibility. Positioning EA models as the pivotal source of knowledge for due-diligence and business decisions would multiply the value of EA models several folds and also ends up in the model being more relevant and accurate. This talk will discuss the tools and techniques to make models more consumable and foster wider engagement and feedback.
-v-
Jan de Liefde - The Collective
Jan de Liefde is working as a senior consultant for public and private parties. His working field is mostly related to Model Based (Systems) Engineering and Technical Management during the different stages of the System Life Cycle of Infrastructure systems such as tunnels, sluices, water surge barriers and metro.
Enterprise Architect as an (integrated) modelling platform for the Infrastructure and Industrial Domain.
Is Enterprise Architect usable as an integrated modelling platform for Infrastructure and industrial systems? For a positive answer on this Enterprise Architect should not only be enable to support mechanical, electrical, industrial automation design and safety analysis but also offer graphical presentations for non-engineers like fire departments, traffic operators, legislation departments, etc. This presentation shows engineering artefacts like hazards, event trees, FMECA’s and fault trees for supporting safety analysis and piping & instrumentation diagrams, one line schema’s, elevation diagrams and instrument loop diagrams for supporting electrical, mechanical engineers and instrumentation engineers. This talk has been updated since 2017, with an updated MDG including new modelling elements and connectors, plus an integration with Prolaborate.
-v-
To review a past event please choose from the latest links above, or go to our past events page to view them all.
May 10 Munich*, May 11 Stuttgart*, May 12 Frankfurt*, May 24 Zurich*, June 13 Stockholm**, June 15 Brussels**, June 29 Berlin*.
(*Event language German, ** Event language English)
More information to follow.
Please Register to receive information on any or all of these events as soon as it becomes available, or Contact Us to get involved.