Project Management

Enterprise Architect has been built from the ground up with the Project Manager in mind. Systems repositories are valuable engineering assets and should be managed and maintained accordingly. Any team can assign themselves as a resource applied to an item performing particular roles, and you can conveniently view these in a built-in Gantt Chart. Risk can be modeled and managed in various locations, and engineers can determine project effort with built-in support for Metrics and Estimation. An Audit function allows changes to be tracked at a fine-grained level, and a Library facility and Element Reviews and Discussions enable users to work collaboratively on models.

The Construct ribbon provides a number of panels that contain project, resource and test management features including element maintenance items. The engineer can enter project management items at two levels:

• Project level items - these apply at the level of the project.
• Element level items - these apply to specific elements.

The tool has a range of Project Management features for agile and iterative development as well as more traditional methods including those described here.

Kanban Diagrams

Engineers can utilize Kanban diagrams to manage part or all of an engineering project with more agility and flexibility. You can assign resources to various elements from Use Cases to Deployment Packages, and progress bars show each resource's percentage completion for each item.

Resource Allocation and Gantt Charts

An engineering team comprises many different human resources, typically performing one or more roles in the engineering project. In developing a model, these resources create or maintain model structures and elements that describe or prescribe how the project will be run and the system built. As a Project Manager or engineer, you can assign resources to tasks on elements (including Packages) in the model, planning and monitoring their work within the timeframe you have allocated for that work to be completed. The allocation of resources can be carried out using the Project Gantt View, Kanban or Construct facilities.

The Gantt View is a tool that allows the engineer or project manager to visualize the elements in a project, Package, or diagram and the resources that have been allocated to them. There are several different Gantt charts available:

• The Project Gantt View used to view elements across the entire repository.
• Diagram Gantt View, which you use to display the allocation of resources to the elements in a given diagram.
• Package Gantt View, which you use to display the allocation of resources to the elements contained in a selected Package.

The tool will empower the traditional or agile Project Manager to ensure that a project's resources are allocated to repository content and help ensure high-value outcomes are achieved right from within the repository.

The Gantt View's primary use is to display the allocation of resources to elements in the repository and to manage the work breakdown structure. You can apply a wide range of views and filters to tailor the view or make it more relevant to a particular audience. Allocations can be made to any elements in the repository, from high-level Packages to an individual element such as a Class, Activity, or Change. It is a powerful tool for Project Managers to visualize how a team can ultimately deliver high value and high priority outcomes. Modelers working on a project can view their own work and update their progress on assigned tasks.

While an engineer can make broad changes using the visual duration bars in the Gantt View, it is common practice to use the tool in conjunction with the Resource Allocation window where fine details can be entered and adjusted.

Change Management

Change is inevitable, and the best-run engineering projects predict that change will occur and plan for it. As an Engineer, Project Manager or Product Manager, you can use Enterprise Architect to register a range of maintenance items against any element in the project, including Requirements, Blocks, Activities, Use Cases, and Packages.

Maintenance items are defects, changes, issues, tasks, features, and documents that apply at the model element level. They are properties of individual model elements that the Engineer can use to record and capture problems, changes, issues, and tasks as they arise and document the solution and associated details.