Getting Started

Getting started with a new tool is often one of the most difficult challenges, but Enterprise Architect makes this easy by providing a number of facilities to assist the newcomer to the tool. Enterprise Architect is a large, multi-featured application and the breadth of its coverage might overwhelm a person new to the program, but fortunately a solution to this has been built into the design.

Perspectives can be used to limit the functionality to a specific area, such as System Engineering, making it easy for a System Engineer or Manager to get started. A user still has the ability to utilize other functionality that might be useful, such as Strategic Modeling, Mind Mapping, Code Engineering and more, simply by changing Perspectives, all without having to open a different tool. It is worth noting that Perspectives exist for a wide range of modeling disciplines that Enterprise Architect supports. For more information see the Model Perspectives Help topic.

A user also has tremendous flexibility in tailoring their own environment and the user interface by setting preferences and selecting workspaces and visual styles. For more information see the Advanced Customization Help topic.

Setting up a new project is straightforward with the use of the Model Builder Patterns (with accompanying documentation) that can be used to automatically create an MBSE project structure to get you started. The Model Builder can then be used to create any number of SysML diagrams as the model is developed and the problem and solution spaces are fleshed-out.

All of these facilities make it easy for a newcomer to get started, helping them to become productive members of a team and start contributing to models quickly and without any delay. A novice engineer will be surprised at how productive they can be when compared to working in text-based or other more rudimentary modeling tools. There will be challenges along the way as you push yourself and the tool to new limits but an in-depth Help system, a large community of users, comprehensive forums, a community site and first-class support services will make the journey easy and informative.