Opening multiple models at the same time

[bprad]

I am part of a team that is evaluating modelling tools that could be used. EA is one of the candidates we are looking at.
One drawback I see is that I cannot reuse diagrams created in previous projects.
I understand I can create a Base model and use that to create a new project, but if I have more than base model, I don't see any way I can reuse diagrams and views created earlier.
This severly hinders reuse. Is there any way to get around this?

Also, if I have a base project which has a list of all the components in the enterprise and if I want to use that as a base for all other projects, and if I add a new component, is there any way to reflect this change in all other models that have been created using this enterprise model as a base?
I have a professional license and so I haven't had the chance to play around with multi-user capabilities of EA. But if anyone has such experience could you please let me  know if/how it can be done.
I feel EA has been designed in a way that makes life very easy, but this (reuse of models/synchronization of base models) is a critical evaluation criteria.

[«Midnight»]

For most of your requirement take a look at XMI export/import.

As to having changes to your base model reflected in all current copies, I think you are out of luck.

Perhaps you could do something along these lines with source control, or controlled packages (look this up in the EA Help).

[speekna]

Just wanted to record a request for the same thing.

Inability to reuse UML elements in multiple projects is the biggest issue we have.  

FWIW - I know you can export & import using XMI, but importing OVERLAYS;  EA does not allow you to merge selectively at a granular level.

Senario:

Enterprise EA Model contains mucho classes - say 5000.  Need to provide 10 of those to a project, as a "starter" set.  For my purposes, I am trying to establish a shared business vocabulary to minimize lag & expense of mapping mulitple views, and to enable quick ramp-up for external resources, so those 10 elements would initially be domain objects.  So far so good.

I export to a project model, & the team proceeds.  The team uses and/or modifies the 10 classes, adds more, etc.

At regular intervals, the enterprise data architect wants to compare the elements of that project - and maybe others - to what is currently in the enterprise model.  Sometimes different projects have modified shared classes inconsistently - so it's important to be able to do a detailed compare and not an overlay.  (FWIW, ERWin & other data modeling tools have done this for years - but I'd much rather use a UML tool, & our company is trying to move to EA).  

Unless my tool assists with this, I wind up having to manually do the compare, which takes much, much longer.  We are also migrating to Agile approaches; I expect there to be more concurrent project development, more shared objects at a single time, and things moving much faster.

Sparx is very responsive - would be really great if you guys could jump on this one.

s.

[tjiputra]

I'm also facing the same problem as the others.
when we work with multi model it really tedious in EA. Currently for first time I still do as what Midnight suggested, export/import XMI, but one the model we work, and the other team model change, i must to change manually based on what their changes. If not, i will lost my previous model relationship.

I haven't try the controlled package, i will try it later. CMIIW, But if I used that one, it might be impossible to limit the other designer just use some model or diagram that can be shown to them, not all previous project model.

[peter.zrnko]

You can make nested control packages. Split your project to a tree of nested control packages. It's possible to version control these packages separately.

I think it's not as good as you wish, but better then your current solution with base model.

[nara_c]

One drawback I see is that I cannot reuse diagrams created in previous projects.
I understand I can create a Base model and use that to create a new project, but if I have more than base model, I don't see any way I can reuse diagrams and views created earlier.
This severly hinders reuse. Is there any way to get around this?

Have you tried using the Export/Import option?  

Using this you can export a package from a base model as an XML file.  You can then import it into another model.  

When you do the export ensure you keep the "Enable Full EA Roundtrip" option checked as this ensures that models GUIDs are maintained.  GUIDs is EA way of assigning unique identifiers to each model element.

This way you can make sure that changes to the Base model can be propogated to the edpendant models and vice-versa.  

However bear in mind that there could be a potential for overwriting links and relationships so use with caution.  I suggest you try this out on a test model and make changes in both base and new test models and understand the behaviur before you use this on a production system.

Also check up following topics on the help file:

Model Sharing & Team Development
http://sparxsystems.com.au/EAUserGuide/teamdevelopment.htm

Controlled Packages
http://sparxsystems.com.au/EAUserGuide/controlledpackages2.htm

Hope this helps.

[bioform]

What about having a single EA project (on a RDBMS) and create a root node as an enterprise model, then each project would be created as it's own root node...

- Corporate Model
- Project A Model
- Project B Model

Then you should be able to share, link, etc... It talks about this somewhat in the EA Deployment white paper...

I would NOT recommend this approach yet if you need to control access to the other root nodes. There are some significant bugs on implementing the (roles/permissions) available through the Security Features. I have turned in a bug report on this about a month ago, and was told it is schedule for a future release to address it...

Maybe that could work for you... Where we want to head, but need some additional control/safe gaurds in place first..

[Paolo F Cantoni]

The discussion in: [size=13]Get package ends with: root import package already[/size] may be of interest.

Apart from the current set of XMI RTE bugs which we are working through with Sparx (and which may not apply in your case), the concept appears viable.

HTH,
Paolo