Creating a roadmap in EA

[ajaxx]

I've often been tasked with providing a roadmap with diagrams that depict the as-is architecture and the to-be architecture.  Many times, we're also tasked with depicting the architecture as it's rolled out.  Creating these diagrams has been difficult and so I'd like to understand how others create these types of roadmaps.

Here's the way that I create mine:
* Create as-is architecture (usually a component diagram)
* Copy all items in the as-is architecture and paste new item in a new diagram
* Adjust the diagram to reflect the changes between generations

Obviously, I lose all of my linkage by doing this.  I've tried other approaches that use the same object and that's just incredibly messy.  The elements now have links all of the place and clean-up becomes a nightmare.

Any thoughts?

[«Midnight»]

I think I see where you are going. Perhaps you are missing a feature of EA that can be quite helpful in this sort of situation.

You could export to XMI and then import again as a copy. Remember that the XMI cycle is package based, not diagram based.

You should set the Strip GUIDs option when doing the import. Failing to do so will simply overwrite your original package with the new destination. Practice this on a copy of your project until you are comfortable with how it works.

What you will end up with is a newly-imported package tree, complete with elements, connectors and diagrams (assuming you set this option on export), all of which are copies of your original. If you started by exporting the as-is model you will now have a copy. You can then rename the root package of the target tree to reflect the to-be architecture and edit (delete, add, whatever) as necessary. You will not trash the as-is model since you are now working on copies of everything.

Now you can draw traces (or whatever other convention you prefer) to show the evolution of your architecture.

HTH, David

[ajaxx]

Just so that I'm clear...

* You're recommending that I copy the entire diagram (different mechanism but basically done through export-import)
* You aren't aware or and/or recommending a different approach to presenting a roadmap that shows progression that utilizes some infrastructure within EA to delineate versions of a component?

Thank you.

-- Ajaxx

[«Midnight»]

No to both questions.