Newbie 'Hi' and 'Help!'

[AJF]

Hi all,

I have just started trying to use EA and I'm a bit lost! A couple of years ago, we had a one-day intro into UML and the tool we used then was a trial version of EA. It looked pretty good so we bought a few licenses.

Now I am finally trying to use do a detailed design spec on a project I find (unsurprisingly) that I am woefully unprepared. I know I need some proper UML training and a comprehensive AE course but neither of those is going to happen.

So can anyone give me some pointers? I have created a few small Data diagrams and process diagrams but I need to do some overall 'big picture' stuff. What EA facilities do you guys use for this?

And is there a nice free introduction to using EA anywhere?

Many thanks in advance,

--- Alistair.

[OpenIT Solutions]

Hi Alistair,

There are a number of video tutorials and some good white papers etc under the "Resources" section of this web site.

In UML "Component", "Package" and "Use Case" diagrams are often used to give an overview of a system and its behaviour. Class and Sequence, State and Activity diagrams can then be used to flesh out detail.

If your interested in giving an "architectural" overview you could also look at the Archimate notation (supported by Sparx). Again you will find tutorials etc if you do a search.

Finally the BPMN notation (again supported by Sparx) can be used to model business processes

It all depends upon your context as to which notation you should use.

Regards,

Jon.