RTF Template Add-In, Tool, or Examples

[Stephen Kropp]

I have been struggling with developing my own RTF Templates to document my model effectively and would like to know if anyone has created some Templates or Fragments they would be willing to share that they have found effective in documenting their model? Is there an add-in, tool, or book that I should consider?

I realize that templates can be specific to an organization and/or a process but I'm talking about documentation at the basic element level (a use case, a requirement set, an activity, etc.) that have a pattern that could be followed.

I have tried using the standard EA templates but they all seem to miss the mark. I've worked hard to follow SysML standards to get the information into my model in a repeatable and structured way and find it frustrating that I have to spend even more effort to 1) find the information I want to get out of the model 2) arrange the information into a structure or format that makes sense and flows nicely 3) formatted for my specific documentation template. I can understand #3 being specific to me and is (in my opinion) why a configurable Template was created by EA in the first place but I really feel #1 and #2 should be EA (or possibly SysML) efforts to make their product (or language) more user friendly and effective.

Some of the companies I have worked for in the past were very reluctant to allow modeling efforts because they were seen as a waste of time drawing stick figures... which speaks directly to my point, in that there were tons of details associated to those stick figures but getting that information conveyed was a problem.

I'm currently trying to solve this problem by creating very specific Fragments that filter out all elements except for the elements I want to document in a specific way (e.g. a use case). My goal is to be able to convey in a natural English structure the specifics of the element and how it relates to other elements within the model. This request seems like such a fundamental concept of using the tool that I felt that I should pause my development and ask if someone else has developed something beyond the EA examples?

One last point. I really appreciate EA and the people in this forum for all of the expertise they bring. My intent is not to throw rocks at the tool, I simply want to find a more effective way of using the tool because it really does help manage complexity better than any other method I've used as a systems engineer.

Thanks!

Steve

[Geert Bellekens]

Hi Steve,

There's not much out there.
The only thing I can offer is a use case template I developed.
It comes with an example model and some scripts to create the virtual document.
See: http://bellekens.com/2015/11/12/tutorial-generate-complex-documents-from-enterprise-architect-with-a-two-step-semi-automated-approach/

Geert

[Stephen Kropp]

Thank you, I have only skimmed the website but your solution looks promising. The tutorial also looks helpful for showing how to interact with EA using VBScript.

I am just really surprised there aren't patterns out there for documenting these model elements.