Advice on creating Arcimate reports from diagrams

[cTor]

I'm currently using Sparx almost exclusively to model Archimate.
I tend to create a package with views (diagram) and the different layers are collected in separate sibling packages - like this:

Code: [Select]

\My Project
    \Views
        AProcessDiagram
        AServicesRealizationDiagram
    \Process Layer
        <<ArchimateProcess>>Process01
        <<ArchimateProcess>>Process02
    \Application Layer
        <<ArchimateApplication>>Application01
        <<ArchimateApplicationService>>Service01


Can anyone advice me on how to configure a report based on the diagrams?
The content I want is:

Code: [Select]


The text "Diagram" (as heading)
For each diagram
    Diagram title (as heading)
    Diagram image
    Diagram description
The text "Elements" (as heading)
(selection:All elements in included diagrams)
For each element (as a table row)
    Element picture
    Element name
    Element type (needs to be "Application" rather than "<<ArchimateApplication>>")
    Element description
    (selection:All incoming relationships to element included in report, that have text entered in the description as an indented subtable if the selection returns results)
    For each relationship (as a table row)
        Source element name
        Source element type
        Relationship type
        Relationship description
    (selection:All outgoing relationships to element included in report, that have text entered in the description as an indented subtable if the selection returns results)
    For each relationship (as a table row)
            Source element name
            Source element type
            Relationship type
            Relationship description
The text "Relationship matrix" (as heading)
(selection: All relationships included in the report)
A relationship matrix of the above selection


I also would like to add any linked documents and related files to the report.

I've done some attempts and understand how to do headers and stuff, but for some reason the Archimate stereotypes seem hard to use when you construct your own reports. Most of my templates simply end up blank.

The selection criteria I have no idea how or where to define. I have tried the documentation but so far no dice.

The top-level inclusion criteria should be \My project\Views, but I'd also like to be able to whip up a quick report from only selected diagrams (one or more). I think I should be able to do this using a virtual document, but so far I haven't found out how to do it...

[Geert Bellekens]

Hi cTor,

Document generation in Enterprise Architect is not an easy task.
It is not uncommon to hire a consultant to set-up the templates for you.

I documented the way do document generation on my website: https://bellekens.com/2015/11/12/tutorial-generate-complex-documents-from-enterprise-architect-with-a-two-step-semi-automated-approach/

Another alternative is to use EADocX, a commercial add-in for Enterprise Architect.

Geert

[Sunshine]

Yes the doc generation takes some time and effort to get working. Most of that in which you ask should be possible
To achieve what you ask create a  template and in the sections tick the following
Package
  Diagram
    Element
    Connector

Between the tags (yellow items) in the template right click and select insert field and then select name, notes, type etc  what ever you want.

If you want to filter out certain elements then that can be achieved by opening the document options and either selecting exclude filters or select element filters.

Not sure how to get the  matrix as I've not tried that.

[cTor]

Thank you Geert - I'll check out that link when I get some downtime.
The plugin I've already looked at, and it might come to this - but damn it is expensive...

I think that it is frustrating that such good a product as EA suck so badly when it comes to one of the main tasks an architect faces - communication. What good is a model if I can't communicate it with stakeholders?

[Geert Bellekens]

Thank you Geert - I'll check out that link when I get some downtime.
The plugin I've already looked at, and it might come to this - but damn it is expensive...

I think that it is frustrating that such good a product as EA suck so badly when it comes to one of the main tasks an architect faces - communication. What good is a model if I can't communicate it with stakeholders?

I don't think EA sucks at it. I think creating document generation templates is inherently a complicated task.
I fact I feel the document generator of EA is very powerful, if you know how to handle that power.

You might argue that EA might have provided better standard templates, but those would only work if you would follow the standard model structure.

Most models I've seen don't follow any standard structure, and most even combine different modelling languages.
For those type of environments there's no alternative to custom document generation templates.

Geert

[cTor]

I see your point, and while I certainly can agree that the reporting might be powerful, it is frustratingly hard to learn and use.

As communication with different stakeholders are a large portion of the profession (at least for me), this is a serious downfall for me. I'm not a developer - I shouldn't be required to write scripts and code in order to create some quick reports revolving around the diagram entity.

[qwerty]

You might want to look into eaDocX.

q.

[Glassboy]

I think that it is frustrating that such good a product as EA suck so badly when it comes to one of the main tasks an architect faces - communication. What good is a model if I can't communicate it with stakeholders?

When I first started using Sparx EA I did two days of training and a significant part of that was generating documentation.  I've automated all sorts of architectural documentation over the last decade.

I tend not to document diagrams.  Diagrams represent a single view of a model, and I've never come across an example where it wasn't the model that actually needed to be documented.