How do you keep big UML projects from turning into a mess?

[pandrhola]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been building a UML model in Enterprise Architect for a project, and at the start it was fine… but now it’s getting HUGE.
I’ve got hundreds of diagrams and thousands of elements.
Some diagrams are so crowded they’re hard to read.
Different parts of the model don’t always line up well.
New team members get lost when they open it.
I’m trying to figure out how other people deal with this.

Would love to hear how you all keep your models clean, organized, and easy to use over time. Thanks!

[Geert Bellekens]

There's no silver bullet I'm afraid. It will require work.

- Start by organising your model in packages
- document the metamodel
- build MDG technologies to aid your users to follow the guidelines
- validate the syntax of your model (e.g. using my EA Validator addin)
- training/coaching
- rinse and repeat

Geert

[PDC]

...- document the metamodel
- build MDG technologies to aid your users to follow the guidelines
...
- training/coaching

Agree - these are hugely important. Having a documented approach, a metamodel, proper training/guidance, style guides etc should all be mandatory in my opinion. I may live in a very idealistic world, but that's the reality of model management, and especially critical when managing transition from document-based design to MBSE. Must be done from day 1!!

[Modesto Vega]

Would love to hear how you all keep your models clean, organized, and easy to use over time. Thanks!

With any big project or large multi-model repository, it is always going to be necessary to strike a balance between delivery and getting the model (or models) organised: striking this balance requires time and, very often, due to delivery constraints this time is a luxury.

I do agree with Geert's comments with strong reservations regarding his first point.

- Start by organising your model in packages

Packages in Sparx EA are folders and, as result, their number can grow out of control (in a similar way that folders on a hard drive, network share, or, even, SharePoint do). In my experience the more folders, the more disorganised your models are going to me.

My personal preference is for flatter repositories, with less folders, but that is easier said than done. Sparx EA seems to be designed to increase the number of package folders in a repository and have never found a clean solution for multi-model repositories that reduces the number of package folders to just 2 levels excluding the root node.