CA ERwin Data Modeler r8 is designed to be easier to use than previous versions, keeping workers within businesses in mind, instead of just professional IT, according to software company CA Technologies Inc.
“There is a growing need to empower people outside of traditional IT with access and understanding of enterprise data,” said Shawn Rogers, an analyst at Enterprise Management Associates Inc, a consulting company. “Being able to easily visualize data enables better decision-making and faster response to growing data management challenges.”
ERwin Data Modeler r8 is more visual and has more graphics than previous versions. It is also easier to use, according to Donna Burbank, a director of product marketing at CA Technologies.
“I am happy with it as a first timer,” said Michael Nkwantabisa, an Oracle-certified associate at Oracle Corp., a computer technology company.
From feedback business clients gave, CA Technologies changed the data modeler because it needed to combine both business and IT needs. Using the new ERwin, data is compiled from the business while fulfilling the technical needs of IT, according to Burbank. This version of ERwin is flexible in allowing customization of settings towards different audiences. There is a drawing tool, for instance, to help visually map data.
“I can customize my output to what the other groups within my company are expecting and they don’t have to change things to accommodate me,” said Craig Boyd, a data modeler at Citigroup Inc, a financial services company.
The official release date is Feb. 9, but some business customers have already been using it.
“It gave us the ability to send models to and receive models from other software that we desperately needed to communicate with,” Steve McMahon, president of the Bay Area Enterprise Modeling User Group, a part of CA Technologies.
ERwin is improved from previous versions because it now includes solutions for business users to help them with governance, business intelligence, data integration of information online and offline, and risk and compliance, according to Rogers.
“The old ERwin was black-and-white, more techy. The data model now looks more like PowerPoint,” Burbank said. “With ERwin, we are loosening up the architecture of it.”
Walter Moeller, a consultant and director at Principle Partners Inc., a consulting firm, works with business people, helping them to create business requirements models. He has used Erwin for over 15 years and started using it in the early 1990s. He started using it because it was one of the only data modelers on the market and many corporations use it.
“This is a much more efficient model, they are making it easier to use,” Moeller said. “I work with business people to create business requirements models and I use Erwin because the business understands it and I can easily work with the IT.”
There are four editions of ERwin r8 available: Standard, for single-user data modeling; Workgroup, for teams; Navigator, for read-only access; and the free version, Community, for small-scale projects.