Embarcadero® ER/Studio® offers many solid technical advantages and business reasons as to why it is a better choice for companies selecting a data modeling application. This document highlights the considerations of customers that have already made the switch from ERwin® to ER/Studio.

1. Viewpoint
Top Ten Reasons Customers Select
Embarcadero® ER/Studio® over ERwin®
Data Modeler
October 2009
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2. Why Customers Select ER/Studio over ERwin
INTRODUCTION
Embarcadero® ER/Studio® offers many solid
technical advantages and business reasons as to TOP TEN REASONS
why it is a better choice for companies selecting
a data modeling application. This document CUSTOMERS CHOOSE
highlights the considerations of customers that ER/STUDIO OVER ERWIN
have already made the switch from ERwin® to
ER/Studio.
1. Increased productivity
2. Better reliability
1. INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY
3. Greater time saving automation
ER/Studio dramatically increases user
productivity through superior navigation of 4. Ease of use
enterprise-scale data models. By minimizing the 5. Enhanced consistency
effort and time spent on managing diagram
6. Lower Total cost of ownership
“look and feel” and manually laying out
diagram artifacts, resources can instead focus 7. Improved team effectiveness
on solving complex business and application 8. Superior traceability of data
design problems. Validation Wizards reduce the elements
time required to ensure compliance between
logical and physical designs standards. Using 9. Responsive technical support
ER/Studio MetaWizard, modelers can interface 10. Flexible licensing options
with a wide range of UML and data modeling
applications (including ERwin), ETL platforms, BI
platforms, and industry standard exchange
formats eliminating the need to recreate
metadata.
“We estimated that besides the lower acquisition costs, the gain with using the ER/Studio in
specification time was of 30%. In maintenance, we had a 20% reduction in data administration work.” –
Amil Online (ComputerWorld)
“An immediate benefit in productivity has been realized since using ER/Studio from Embarcadero,
especially when leveraging domains that represent template data types. These domains can be created
hierarchically so specific properties are inherited from the parent domains. These domains help to
ensure that we accurately represent many similar data structures with ease as well as guarantee that we
understand the data represented in every data model design we develop.” – DM Review
“ER/Studio has saved me many, many hours of time. I can rely on it. There is no competition.” –
American Heart Association
“Embarcadero's tools have given me a quantum leap in productivity that helps me work faster, smarter,
and without error in my finished products.” – Adam Phillip Churvis, President Productivity Enhancement,
Inc.
“The transition from ERwin to ER/Studio has made the team more productive, reducing time needed to
complete tasks and raising the bar on consistency and usability of our models. We were up and running
in no time as the conversion from ERwin took less than 10 minutes for the biggest model we have.” –
Anon
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3. Why Customers Select ER/Studio over ERwin
2. BETTER RELIABILITY
Frequent product updates and a focus on ease-of-use ensures that ER/Studio meets the
demanding data modeling requirements and reliability standards of large enterprises. We
frequently hear from our customers how they have lost valuable time and resources to bugs in
ERwin and also how delighted they are with ER/Studio’s ability to handle large models without
crashing – another ERwin issue that caused users to lose any unsaved work and severely limited
the productivity of the data architect.
“Embarcadero clearly offered the best data modeling solution to meet our requirements. ER/Studio
matched our high-priority functional requirements including high-quality HTML, mapping functions, and
good metadata repository capabilities. Embarcadero ER/Studio does exactly what it says on the tin, and
stood up against our high expectations.” – Barclays
“ER/Studio has been an invaluable tool for putting standards in place for designing and maintaining
databases.” – Beaumont Hospital
3. GREATER TIME-SAVING AUTOMATION
ER/Studio offers an automation interface to automate tedious, routine modeling tasks or
customize ER/Studio to enforce modeling practices in an organization. ER/Studio's automated
transformation feature streamlines the derivation of a
physical design from a logical model.
“I used ERwin and TOAD. What I liked about Embarcadero
ER/Studio modeling software is the nice automatic layout
formats. I also liked the jpg output capability. I ended up
doing my own so I could have a top-down diagram using ”Embarcadero ER/Studio eases the
diagonal lines instead of the 90^ type provided by the challenges for database developers
tool. But it was fun to see the various auto-layout formats. dealing with the tremendous overload
Your software was very useful. I was just evaluating it in the of data captured from business
context of whipping up a diagram for a review last week. I processes and other sources, making
showed it to the team whose work I was reviewing. They it one of the best database
were impressed.” – Lisa Tansey, Northrop Grumman IT - development tools ever tested by the
DG - EASI – DGTECH CRN Test Center.” – CRN
“The built-in macros are one of our favorite aspects of the
tool. They provide many time-saving extensions to the
product, helping us quickly and efficiently complete
routine tasks– adding definitions, running domain reports,
managing the data dictionary, and exporting information to the MS Office products for further analysis.”
– Anon
4. EASE OF USE
A common challenge to data modelers is producing a readable diagram. ER/Studio provides
the industry’s most effective options for automatic layout of diagrams. These options are
particularly useful when reverse engineering from sources that do not contain diagram
information, such as .sql DDL files and database catalogues.
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4. Why Customers Select ER/Studio over ERwin
Users can choose from the following general layout types:
• Circular
• Orthogonal
• Tree
• Hierarchical
• Symmetric
Each of these layout types contains extensive options to ensure that the resulting diagram is
readable and understandable.
“To be honest, my first impression of ER/Studio was 'Oh, my god! I'll never get familiar enough with it
for a review during a 14-day trial period. I was wrong. ER/Studio is very easy to use and offers many user-
friendly features to help make your entry into the world of data modeling easier. – SQL-Server-
Performance.com
5. LOWER TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP (TCO)
The cost of owning Embarcadero products is typically a fraction of that of its competitors. The
ease of use of ER/Studio makes the learning curve a
matter of days. Today, Embarcadero supports all the
major database releases including Sybase, Oracle, DB2,
and SQL Server. Having a staff of users unable to model “I cannot adequately emphasize the
their data using the latest database technology quickly impact that ER/Studio will have on
adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost the success of your enterprise. The
downtime and time to market. cost of the product is barely a
concern compared to the money it
“Compared to the competition’s tool, we managed to reduce will save your company and the
the cost of acquisition significantly using Embarcadero’s tool. modeling enhancements it will offer
We achieved a reduction of approximately 40% with this your development team.”
choice.” – Amil Online (ComputerWorld) – InfoWorld
6. ENHANCED CONSISTENCY
Data modelers and data architects who manage
metadata spend much of their time standardizing, documenting, reducing redundancy, and
creating reusable components. This serves to increase developer productivity and reduce the
amount of instances where ‘same’ data in disparate systems looks, feels, and behaves
differently. ER/Studio lets users create reusable domains and datatypes in order to streamline
the process of defining and enforcing consistent domain properties throughout data models.
“Accurate, timely, and relevant data is at the heart of the marketing services we provide our customers.
By standardizing on ER/Studio for enterprise model management, we are assured of the consistency we
need. All systems, whether reverse engineered or built from scratch, are designed using ER/Studio. Its
rich documentation and data lineage functionality allow us to track database schema changes and helps
us meet Sarbanes Oxley requirements.” – Mark Peterson, Senior Database Analyst, Valassis
“Our clients' databases reside on multiple platforms in both local and remote locations, which present a
challenge when managing consistency and redundancy in data modeling activities. Our long term goal is
to help build clear, well documented data models that will enforce standards, enable reuse, and improve
the efficiency and quality of modeling projects for their organizations. ER/Studio makes that a reality.
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5. Why Customers Select ER/Studio over ERwin
The new naming standards utility allows us to deploy multiple standards to our various database
platforms.” – Christopher Robin, Database Administrator, Advanced System Design, Inc.
“Embarcadero tools detected inconsistencies we didn't even know existed in our systems, saving us
from problems down the road.” – U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray
“Throughout our integrated models there are instances of the ‘same’ legacy data elements that can
behave very differently and “different” data elements that behave similarly. ER/Studio is helping us
distinguish among them by allowing us to define universal domains that are consistent across all of our
models. By associating the reusable domains with the legacy columns as well as new columns, we have
streamlined changes across models, ensuring consistency and ultimately the integrity of the data. This is
key functionality that ERwin had not provided.” – Anon
7. IMPROVED TEAM EFFECTIVENESS
ER/Studio Repository is designed to work the way modeling teams need to in order to deliver
higher quality applications faster and more cost-effectively. As the scope of data modeling
projects grow, so typically does the complexity and overhead needed for coordination and
quality control of projects.
“ER/Studio represents a significant value-add in how we see and leverage our data models by giving us
much greater interplay between our business intelligence applications, metadata repositories, and other
major ETL environments.” – John Prout, Senior Oracle DBA, Ambassadors
“ER/Studio has given us a flexible, easy-to-use team centric environment, allowing the team to work
seamlessly together to deliver higher quality database design. The repository enables the team to share
information, keeping data and models updated and consistent. The check-in/check-out functionality
allows us to successfully track changes made to objects, generate reports of the changes, and provide
comments to communicate the evolution of the models across our team.” – Anon
8. SUPERIOR TRACEABILITY OF DATA ELEMENTS
Both ER/Studio and ERwin offer dictionary systems which allow creation and access to reusable
components such as data elements, rules, valid values, etc. The similarities end there.
ER/Studio’s Data Dictionary system and Where Used interfaces ensure finite levels of object
traceability.
“With the onslaught of compliance regulations and the heightened need to understand and document
data sources, the task of effectively tracing data lineages has never been more important. With its Visual
Data Lineage functionality, ER/Studio simplifies the way we trace data movement among databases and
flat files, which ultimately helps us better understand the data assets within our government customers'
organizations. This benefits us across numerous domains - facilitating data consolidation, SOA migration,
FISMA compliance, and DIACAP needs.” – Ron Lewis, Senior Security Analyst, CDO Technologies.
“The scale and complexity of our environment makes object traceability hugely important.
Understanding how and where data has been changed is critical for data lineage and governance
requirements. ER/Studio provides several interfaces to view object dependencies, foreign key tracing,
and “where used” information, ERwin had only provided a fraction of these capabilities. Although ERwin
did allow us create and re-use components, ER/Studio takes this to the next level. The Binding
Information Interfaces clearly illustrate where elements have been used letting us assess the impact of
any changes. The “Where Used” feature ensures that we have complete clarity on how logical entities
have been implemented and ‘denormalized’ in physical database designs.” – Anon
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6. Why Customers Select ER/Studio over ERwin
9. RESPONSIVE TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Embarcadero’s focus has always centered on helping companies build, test, and optimize their
critical data, database, and application infrastructures. Unlike CA, Embarcadero does not have
a vast product line of over 1300 products to support and has
a clear competitive advantage when deciding which
products to support first. Customers are able to get issues
resolved that very same day. Contacting CA for problems
regarding ERwin can be a long and drawn out process. In “Despite what some people may
the meantime, business data modeling suffers. think, data modeling is still the
preferred method for creating
“My experiences with our Danish solution provider show me that database schemas. Unfortunately,
Embarcadero is more attentive to the needs of their customers modeling often gets pushed to the
than other companies whose data products may not be as core to back burner in lieu of creating tables
the business. I am sure that our full implementation of ER/Studio and relationships in the middle of
will have an enormous impact on our ability to serve the needs of coding the application. For those
our customers.” – 3F (United Federation of Danish Workers) who would push data modeling to
the front burner if only they had a
"Embarcadero's products are one of the best investments I've better tool, there's Embarcadero's
made. I'd been asked to do a quick scan across the market space smooth and easy ER/Studio.”
and find the best tools for data architecture, discovery, and – InfoWorld
modeling. After evaluating a lot of tools, I decided on the
Embarcadero suite. I originally invested because the tools are best
of breed and integrate well with the other products I'm using such
as System Architect. That said, I had no idea that the service after
the sale was going to be as good as this. As good as the tools
proved to be, I was even happier when I discovered the caliber of
service from Embarcadero's folks--from jumpstart sessions to
webinars to documentation; they are not interested in selling tools--they're interested in helping the
customers get the job done. Everything about the tools and service is top notch." – Ron Lewis, Senior
Analyst, CDO Technologies
10. FLEXIBLE LICENSING OPTIONS
ER/Studio provides a variety of licensing options to best fit your company’s modeling needs. As
opposed to many software products like ERwin that only offer workstation licensing, ER/Studio
offers three flexible licensing options:
• Workstation
• Network Named User
• Network Concurrent
These flexible licensing options allow organizations to better manage and control their product
licenses, while at the same time maximizing usage. The network-based licensing options
provide a flexible, cost-effective solution for organizations with a larger number of users, who
want greater control over software assets, or the ability to share a pool of licenses between
users.
“Implementing the ER/Studio product line has saved me time and money by reducing the process
complexity. . . Embarcadero continues to demonstrate its commitment to customers, delivering a solid
and rapidly evolving data-modeling solution.” – Grant Fitchey, Lead Database Administrator, One of the
world's largest commercial and industrial insurance companies
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7. Why Customers Select ER/Studio over ERwin
“By using ER/Studio, Idea Integration is able to better support the data management needs of its clients
with increased visibility, consistency, and integration that address their database requirements via data
lineage tracking and documentation with additional security management and capacity planning
functionality. This solution provided a complete environment for helping build quality database design
and clarifying complex data design problems through visually clear 'blueprints', for analyzing, creating,
and maintaining database applications.” –Idea Integration
“ER/Studio allowed us to quickly model, communicate and revise our data model and definitions.
Without this tool we may not have attempted the project.” – Rebuilding Together
“Embarcadero tools are uniquely positioned to enable companies to manage [the] data explosion.” –
Tim Sloane, Sloane Consulting, in association with Valley View Ventures
ABOUT ER/STUDIO
Embarcadero® ER/Studio® is an industry-leading data modeling tool that enables companies
discover, document, and re-use data assets. With round-trip database support, data architects
have the power to easily reverse-engineer, analyze, and optimize existing databases. Truly
separate but fully integrated logical and physical models meet the needs of both data architects
and database developers to engineer sound databases. Comprehensive model management
and collaboration capabilities simplify building and maintaining complex enterprise data
models. Collaboration across teams is further enhanced with metadata interchange capabilities
and XML schema support, empowering the extension of data standards and data governance
into service oriented architecture (SOA)-based applications.
For more information visit www.embarcadero.com/products/er-studio.
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8. Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of award-winning tools for application
developers and database professionals so they can design systems right, build them faster and
run them better, regardless of their platform or programming language. Ninety of the Fortune
100 and an active community of more than three million users worldwide rely on Embarcadero
products to increase productivity, reduce costs, simplify change management and compliance
and accelerate innovation. The company’s flagship tools include: Embarcadero® Change
Manager™, Embarcadero® RAD Studio, DBArtisan®, Delphi®, ER/Studio®, JBuilder® and Rapid
SQL®. Founded in 1993, Embarcadero is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices located
around the world. Embarcadero is online at www.embarcadero.com.