erwin Data Modeler Reviews and Ratings

Rating: 10 out of 10

Score

10 out of 10

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for erwin Data Modeler are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Business Problems Solved

erwin Data Modeler has proven to be a valuable tool for users across various stages of the database development process. Data architects, DBAs, and data modelers have used the software to design, develop, and deploy databases. The software enables users to create ER diagrams for both new databases and existing ones, incorporating change requests seamlessly. These ERD diagrams have been shared with end-users and developers to assist in application design. Additionally, erwin Data Modeler has facilitated SQL Server change management by allowing for table changes and generating reusable Alter scripts for production.

The software’s benefits extend beyond design and development tasks. It has played a crucial role in version control and release control within database environments. Users have found it helpful in discussing database designs with functional teams and DBAs, using ER diagrams as visual aids for effective communication. Organizations with multiple applications have benefited from erwin Data Modeler's support in implementing a comprehensive SDLC for database changes and version control. Moreover, the software has been selected as a standard data modeling tool by government agencies and organizations seeking to design, maintain, and implement databases. On a smaller scale, it has even been utilized to standardize record abbreviations and field names.

In summary, erwin Data Modeler offers a wide range of use cases that cater to the needs of data architects, DBAs, and data modelers at various stages of the database lifecycle. Its versatility in facilitating design, development, documentation, change management, and communication makes it a valuable asset for organizations aiming for efficient and standardized database operations.

Reviews

7 Reviews

Erwin - Still Good But Expensive

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

April 26, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Erwin was used as a true enterprise data modeling tool, largely by a team of data architects and modelers, to ensure consistent modeling across the corporation. As a large organization it helped address the needs of multiple developers often needing to work within the same model at the same time. It also provided centralization an assured developers were working with the correct version of the model.

Pros

Easy to reverse engineer existing databases to bring them into the model or account for drift.
Intuitive interface for developers just starting out with the tool.
Large number of options on how to display a data model visually, which is critical when dealing with very large models.

Cons

Cost is the single largest barrier to entry with this tool.
Would like to see a greater variety of export options available for use outside of the tool, for example as a vector graphic.
Support has been uneven at times.

Likelihood to Recommend

I have two reservations for ranking erwin higher than I have. One is the cost of the tool. For smaller shops, it can be a tough pill to swallow and difficult to convince management of its value. The other is that I consider erwin to be essentially on par with embarcadero. That being said, erwin is excellent if you need centralized management of your models. This naturally lends itself to a larger shop, but this management is still valuable for smaller companies as well so long as a good process is in place.

Verified User

Employee in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

Erwin's enterprise feature set compensates for the user interface

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

March 4, 2020

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Erwin Data Modeler is an enterprise modeling tool often used by government agencies and organizations to design, maintain, and implement databases to support enterprise applications. Government agencies and organizations usually select a standard data modeling tool in which they can consistently implement databases and maintain them. It provides a standard software toolset that all projects can use.

Pros

Generation/management of DDL.
Enforces standard naming conventions.
Builds logical and physical data models.

Cons

User interface
Many options available to learn.

Likelihood to Recommend

Erwin Data Modeler is an enterprise-level tool and should be considered for managing large DB implementations or when aligning to an existing organization's naming standards/definitions/data types is needed. This is a key tool for a Data Architect to design databases. It is possible the cost would not make it ideal for small projects where scripts could be easily managed by scripts.

Verified User

Director in Professional Services (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

15 years of experience

erwin Data Modeler is a winner, though a little boring to look at

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

February 24, 2020

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using erwin Data Modeler now for the ERD diagram design. We then provide the ERD to end-users or developers so they can make utilize it while designing their applications. We are also using it for some SQL Server change management. For example, when end-users request table changes, we then reverse engineer the existing DB or table, make the change, and then have erwin Data Modeler generate an Alter script that we can reuse once promoted to Production.

Pros

ERD diagrams
Publishing those ERDs for end-user consumption either on the web or PDF.

Cons

The GUI is a little clunky, even on the 2020 version
Overwhelming amount of options, which is good eventually

Likelihood to Recommend

Erwin Data Modeler great when trying to model a relational DB that is well established and mainstream. A little less useful for something like Amazon Athena, which kind of makes sense. It makes handy diagrams that have lots of information but is also not very visually appealing to view. Further, it's a little obtuse to figure out initially, again due to option overload - sometimes I wish it had a 'simple' and 'advanced' view. It is excellent for automating diagrams and generating changes for existing DBs.

Sean Zef

Data Admin in Information Technology at Zef Enterprises, LLC (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Erwin Data Modeler: Communication Enabler

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

December 3, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Erwin Data Modeler was used by our DBA and Data Architecture to design new data models and document the existing physical databases by reverse engineering them.

Pros

Creation of logical data models
Reverse engineering
Excellent communication tool in conversations with Developers and BAs
As a company, Erwin provides lots of tutorials and how-tos.

Cons

The main con I can think of is cost.
It takes time to setup and learn which is an adoption barrier.

Likelihood to Recommend

<ul><li>Modeling of complex environments</li><li>Documenting existing databases</li><li>Communication tool between BAs, Architects, DBAs and Developers</li><li>Modeling and documentation tool for developing our Data Warehouse</li></ul>

Rina Falkovich

Data Architect in Information Technology at Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

View profile

erwin Data Modeler great for simple use cases

Rating: 5 out of 10

Incentivized

May 10, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We currently use erwin Data Modeler on a very small scale. We use it to standardize record abbreviations and field names.

Pros

It is reliable in the use case we have, to rename and standardize fields accurately.
erwin has as very great customer service team.

Cons

Interface is very old seeming
Small text and multiple buttons makes the user interface difficult to maneuver

Likelihood to Recommend

erwin has many capabilities that our company does not use to the full potential. We simply use it as a naming conversion tool to standardize our field names.

Verified User

Employee in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Best data modeling, database version control, and deployment management

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

February 1, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are a big organization that supports multiple applications. We use erwin Data Modeler for database model design before it can actually make to the database.

We build ER diagrams out of requirement documents and then use these ER diagrams to discuss in meetings with functional and DBA teams. Once the design is approved, we further use erwin Data Modeler to make both logical and physical data models, include triggers and constraints in the model, and forward engineer deployment scripts for the DBA team.

erwin Data Modeler has greatly helped us maintain a SDLC for database changes and version control.

Pros

erwin Data Modeler helps generate deployment scripts for database deployments without the need to worry about programming syntax.
It helps you compare different models pretty easily and identify any discrepancies induced due to human error during deployment cycles.
I have a great experience of using erwin Data Modeler to generate database models straight out of database SQL file. This feature is called reverse engineering in erwin Data Modeler world.

Cons

erwin Data Modeler allows only 25 entities in a trial version. It really limits you when you want to try out the product before actually deciding to pay for licensing cost. It would be rather helpful if they limit the trial period by days instead.
The UI is pretty good but sometimes the large diagrams are hard to manage. A little improvement in that area would be helpful.

Likelihood to Recommend

I have had a chance to use few other data modeling tools from Quest and Oracle, but I am most comfortable using erwin Data Modeler. They understand your data modeling needs and have designed the software to give you a feeling of completeness when you are designing a data model.

Verified User

Professional in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Best Data Modeling Tool

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

January 25, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using erwin Data Modeler for initial design, development and deployment phases. We use it to design ER diagrams for our new databases or incorporate change requests into existing. We then forward engineer deployment scripts for erwin directly and deploy it to various database environments. This has helped us version control and release control in our database environments. It is also easier to discuss with functional team by presenting them with ER diagram block instead of talking to them in database language.

Pros

Reverse Engineering: I love the way we can import an SQL file containing schema meta data and generate ER diagram out of it. This is specifically useful if you are implementing erwin Data Modeler for an existing database.
Forward Engineering: We use this feature very frequently. Where we do database changes in our physical and logical data models and then generate deployment scripts for the changes made.
Physical vs Logical Models: I like to have my database model split into physical and logical models and at the same time still linked to each other. Any changes you make to logical model or physical model shows up in the other.

Cons

For large models, it gets tedious to print the diagram in a single pdf. I have to often make adjustment and if i use the fit model feature, it kind of changes the alignment of entities in my ER diagram. Erwin may let us make pdf of the model as is.
I have used reverse engineering using for Oracle schemas. It will be very good if it supports reverse engineering for more vendors, so i can use erwin data modeler for database conversion activities too.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you have a database environment that gets frequent schema object change requests. erwin Data Modeler is a great tool for version control and release control. Also, it's very useful to communicate between database and application teams.

Ravinder Gupta

Senior Oracle Database Administrator in Information Technology at CGI (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

9 years of experience

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Reviews and Ratings

Best Data Modeling Tool

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

January 25, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

Reverse Engineering: I love the way we can import an SQL file containing schema meta data and generate ER diagram out of it. This is specifically useful if you are implementing erwin Data Modeler for an existing database.
Forward Engineering: We use this feature very frequently. Where we do database changes in our physical and logical data models and then generate deployment scripts for the changes made.
Physical vs Logical Models: I like to have my database model split into physical and logical models and at the same time still linked to each other. Any changes you make to logical model or physical model shows up in the other.

Cons

For large models, it gets tedious to print the diagram in a single pdf. I have to often make adjustment and if i use the fit model feature, it kind of changes the alignment of entities in my ER diagram. Erwin may let us make pdf of the model as is.
I have used reverse engineering using for Oracle schemas. It will be very good if it supports reverse engineering for more vendors, so i can use erwin data modeler for database conversion activities too.

Likelihood to Recommend

Ravinder Gupta

Senior Oracle Database Administrator in Information Technology at CGI (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

9 years of experience

View profile