Sparx Systems: Easy-To-Access Enterprise Architecture

Geoffrey Sparks, Founder & CEO

"The IT landscape is buzzing with the cloud, mobile, IoT, and with unprecedented online interactivity through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which is at the heart of major variations in Enterprise Architecture (EA) practice and solutions,” says Geoffrey Sparks, Founder and CEO, Sparx Systems. With a vision to assist organizations in a complex and demanding environment, Sparx Systems developed its Enterprise Architect tool that carefully maps adopted technologies into clients’ existing enterprise landscapes. “The ability to leverage the latest technologies, to easily consume rich sources of business information, to quickly interact with new partners and communicate with customers on a far more personal level than ever before, are the hallmarks of our platform,” says Sparks.

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect seamlessly implements cloud-based models and re-usable asset services without compromising the flair of the mobile environment. “By providing collaborative tools that work effectively, across the Windows, OS X, and Linux desktops, with connectivity to models hosted within the cloud, we are helping distributed teams to work together and realize their strategic enterprise goals,” adds Sparks.

Offering Full Traceability

Unlike tools providing a limited and singular viewpoint, Sparx’s platform incorporates multiple viewpoints and technologies tied together to form a comprehensive, end-to-end map of any arbitrary solution space. It is built around a rich and integrated set of standards such as Unified Modeling Language (UML), Business Process Model and Notation, and the Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) that provides an educated approach to planning, implementing, and governing enterprise information technology architecture. “We have worked with many standards-based organizations to define new data models and standards that are at the epicenter of the information revolution,” says Sparks.

From its inception, the tool has maintained an economical price point to support its roll out to entire teams of architects, developers, managers, and other stakeholders

Tools like Pro Cloud Server provides a real-time view of the content contained in an Enterprise Architect Cloud repository to be shared with anyone with a smartphone, tablet or computer simply using a web-browser. This tool provides WebEA as a complementary product and is not intended to replace Enterprise Architect. WebEA allows your entire organization to read and consume models, and provide feedback where appropriate. The tool creates elements of project management, which keep track of work accessible from any device.

These open and standards-based technologies, form the core language of the Sparx platform, providing a rich set of domain-specific modeling, and design tools with a common underlying meta-model. It allows the platform to offer full traceability between different segments and layers of an organization’s architectural model.

New Features and Improvisations

“From its inception, the tool has maintained an economical price point to support its rollout to entire teams of architects, developers, managers, and other stakeholders,” points out Sparks. It is a tool that speaks the same language for every function in a company, presenting the layers and extensions on the same page.

The latest version of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect supports Real-time, cloud-based stakeholder collaboration, which enables the platform to manage a highly optimized agile workflow and foster effective control of project resources within the framework of a fully integrated modeling environment. The latest technology feature expected soon is a Floating License Service which will make the global licensing of an organization possible from one location which will be built into the Pro Cloud Server. This version is laced with updates and enhancements to handle enterprise architectures, simulations, data models, and resource management more effectively.

Sparx Systems does not directly provide solutions in the traditional sense. “We provide a non-prescriptive modeling and design platform that facilitates a wide range of methodologies and approaches to create innovative and successful solutions, to meet organizational goals and strategies,” says Sparks. Over the last 16 years, Sparx Systems has been scouring through past feedback and dialogues with their clientele. They have refined and optimized their solution suite to move forward and serve the active community in the best way possible.”

To keep its performance ahead of the expectations of the outside world, Sparx Systems implements a simple company innovation using its own EA tool for managing its enterprise architecture and execution of its strategies. “We use our tool to host our entire knowledgebase and resources, and export the information as a rich and compelling library of topic-based PDF documents and as a reservoir of over 4,000 help topics,” adds Sparks. This decision provides two very important and direct benefits to the company. Firstly, it ensures the usability and robustness of the tool by rapidly uncovering any shortcomings or awkward interfaces. Secondly, many implemented features are based on the real-world needs of Sparx Systems in modeling, developing, and managing the construction of Enterprise Architect.

"We have worked with many standards-based organizations to define new data models and standards that are at the epicenter of the information revolution"

Sparx Systems is anticipating waves of change that will challenge the company to prove its mettle continuously . “The key to successful outcomes is both a sound knowledge and understanding of the new technology, coupled with a depth of understanding and a well-developed roadmap of the current enterprise space,” says Sparks. Shared knowledge is a key predictor of success when a company has to transition with new technologies and solutions. The pragmatic approach would be to look beyond the appeal of reigning technologies. “The mistaken belief that new technologies are somehow simpler and more self-correcting can quickly lead to project failures or cost overruns,” explains Sparks. With these cautious approaches, Sparx Systems intends to keep its growth trajectory and learning curve aligned with its vision, to satisfy the growing needs of Business/IT environment.