Looking for feedback on the UPM-X and Designer tools for architecture modeling.

[msromel63]

I have recently joined a company using ServiceNow as it's core service management platform.  My role is Solution Architecture and I'm looking for a better tool than just Visio.  I see ServiceNow has a couple of architecture tools, UPM-X and Designer, and am hoping to get feedback from people who have used these tools.  How well does the modeling capability match up to the more widely used tools, such as Alfabet, Orbus iServer, ARIS, Sparx, BiZZdesign and others?

[Tony DiRienzo]

I have installed, configured and used both tools at a company I worked for in the past, and was really impressed with both applications and with the support we received from the third-party app developers (ins-pi GmbH). 

Designer is a very capable full-featured diagramming tool, and the main reason I would choose it over other tools is that it integrates directly with the CMDB in ServiceNow.  You won't realize just how powerful this is until you use it.  If you want to, you can actually lay out a diagram in Designer, including the proposed CI's and relationships you want, send the diagram through an approval workflow and then commit the approved diagram directly to the CMDB.  You don't have to use it that way, but the fact that you can lets you know how powerful and enabling the integration between Designer and the CMDB can be.  (It is worth mentioning that I know of ServiceNow employees who use Designer internally, which I think says quite a lot about how valuable the tool is.  Also, if I remember correctly, the latest version of Designer lets you import existing diagrams from Visio, which is a very neat feature if you have legacy diagrams you don't want to rebuild from scratch.)

I haven't used UPM-X as extensively, but I do recall being impressed with insPi's implementation of higher level Enterprise Architecture concepts in the CMDB.  Unfortunately I didn't have much opportunity to try out all the features UPM-X had to offer, since the company I was working for only purchased Designer.  If you're going to do a lot of EA and would like it tied in with the other data you have in ServiceNow, what I saw of it makes me think it would be a very valuable tool.

All told, I think it's definitely worth your time to request a trial of Designer and start a conversation with the folks at ins-pi.  The folks I worked with during the trial period and purchase decision were incredibly responsive and helpful through the whole process.

[msromel63]

Thanks for the reply, Tony.  We did get a 30-day trial version and I found it quite nice, though the user interface could be a bit better.  And the ins-pi guys were incredibly helpful.  Unfortunately, I've been asked to put the effort on hold for now due to competing priorities.

[Hemant Babtiwal]

I am evaluating alternatives for an integrated architecture diagramming tool like ins-pi Designer that was mentioned in this thread. Do any other EA design tools offer integration with SNW CMDB ?