Enterprise Architecture Visualization Tool Survey 2014

A major factor for successful Enterprise Architecture initiatives is continuous communication between different stakeholders. If used properly, visualizations are an effective means of communication. In recent years, EA tools evolved from simple solutions for collecting EA information and generating basic reports to more mature platforms providing users with sophisticated features to configure and customize visualizations. However, EA tools differ considerably with respect to their visualization capabilities (e.g. supported visualization types, import/export capabilities and support for customization).

This technical report sheds light on the state-of-the-art in EA visualizations and respective tool support. It contains results from a two-part study in which we analyzed both the feature set of 19 available EA tools from 18 vendors and actual usage patterns of 109 EA practitioners. This report focuses on EA visualizations. However, aspects around configuration and the information model are covered as well. We provide a synthesized collection of 26 visualization types and assess the current tool support of these visualization types. This report contains 291 figures and screenshots of EA tools and comprehensive descriptions of their capabilities illustrated in 248 tables.