As EA users ourselves, we know how important it is that the documents we produce are clear and readable, and show all the richness of information that our EA models contain. So here are the main highlights of eaDocX:document excellence..
Include any EA data: Regular EA Elements, all the EA diagrams, all the EA project data, all types of relationship, plus Package information and as many Tagged Values and Stereotypes as you define
Each time you re-generate a document, eaDocX exports EA data to Excel, lets Excel update your custom charts or tables, then automatically re-imports those charts/tables back into your eaDocX documents.
Add a whole new dimension of clarity and insight into your project communications with graphics and reports.
Add version control to your eaDocX Documents.
As well as EA Model Views, EA Searches, Matrices, ....
Use Conditional Formatting to highlight missing, important or just interesting data. Rules work for any table, inline or report data.
eaDocX Document Management manages all your document versions data in EA to let you use Word 'Compare' to get a view of the detailed differences between any two documents.
No more creating CSV Files! Excel gets embedded directly into EA, so you can manipulate EA data in spreadsheets.
As users, we get to decide what we'd like to connect to what. It might be a UML-defined link like 'Actors to Use Cases', or 'Requirements to Components'.
What ever kind of links we create, they all mean something. And that meaning can be put into your documents, in a way that will help your readers to understand what they are seeing.
So having a list of Components in EA is interesting. So is a list of Requirements. But connecting the Requirements to the Components in a way which says which Components implement which Requirements start to make a rich web of knowledge.
So when you print the details of a Requirement, eaDocX will let you print, next to each one, the Component which satisfies the requirement:
Ref | Requirement | Details | Implemented by Components |
REQ235 | All Widgets configurable | The solution shall make all widgets configurable.... | (CMP03) Widget Configurator |
REQ481 | Gadgets have Wibbles | All Gadgets in the solution shall have their own Wibble | |
REQ034 | Admin access | The Administrator shall be able to change the configuration... | (CMP01) Admin Interface |
So a reader of this document can start to see how their Requirements are being implemented. Apart from REQ481 - maybe there is a problem here ? We have used Conditional Formatting to highlight this.
If the reader wants to know more, they can click on the (CMP03) Widget Configurator link to find out more.
This has some useful consequences. You don't need to put all the details which the user might need into the main document. This list of Components could be in an appendix, where the inerested reader can still quickly find them. So the main document can be much smaller: just the essential information for this reader.
For more about hyperlinking, see the eaDocX Help - hyperlinking
You can even combine Excel, Word and EA content all together in one document. eaDocX Corporate Edition will let you Embed Excel Charts and Tables into eaDocX Documents, so that when the document is re-generated, all the EA content will be refreshed, whether it comes from EA directly into Word, or from EA to Excel, and back into Word.
So each time you re-generate a document, eaDocX exports EA data to Excel, lets Excel update your custom charts or tables, then automatically re-imports those charts/tables back into your eaDocX documents.
This adds a whole new dimension of clarity and insight into your project communications with graphics and reports.
Once you have got your EA information in Excel, you can then send it off to be reviewed. You can allow your reviewers to add new rows, update information, even add new columns, all of which which you can then quickly import back into EA. No more messing around with CSV templates in EA : you just press a button to import back into EA!
When your EA information is in Excel, you can use all your favorite Excel techniques to process the information; creating summaries, looking for trends and really understanding what's happening in your EA project.More...
All those new Tables and Charts can be put right back into your eaDocX document
..and eaDocX will update your document, including the Excel tables and Excel charts, every time the document is re-generated.
Simply select the EA Package, element or diagram you want to print, then in the EA Project Browser, select Extensions | eaDocX | Quick Document.
This will generate a new document containing the package, element or diagram you selected.
..but there's a lot happening!
Quick Document will :
...and all in a few seconds.
If you're really lucky, this will be exactly the document you want. More likely this will be nearly the document you want, but it will have all the essential elements defined, so you can now refine the document to look exactly the way you want.
For more information on eaDocX Quick Documents, see the eaDocX Help, or the Video: eaDocX Quick Document