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Often the best way to express a design is by means of a visual model. There's quite some modeling languages around, to name just a few: Archimate, UML, BPMN, XPDL, EPC, IDEF, Use case maps, E3value. The complexity of the average language (an important improvement area) forces the architect to look for a tool to support his modeling effort. Architects who don't like the concept of being restricted to a single language and / or tool (a good habit I believe) will not likely invest in expensive tools. Up till a few years ago there were only two options for the architect: either accept the fact and spend money on multiple tools or divert to a combination of already paid for Office tools (e.g. MS Powerpoint and/or Visio) and pencil sketches (another good habit I would say). Over the last years the number of free to use tools is growing rapidly. Below a few interesting examples: Enterprise architecture modeling: Archimate: Archi Other: Essential Architecture Manager, Iteraplan Business process modeling: BPMN: Eclipse BPMN Modeler, TIBCO Business Studio, Bizagi process modeller, Process maker XPDL: Bonita, Together XPDL and BPMN Workflow Editor Other: e3value editor, ARIS Expres Visio stencils: for example workflow-research.de Ontology modeling: ORM: DogmaModeler, Norma (requires Visual studio 2008) Software modeling: UML: ArgoUML, StarUML Use case maps: jUCMNav For those who are looking for free Petri nets tools (mathematical modeling of stepwise processes) the following page lists a couple of them: Petri nets tools database quick overview Overview of (open source) UML tools: List of UML tools Initial publication 18/02/2007 Last time checked: 12/05/2011 Last time updated: 06/07/2011
The content presented in this editorial reflects the personal opinion of the author. Copyright notice: This publication is based on the principle of open content Follow me on twitter: evermeulennl 
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