UML & SysML modelling languages

Enterprise Architect User Group (EAUG) - France, September 2015

Update (30/06/2015): the Call for Speakers has been released in both English and French. Online registration to purchase your ticket (75€) from EventBrite are closed.

VISEO will host the first EAUG in France on Thursday, September 17^th 2015. This Enterprise Architect User Group will be held in Paris at "27 quai Le Gallo - Boulogne-Billancourt" (underground and tram stations are located nearby).

This first edition will introduce talks and presentations in French on a wide array of topics including Enterprise Architecture, modelling IT and software applications, generating and validating documentation from the models, and Systems Engineering (MBSE).

Enterprise Architect add'ins will be shown in a dedicated area, where users and experts will be able to share their opinions and experiences on notations, languages, methodologies around a coffee, tea or other refreshment.

The full agenda is yet to be defined, with a priority on sharing project experiences in using Sparx Enterprise Architect. Hence this User Group is opened to any company, expert, or consultant who would like to share and talk about their experience with the Enterprise Architect user community.

Online registration is available from EventBrite.fr. The entry ticket costs 75€. Please contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you would like to more information.
VISEO operates as Sparx Systems main partner in France and has a member in the EAUG Steering Group (www.eausergroup.com).

Cliquez ici pour accéder à la version française | French version of this article is available here.

The next EA User Group will take place in London, UK on the 19th of May at the Park Plaza County Hall Hotel. Access costs £65 and can be booked from the EA User Group web site.

The agenda for the event has been published, as copied below.

Join the EAUG for a full day of stories, advice and inspiration from across the globe.
Share experiences and learn from the Enterprise Architect experts.
Discover the latest features, including Enterprise Architect 12, and new ways of working with Enterprise Architect.

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend this year, but the other EAUG members will be there to meet you.

Last May I went the the European EA User Group in the UK (Maidenhead) where the Enterprise Architect community gathered. Prior to run my presentation on the alternatives to set up a shared EA project, I attended several presentations, including the following ones that are covered in this article:

1. Pragmatic agile model driven development using smart use cases by Sander Hoogendoorn (Capgemini, NL)
2. EA Version 11 Cloud Services, OSLC and RAS by Phil Chudley (Dunstan Thomas, UK)

The sixth European Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Conference, EAUG, which will take place in Munich (Germany) on the 7th of October.
The organizing committee are working very hard to make this event in Munich as good as the previous five conferences in London, Nuremberg and Utrecht.

The call for speakers for the next EAUG in Munich, Germany is available here (PDF file).

"If you are a user of Sparx Systems’ Enterprise Architect and related products, we invite you to share your user stories with the community. We are hosting a unique opportunity for you to share your experiences with other users of Enterprise Architect.
We are interested in just about everything you do with Enterprise Architect, from the organization of your model to enhancements you have made using MDG or the automation API, or even just a project with which you are especially happy. That said, we are not just after the sunshine stories and would be interested in hearing about any experiences learned the hard way. Do you have a story to tell? If so, please let us know.
Additionally we are looking for people who can lead a discussion / workshop on an Enterprise Architect related subject. Is this you? If so, please let us know.

To apply as a speaker, please see the call for speakers page or email Verena Hladik at verena.hladik[at]lieberlieber.com."

Full details of the next London Enterprise Architect User Group EAUG event on May 16th have now been published.
The John Lewis Partnership is providing the venue for a full day of presentations, workshops and a "speed dating" session for Enterprise Architect Extension providers at their stunning purpose built conference location alongside the River Thames.

I will co-animate a presentation on the available alternatives to set up a shared EA repository to work in a collaborative environment.

Based on the great value that this event delivered last year (see the London EAUG 2013 feedback article), tickets have been selling already - even before the line up was published!
 
Just £50 guarantees your place. To book now, please visit www.eausergroup.com/events.

Full programme details are available here: www.eausergroup.com/events/16-next-event/72-london-2014-programme.

The next EA User Group will take place in the UK on the 16th of May at the Sir Bernard Miller Centre, Maidenhead, hosted by the John Lewis Partnership.
The venue is 50 minutes away from London Heathrow airport by train + taxi via the Maidenhead train station.

The planning for the event is underway with a full day of seminars covering two or three different streams delivered by real users of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
As regards, the call for speakers has been released if you would like to participate as a speaker and share your experience with Enterprise Architect: www.eausergroup.com/component/content/article/16-next-event/71-london-may-2014-call-for-speakers

Online registrations are available from the EAUserGroup web site.

Come and join me at the next EAUG!

The next Enterprise Architect User Group will take place in Nürnberg, Germany on the 8th October 2013. As a local EAUG event, most sessions will be given in german, however there will be a talk in english for each slot. Here is the current agenda for the english speaking sessions :

• Togaf with EA
  
• How to use EA for all project aspects
  
• How we overcame the technical and organisational hurdles involved in deploying EA in a large, complex legacy environment
  
• EA for project managers
  
• Making MDGs work for you
  

The complete and up to date agenda is available from Lieber Lieber web site. You can order your ticket from their web site at a cost of 115.43€ inc VAT.

The EAUG will finish with a "chill out session" at the bar with the speakers, which will be useful to have time to spend with the EA community and speakers.

Further information is available from www.eausergroup.com.

I went to the first EAUG (Enterprise Architect User Group) on the 15th of May, where around 100 people from the EA community of users and experts gathered in London.

I summarised in this article a selection of talks I attended:

1. "Modeling Software Intensive Systems" by Doug Rosenberg from ICONIX, hinting the concept of SwissML (SysML + UML) to reach the same amount of specifications for both software and hardware blocks of an embedded system. Doug discussed about the incompatibility of agile software development processes in a context where the delivered software is not the final product, but part of a system that encompasses software and hardware blocks, alongside safety and security risks associated with any possible bug.
2. "SysML with EA" by Roman Bretz from Lieber Lieber GmbH who shared his experiences on clients projects where SysML modelling language and EA were used.
3. "User Story : EA usage at EVRY" by Knut Paulsen from EVRY who explained how EA was used in his company, involving specific developments of EA Add'Ins such as a document generator and an Excel import/export tool, both tailored to comply with the adopted methodology.
4. "User Story: How to do less work, have more fun and become (a bit) famous doing it" by Ian Mitchell from Ability Engineering, who shared his experience as a BA on large project at the European scale, leading to a number of advices and point of views to take into account!

Coming back from my first EA user group, I've been very pleased with the experience. I'm already looking forward to next year's session!

On arrival, I collected my badge and marked down the sessions I was going to attend. Only "down side" was the spelling mistake on my badge, but after all "Guillaume" is tricky to write and even worse to pronounce when you're not French, never mind ;)

First of all, this was an opportunity to meet in person members of the EA community, which is a change from the on-line forums, community site, and other LinkedIN groups dedicated to EA. I also very much enjoyed as a UML/SysML/EA enthusiast participating to talks and debates that purely deal with Enterprise Architect tool and other modelling aspects. This is a change from previous IT events where yet interesting technical talks hardly impacted my daily tasks and concerns.

I heard some very interesting discussion over the impact of Agile techniques on software embedded in intensive systems via Doug Rosenberg's talk. Feedback from the other speakers on EA, SysML, and UML based on their past project experiences prompted some very useful ideas as well ("harvest the existing information into EA" as suggested by Ian Mitchell). I was also impressed with the extensive use of EA API by some companies.

I will shortly release articles to provide more detailed feedback from London 2013 EAUG.

The Enterprise Architect User Group will be hosting its second User Group Event on the 15th of May 2013.

The event is being held in Central London for a registration fee of £50.00 per person + Vat. The agenda for the day provides a number of sessions split accross the following event tracks:

• Track 1 - Setting up projects for success with EA
• Track 2 - Project Delivery with EA
• Track 3 - Implementation & lessons learnt

This will be the first time that I'm going to an EAUG (Sparx version of the Java UG!), and I've already made my choice for the sessions to follow (SysML, BPMN2, user story, collaborative use...). I'm also keen on meeting other EA users, especially as I've had many exchanges via the Sparx forum with some of them for the last couple of years.

More information is available from www.eausergroup.com.