Architected to be the most accessible, flexible, affordable enterprise scale collaborative modelling and knowledge management platform
History and Architecture
EVA was conceived from the beginning as a collaborative tool, leveraging web technologies and providing an extensible repository which would support all the domains of enterprise architecture and adjacent disciplines such as strategy, programme management, requirements management etc. We initially built it to support our consulting work because we were frustrated with "office" style tools (spreadsheets, documents, diagrams), home grown databases, intranets and wikis and the CASE tools of the time. Our clients found the tool compelling and wanted to retain the knowledge base after our consulting involvement, so we evolved it to a commercial product. A summary of the architecture of the tool is shown below.
EVA is a server based product, which is offered as a SaaS (Cloud) solution. It manages a repository and documents collectively forming a knowledge base. The structured content is held in a relational database, while documents can be any format that clients can handle, including word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, project files, portable document files, images and many others. Documents are linked to repository content, are versioned and can be uploaded and downloaded for client use or editing. Templates can be specified which provide "starter" documents to help enforce standards.
Information can be exported to or imported from other tools in batch or interactive mode. Formats supported include XML, CSV, HTML and SQL. EVA also supports JSON and REST.
The tool provides extensive web interfaces which are driven by the customisable meta model and adapt instantly to the evolving types, relationships and properties defined in the repository. The web interface also provides a rich set of utilities to manage the system and the user community.
The desktop graphical modeler provides unlimited graphical modelling styles, with bitmap and vector symbols used interchangeably to represent concepts. Visualisation is provided by built in views that users can modify by selecting information types of interest. Additional visualisations can be built using very rich facilities of frameworks such as D3.js or Roassal, which access the repository through REST APIs.
The tool includes easy report and document generation without coding.
Both static and dynamic portals are easily configured. The former provides content which is independent of the tool and can be placed on any commodity web server, or even on CD. The latter provides realtime access to the repository in a read-only mode.
The system offers sophisticated security using roles, groups, functional permissions and content based security at both meta model and instance levels.
EVA Netmodeler is arguably the most flexible and comprehensive collaborative modelling software available in the market. The toolset is affordable and readily accessible.
Where It All Started
EVA Netmodeler is an offering of Inspired, which is a provider of top quality professional services, training, research and software tools. Founded in Cape Town in 1991, we’ve built an enviable reputation for assisting I.T. to add more value to the business. Our consulting services cover business and I.T. strategy, business and enterprise architecture, advanced systems development methods and state-of-the-art project management.
APPLIED SOLUTIONS
In order to provide accelerated capability for our EVA Netmodeler users, we have packaged the learning from our extensive research and development and our consultancy assignment experience, into a family of “off-the-shelf” Applied Solutions.
Each Applied Solution is essentially an EVA Netmodeler-based template, consisting of pre-configured meta-model concepts, user profiles, menus, web forms, models, reports and custom views – appropriate to a specific use case or solution type. An example would be our Applied Solution for Enterprise Architecture.
This means that, when you bring an organisation's content into one of our Applied Solutions, you are not only able to leverage the tool’s exceptional functionality and features but also gain access to our packaged learning resources.
Industry Models
We have preloaded industry models available for certain industries. Currently, we offer models for Telecommunications (Frameworx, including SID, eTOM and TAM all products of the TM Forum); and our own Inspired Banking Reference models. We also have versions of ITIL and COBIT supporting Service Management and I.T. Governance respectively.
ITIL is produced and managed by the Office of Government Commerce in the UK. COBIT is managed by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).