I just completed a lengthy look at UML based OOA/D Tools and found that the Together/J 3.0 product (Together/Enterprise if you also need C++ forward/reverse engineering) was the best at suiting our team analysis/design needs. The high level criteria for the evaluation was as follows:
1. Support for UML constructs. Of primary interest were Class and Sequence diagrams. All other UML 1.3 diagram types were considered as well.
2. Support for geographically disparate (WAN bandwidth was assumed to be low and not capable of being upgraded) team members that need to work within the same physical analysis/design model.
3. Support for forward and reverse engineering in both
Java and C++.
4. Support for generating analysis/design output in a tool independent format, namely HTML.
5. Speed.
6. GUI, ease of use
I ended up dismissing several tools due to lack of full support for team members being geographically disparate. That included tools such as GDPro and COOL:Jex (formerly ObjectTeam from Cayenne).
I found that both Rose 98i Enterprise and Together's products both did a much better job in the Class and Sequence diagram areas, than did System Architect 2001, and thus discontinued any further investigation of that product. Very much what Paul had mentioned in a different
thread.
This left me with both Rose 98i and Together/J to look at in detail. On average, the Together product did a much nicer job than did Rose 98i. There were areas of course where Rose was better than the Together product, but taken collectively, Together was the best product that fit the needs detailed above.
It is a bit pricey at $4k/developer-seat, but if you really need the functionality that it provides, the savings will pay for the product. The URL is now
www.togethersoft.com