SAP PowerDesigner (SAP PD)

Apart of SAP Enterprise Architecture Designer (EAD) in are of enterprise architecture (EA) there is one more product in SAP's portfolio. It is the product called SAP PowerDesigner (PD) which has a long history. SAP gained it through acquisition of Sybase in 2010.

It enables data modeling and metadata management for following enterprise IT architecture areas: data, information and enterprise architecture. The PD enables impact analysis, design-time change management and metadata management techniques to enterprise IT projects.

The PD tool can help to visualize, understand, and manage impact of change to enterprise system before it happens. It supports end-to-end modeling by so called model-driven architecture (MDA) design with industry-standard modeling techniques, a powerful metadata repository, and unique Link and Sync technology. The PD has a capability of metadata repository that supports collaboration and communication between all the enterprise IT project stakeholders. Also it facilitates responses across teams involved to contributes to the business agility.

Difference between PowerDesigner and Enterprise Architecture Designer 

This may sound familiar if you read my other blog regarding SAP Enterprise Architecture Designer (EAD). The two products are overlapping in some areas. The difference between the two is mostly with regards to customization of the tools. Whereas the PowerDesigner is more customizable in case of the EAD the customization is limited. Source for this information can be found here. Other difference and more obvious one is that SAP EAD is a natural progression of PowerDesigner targeting on customers who want to move to a cloud-first SaaS solution for enterprise architecture. The EAD is SAP's strategic solution for enterprise architecture now.

More information:

Product homepage

BC-SYB-PD (PowerDesigner) - SAP support site component

Online docu

2494295 - Overview and information about SAP PowerDesigner