ALBERT NDUNG’U WARUINGI

BBIT/9107/1/17

MODERN UML MODELLING TOOLS

1. STAR UML

It is an open source software modelling tool and it supports Unified Modelling Language.

It is based on UML version 1.4 which provides eleven different types of the diagram and

it accepts UML 2.0 notation.

StarUML 2 is commercial and supports UML diagrams class, object, use case,

component, deployment, sequence, communication, activity and profile diagram.

2. UMBRELLO

This on the other hand allows users to create diagrams of software and other systems in a

standard format to document or design the structure of their programs. It includes support

for ActionScript, Ada, C++, C#, D, IDL, Java, JavaScript, MySQL, Pascal, Perl, PHP,

PHP5, PostgreSQL, Python, Ruby, SQL, Tcl, Vala and MLSchema.

3. ALTOVA

It allows its users to visually design application models in UML and generate Java, C# or

Visual Basic.NET code and project documentation. It also supports reverse engineering

of programs into UML2 software architecture diagrams, then fine tune their designs and

complete the round trip by regenerating code.

4. VISUAL PARADIGM
 It is tailored for agile software projects. It supports UML, BPMN, ERD, DFD and

SysML. It is useful in companies since it offers a complete tool set of software which can

do capturing, process analysis, system design and database design. It also comes with

innovative modeling tools like Resource Catalog, Transistor and Nicknamer makes

system modelling easy and cost effective.

5. DRAW.IO

Love its simplicity. Click draw.io in your browser and you immediately get an empty

canvas to start drawing. It comes with shapes for basic UML, ER and BPMN modeling.

Still, it’s a clear example of a tool that doesn’t really understand at all the semantics of

what you’re drawing so you can basically do whatever you want and build some very

bizarre diagrams. It also fails in the collaborative aspect but it integrates well with

Google Drive, Dropbox. OneDrive and others to automatically save the models in your

preferred location.

Draw.io is open source and it has been built using the mxGraph library

6. GENMYMODEL

GenMyModel started as a UML only modeling tool but since then it has now expanded to

cover also business modeling with Archimate and BPMN support. It offers a centralized

model repository for teams (with access right management) enabling easy and

simultaneously model collaboration.

Contrary to other tools in this list, this is more a modeling tool than a drawing tool (with

its pros and cons, depending on how do you plan to use your models). As such, a key

distinction of GenMyModel is its support for exporting models as XMI (the “standard”

format for exchanging models) and its code-generation capabilities.

7. UMLETINO

A simple but free online UML tool for fast UML diagrams. It runs in your browser, and it

does not require any installs. UMLetino is based on UMLet (which is available as a

stand-alone tool or Eclipse plugin). Diagrams can be exported as XML or image files.

8. DIAGRAMO

A free and open source pure HTML5 Online Flowchart Software (no Flash, Java or other

plugins required). Licensed under GPL (nice!). Easy to download and install on your own

server if you prefer

9. LUCID CHART

HTML5-based. With UML support and real-time collaboration capabilities. It can import

Visio files, which is definitely a plus considering that a large userbase for these tools

seems to come from more desktop-like modeling environments like Microsoft Visio.

Beyond UML, Lucidchart also comes with drawing templates for ER, process modeling,

network diagrams and more.

10. NETBEANS IDE

It is also an open source project dedicated to providing software development products

that address the need of developers, users and the businesses who rely on NetBeans as a

basis for their products. Development of products is therefore done quickly and

efficiently.

11. VISIO

This is one of the simplest UML tools to use since it is simplified and communicates

complex information with data linked diagrams that you can create in just a few clicks.
It connects users’ data through data linking which brings diagrams to life.