Avolution ABACUS Reviews

Pros

I've found this product to be super flexible and easy to adjust to our needs. The team from the vendor side, including sales, customer success and technical support are always quick to respond and available when we need them. The metamodel is also really adaptable and we can make it fit our organizational needs without worrying about messing up future updates. What's really great is how easy it is to script Abacus using C or VB.Net. It helped us automate a lot of our previously manual calculations and bulk model changes.

Cons

The Abacus Studio (the admin part of the tool) is a native Windows app. We use it through the Avolution cloud, which is super convenient because we don't have to worry about managing local installations. Sometimes it can be a little slow but we've definitely seen improvements since we started using it in 2022.

Pros

It works with almost any EA framework and it's flexible when it comes to choosing a framework, the EA metamodel and covering everything from business vision and strategy to technology components. But the best part for me is how data-driven the EA modeling is. All presentations are automatically updated based on the underlying data. Using Abacus scripts, we've been able to standardize everything and create a central repository that has the same structure and design for all our application diagrams, all based on ServiceNow data.

Cons

One thing Abacus is missing is a form builder to create user-friendly data entry pages but this can be fixed with some extra customization.

Pros

The ability to automate with C.hash or VB scripts to generate various diagrams is definitely my favorite feature. It saves me so much time!

Cons

Some operations are a bit tricky to do and I think they could be simplified to make things easier.

Pros

I love how easy the tools are to use for building and displaying our architecture. It makes it simple for people in our organization to understand the overall structure. The professional support team also made it super smooth for us to migrate from our old systems and customize displays for non-standard purposes.

Cons

The statistics display (like the charts) could use more customization options, like the ability to change colors and adjust the axes.

Pros

The functionality and how well it works with EA standards and frameworks in the industry is a big plus for me. It's a solid tool in that regard.

Cons

One downside is that the ABACUS interface is only in English. It would be nice if it had more language options.

Pros

Abacus Studio is really powerful. You can model using lots of different languages and frameworks right out of the box. I love how easy it is to enter models through diagrams or catalogs and then quickly generate filtered views with just a few clicks. When I need to share things with stakeholders, Abacus Enterprise makes it super easy. Anyone with a browser can view and comment on the models. The graph model behind It really helps with more effective analysis too.

Cons

Avolution is shifting more of its modeling to Abacus Enterprise, which I think is a good move but the product development isn't moving as quickly as I'd like to see.

Pros

It is a powerhouse for the organization. It really gets the job done.

Cons

It definitely needs to improve its UI in Studio. It could be much more user-friendly.

Pros

The user-friendliness of Abacus is something I really appreciate, plus the dashboard feature is great for creating an attractive, easy-to-understand view. The team is also always there to help with any issues that pop up.

Cons

Overall, I really like the tool and find it helpful. There's nothing I really dislike about it so far.

Pros

It comes with over 100 framework templates, which is awesome and their support services are incredibly powerful too.

Cons

The data storage still relies on flat files instead of fully utilizing databases. I'd like to see that improve.

Pros

I really like the interactive dashboard feature in Abacus, especially the KPI calculation formulas and how it integrates with REST APIs. It's all very convenient.

Cons

Nothing about Abacus feels useless to me. It's been really helpful in implementing the framework they provide.

Pros

The expert templates and the ability to collaborate and share information within the platform are fantastic.

Cons

The architecture doesn't change often but sometimes it's easy to forget what changes were made and why.

Pros

It has been really helpful in addressing the challenges we've faced while building our EA model. The experts and managers from Avolution are always professional and quick to provide the support we need.

Cons

It would be great if Abacus added more support for internationalization in the user interface.

Pros

I love how consistent the data is with the diagrams in Abacus. It just makes everything so much easier to work with and understand.

Cons

Since the user interface isn't available in other languages, I think users who aren't comfortable with English might need some technical support to get started.