CA has established a Product Line Community for CA ERwin Data Modeler users. This is a virtual user group that works in conjunction with local user groups to assist users in successfully using ERwin and ERwin-related products.
I have posted in the past about the important of funnelling all your product enhancement request through supportconnect, your local user group, and the PLC -- but I guess I have not been direct or vocal enough. In response to a recent discussion on the ERwin User Discussion Group, I posted the following:
I have posted here many times on the importance of sending requests to the PLC and your local user group. I guess my language hasn't been direct enough. I don't know if this is true, but I get the feeling from chatting with CA folks that requests coming from the PLC have the highest priority.
I do worry that requests going through user group teams and the PLC are still vetted and summarized, which risks losing some urgency and priority, but it is my feeling (and I have nothing but intuition backing this up) that individual requests not going through these channels have very little chance of making on the list.
So I will say it again:
**** Send all your change request through the normal channels, through the PLC, and through a local user group. ****
You'll first have to "sell" your request to those groups to ensure that they understand why it is important, then they can sell the product management teams.
If you haven't formally joined the ERwin PLC, then you need to do that now, even if you aren't interested in their regular webinars or sharing your experiences with other users. You don't join for the "club" experience; you join so that your requests for new or modified functionality get the proper visibility and support from other users.
Even if you don't have a local user group most groups will let you join -- even if they are thousands of miles away. I'm a member of many EMUGs around the US and Canada. I don't know if that is against their rules, but I've joined them anyway. A couple of user groups will reject your membership requests. If that happens, find another one to join.
My local user group, the Toronto EMUG, shared with members a list of enhancement requests and asked for our input for prioritizing. They also solicited new requests at the same time. If your local group didn't do that, you should contact them and find out why. It might be a simple mismatch in e-mail addresses or a spam filter that blocked this communication.
CA is putting a ton of emphasis on the PLC. If you want your needs for ERwin to be heard and acted upon, you need get signed up.
Not a PLC member yet? Please use the registration instructions below:
- Go to the causergroups.ca.com.
- Click on "Join Today" located in the lower right corner.
- At the drop down menu, select "PLC - Modeling".
- Enter your information.
- Submit registration.