Linking and Synchronizing Models

The PowerDesigner Enterprise Modeling environment permits you to create and exploit complex interdependencies between your models.

When you, for example, generate one model from another, or create a shortcut or define mappings from one model to another, you can track and analyze these dependencies via property sheets. You can also use impact analysis, a powerful tool for evaluating the consequences of changes on objects before performing these changes or before consolidating a list of changes in the repository.

The following types of interdependencies can be created between models:

Generation links - created during model generation. Each generated object is linked with its origin object.
Shortcuts - references that you create explicitly to objects in other models (target objects). When models are open in the workspace, you can see the links between shortcuts and other objects in the Dependencies tab of target objects.
Manual links. automatically created in several other cases: when you link objects using extended or calculated collections, extended dependencies, or related diagrams. When you create manual links, shortcuts are silently created in the model.

Generating a Model
PowerDesigner provides powerful capabilities for generating one model from another, and then keeping the two models synchronized. Thus, you could model your data at an abstract level in a CDM, generate an LDM to model implementation-neutral features, and then generate multiple PDMs for various DBMSs.
Linking Models Using Shortcuts
PowerDesigner lets you reference an object defined in another model. When you modify the definition of the referenced object, all its occurrences called shortcuts are updated in the different models.
Linking Models Manually
PowerDesigner automatically creates links when you use the following features: