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March is upon us, winter is coming to an end, and PowerDesigner 16.6 is now available! But before you go rushing out to download your copy to be the first customer to test it out, please take a few minutes to read through this official release from the PDNN (PowerDesigner News Network). I promise it's worth your while, unlike assembly directions for IKEA furniture. I've also attached the Release Notes for your reading pleasure.
Installation
The download file is located under the Installation and Upgrades at the SAP Support Portal. There is only one download that includes both the 32-bit and 64-bit installations, which is why the zip file is over 3GB! While the single large file is provided for ease of use, it comes at the price of it's length.Make sure you’re on a fast connection or start the download, go take a walk, have some lunch or enjoy a nice night’s sleep. It will be there in the morning.
Along with the client installs, the zip file also includes the following installations:
PowerDesigner Proxy 32-bit and 64-bit
SYSAM 2.3 (32-bit and 64-bit)
PowerDesigner Portal
SAP SQL Anywhere 16
Note: As always, if you upgrade the Client, you must also upgrade the Proxy and Portal to the same version.
It should also be noted that even though this is an installation, it cannot be installed alongside a previous version of PowerDesigner 16.x. For example, if you are currently using 16.5 SP05 PL04, you will get the following message stating that the setup will update your version to 16.6.
Do I need to generate a new license file for 16.6?
Nope! PowerDesigner 16.6 can use the same license file as PowerDesigner 16.5. If you are upgrading from a previous version, you may optionally regenerate your PowerDesigner license keys at SAP Service Marketplace (SMP).
With that out of the way, let's move on to the fun stuff!
What’s new in 16.6?
PowerDesigner Desktop Client
Business Process Modeling
Enhanced Solution Manager 7.1 support, ease alignment with BPMN2
Data Support Enhancement
Data Modeling
SAP HANA Calculation Views
SAP HANA Core Data Services (CDS)
Others
Reworked tool box for relationship tools
Prefix-suffix in model generation
Enable Procedure with same name and different signature
Enterprise Architecture Model - creation and editing
Requirements Model - creation and editing
Search and reuse
Impact Analysis
Customizable Diagram Reports
Translatable Diagrams
Simplified Diagram Creation
Repository Explorer Enhancements
Move models
Delete folders and models, delete versions
Rename folders and models
External documents support
Administration Enhancements
New list of locks, activities, and change lists
Test connection to database, license and LDAP servers
Enhanced user list
For more detail on these exciting new features, visit the New Features section at the SAP Library.
What about certification information?
Certification
Certified Integration IDE
Eclipse 4.x JDK 1.5
Certified Repository Database
SAP ASE 15.5, 15.7, 16.0
SAP SQL Anywhere 11.x, 12.x, 16.x, 17.x
SAP Hana 1.0
Microsoft SQL Server 2008, 2012, 2014
Oracle 11g, 12c
IBM DB2 os/390 10.x, 11.x DB2 LUW 9.x, 10.x
IBM DB2 os/390 10.x, 11.x DB2 LUW 9.x, 10.x
Certified PowerDesigner Web Server Platform
Browser: IE 10, IE 11, Firefox 26 to 42, Chrome 35 to 48
Web Server:Tomcat 7.x, Tomcat 8.x, JBoss AS 7.0 & 7.1, JBOSS EAP 6.x(JBoss 7.2), Weblogic 12
Server OS version: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 2008 Server , Windows 2012 Server
Another important note is that PowerAMC is now PowerDesigner!
Previous versions of PowerDesigner were provided as an English language installer and a separate French language installer, and the French version was called PowerAMC. From v16.6 onwards, both the English and French versions are called PowerDesigner and a single installer is delivered, which allows you to choose the installation language.
So there’s your brief rundown of 16.6! Go have fun with the new release and as always...