The FIBO Data Model is moving to ERWin DM. This official announcement provides the timeline and details about the model structure, objects, and diagrams on the new platform.
Background
Since 2019, the Financial Industry Business Data Model (FIB-DM) has been an SAP PowerDesigner Conceptual Data Model (CDM).
However, hundreds of ERWin data architects successfully imported the native PowerDesigner file. The two most recent commercial licensees are on ERWin.
Unfortunately, SAP has decided to sunset PowerDesigner, rather than selling the product, forcing an unexpected and disappointing transition for data architecture teams at major Financial Institutions. Maintenance is scheduled to end on December 31, 2027.
PowerDesigner used to be the most widely used FIB-DM modeling tool according to responses on the download page. Since the SAP announcement, its share has almost halved. Current commercial licensees are in transition; we do not expect new customers with explicit modeling tool requirements.
Vision – a perfect ERWin LDM
Friends, Romans, data modelers, lend me your ears;
I come to bury PowerDesigner, not to praise it.
A native ERWin Data Architect release of the FIBO Data model serves our customers.
Users avoid duplicated, repeated quarterly migrations. While the ERWin Meta Integration Repository (MIR) bridge accurately and completely imports entities, relationships, and properties, it has some shortcomings:
- Diagrams don’t look like the FIB-DM education materials and require manual rework.
- Some important metadata – stereotypes and definitions – are missing.
- Subject Areas lack the folder hierarchy of the Financial Industry Business Ontology (FIBO)
The native ERWin release of the model is a director’s cut: Clean diagrams like the above preserve the FIB-DM style and convention. Additional ERWin User-Defined Properties (UDP) preserve the Stereotype to differentiate Base from Associative and Equivalent entities. Relationships get a UDP to capture the role (Parent/Child/Dual) between base and associative entities.
A Code UDP preserves the PowerDesigner entity and relationship code. For example, fibo-loan-ln-ln:Loan derived from the FIBO prefix and localname.
Finally, UDPs on Subject Areas facilitate navigation and reporting in the FIBO indented hierarchy or ontology modules.
The FIBO in ERwin is an ongoing process incorporating questions and suggestions from ERWin users. We will update the model details section as we add new features.
Timeline
| Status | FIB-DM release | Derived from FIBO release | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| In development | October, 2026 | 2026-Q2 | Finalizing enhanced ERWin import and metadata bulk inserts, Themes, and diagram styles. |
| Beta | November, 2026 | 2026-Q3 | The next FIB-DM release will have an ERWin version for licensees with maintenance. UAT feedback will further improve the model. |
| Production | January, 2027 | 2026-Q4 | The ERWin model becomes the FIB-DM masterfile and is officially released on the FIB-DM SharePoint. A PowerDesigner version without diagrams remains available. The FIB-DM Intellectual Property License Agreement (IPLA) reflects the change. Diagrams of new FIBO modules are ERWin entity-level LDMs. Quarterly releases throughout the year; 2027 will include official model updates in ERWin, with a complimentary PowerDesigner model. |
| Production | March, 2027 | 2020-Q1 (TBD) | Release of the ERWin version of the open-source data model. As with the commercial version, the open-source version will include download links for both models. |
| Production | April, 2027 | 2027-Q1 | “Semantics for Data Architects” training materials and video reflect ERWin. |
| Production | July, 2027 | 2027-Q2 | “Scoping Data Model from FIB-DM” training materials and video in ERWin. This may be a major content upgrade, scoping a mortgage model from FIB DM featuring the Navigator. |
| Production | October, 2027 | 2027-Q3 | The last PowerDesigner version of the FIBO Data Model. We expect that in a year, all FIB-DM licensees on PowerDesigner will have completed their transition. New training lessons in ERWin. |
| Production | January, 2028 | 2027-Q4 | ERWin only. |
Model Details
This section will document features, design decisions, and workarounds for the FIB-DM ERWin version.
Diagrams
Clean diagrams like the above preserve the FIB-DM style and convention.
Subject Areas
The added subject area code UDP already shows the FIBO hierarchy or ontology modules, e.g. fibo-loan-ln–ln. Additional UDPs capture the parent Subject Areas.
User-Defined Properties
A Code UDP preserves the PowerDesigner entity and relationship code. Derived from the FIBO, the code is the recommended naming convention when you generate a physical model from FIB-DM.
CODT
The Configurable Ontology to Data Model Transformation (CODT) is the patented technology that created the FIBO Data Model.
By design, the transformation is basic ETL: extract the ontology Metadata Set (MDS), transform it into a generic E/R MDS, and transform it into a data modeling tool-specific MDS.
The data flow diagram is a variation of U.S. Patent No. 12,038,939 FIG-3.
We added an ERWin Metadata Set to the existing PowerDesigner MDS. I promised to”bury PowerDesigner …” – not lamenting where ERwin falls short. However, the MIR Excel bridge is the antithesis of data modeling – one big fat table, 128 columns from model to subject area to entity, to UDPs, to attributes, all in one metadata sheet.
The existing 23 CODT Metadata Sets are incremental: entity, data items, attributes, associative entities, packages, and their ontology annotations with model checks after every step. While any Excel/PowerQuery expert can populate the MIR sheet, as we all know, denormalization invites data anomalies. We will update the tutorials and the Metadata Sets specification on the CODT.net website.
ERWin experts, please comment, correct, or advise!
Feedback
Commercial licensees are already in touch and will provide feedback, corrections, and suggestions throughout this quarter.
ERWin experts are welcome to comment and correct.
Open-source users who migrated from PowerDesigner are welcome to share.
Email me at jziemer@jayzed.com or comment on the FIB-DM LinkedIn page.
Thanks, Jurgen