Komerční banka: Creating Business Value with Sparx Enterprise Architect & Qwazar

Architecture models are made for experts – but how do you bring the wealth of data they contain into day-to-day business operations? Czech Komerční banka shows how it’s done: together with Sentica s.r.o., it implemented Qwazar, thereby opening up Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect to management, regulatory affairs, and compliance.

Prague-based Komerční banka (KB) is one of the leading financial institutions in the Czech Republic and in Central and Eastern Europe. As part of the Société Générale Group, it offers a broad spectrum of retail, corporate, and investment banking services. Around 7.100 employees, 150 development teams, and a dense branch and digital network create enormous organisational and technological complexity.

For over 20 years, the bank has used Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect (EA) for IT architecture, and for more than a decade also for business architecture. A central enterprise architecture department unites both worlds. The EA repository, with more than 450.000 objects, is now a real data treasure – and a key tool for architects.

Enterprise Architect: A Powerful Tool with a Dedicated Target Group

Enterprise Architect (EA) is a well-established modelling tool for complex systems that supports standards such as UML, BPMN, and ArchiMate. It enables requirements management, code generation, and collaboration. For architects, it is an indispensable tool.
Despite its strengths, EA encountered obstacles at Komerční banka when it was used beyond the circle of architects.

Zdeněk Kadlec, an Enterprise Architect at Komerční banka for more than 19 years, recalls additional problems: “Opening the repository to business users was out of the question due to the risk of model corruption.” There was also no straightforward way to connect external data sources such as HR or contract management systems.

Despite its usefulness for architects, EA was not accepted by business, risk, and regulatory departments, as it was perceived as too technical and not business-oriented. The result: the data treasure remained locked in the basement.

Bridging to Operations: The Qwazar Solution

To overcome these hurdles, Komerční banka decided to implement the Qwazar tool – a web-based Java/Kotlin system on top of the EA repository. “Qwazar follows a business-first approach. It is less a product and more a tailor-made solution,” says Kadlec.

Qwazar is a model-driven development environment that combines low-code and no-code approaches with enterprise architecture. The product is developed and maintained by Czech software company Sentica s.r.o.

“We see Enterprise Architect as a powerful platform for enterprise modelling. By extending its functionality with our own solutions, we make it easier and safer for a wide range of business users to unlock its full potential,” explains Jan Pardubicky, co-founder of Sentica.

A Tailored Solution for Business Users

On the Qwazar platform, business users work with forms, tables, and workflows aligned with their processes – without technical diagrams or architectural language. Strict field permissions and validations ensure security. Sentica ensures the tool is continuously adapted to the bank’s ever-changing needs.
“We focus on unlocking the real business value of enterprise models and helping companies address both growth and regulatory challenges,” Pardubicky explains.

The start screen of the Qwazar application serves as the central entry point for all functions: on the left are the tiles for Enterprise Architecture Management, and on the right are the regulatory and governance modules.

Why Qwazar and not Prolaborate, the collaboration tool from the Sparx ecosystem?

“The roots of the project go far back – around 2010 we began linking regulatory requirements, business models, and IT architecture,” recalls Kadlec. “In 2020, we started developing a central data-entry tool based on Enterprise Architect. At that time, we also evaluated the use of Prolaborate,” Kadlec continues.

However, the version of Prolaborate available at the time could not meet all requirements:
“Prolaborate is an excellent tool for collaboration, visualisation, and communication. But we needed a solution specifically tailored to the needs of our business users. That was the decisive reason why we chose to develop Qwazar in-house.”

Speed, Security, and Symbiosis

Qwazar writes data directly into the EA repository – quickly, reliably, and with clearly defined role models. A connector can be created in milliseconds via a dropdown menu. Each process – internally referred to as an “agenda” – can have its own permissions, export options, and notifications. Around 90% of the data comes from the repository, 9% from SQL databases, and 1% from REST APIs.

Thanks to Qwazar, a symbiotic relationship emerged: architecture teams retain control over the models, while business units can update and use data via an intuitive interface. 

Qwazar bridges the gap between business and technical perspectives and maximises the focus on business-relevant content.

Clear Responsibilities as the Key

A crucial success factor: for each agenda, a responsible person was defined – not an architect, but an operational manager from the business side. They ensure the quality of the content. As a result, the EA repository is not only maintained but also actively used in daily operations.

The benefits of using Qwazar include:

The detailed forms for individual elements are fully aligned with the functional requirements of users. All tabs, fields, and sections within these forms are named to match the language and understanding of business users.

Repository as an Operational Backbone

Today, the repository serves as the foundation for many applications, such as business continuity management, disaster recovery testing, or DORA compliance. It is also used in GDPR audits, cybersecurity assessments, and third-party management. It has evolved into an indispensable tool for business departments.

For the future, the team plans to develop Qwazar further into a product. A no-code version is planned, allowing users to define forms and functionalities directly within the application through an administrative interface.

A central feature of the Qwazar application is the ability to provide dynamic overview and filter tables of core enterprise architecture data. This reporting structure is specifically tailored to the needs of business users.

A Great Project Success

The integration of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and Qwazar at Komerční banka is a textbook success story. It impressively demonstrates how a powerful but potentially complex technical architecture platform can be transformed into a user-friendly business application accessible to a wide audience.

“Today, the repository is the authoritative source for regulatory purposes,” says Kadlec. “This means that architecture has gained real business value.”

This bridge from strategy and architecture modelling to direct implementation in easy-to-understand and user-friendly business applications has significantly improved data quality and compliance. It has also greatly increased the bank’s operational efficiency and its ability to respond quickly to new requirements – making Komerční banka fit for the digital future.