8/9/2019 Using Business Activity diagram

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USEOFTHEDIAGRAMSOFACTIVITIESFORTHEMODELINGOFBUSINESSUsuallywhenwetakecaretodesignaninformationsystemwe'readaptingaworkflowandbehaviorstoacomputersystem.Abletoproperlyrepresentandunderstandtheseflowswillbeofgreathelpindesigningoursystem.InsidewehavetheUMLactivitydiagram,thisdiagramwillservetodefinethebusinessprocessesthatmustbeconsideredourinformationsystem.Activitydiagramsarepartofbusinessmodeling.Inundertakingtheactivitydiagramonecanseeclearlyallactivitiesandlogica

lflow,includingtheprocessesrunninginparallel(andnotonlythesequentialflow),flowofactivitiesandnotdata,thisisoneofthemaindifferencesbetweenactivitydiagramandotherflowcharts,andthisishowweshouldthinkaboutwhenwedesignanactivitydiagram.Thistypeofdiagramisnotonlyusedinsoftwareengineering,butinotherareaswhereithastodefineworkprocesses,becausewiththemwecanrepresentthelogicalsequenceofabusinessprocess,andbrokendownintodifferentactivities,thisisoneofthegreatvirtuesofthistypeofdiagram.ActivitydiagramsappearedintheUML1.3notation,andisoneofthoseusedformodelingthedynamicaspectsofthesystem.AndthesearebasedoneventdiagramsJimOdellandothermodelingtechniquessuchasSDLandPetriNets.Eachactivitydiagramiscomposedofaseriesofactivitiesthatrepresentastatewithintheflow.Thisstatehastogeneratesomeinformation.Iti

srepresentedbythefollowingfigure:StereotypesIDE

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business

Activity

Anactivitycanbebrokendownfurtherbreakingdownastheiractivitiesinanothergroupofthem.IDEDescriptionIntheRationalRose,youcanaddanactivitydiagramintoanactivitytofurtherdetailthestepsinthisactivity

Inotheridesisdescribedwithinthesameactivity

Obviouslyeverythingthatrepresentsanactivityflowcanbeinterrupted.

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Theactivitydiagramallowsustoidentifylogicalbehavioroftheflowofactivities,withthisflowwegetaclearpictureofthebehaviorofthebusinesstologicalconditions.Wewillusethediamondsymbol.

Activitiescommunicatewitheachotherusingtransitions,torepresentatransitionuseanarrow.Thesenseofflowthatwerepresentisgivenbythedirectionofthearrow.Withintheflowofbusinesswearemodelingconcurrentstreamscanbefound.Intheactivitydiagramhaveasynchronizationbartospecifythedivisionandunionofparallelworkflows.

.Synchronizationwiththebarsrepresentparallelflows,butUMLincorporatesaveryinterestingelementtorepresentparallelflowswhentheyareexecutedbydifferentroles.ThiselementiscalledSWINLINES.Aswinlineisaresponsibilitywithintheflowofthebusiness(high-levelresponsibility),eachswinlinemusthaveauniquenamewithinthediagramandanactivitycanonlybelongtooneSwinlines.

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8/9/2019 Using Business Activity diagram

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InSwinlineswerepresentnotonlydoesthebusinessprocessbutalsowhodoesit.Theabilitytorepresentparallelprocessesresponsibilitiesanddiagramsmakeavalue-addedactivitiesflowdiagrams,asthesecanonlyrepresentsequentialprocesses.

Theactivitydiagramwewilluseintheanalysisphase,butsowecanuseinthe

developmentphaseatthisstagewewilluseasatooltorepresentthebehaviorofobjects,foritisrecommendedthattheseappeartorepresentitsinitialvalueandtheresultsaftertheactivity.Butitallflowscanberepresentedusingtheactivitydiagram.Nontrivialsystemsexistwhichcannotreflecttheirbehaviorinanactivitydiagram.AswehaveseenwiththeactivitydiagramcanhaveaclearervisionofwhatwillbethebusinessprocessUMLGrouphttp://groups.msn.com/UML

weneedtodevelopthankstoitsgreatrichnessofexpression,thusclearinganyconcurrentorexternalcircuitstooursystem.Thesediagramsarealsousedtomodeltheflowofausecase.

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