![]() branches and forks describe conditions and parallel activities." (Note that an activity diagram is basically a UML standard version of a process flow diagram. It may be helpful for many analysts to attempt to sketch the diagram on paper before moving to a program.Īs the diagram moves forward, it will be easier for the analyst to identify which (if any) actors must be added.Īrrows should run from the start (initial node) toward the end (end node). A few hints to keep in mind when constructing an activity diagram are:Īn analyst should start his or her diagram with the initial action in the workflow process. An example of this is below.Īn activity diagram's construction lends itself to practical thinking, while enabling the depiction of workflows with multiple choices, conditions, and actors. An example of this is below.Īnother variation of an activity diagram is a diagram with swimlanes, which are partitions that indicate who does what-displaying an actor or entity in each lane. Other possible (but not always necessary) elements of an activity diagram include nested activities (basically a small activity diagram within an activity diagram). Note that each of the elements listed above are included. Here again is our example of an activity diagram representing the process of a print publisher acquiring a book deal. As one writer notes, "The activity diagram is well suited for the illustration of business processes, since business processes rarely occur in a linear manner and often exhibit parallelisms." These are represented by a blackened circle within a circle.Įlements such as guard conditions, fork and join, and decisions are among the distinct advantages of activity diagrams because they make it possible for analysts to easily display parallel events and multiple conditions-which many real-life workflows have. After the merge all of the parallel activities must be combined by a join before transitioning into the final activity state." Both the initial split (or fork) and the latter join are represented by the same symbol, a horizontal bar.Įnd nodes, which indicate the end of the workflow (also known as the final state). "All branches at some point are followed by a merge to indicate the end of the conditional behavior started by that branch. "Guard conditions control which transition of a set of alternative transitions follows once the activity has been completed." These are represented by brackets.Ī fork and join, which indicates two or more possible conditions that may occur in the same process. Guard conditions, which indicate a condition required for the workflow to proceed, and which normally (but not always) follows a decision. allow you to show alternative threads in the workflow of a business use case." Useful for presenting workflows that have one or more possible outcomes, "decisions. These are represented by ovals.ĭecisions, which indicate a choice between multiple conditions. This is represented by an arrow.Īctivities, which indicate steps or stages in the workflow. This is represented by a blackened circle.Ĭontrol flows, which indicate the direction of the workflow. Initial nodes, which indicate the start of the workflow (also known as initial state). The more commonly used elements of an activity diagram are: As the Sourcemaking website notes, "Activity diagrams allow you to think functionally." Not only do they enable analysts to think about a workflow functionally, they enable the practical presentation of a workflow. They also help analysts to think through the process of the workflow by their very creation. A basic example of an activity diagram is below:Īmong the most common workflow diagrams employed by the business analysis profession, activity diagrams are useful for describing "the interaction between the players and the business as the use case is played out." Because they do enable the display of both players and the business processes, and because they employ simple diagramming techniques, activity diagrams are easy for even junior analysts to pick up quickly. They also enable the simple presentation of multiple conditions and choices within a workflow. An activity diagram shows the overall flow of control." Another site puts it even more simply: "Activity diagrams are used to illustrate activities." To that end, activity diagrams may be used to describe an entire system, a use case, or an activity within the use case. As one site notes, "In the Unified Modeling Language, activity diagrams can be used to describe the business and operational step-by-step workflows of components in a system. Its purpose is to enable analysts to present a concrete, easy-to-follow visual of the workflow of a business use case. An activity diagram is a type of flowchart that is part of the UML (Unified Modeling Language) standard.
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