Activity Diagram

An activity diagram is a UML diagram that is used to model a process. It models the actions (or behaviors) performed by the components of a business process or IT system, the order in which the actions take place, and the conditions that coordinate the actions in a specific order.

Activity diagrams are mainly used as a flowchart consists of activities performed by the system. But activity diagram is not exactly a flow chart as they have some additional capabilities. These additional capabilities include branching, parallel flow, swim lane etc.

Before drawing an activity diagram we must have a clear understanding about the elements used in activity diagram. The main element of an activity diagram is the activity itself. An activity is a function performed by the system. After identifying the activities we need to understand how they are associated with constraints and conditions.

So before drawing an activity diagram we should identify the following elements:

• Activities
• Association
• Conditions
• Constraints

Once the above mentioned parameters are identified we need to make a mental layout of the entire flow. This mental layout is then transformed into an activity diagram.

The following is an example of an activity diagram for order management system. In the diagram four activities are identified which are associated with conditions. One important point should be clearly understood that an activity diagram cannot be exactly matched with the code. The activity diagram is made to understand the flow of activities and mainly used by the business users.

The following diagram is drawn with the four main activities:

• Send order by the customer
• Receipt of the order
• Confirm order
• Dispatch order

After receiving the order request condition checks are performed to check if it is normal or special order. After the type of order is identified dispatch activity is performed and that is marked as the termination of the process.

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