Activity diagram is another important behavioral diagram in UML diagram to describe dynamic aspects of the system. Activity diagram is essentially an advanced version of flow chart that modeling the flow from one activity to another activity.
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Free DownloadActivity Diagrams describe how activities are coordinated to provide a service which can be at different levels of abstraction. Typically, an event needs to be achieved by some operations, particularly where the operation is intended to achieve a number of different things that require coordination, or how the events in a single use case relate to one another, in particular, use cases where activities may overlap and require coordination. It is also suitable for modeling how a collection of use cases coordinate to represent business workflows
A basic activity diagram - flowchart like
The activity diagram example below describes the workflow for a word process to create a document through the following steps:
Given the problem description related to the workflow for processing an order, let's model the description in visual representation using an activity diagram:
Process Order - Problem Description Once the order is received, the activities split into two parallel sets of activities. One side fills and sends the order while the other handles the billing. On the Fill Order side, the method of delivery is decided conditionally. Depending on the condition either the Overnight Delivery activity or the Regular Delivery activity is performed. Finally the parallel activities combine to close the order. |
The activity diagram example below visualize the flow in graphical form.
This UML activity diagram example describes a process for student enrollment in a university as follows:
A swimlane is a way to group activities performed by the same actor on an activity diagram or activity diagram or to group activities in a single thread. Here is an example of a Swimlane activity diagram for modeling Staff Expenses Submission:
The activity diagram example below describes the business process for meeting a new client using an activity Diagram without Swimlane.
This figure below describes the business process for meeting a new client using an activity Diagram with Swimlane.
Notation Description | UML Notation |
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Activity Is used to represent a set of actions |
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Action A task to be performed |
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Control Flow Shows the sequence of execution |
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Object Flow Show the flow of an object from one activity (or action) to another activity (or action). |
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Initial Node Portrays the beginning of a set of actions or activities |
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Activity Final Node Stop all control flows and object flows in an activity (or action) |
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Object Node Represent an object that is connected to a set of Object Flows |
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Decision Node Represent a test condition to ensure that the control flow or object flow only goes down one path |
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Merge Node Bring back together different decision paths that were created using a decision-node. |
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Fork Node Split behavior into a set of parallel or concurrent flows of activities (or actions) |
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Join Node Bring back together a set of parallel or concurrent flows of activities (or actions). |
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Swimlane and Partition A way to group activities performed by the same actor on an activity diagram or to group activities in a single thread |
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