Purpose

This tool mentor describes the steps for describing a business use case using activity diagrams in Rational Rose.

Overview

This is a summary of the steps you follow to create an activity diagram in a business use-case model:

1. Create an activity diagram in a business use case

2. Create swimlanes (optional)
3. Create and describe an activity state in the diagram
4. Connect activity states with transitions
5. Create synchronization bars
6. Create decisions with guard conditions
7. Identify the supported business goals

For detailed information on Activity Diagrams, see:

• How to > Work with Activity Diagrams in the Rational Rose online help

• Chapter 8, State Machine Diagrams and Specifications in the Using Rational Rose manual.

1. Create an activity diagram in a business use case

Activity diagrams can be very effective in illustrating the workflow of various events in a use-case diagram. The flow of events of a use case describes what needs to be done by the system in order to provide value to an actor. Also, use case diagrams present a high level view of how the system is used as viewed from an outsider's (actor's) perspective. You can use activity diagrams to specify and define each event in a use case diagram.

For complete details on how to create an activity diagram, see the Creating an Activity Diagram topic in the Rational Rose online help.

2. Create swimlanes (optional)

Swimlanes are helpful when modeling a business workflow because they can represent organizational units or roles within a business model. Swimlanes are very similar to an object because they provide a way to tell who is performing a certain role. You should place activities within swimlanes to determine which unit is responsible for carrying out a specific activity. When a swimlane is dragged onto an activity diagram, it becomes a swimlane view. Swimlanes appear as small icons in the browser while a swimlane views appear between the thin, vertical lines with a header that can be renamed and relocated.

For more information on swimlanes, see the Swimlanes topic in the Rational Rose online help.

3. Create and describe an activity state in the diagram

An activity represents the performance of a task or duty in a workflow. It may also represent the execution of a statement in a procedure. An activity is similar to a state, but expresses the intent that there is no significant waiting (for events) in an activity.

For more information on activities, see the Activity topic in the Rational Rose online help.

4. Connect activity states with transitions

Transitions connect activities with other model elements. You can create a transition between two activities or between an activity and a state.

For more information on transitions, see the State Transition topic in the Rational Rose online help.

5. Create synchronization bars

Synchronizations enable you to see a simultaneous workflow in an activity diagram. Synchronizations visually define forks and joins representing parallel workflow.

A fork construct is used to model a single flow of control that divides into two or more separate, but simultaneous flows. Every fork that appears on an activity diagram should ideally be accompanied by a corresponding join. A join consists of two of more flows of control that unite into a single flow of control. All model elements (such as activities) that appear between a fork and join must complete before the flow of controls can unite into one.

For more information on synchronization bars, see the Synchronizations topic in the Rational Rose online help.

6. Create decisions with guard conditions

A decision represents a specific location on an activity diagram where the workflow may branch based upon guard conditions. There may be more than two outgoing transitions with different guard conditions, but for the most part, a decision will have only two outgoing transitions determined by a Boolean expression. You can place guard conditions on transitions to or from almost any element on an activity diagram.

For more information on decisions and guard conditions, see the Decisions topic in the Rational Rose online help.

7. Identify the supported business goals

To insert a supports dependency from a business use case to a business goal in a use case diagram, do the following:

• Select the Dependency arrow from the toolbox in the class diagram editor.
• Position the cursor on the business use case in the use case diagram. Left-click and move the cursor to the business goal symbol and release.
• Double-click on the created dependency and select the «supports» stereotype in the Dependency Specification dialog box.
• Click OK.
• Right-click on the created dependency, and make sure that the Show Stereotype selection is checked in the pop-up menu.
• The stereotype label can be repositioned by dragging and dropping it in the diagram.