Search code examples
umldiagramuse-caseflowchartactivity-diagram

Activity diagram of use-case, do I include <<includes>> in it?

If I'm for example making an activity diagram (flowchart) of "update a component", do I need to include the "show available component updates" activity diagram in that one too? They are different use-cases, "update a component" includes "show available component updates"

Thanks.

Solution

  • Contrary to the "one sequence diagram per one use case scenario" best practice, there's no rule (as far as I know) how broad in scope should an activity diagram be.

    The only rule that applies here would be "use the level of detail which makes things clear enough to the readers".

    I think it's best justified by what The Guru said in an interview with Mark Collins-Cope for the Objective View magazine on Sep 12, 2014

    Grady Booch, creator of the Unified Modelling Language (UML):

    "The UML should be used to reason about alternatives. Put up some diagrams. Throw some use cases against it. Throw away those diagrams then write some code against you best decision. Repeat (and refactor)"

    For instance the activity diagram in

    uml-diagrams.org: UML Activity Diagram Example

    enter image description here

    shows more use cases at the same time. Each lane belonging to one actor could be described by one separate use case