The most useful, standard UML diagrams are: use case diagram, class diagram, sequence diagram, statechart diagram, activity diagram, component diagram, and deployment diagram.
Use-case diagram
A use case illustrates a unit of functionality provided by the system. The main purpose of the use-case diagram is to help development teams visualize the functional requirements of a system, including the relationship of “actors” (human beings who will interact with the system) to essential processes, as well as the relationships among different use cases. Use-case diagrams generally show groups of use cases — either all use cases for the complete system, or a breakout of a particular group of use cases with related functionality (e.g., all security administration-related use cases). To show a use case on a use-case diagram, you draw an oval in the middle of the diagram and put the name of the use case in the center of, or below, the oval. To draw an actor (indicating a system user) on a use-case diagram, you draw a stick person to the left or right of your diagram (and just in case you’re wondering, some people draw prettier stick people than others). Use simple lines to depict relationships between actors and use cases, as shown in Figure 1.
A use-case diagram is typically used to communicate the high-level functions of the system and the system’s scope. By looking at our use-case diagram in Figure 1, you can easily tell the functions that our example system provides. This system lets the band manager view a sales statistics report and the Billboard 200 report for the band’s CDs. It also lets the record manager view a sales statistics report and the Billboard 200 report for a particular CD. The diagram also tells us that our system delivers Billboard reports from an external system called Billboard Reporting Service.
In addition, the absence of use cases in this diagram shows what the system doesn’t do. For example, it does not provide a way for a band manager to listen to songs from the different albums on the Billboard 200 — i.e., we see no reference to a use case called Listen to Songs from Billboard 200. This absence is not a trivial matter. With clear and simple use-case descriptions provided on such a diagram, a project sponsor can easily see if needed functionality is present or not present in the system.
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