System Behaviour

A description of the way a complex system behaves over time. This often deals with changing state, internal feedback loops and time delays. These elements explain why seemingly simple systems often display baffling nonlinearity.

The dynamic aspects of the system are often contrasted with complexities that arise from the volume of the information content

Representation

The UML Behaviour Diagrams are used to document and present system behaviour:

UML Activity Diagram: represents the business and operational step-by-step workflows of components in a system. An activity diagram shows the overall flow of control.
UML State Machine Diagram: standardized notation to describe many systems, from computer programs to business processes.
UML Use Case Diagram: shows the functionality provided by a system in terms of actors, their goals represented as use cases, and any dependencies between them.
UML Communication Diagram: shows the interactions between objects or parts in terms of sequenced messages. They represent a combination of information taken from Class, Sequence, and Use Case Diagrams describing both the static structure and dynamic behaviour of a system.
UML Interaction Overview Diagram: are a type of activity diagram in which the nodes represent interaction diagrams.
UML Sequence Diagram: shows how objects communicate with each other in terms of a sequence of messages. Also indicates the lifespans of objects relative to those messages.
UML Timing Diagram: are a specific type of interaction diagram, where the focus is on timing constraints.

Links to this page

The following pages link to here: Building Web Sites, Information Architecture, Information Content, Role, System Behaviour, UML Behaviour Diagrams, UML Communication Diagram, UML Interaction Diagrams, Unified Modeling Language, Use Case