Matakuliah : F0712 / Lab Sistem Informasi Akuntansi
Tahun
: 2007
Dokumentasi Sistem Dengan Activity Diagram
Pertemuan 03 s.d 04
The UML Activity Diagram
• A “map” for understanding business
processes
• Shows the sequence of activities in the
process
• Two types of activity diagrams:
– Overview
– Detailed
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Two Types of Activity Diagrams
• Overview diagram
– Presents a high-level view of the business
process
– Documents the key events, the sequence
of these events, and the information flows
among these events
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Two Types of Activity Diagrams
• Detailed diagram
– Provides a more detailed
representation of the activities
associated with one or two events
shown on the overview diagram
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Understanding Overview Activity Diagrams
Reading an overview activity diagram
• Swimlanes – represent agents outside the
organization and the computer system used to
record and process AIS data.
• Solid circle - represents the start of the process.
It appears in the swimlane of the agent (inside
or outside the organization) who initiates the
process.
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Understanding Overview Activity Diagrams
Reading an overview activity diagram
• Rounded rectangles – indicate events. (Some
events were triggered by other events earlier
in the business process rather than by agents
outside the organization No additional
rounded rectangle was needed to represent
this trigger.)
• Continuous lines with arrows - show the
sequence of events.
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Understanding Overview Activity Diagrams
Reading an overview activity diagram
• Document symbol - represents source
documents and reports.
• Capital letter(s) followed by a colon before
the name of the document - represents
reference to a typical document created
during the process. (Indicate the status of the
object below its name.)
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Understanding Overview Activity Diagrams
Reading an overview activity diagram
• Dotted lines with arrows - represent the flow of
information between events.
• Dotted lines - connect events and tables to show
how table data are created or used by events. For
example, the dotted line to the Sale table
represents the sale being recorded.
• Bull’s-eye - represents the end of the process.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Preliminary Steps:
Step 1: Read the narrative and identify key events.
Step 2: Annotate the narrative to clearly show event
boundaries and event names.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines on naming events:
a. Use broad names that reflect the purpose of
the event .
b. Avoid names that focus on detailed steps in
the event.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines on naming events:
c. Be specific. Avoid names such as “Process
information.” Information is a general
word and does not convey much content
to your reader. Use more precise event
names.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines on naming events:
d. Start event names with a verb.
e. Do not include employee or department
names in event names.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Steps for Preparing the Activity Diagram:
Step 3: Represent agents participating in the
business process using swimlanes.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing people or
devices:
a. Create a swimlane for each person or
department responsible for various events
in the narrative.
b. Create a swimlane for entities outside the
organization that initiate events in the
process.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing people or
devices:
c. Create a swimlane for the computer
system.
d. Write the name of the appropriate person
or department in the swimlane.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Common errors in representing people or
devices:
• Computer systems should be represented as
a swimlane since the computer can perform
actions.
• Documents, files, ledgers, and binders cannot
perform any activity. Do not set up
swimlanes for such objects.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Steps for Preparing the Activity Diagram:
Step 4: Diagram each event. Show the
sequence of these events.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for documenting events and the
sequence of events:
a. Draw a solid circle to represent the start of
the process. The solid circle is shown in the
swimlane for the agent (inside or outside the
organization) who initiates the process.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for documenting events and
the sequence of events:
Start with the first event.
b. If the event is triggered by an agent
outside the organization, show a rounded
rectangle for the trigger.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for documenting events and the
sequence of events:
c. Set up a rounded rectangle for the event in
the swimlane of the person or department
within the organization who is responsible
for the event.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for documenting events and the
sequence of events:
d. If the event is triggered by an agent outside
the organization, connect the trigger (see
Step b) to the event with a continuous line.
e. Otherwise, connect the previous event to
the current event with a continuous line.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for documenting events and the
sequence of events:
Repeat Steps b through e for each subsequent event.
f. Draw a bull’s-eye to represent the end of the
process. Set up the bull’s-eye in the swimlane for
the agent performing the last event. Connect the
last event to the bull’s-eye with a continuous line.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Common errors in documenting events and
sequences of events:
a. All the events identified in Steps 1 and 2 are
not shown on the activity diagram.
b. Additional events not identified in Steps 1 and
2 are shown on the activity diagram.
c. Continuous lines connecting events are not
shown.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Common errors in documenting events and
sequences of events:
d. Events are labeled with agent names. Agent
names should not be included in event
names since agent names are represented in
swimlanes.
e. Event names are not consistent with the
names identified in Step 2.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Steps for Preparing the Activity Diagram:
Step 5: Draw documents created and used in
the business process. Show the flow of
information from events to documents
and vice versa.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing documents and
document flows:
a. Draw a document symbol below the event
that creates or modifies a document.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing documents and
document flows:
b. Draw dotted lines to connect events and
documents:
– Draw a flow from an event to a document
to show that a document is being prepared
or modified by the event.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing documents and
document flows:
b. Draw dotted lines to connect events and
documents:
– Draw a dotted line from a document to an
event to show that information on a
document is being reviewed or used by
the event or activity.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing documents and
document flows:
b. Draw dotted lines to connect events and
documents:
– If a document appears multiple times in the
process, add status information showing how
the object changes during the process.
There’s usually no need to show a document
symbol again unless it’s modified or updated.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing documents and
document flows:
c. Note that we focus on events that use,
create, or modify documents. We do not
show the physical transfer of objects.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Common errors in representing
documents and document flows:
a. Verbs are mistakenly used in naming
documents. The dotted lines represent
information flows. Do not need verbs in
the document names.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Common errors in representing documents
and document flows:
b. Documents are not connected to events.
Make sure all important flows are shown.
One of the major benefits of an activity
diagram is that it helps you understand the
flow of information in an AIS, which is very
important in analyzing internal control.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Steps for Preparing the Activity Diagram:
Step 6: Draw tables (files) created and used in
the business process. Show the flow of
information from events to tables and vice
versa.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing tables and flow of
information to and from tables:
a. Show computer tables in the Computer
column. Only the computer system can read or
write information from or to these tables.
b. Draw a flow from a table to an event to
represent the fact that information in a table
is being reviewed or used by the event.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Guidelines for representing tables and
flow of information to and from tables:
c. Draw a flow from an event to a table to
show that a record is being created or
updated by the event or activity.
d. Include status information to show how
the object changes during the business
process.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Common errors in representing tables and
flow of information to and from tables:
a. Tables are named with verbs. Use nouns to
label tables.
b. Table attributes are listed instead of table
names. Table names are a more compact way
of representing tables on activity diagrams.
Labeling individual attributes makes the
diagram harder to understand.
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Preparing Overview Activity Diagrams
Common errors in representing tables and
flow of information to and from tables:
c. All flows between events and tables are not
shown. As with documents, flow of
information to and from tables is important
in understanding accounting systems and
controls. Include all important flows.
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Understanding Detailed Activity Diagrams
• The symbols used in the detailed and
overview diagrams are the same.
• The major difference - rounded rectangles in
the detailed diagrams represent activities,
not events.
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Understanding Detailed Activity Diagrams
• Two additional symbols in detailed diagrams:
– a branch (diamond) symbol - a point where
processing splits into two or more paths.
– a UML note symbol - enables reference to
more detailed information available in
another diagram or document.
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Preparing Detailed Activity Diagrams
Step 1: Annotate narrative to show activities.
Highlight the verbs in the narrative that
represent activities.
Step 2: Prepare a workflow table. Set up a
table using a two-column format. Identify the
business events with which the activities are
associated.
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Preparing Detailed Activity Diagrams
Step 3: Identify necessary detailed diagrams.
• Construct a separate detailed diagram for
each event in the business process
Or
• Include more than one event in the detailed
diagram.
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Preparing Detailed Activity Diagrams
Step 4: For each detailed diagram, perform the
following substeps:
4a. Set up swimlanes for the agents participating in the
event or events represented in the detailed
diagram.
4b. Add a rounded rectangle for each activity in the
event(s) being documented in that detailed diagram.
4c. Use continuous lines to show the sequence of the
activities.
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Preparing Detailed Activity Diagrams
Step 4: For each detailed diagram, perform the following
substeps:
4d. Set up any documents created or used by the activities
in that diagram.
4e. Use dotted lines to connect activities and documents.
4f. Document any tables created, modified, or used by the
activities in the diagram in the computer column.
4g. Use dotted lines to connect activities and tables.
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