Under what model should activity diagrams be?

[jrEA]

There are different models available in EA, I need to know under which one should activity diagrams be defined.  I guess possible options are Business Process, Requirements, Use Case, Domain Model, Class.

Thanks

[jeshaw2]

Activity diagrams may appear in any and all of your models as needed.  Models represent different levels of abstraction and/or perspectives of a domain;  they are not diagram classifications nor are they diagram categories.

[sl@sh]

I think the question then should be: what are these models for? I was wondering about that myself, since while all my UML books and knowledge does tell me what diagram to use for modelling what, it does not explain the concept of the model abstraction layer EA provides. Is this an UML feature which I have missed somehow, or is it EA-specific?

So far, I have tried grouping diagrams on a more abstarct level, just like suggested above. However, I realized that many of the diagrams belong into several of the models at the same time, or at least should be referenced by several different models. The more I go into details, the more ambiguous it becomes for me to assign a certain diagram to a particular model - even if I create a diagram with the purpose to model a particular aspect of one specific model, I find that it - more often than not - fits to describe corresponding aspects of other models as well!

Without a proper definition of what these models mean (and what EA makes of them during code generation) I find it very hard to use them properly.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

I think the question then should be: what are these models for?

The supplied EA structure is a bit like MS word out of the box...

If you don't know what you're doing, then it provides a basic framework on which to throw some stuff together.

However, for any serious work the first thing you do is to throw away the default MS Word framework and create one that actually suits your needs.

Our repository looks NOTHING like the default EA structure.

If you search the forum you may¹ find some discussion on various structures for various purposes.

Sorry if this doesn't actually help, but it may provide some context for repository restructuring decisions.

Paolo

¹There is now considerable doubt that the search function is providing sufficient functionality to actually retrieve relevant postings.

[sl@sh]

Thanks, this answer does actually help. I was wondering if these "models" are a piece of UML philosophy I wasn't aware of (which is quite possible considering the age of the newest UML book currently on my desk) and if I was doing something inherently wrong.

I might not be very familiar with the "new" UML 2.x features, but I generally know what I'm doing, and EA's implication I should be using these models whenever I start something new raised some doubts...