Off Page Connections (again) linking process steps

[AndyJ]

Hi team,

I've inherited a set of Visio Business Process diagrams...

They've quite happily imported into SparxEA Activity Diagrams (except for problems with numbered process steps), but they contain a lot of "Off Page References" showing how the business processes may be called from other business processes...

They now appear to be "Activities" with a stereotype of <<Off Page Reference>> and I'd really like to create links between these "activities" to their partners in other diagrams.

Is this possible?

Ideally, I would link the actual process steps with their partners on other diagrams, so that I can create other diagrams that show larger collections of process steps.

Is there a method for linking an activity to another activity that does not reside in the same diagram?

 

[Geert Bellekens]

Andy,

Ideally the elements on your activity diagram should not be Activities, but Actions.
If you choose CallBehavior as Action Kind (Advanced|Custom Properties) you can specify an Activity to be called by this Action.

Geert

[AndyJ]

Ah Geert, your ideas intrigue me...

Unfortunately the import has created everything as Activities.

However, I'm experimenting with using Action as per your suggestion, and don't seem to be achieving the required result.

In this case... Diagram 16 ends with an activity. (16.6)

The next logical step is contained on Diagram 1.

I've added an Action on Diagram 16 which points to Activity 1.1 (in Diagram 1) However there is nothing on Diagram 1 which shows that Activity 1.1 is logically connected to Diagram 16.

Should I be adding Actions to both diagrams and pointing them at each other?

[Geert Bellekens]

Andy,

Why do you expect Diagram 1 to show that is is called by something in Diagram 16?
I could be called by all kinds of things, but isn't that out of the Diagram 1's scope?

Lets put it differently, if you are designing the implemenation of an operation in a sequence diagram, do you include all callers of that operation in your sequence diagram?
I think you shouldn't. The implementation of your operation is independent of who calls it.
In this case I would view you activity to be the operation, and the activity diagram (showing the different actions and their transitions) to be the implementation of of the activity. The activity (and its implementation) should be independent of the activities that call this activity.

Geert

[KP]

With CallBehaviorActions, you specify the Activity that the Action calls by selecting the Action and pressing Ctrl+L. Then, to navigate from Action to the Activity's diagram you would go Right-click > Find > Locate Classifier in Project Browser, and from the Classifier you would press Ctrl+U to see where it is Used.

A couple of alternatives:

- If you put the same off-page connector element (of whatever type) on both diagrams, you can select it and press Ctrl+U to move between diagrams.

- Or you can create a hyperlink on one diagram which opens the other diagram - drag the target diagram from the project browser and drop it onto the open diagram.

EDIT: Geert posted while I was composing this reply, and he is correct. Off-page connectors are best avoided, because each activity should be self-contained and not have knowledge of the internal workings of other activities. However, having said that, if you wish to be able to navigate around your models more easily then consider my suggestions above