Modeling with Technology FrameWork

Actors
Actors
About actors An actor identifies a role in which people, jobs, organizations, or
even other subsystems can interact with use cases. Actors must be
external to each use case with which they interact.
Chapter 20: Use Case Models (UML)
224
Tip
You can copy organizations, jobs, and resources from other
models into your use case diagrams to serve as actors. For
example, the Direct Sales Customer organization functions as an
actor in the sample use case diagram shown earlier in this chapter.
Actor information In addition to its name, you can supply the following information
for an actor:
Creating an actor
■ The messages sent from an actor to a use case. These messages,
which are defined by bidirectional communications or
communications from the actor to the use case, take the form of
requests that the actor sends to the subsystem to perform some
specified service or action.
■ The messages sent from a use case to an actor. These messages,
which are defined by bidirectional communications or
communications from the use case to the actor, take the form of
requests that the actor receives from the subsystem to perform
some specified service or action.
To create an actor:
1 In the UML Use Case Diagram Tools tool folder, click and hold
on the Actor tool.
2 Drag into your use case diagram window and release the mouse
button where you want to place the actor graphic.