Communication Diagram

What is a Communication Diagram?

A communication diagram is a visual representation of the flow of communication within a system or organization. It shows the relationships between different components of the system and how they communicate with one another.

A communication diagram typically includes the following elements:

• Actors: These are the entities that participate in the communication, such as individuals, departments, or systems.
• Messages: These are the information or data that are exchanged between the actors.
• Sequence: The sequence of messages indicates the order in which they are sent and received.
• Associations: These are the connections or relationships between the actors and the messages.

Communication diagrams can be used to understand and analyze the flow of communication within a system or organization, and to identify any potential bottlenecks or inefficiencies in the process. They can also be used to design new systems or processes or to improve existing ones.

Examples of situations where communication diagrams might be used include business processes, software development, and network communication.

See Also

• Unified Modeling Language (UML) - Communication diagrams are a type of UML diagram, which is used for object-oriented modeling.
• Sequence Diagram - Another type of interaction diagram in UML that serves a similar purpose to communication diagrams, but with a different focus on time-ordering of messages.
• Object Oriented Programming (OOP) - Communication diagrams are particularly useful in object-oriented design, depicting interactions between objects.
• Use Case Diagram - A different type of UML diagram used to describe system functionality; often complemented by communication diagrams for detailed design.
• Systems Engineering - Communication diagrams can be used in the broader context of systems engineering to show interactions between system components.
• Software Architecture - Communication diagrams can be used to represent or design the architecture of a software system.
• Business Process Modeling - Although more commonly associated with business processes, this modeling technique can be related to communication diagrams when describing interactions between business entities.
• Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) - Communication diagrams are often used at various phases of the SDLC for system design and documentation.
• Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) - Another type of diagram used in system design but focused more on data and its relationships than on interactions between entities.