Architecting and designing : UML 2.0 Lite : UML models : UML activity diagram : Drawing UML activity diagrams
  
Drawing UML activity diagrams
You may draw an Activity diagram to model one of the following classifiers:
a Use Case
a Class
a Class Method.
UML activity model
When creating a new UML Activity diagram, you are asked to specify a UML activity model for the diagram. All elements (Action States, Object States, etc) belong to the model that you specify. In the activity model definition, you specify what classifier the model represents: a Use Case, a Class, or a Class Method.
The model provides a separate namespace for Activity diagram elements. This enables you, for example, to create an Action State such as "Create Customer Record" when modeling a business Use Case, and create a separate Action State, different definition but same name, "Create Customer Record", when modeling an implementation method for an application.
UML activity diagram elements
Action transition
Initial action state
Action state
Object in state
Decision
Final action state
Complex transition
Swimlanes
See also
UML activity diagram