Hints and Tips
When you model collaborations in the UML, remember that every collaboration should represent either the realization of a use case or operation or should stand alone as a mechanism of the system. A well-structured collaboration
- Consists of both structural and behavioral aspects.
- Provides a crisp abstraction of some identifiable interaction in the system.
- Is rarely completely independent, but will overlap with the structural elements of other collaborations.
- Is understandable and simple.
When you draw a collaboration in the UML,
- Explicitly render a collaboration only when it's necessary to understand its relationship to other collaborations, classifiers, operations, or the system as a whole. Otherwise, use collaborations, but keep them in the backplane.
- Organize collaborations according to the classifier or operation they represent, or in packages associated with the system as a whole.