Style Guidelines for Activity-Charts : Drawing Activities

Drawing Activities

There is no magic figure for the number of function blocks/chart. The priority is readability and this requires a clear layout of activities and associated connectivity. Therefore, use on-page hierarchy in an Activity-chart only when readability is maintained.

Top-Level Chart (System Level 1):

Due to the generic approach, the number of activities is limited by the main system functions. No further hierarchy decomposition should be done on this chart.

System Level 2:

Refer to Functional Decomposition - System Levels > 2.

All function blocks should have the same size in height and width (refer to Graphical Settings/Drawing Preferences).

If a bigger size is needed, then the relevant size should be a multiple of the pre-defined “basic” height or width.

Locating Activities in a Chart:

Function blocks should be placed one below the other. Arrange the activities so that they illustrate the dynamics of the system as you read from top-to-bottom and left-to-right.
Naming Activities:

The activity names should be verb/adverb clauses that tell you what the function does. Long names should be broken into two or more lines.