7.5.3 Actor Cooperation Viewpoint
The Actor Cooperation viewpoint focuses on the relations of actors with each other
and their environment. A common example of this is what is sometimes called
a ‘context diagram’, which puts an organisation into its environment, consisting
of external parties such as customers, suppliers, and other business partners.
It is useful in determining external dependencies and collaborations and shows the value
chain or network in which the organisation operates. Another important use of this
viewpoint is in showing how a number of cooperating (business and/or application)
actors together realise a business process, by showing the flows between them.
The main roles involved in the insurance business are the customer, the insurer,
the intermediary, and the customer’s bank. These cooperate in different settings.
For example, closing an insurance contract involves the customer, insurer, and
intermediary, whereas premium collection involves the insurer, the customer and
the customer’s bank. The main collaborations of ArchiSurance, which fulfils the
role of the insurer, are shown in Fig. 7.10.
If we look more closely at the relations between actors and roles, it is useful to
focus on the information flows between them to identify, for example, important
dependencies. In Fig. 7.11, we see the information flows that are associated with the
Handle Claim business process that is used as an example throughout the description
of these viewpoints. The types of business objects passed between the actors are put
as annotations to the flow arrows; these correspond to the business objects used by the
Handle Claim process shown in Fig. 7.17. If needed, we could also include the
interfaces used in exchanging this information, e.g., telephone or e-mail.