MDSD Step 3: Create a context diagram
A context diagram in MDSD is a diagram that shows a system element in the context of the entities with which it interacts. In the case of an enterprise context diagram, we represent the enterprise, and all of the enterprise actors discovered, each with a relationship to the enterprise. The enterprise, of course, is treated as a black box in this diagram, since no internal workings are
It is surprising how illuminating such a diagram is in the early stages of developing a system! By showing an entity and everything with which it interacts in a single view, it becomes straightforward (though not necessarily easy) to reason about the precise positioning of the entity in relation to its world.
An example context diagram is shown in Figure
