RAD - Role Activity Diagram

A Role Activity Diagram, or RAD, is a notation for describing the activities and interaction between people as they perform collaborative work.

Example RAD Diagram

Role Activity Theory originated through the study of co-ordination by Anatol Holt and others in the early 1980's and taken up by the UK government-sponsored IPSE2.5 project during the period 1985-89. The focus was on processes that involve the co-ordination of inter-related activities carried out by people in organisations. Although intuitively simple and easy to read, Role Activity Diagrams providing a powerful modelling technique that uses a number of notational primitives to express very complex process behaviour.

RADs have proved an extremely useful as a tool in the discovery, discussion and agreement of how people work together. The RAD notation is easily understood by business people who can describe their work in a very intuative and natural way. Their usefulness in ensuring a clear and common understanding about work is true whether they have been captured using a white board, pen and paper, a drawing tool or our own modelling products.

Over the last twenty years RADs have been further developed and activively promoted by Martyn Ould through his workshops and two of his process management books:

• "Business Processes: Modelling and Analysis for Re-engineering and Improvement" published in 1995
• His most recent book "Business Process Management: A Rigorous Approach" published in 2005 provides what is regarded as the reference notation for RADs.

We work closely with Martyn Ould on the need for any changes, extensions or refinements to the RAD notation.