UML provides a number of diagram types as a mechanism for entering model elements into the model and showing overlapping sets of models elements and their relationships. UML does not specify what diagrams should be created or what they should contain, only what they can contain and the rules for connecting the elements. the diagram types include:
| Use Case Diagrams - shows an outside-in view of the procedures available in the use of the system. These are summary diagrams and between them should contain all use cases available in the system and so all the available functionality of the system, represented at a high level. | |
| Static Structure Diagram - includes object and class diagrams. Most methods use class diagrams to describe the properties of the objects in the system and their relationships. Object diagrams are rarely used, except for examples of the way in which object interact, and these are normally shown on sequence or collaboration diagrams | |
| Interaction Diagrams - these include collaboration and sequence diagrams, both of which show the way in which objects interact in order to fulfil the functionality of the use case |