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Use Case Foundation

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23 views4 pages

Use Case Foundation

Uploaded by

BrunoCardoso
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Use-Case Foundation

Ivar Jacobson and Alistair Cockburn

To get to the heart of what a system must do, focus on who


or what will use it, and then look at what the system must do
for them to help them achieve their goals.

A use case is all the ways of using a system


to achieve a goal of a particular user.

Core Concepts
1. A system of interest
2. A primary actor with a goal
3. A flow of events (there will be several)
4. A use case to collect those flows.

An Actor A Use Case


Another Actor
The System of Interest

A use case – A use case is all the ways of using a system to achieve a goal of a
particular user.

Notes:
• This includes all the successful, challenged and failure paths.
• It may be described textually or visually.
• It is independent of implementation, technology, and platform.

The System of Interest – The system used to achieve the goal.

An Actor – “Actor” is intended to cover anything with behaviour. It can be a person, an


organization, a piece of software, or any combination.
An actor identifies a role played when interacting with the system. A use case might
involve many actors: The actor that initiates a use case is known as the “primary actor”
and the actors called upon by the system are known as “supporting actors”.

The Goal – The reason that the user will use the system and the value that they will
receive when successfully using the system.
A simple example:

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I’d like to get a
new guitar.

Stock Control

Shopper Browse and Shop Sales Advisor

The System of Interest

Payment System

Primary Actor The System of Interest Supporting Actors


Other Actors that can be involved in the successful completion of
In this case a In this case an on-line portal providing the use case. These can be other systems or other people.
shopper with the goal of advice on all things musical. In this case the system of interest needs to interact with a Stock
selecting and purchasing a One of this system’s use cases is Control System, a Payment System, and for specialist, high value
product. ‘Browse and Shop’ products a Sales Advisor.

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Underlying Principles
1. Use Cases apply to systems of all types and sizes: businesses, IT systems,
physical systems or any combinations thereof.

2. Use cases help you understand the big picture: the system’s purpose and how it
will be used.

3. Use cases focus on value: the users’ goals and how best to achieve them.

4. Stakeholder involvement is essential: bring all the involved parties together to


establish the intent and scope of the system.

5. A use case tells the whole story, as a story, from the initial event to the realization
of the value it provides or the eventual failure if it can’t be met. It includes how to
handle any problems and alternatives that may occur on the way.

6. Use cases trigger conversations: While discussing the possible alternate flows,
you and your co-writers will think of missing steps and missing alternatives.
These conversations help you find situations that often get overlooked.

7. Prioritize readability: the goal is to communicate the big picture to everyone


involved, generating comments, spotting any gaps, and getting their buy-in.

8. The amount of detail and the format used will vary to match your circumstances:
You can start with a sketch of the flow of events and add detail as needed.

9. A use case can be implemented in stages: develop and put into place some key
flows of a use case early to capture value and feedback, add less used or less
critical flows over time strategically.

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A Sample Use Case
The use case is presented as a network of flows, each describing a path to value.

The Basic Flow – The normal, happy path to value often referred to as the ‘main
scenario’ or the ‘happy path.’ This is described as a simple sequence of steps each of
which involves the system and / or one of the actors doing something.

Alternate Flows – A list of all the special cases, alternative paths, optional steps, and
errors that need to be handled.

The key aspect of a use case is its structure: the way it identifies the basic and alternate
flows – this acts as a map of how the system will be used. The flow of events can be
described as simply as a bulleted list of steps and alternatives, or elaborated to fully
describe what should happen at each step or within each alternative. It can be
described in text, as above, or in some graphical form.

What is important is the accuracy of the flow of events and not how detailed you write
out the steps and alternatives.

A simple example:

Note – If you look closely you might find issues and problems, missing steps and
missing alternatives, with this use case,. This is deliberate. This is exactly the sort of
conversation that we want the use-case to start.

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