Artifact: Use Case
The following people will use the use cases:
- Customers will use the use cases to understand the system's behavior,
and, since they must approve the use case's flow of events, customer will also use the use
cases to approve the result of use-case modeling.
- Potential users will use the use case to understand the system's
behavior.
- Architects will use the use cases to identify architecturally
significant functionality.
- People who analyze, design, and implement
the system will use the use case to understand the required system behavior and to refine
the system.
- Use-case designers will use the use cases' flows of events to find
classes. (These are the most important artifacts for use-case designers)
- Testers will use the use cases as a base for identifying test cases.
- Managers will use the use cases to plan and follow up the use-case
modeling.
- Documentation writers will use the use cases to understand what
sequence of use should be described in the documentation (such as the system user guide).
Property Name |
Brief Description |
UML Representation |
Name |
The
name of the use case. |
The
attribute "Name" on model element. |
Brief
Description |
A
brief description of the role and purpose of the use case. |
Tagged
value, of type "short text". |
Flow
of Events |
A
textual description of what the system does in regard to the use case (not how specific
problems are solved by the system). The description is understandable by the customer. |
Tagged
value, of type "formatted text". |
Special
Requirements |
A
textual description that collects all requirements, such as non-functional requirements,
on the use case, that are not considered in the use-case model, but that need to be taken
care of during design or implementation. |
Tagged
value, of type "short text". |
Preconditions |
A
textual description that defines a constraint on the system when the use case may start. |
Tagged
value, of type "short text". |
Postconditions |
A
textual description that defines a constraint on the system when the use cases have
terminated. |
Tagged
value, of type "short text". |
Extension
points |
A
list of locations within the flow of events of the use case at which additional behavior
can be inserted using the extend-relationship. |
Tagged
value, of type "short text". |
Relationships |
The
relationships, such as communicates-associations, include-, generalization-, and
extend-relationships, in which the use case participates. |
Owned
by an enclosing package, via the aggregation "owns". |
Activity
Diagrams |
These
diagrams illustrate the structure of the flow of events. |
Participants
are owned via the aggregation "types" and "relationships" on a
collaboration traced to the use case. |
Use-Case
Diagrams |
These
diagrams show the relationships involving the use case. |
Participants
are owned via the aggregation "types" and "relationships" on a
collaboration traced to the use case. |
Other
Diagrams |
Other graphical illustrations of the use case. |
Tagged value, of uninterpreted type. |
Use cases are identified and possibly briefly outlined early in the inception phase, to
help in defining the scope of the system. The use cases that are relevant for the analysis
or the architectural design of the system are then described in detail within the
elaboration phase. The remaining use cases are described in detail within the construction
phase.
A use-case specifier is responsible for the
integrity of the use case, which ensures that:
- The use case fulfills its requirements (that is, it correctly describes the
functionality that is relevant to the use case, and only this functionality).
- The flow of events is readable and suit its purpose.
- The use-case relationships originating from the use case are justified and kept
consistent.
- The role of the use case where it is involved in communicates-associations is clear and
intuitive.
- The diagrams describing the use case and its relationships are readable and suit their
purpose.
- The special requirements are readable and suit their purpose.
- The preconditions are readable and suit their purpose.
- The postconditions are readable and suit their purpose.
It is recommended that the use-case specifier who is responsible for a use case is also
responsible for its enclosing use-case package. For more information, refer to Guidelines: Use-Case Package.
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