Asper School of Business University of Manitoba

Systems Analysis & Design

Instructor: Bob Travica

Use cases II Use Case description

Updated: October 2012

Outline

Concept of Use Case Description Levels of Use Case Description

Reading and writing Use Case Descriptions

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Use Case Diagram of the Customer Support System

Use Cases grouped into system modules

Note: Same actor interacts with different modules

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Use Case Description

Complements Use Case Diagram

A breakdown of a single use case (e.g., sequence of steps included in the function Look up item availability); process logic included
In contrast to Use Case Diagram, Use Case Description captures variations of a Use Case

Example: Create new order can be done via phone+clerk and via Internet ordering 2 scenarios (see slide 3)

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Level of Use Case Description

Three levels of detail:

UC* Brief description

Summary

of what system does in response to actors actions

UC Intermediate description
Shows

steps in use case, if-then

UC Full description
Includes

Brief description, expands intermediate description, shows scenarios

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* UC=Use Case

Brief Description of Create New Order Use Case

Same description that is usually captured in initial Use Case Diagrams (birds view of system)

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Intermediate Use Case Description

Telephone Order Scenario for Create New Order Use Case

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Full Use Case Description

Superset of intermediate and brief descriptions (contains these) Consists of 11 compartments (we will use some) Shows steps (Flow of Events) broken down to the actor and the system side useful!
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Full Use Case Description

Telephone Order Scenario for Create New Order Use Case

Computer System, Computer (steps encoded in software)

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Reading and Writing Use Case Descriptions

Reading: Straightforward Writing:

We will not use it much Useful to practice because it leads to other modeling techniques (activity diagram, class diagram)

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Writing Use Case Descriptions

1.

Select a use case

2.

Write abbreviated full description (Use case name, Scenario (if any), Business Event, Actors, Flow of steps, Exception conditions)
For figuring Flow of steps, - Keep in mind general system model: Input-Processing-Output - Steps should be at nearly the same level of abstraction (each makes nearly same progress toward use case completion) For figuring exception conditions, focus on if-then logic.

3.

4.

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