Use Case Diagrams

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

What is a Use Case

A formal way of representing how a
business system interacts with its
environment
Illustrates the activities that are
performed by the users of the system
A scenario-based technique in the UML
A sequence of actions a system performs that
yields a valuable result for a particular actor.

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case Analysis

What is an Actor?
A user or outside system that interacts
with the system being designed in order
to obtain some value from that
interaction
Use Cases describe scenarios that describe
the interaction between users of the system
(the actor) and the system itself.

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

Use case diagrams describe what a system

does from the standpoint of an external
observer. The emphasis is on what a system
does rather than how.
Use case diagrams are closely connected to
scenarios. A scenario is an example of what
happens when someone interacts with the
system.

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

Here is a scenario for a medical clinic.

A patient calls the clinic to make an appointment
for a yearly checkup. The receptionist finds the
nearest empty time slot in the appointment book
and schedules the appointment for that time slot. "

We want to write a use case for this scenario.

Remember: A use case is a summary of
scenarios for a single task or goal.
IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

Step 1 Identify the actors

As we read the scenario, define those people or
systems that are going to interact with the
scenario.
A patient calls the clinic to make an appointment for a yearly checkup.
The receptionist finds the nearest empty time slot in the appointment
book and schedules the appointment for that time slot. "

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

Step 1 Identify the actors

As we read the scenario, define those people or
systems that are going to interact with the
scenario.
A patient calls the clinic to make an appointment for a yearly checkup.
The receptionist finds the nearest empty time slot in the appointment
book and schedules the appointment for that time slot. "

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Questions for Identifying People Actors

Who is interested in the scenario/system?

Where in the organization is the scenario/system be
used?
Who will benefit from the use of the
scenario/system?
Who will supply the scenario/system with this
information, use this information, and remove this
information?
Does one person play several different roles?
Do several people play the same role?
IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Questions for Identifying Other Actors

What other entity is interested in the

scenario/system?
What other entity will supply the scenario/system
with this information, use this information, and
remove this information?
Does the system use an external resource?
Does the system interact with a legacy system?

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Actors

An Actor is outside or external the system.

It can be a:

Human
Peripheral device (hardware)
External system or subsystem
Time or time-based event

Represented by stick figure

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

A use case is a summary of scenarios for a

single task or goal.
An actor is who or what initiates the events
involved in the task of the use case. Actors are
simply roles that people or objects play.
So as we read our scenario, what or who is
the actor????

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

So as we read our scenario, what or who is

the actor????
A patient calls the clinic to make an appointment for a yearly
checkup. The receptionist finds the nearest empty time slot in the
appointment book and schedules the appointment for that time
slot. "

The actor is a Patient.

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

The use case is a summary of scenarios for a

single task or goal.
So What is the Use Case????
The Use Case is Make Appointment.
It is a use case for the medical clinic.

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Cases

The picture below is a Make Appointment use case for the medical
clinic.
The actor is a Patient. The connection between actor and use case
is a communication association (or communication for short).

tickfigures.Usecasesareovals.Communicationsarelinesthatlinkactors

Actorsarestickfigures.Usecasesareovals.Communicationsare
linesthatlinkactorstousecases.
IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case Componentss

The use case has three components.

The use case task referred to as the use case that
represents a feature needed in a software system.
The actor(s) who trigger the use case to activate.
The communication line to show how the actors
communicate with the use case.
IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case Diagram - Use Case

A major process performed by the

system that benefits an actor(s) in
some way
Models a dialogue between an actor
and the system
Represents the functionality provided
by the system

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case

Each use case in a use case diagram

describes one and only one function in
which users interact with the system
May contain several paths that a user
can take while interacting with the system
Each path is referred to as a scenario

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case

Labelled using a descriptive verb-noun

phrase
Represented by an oval
Make
Appointment

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case - Actor

Labelled using a descriptive noun or

phrase
Represented by a stick character

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case - Relationships

Relationships
Represent communication between actor and
use case
Depicted by line or double-headed arrow line
Also called association relationship

Make
Appointment

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case - Relationships

Boundary
A boundary rectangle is placed around the
perimeter of the system to show how the actors
communicate with the system.

Make
Appointment

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use-Case Diagram

Ausecasediagramisacollectionofactors,usecases,andtheir
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IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4
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communications.

Use Case Diagram

Other Types of Relationships for Use

Cases
Generalization
Include
Extend

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Components of Use Case Diagram

Generalization Relationship
Represented by a line and a hollow arrow
From child to parent

Child use case

IanSommerville2004

Parent use case

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Example of Relationships

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case Diagram

Include Relationship
Represents the inclusion of the functionality
of one use case within another
Arrow is drawn from the base use case to the
used use case
Write << include >> above arrowhead line

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case Diagram

Extend relationship
Represents the extension of the use case
to include optional functionality
Arrow is drawn from the extension use
case to the base use case
Write << extend >> above arrowhead line

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Example of Relationships

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case Relationships

Pro:
Reduces redundancy in use cases
Reduces complexity within a use case

Con
May introduce complexity to use case
diagram

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Benefits of Use Cases

Use cases are the primary vehicle for requirements capture in

RUP
Use cases are described using the language of the customer
(language of the domain which is defined in the glossary)
Use cases provide a contractual delivery process (RUP is Use
Case Driven)
Use cases provide an easily-understood communication
mechanism
When requirements are traced, they make it difficult for
requirements to fall through the cracks
Use cases provide a concise summary of what the system
should do at an abstract (low modification cost) level.

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Difficulties with Use Cases

As functional decompositions, it is often difficult to make the

transition from functional description to object description to
class design
Reuse at the class level can be hindered by each developer
taking a Use Case and running with it. Since UCs do not talk
about classes, developers often wind up in a vacuum during
object analysis, and can often wind up doing things their own
way, making reuse difficult
Use Cases make stating non-functional requirements difficult
(where do you say that X must execute at Y/sec?)
Testing functionality is straightforward, but unit testing the
particular implementations and non-functional requirements is
not obvious

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case Model Survey

The Use Case Model Survey is to illustrate, in

graphical form, the universe of Use Cases that the
system is contracted to deliver.
Each Use Case in the system appears in the Survey
with a short description of its main function.

Participants:

IanSommerville2004

Domain Expert
Architect
Analyst/Designer (Use Case author)
Testing Engineer

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Function versus Form

Use cases

Architecture

Use case specify function; architecture specifies form

Use cases and architecture must be balanced

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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Use Case Diagram

We will build use case diagram for a

video rental system in the examples.
Look and identify potential actors and
use case tasks.

Nouns and verbs may be helpful.

IanSommerville2004

SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter4

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