CHAPTER 6

USE CASE DIAGRAMS

Dr. Ali RAAD

Use Case Diagrams

A use case describes how a user uses a

system to accomplish a particular goal.

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Use Case Diagrams

For example, a bank cardholder might need to use an ATM to get cash
out of their account.

Its as simple as that.

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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.

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 Use case diagrams are closely connected to scenarios.

A scenario is an example of what happens when someone

interacts with the system.

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 What Is A Use Case Scenario?

When a cardholder tries to withdraw cash from an ATM, it doesn’t

always necessarily turn out the same way.

 Sometimes he gets his money.

 Other times he might have insufficient funds.
 Or the ATM may be out of cash.

These are all examples of use case scenarios.

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 The outcome is different,
depending on circumstances,

but they all relate to the same functional goal:

that is, they’re all triggered by the same need -

and all have the same starting point.

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Use Case Scenarios

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One Scenario for Withdraw Use Case

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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 that task.

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 Use Case diagram at a Glance

A standard form of use case diagram is defined in the Unified Modeling Language as shown in
the Use Case Diagram example below:

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An actor:

Is always outside the system being modeled

Characterises a role

A person, a system or
some external entity
Linked to one or more
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Actors are simply roles that people or
objects play.

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Use Case:

System function
(process - automated or manual)

Named by verb + Noun (or Noun Phrase).

i.e. Do something

Each Actor must be linked to a use case, while

some use cases may not be linked to actors.
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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. "

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The picture below is a Make Appointment use case for the medical
clinic.

The actor is a Patient.

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The connection between actor and use case is a
communication association (or communication
for short).

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Actors are stick figures

Use cases are ovals

Communications are lines that link actors to use cases

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 A Use Case is Started by an Actor
The actor starts the use case because it wants something from the system, so:

Name the use case in terms of the outcome of value to

the actor

Begin the use case name

with an active verb

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 The actor supplies the event that starts the use case

The actor is the source of the incoming event that is the

first line in the use case

The arrow indicates that the actor starts the interaction

between the actor and the use case

This actor is then the 'active' or 'primary' actor for

the use case
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 A use case diagram is a
collection of:

actors use cases their communications

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We've put Make Appointment as part of a diagram with four actors and four use
cases.

Notice that a single use case can have multiple actors.

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Use case diagrams are helpful in three areas:

determining features
(requirements)

communicating with
clients

generating test cases

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determining features (requirements)

New use cases often generate new

requirements as the system is analyzed
and the design takes shape.

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 communicating with clients

Their notational simplicity makes

use case diagrams a good way for
developers to communicate with
clients.
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 generating test cases

The collection of scenarios for a

use case may suggest a suite of
test cases for those scenarios.
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 Digging Deeper: Use Case Diagrams

Use case diagrams give an outsider's

view of a system.

Every use case diagram has actors, use

cases, and communications.

A simple use case diagram can be expanded with

additional features to display more information.

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This page covers the following UML™ use case features.

system
generalizations
boundaries

includes extensions

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Medical clinic diagram, expanded
The following use case diagram expands the original medical clinic diagram with
additional features.

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A system boundary rectangle separates the clinic system from the external actors.

System boundary

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A use case generalization shows that one use case is simply a special kind
of another.

Parent use case

A child can be substituted for its parent whenever necessary.

Generalization appears as a line with a triangular arrow head toward

the parent use case.
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Include relationships factor use cases into additional
ones.
Includes are especially helpful when the same use case can be factored out of two
different use cases.
Use case 1

Common use
case

Use case 2

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include notation is a dotted line beginning at base use case ending
with an arrow pointing to the include use case.

The dotted line is labeled

<<include>> 35
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An extend relationship indicates that one use case is a variation of another.

Extend notation is a dotted line, labeled <<extend>>, and with an

arrow towards the base case.

The extension point, which determines when the extended case is

appropriate,
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How to Identify Actor
The following questions can help you identify the actors of your system (Schneider
and Winters - 1998):
• Who uses the system?
• Who installs the system?
• Who starts up the system?
• Who maintains the system?
• Who shuts down the system?
• What other systems use this system?
• Who gets information from this system?
• Who provides information to the system?
• Does anything happen automatically at a present time?
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How to Identify Use Cases

The following questions can help you identify use cases, once your actors have
been identified (Schneider and Winters - 1998):

• What functions will the actor want from the system?

• Does the system store information? What actors will create, read, update
or delete this information?
• Does the system need to notify an actor about chances in the internal
state?
• Are there any external events the system must know about? What actor
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How to draw a Use Case diagram?

A Use case model can be developed by following the steps below.

1. Identify the Actors (role of users) of the system.

2. For each category of users, identify all roles played by the users relevant
to the system.
3. Identify what are the users required the system to be performed to
achieve these goals.
4. Create use cases for every goal.
5. Structure the use cases.
6. Prioritize, review, estimate and validate the users.
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 Use-Case
Examples

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 Benefits of Use Case diagram?

Use case diagram is a powerful technique for the elicitation and documentation of black-box
functional requirements

Use cases are easy to understand and provide an excellent way for communicating with
customers and users as they are written in natural language.

Use cases can help manage the complexity of large projects by partitioning the problem into
major user features (i.e., use cases) and by specifying applications from the users'
perspective.

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 Benefits of Use Case diagram?

A use case scenario, often represented by a sequence diagram, involves the collaboration of
multiple objects and classes, use cases help identify the messages (operations and the information
or data required - parameters) that glue the objects and classes together.

Use cases provide a good basis to link between the verification of the higher-level models (i.e.
interaction between actors and a set of collaborative objects), and subsequently, for the
validation of the functional requirements (i.e. blueprint of white-box test).

Use case driven approach provides a traceable links for project tracking in which the key
development activities such as the use cases implemented, tested, and delivered fulfilling the goals
and objectives from the user point of views.

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 End of Chapter

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