It is generally accepted that use cases are an essential part of defining the requirements for modern software systems. However, use cases can live at different levels, have different purposes, and can be at different stages in their evolution. Process MeNtOR defines how to create use cases in some detail and also is very strong on the distinction between the various types of use cases – which it should be remembered are simply scenarios as “use case” is the bad English translation of a Swedish term.
What type of use case do I need to produce?
These days there are almost as many different types of use cases as there are Business Analysts. Use Cases were first used as a tool for System Analysis and have extended as a tool for performing Business Analysis. The focus of the analysis in the Business area is different to the Systems area, resulting in different styles of use cases. Use Cases are also ‘consumed’ by different audiences: business managers, marketing areas, operations staff, system developers, architects, testers etc. Each audience is looking for information that is relevant to their role. As you can see Use Cases can mean many things to many people. This multifaceted nature of use cases has hampered their adoption because when some people are expecting one thing they get another (the old oranges vs. apples scenario)
You can read more about this in the short paper titled ‘Different Level of Use Cases’. In summary this paper looks at the different types of use cases, the purpose of each and when the use case should be used. This paper also looks at how these different types of use cases are used in Process MeNtOR®.
- Use Cases in Business Engineering
- Use Cases in Requirements Modelling
- Business Use Cases
- Context Use Cases
- When do I use Business and/or Context Use Cases?
- Levels of Detail in Business Use Cases
- Refactored Business Use Cases
- Use Cases in Systems Modelling