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1. Use Cases
A use case specifies a sequence of actions that provide a measurable value to an actor. A use
case is drawn as a horizontal ellipse on a UML use case diagram, as you see in the figure.
Each use case focuses on describing how to achieve a goal or task. A use case should:
Describe what the system shall do to assist the actor in achieving a goal
Not include any details about the screens or user interfaces.
For example, the below use case describes a simple Login.Sequence of steps included in the
Login use case are :
An actor is an external entity (outside of the system) that interacts with the system by
participating a Use Case. Actors can be in real life people (for example users of the system),
external events and other computer systems.
Actors do not represent the physical systems or people , but their role. This means that when a
person interacts with the system in different ways , he will be represented by several actors.
For example a person that gives customer support by the telephone would be represented by an
actor ' Support Staff '. A person who takes orders from the customer is represented by an actor '
Sales Representative '.
3. Relationships
There are several types of relationships appear on a use case diagram:
Association :
An association can be between " a use case and an actor " or between two use cases.
It is the relationship between an actor and a use case. It indicates that an actor can use a certain
functionality of the business system - the business use case: Association can be represented as
below.
In the following figure ,Purchase Ticket is the Use case and the Traveler is the actor. A given
ticket purchase can only be made by one traveler,but a traveler can purchase any number of
tickets(represented as 1..*).This is a type of association relationship
Include Relationship :
It is a relationship between two business use cases that signifies that the business use case on
the side to which the arrow points is included in the use case on the other side of the arrow. For
one functionality that the business system provides, another business functionality is accessed.
Functionality that are accessed repeatedly can be depicted as individual business use cases,
which can be used in multiple ways. In can be represented as below.
Example :
In the following figure , An include relationship points from the CheckOrderStatus use case to the
LogIn use case.It indicate that the CheckOrderStatus use case always includes the behaviors in
the LogIn use case.
The included use case LogIn cannot stand alone and the original use case CheckOrderStatus is
not complete without the LogIn use case.
Starting with the Passenger (1)(actor) , we find association lines to two use cases, Check-In (3)
and Express Check-In (4). This means that people, who appear as passengers, can either go
through Check-In, or Express Check-In(which can be conducted without luggage) use case.
Example 4 : Order Management System
The following is a sample use
case diagram representing the
order management system. If
we look into the use case
diagram, we will find three use
cases (Order, Special Order
and Normal Order) and one
actor which is customer.
The Special Order and Normal
Order use cases are extended
from Order use case,it is an extends(generalization)relationship. Customer(actor) lies outside the
system as it is an external user of the system.