use case description template

7/29/2019 use case description template

1/22

Gathering Information andUse Case Scenarios


2/22

Choices to get information Need to understand the current (as is)

system, identify improvements, and develop

the to-be system. How?

Interviews

Joint Application DesignJAD

Questionnaires

Secondary Sources (document analysis)

Observations


3/22

Interviews -- Five Basic Steps

Selecting Interviewees

Designing Interview Questions

Preparing for the Interview

Conducting the Interview

Post-Interview Follow-up


4/22

Interview Preparation Steps

Prepare General Interview Plan

List of Question

Anticipated Answers and Follow-Ups Confirm Areas of Knowledge

Set Priorities in Case of Time Shortage

Prepare the Interviewee

Schedule

Inform of Reason for Interview

Inform of Areas of Discussion


5/22

Conducting the Interview

Appear professional and unbiased

Record all information

Check on organizational policy regarding taperecording

Be sure you understand all issues and terms

Separate facts from opinions

Give interviewee time to ask questions Be sure to thank the interviewee

End on time


6/22

JAD Key IdeasAllows project managers, users, and

developers to work together

May reduce scope creep by 50%

Avoids requirements being too specificor too vague


7/22

The JAD Session

Tend to last 5 to 10 days over a three week period

Prepare questions as with interviews

Formal agenda and groundrules Facilitator activities

Keep session on track

Help with technical terms and jargon

Record group input

Help resolve issues

Post-session follow-up


8/22

Questionnaire Steps

Selecting participants

Using samples of the population

Designing the questionnaire

Careful question selection

Administering the questionnaire

Working to get good response rate Questionnaire follow-up

Send results to participants


9/22

Good Questionnaire DesignBegin with non-threatening and interesting questions

Group items into logically coherent sections

Do not put important items at the very end of the questionnaire

Do not crowd a page with too many items

Avoid abbreviations

Avoid biased or suggestive items or terms

Number questions to avoid confusion

Pretest the questionnaire to identify confusing questions

Provide anonymity to respondents


10/22

Document Analysis

Provides clues about existing as-is system

Typical documents

Forms

Reports

Policy manuals

Look for user additions to forms Look for unused form elements


11/22

Observation

Users/managers often dont remember everythingthey do

Checks validity of information gathered other ways Behaviors change when people are watched

Careful not to ignore periodic activities

Weekly Monthly Annual


12/22

Selecting the AppropriateTechniques

Interviews JAD Questionnaires Document Observation

Analysis

Type of As-Is As-Is As-Is As-Is As-IsInformation Improve. Improve. Improve.

To-Be To-Be

Depth of High High Medium Low LowInformation

Breadth of Low Medium High High LowInformation

Integration Low High Low Low Lowof Info.

User Medium High Low Low LowInvolvement

Cost Medium Low- Low Low Low-Medium Medium


13/22

Creating Use Cases


14/22

Elements of a Use Case Trigger -- event that causes the scenario to

begin

External trigger Temporal trigger

All possible inputs and outputs

Individual steps Show sequential order

Show conditional steps


15/22

Steps for building Use Cases Identify the use cases (think 3 to 9).

Identify the major steps within each use

case (think 3 to 9).

Identify elements within steps.

Confirm the use case.


16/22

Ex.: on-line university registration(exercise D, pg. 167)

The system should enable the staff of each academic department toexamine the course offered by their department, add and remove

course, and change the information about them (e.g., the maximumnumber of students). It should permit students to examine currentlyavailable courses, add and drop courses to and from their schedules,and examine the course for which they are enrolled. Department staffshould be able to print a variety of reports about the courses and thestudents enrolled in them. They system should ensure that no student

takes too many course and that students who have any unpaid feesare not permitted to register. (Assume that a fees data store ismaintained by the university's financial office that the registrationsystem accesses but does not change.)


17/22

Use Case Name: Maintain department course offerings ID Number:_1_

Short Description: This describes how department staff reviews course offerings, adds new courses, deletes existing courses or changes

existing course information.

Trigger: Departments must prepare upcoming course offerings.Type: External / Temporal

Major Inputs:

Description Source

Course offering changes Department StaffCourse offerings Course offering file___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

Major Outputs:

Description Destination

Updates course offerings Course offering fileCourse offering list Department staff________________ _________

________________ _________

________________ _________

________________ _________

Major Steps Performed

1. Department staff requests course offering list for the department. List of courseofferings is generated.

2. New course information is entered.

3. Courses to delete are entered.

4. Course modifications are entered.

Information for Steps

Course offering list requestDepartment identifier

New course informationCourse offering file

Course number to deleteCourse offering file

Course number to modifyCourse changesCourse offering file


18/22

Use Case Name: Maintain student enrollments ID Number:_2_

Short Description: This describes how students review listing of courses available for enrollment, add and remove courses from their

schedules, and review their schedules.

Trigger: Student needs to enroll in courses.Type: External / Temporal

Major Inputs:

Description Source

Available course request Student

Available courses Available course file

Course enrollment request Student

Fee payment status Fees file___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

Major Outputs:


Available course list Student

Student enrollment Enrollment fileStudent schedule Student

________________ _________________________ _________

________________ _________

________________ _________

Major Steps Performed1. Student requests list of available courses. List of available courses is generated.

2. Student adds course to current schedule. Fee payment status is checked andtotal hours is checked. If OK, course is added to student schedule.

3. Student removes course from schedule.

4. Student reviews current scheduled courses.


Available course requestAvailable course list

Course IDEnrollment fileFees fileAvailable course file

Course IDEnrollment fileAvailable course file

Enrollment file


19/22

Use Case Name: Course enrollment reports ID Number:_3_

Short Description: This describes how department staff prints various reports on courses and enrollments.

Trigger: Department staff needs information on courses and course enrollments.Type: External / Temporal

Major Inputs:

Description Source

Report request Staff

Course information Course offerings

Enrollment information Enrollments___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

Major Outputs:


Report requested Staff

________________ _________

________________ _________________________ _________

________________ _________

________________ _________

Major Steps Performed1. Staff enters report request.

2. Requested report is generated.


Report type

Course offeringsEnrollments


20/22

Ex.: real estate (exercise E, pg. 167)

A Real Estate Inc. (AREI) sells houses. People who want to sell theirhouses sign a contract with AREI and provide information on their house.This information is kept in a database by AREI and a subset of this

information is sent to the citywide multiple-listing service used by all realestate agents. AREI works with two types of potential buyers. Somebuyers have an interest in one specific house. In this case, AREI printsinformation from its database, which the real estate agent uses to helpshow the house to the buyer (a process beyond the scope of the systemto be modeled). Other buyers seek AREIs advice in finding a house thatmeets their needs. In this case, the buyer completes a buyer informationform that is entered into a buyer database, and AREI real estate agentsuse its information to search AREIs database and the multiple-listingservice for houses that meet their needs. The results of these searchesare printed and used to help the real estate agent show houses to the

buyer.


21/22

Use Case Name: Maintain house seller information ID Number:_1_

Short Description: This describes how house sellers enter into contract to sell and provide information on house to sell.

Trigger: House seller wishes to sell house.Type: External / Temporal

Major Inputs:

Description Source

Sales Contract SellerHouse information Seller

___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

Major Outputs:


Sales Contract Contract file

House information Offered Houses fileHouse information Multiple listings file

________________ _________

________________ _________

________________ _________

Major Steps Performed1. Seller signs contract and provides house information.

2. Offered House database is updated with new listing information.

3. Data on new listing is transmitted to Multiple Listings file.


Sales contractHouse information

House information

Offered houses file

Offered houses file


22/22

Use Case Name: Provide buyers required information ID Number:_2_

Short Description: This describes how buyers request and receive information on offered houses.

Trigger: Buyers request information on available houses.Type: External / Temporal

Major Inputs:

Description Source

Buyer information form Buyer

House information request Buyer

House information Offered houses fileHouse information Multiple listings file

___________________________ ___________

___________________________ ___________

Major Outputs:


House information BuyerBuyer information Buyer file

________________ _________

________________ _________

________________ _________

________________ _________

Major Steps Performed

1. If buyer requests information on a specific house, retrieve that information from the offeredhouse file.

2. If buyer wants to search for several prospective houses, obtain a buyer information form

from buyer. Search offered houses file and Multiple Listing file for houses matching buyersspecifications and provide house information to buyer.


Offered house file

Buyer information form

Buyer fileOffered houses fileMultiple listings file

use case description template

Documents