A use case describes a list of actions or event steps that a user takes to achieve a goal or accomplish a task. It is also used to document requirements, in a much more elaborated manner compared to user stories. Depending on how in depth and complex you want or need to get, use cases describe a combination of the following elements:
- Primary Actor – stakeholder who initiates an interaction with the system to achieve a goal
- Actor – anyone or anything that performs a behavior (who is using the system)
- Stakeholder – someone or something with vested interests in the behavior of the system under discussion (SUD)
- Preconditions – what must be true or happen before and after the use case runs.
- Triggers – this is the event that causes the use case to be initiated.
- Main success scenarios [Basic Flow] – use case in which nothing goes wrong.
- Alternative paths [Alternative Flow] – these paths are a variation on the main theme. These exceptions are what happen when things go wrong at the system level.
Example:
- Doctor walks into room
- Doctor sees patient in bed
- Doctor identifies patient in bed
- Doctor sees medical charts on foot of bed
- Doctor gets medical charts from foot of bed
- Doctor opens medical charts
- Doctor reads medical charts
- Doctor changes pages to continue reading
- Doctor closes medical chart
Here is a Use Case Template.
--
References:
https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/use-cases.html
https://www.akendi.com/blog/scenarios-user-stories-and-use-casesoh-my/