Open issues in Use Case Modeling

Use Cases have achieved wide use as a specification tool for observable behavior of systems. However, there is still much controversy, inconsistent use, and free-flowing interpretations of use case models, in fact, not even experts widely recognized in the community agree on the meaning of concepts.

 

Consequently, use case models are dangerously ambiguous, and there is an unnecessary divergence of practice. A workshop with specialists was organized to identify and characterize some sources of ambiguity.

 

Interesting are the initial positions the authors had on the use of Use Cases.

 

Conclusions are twofold:

– there are problems around the semantics of Use Cases in the UML2 Specification

– a better explanation of the intended meaning of use case concepts is required to achieve a wider consensus about good practices in writing use cases and to build tools that can effectively support a use case driven development