You should read Terry Quatrani's book "Visual Modeling with Rational
Rose and UML". Chapter 3 discusses the creation of Use Cases and
deals with your question. Here is an excerpt (paraphrased):
What constitutes a good Use Case?
... One problem that I have encountered is the level of detail
found in Use Cases. That is, how big (or how little) should they
be? There is no one, right answer. The rule of thumb that I
apply is:
A Use Case typically represents a major piece of functionality
that is complete from beginning to end. A Use Case must deliver
something of value to an actor.
As far as rules used for creating Use Cases, none are provided. However
a list of guidelines is presented. Here is another excerpt (paraphrased):
The following questions may be used to help identify the Use Cases
for a system:
- What are the tasks of each actor?
- Will any actor create, store, change, remove, or read
information in the system?
- What Use Cases will create, store, change, remove, or
read this information?
- Will any actor need to inform the system about sudden,
external changes?
- Does any actor need to be informed about certain occurrences
in the system?
- What Use Cases will support and maintain the system?
- Can all functional requirements be performed by the Use Cases?
Hope this helps,
-Frank
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Williamson, Rusty
> Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 9:58 AM
> To: 'Rose Forum'
> Subject: (ROSE) Rules for well formed use cases...
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I am trying to come up with some rules for creating good, well formed use
> cases. I'm referring to concrete use cases - ones directly connected to
> actors. Our people are new to UML and use cases and keep coming up with use
> cases like "Enter Line Item" (not a complete function), "Make Change" (not a
> 'system' function) and "Calculate Tax" (among other things, internal - an
> analysis issue). We are trying to adhere to the OMG 1.3 UML Specification
> and are using RUP.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on this? Has anyone seen a list
> of 'rules' posted anywhere?
>
> Thanks in advance for any help!
> Rusty Williamson
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Rusty Williamson
> Sr. Systems Architect
>
> Corporate Office
> GERS, Inc.
> 10431 Wateridge Circle * San Diego, CA 92121
> (800) 854-2263 * CA (858) 457-3888
> FAX (858) 484-9237 * Desk (858) 484-9237
> E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Web http://www.gers.com
> "e-Business Solutions for the Consumer-Driven World"
>
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