Re: Use Cases - NEED INPUT - PLEASE HELP
Can anyone explain the authoring and preparation of
use cases and the process of putting one together?
This will be done in a software development
environment for an ERP product.
Thank you for your input.
- Tony
Tony,
Here's the basic idea, on which I'm sure others will elaborate. From the point of view of a software developer, a system consists of features that have to be implemented. This widget does this; isn't it cool? That widget does this other thing; that's cool, too, right? Developers, left to their own devices, will create cool widgets all day long, with no clue what the customer is going to use the software for.
But from the point of view of the user, widgets aren't cool at all. What's cool is getting the job done quickly and easily. So the basic idea behind use cases is to inform the _design_ of the software with the _uses_ to which it will be put. This very much parallels the distinction between feature-based user documentation and function-based user documentation.
The archetype of feature-based documentation is the original DOS manual, which listed every DOS command in alphabetical order and laid out the syntax but really didn't tell you why you might want to use the command (although it was pretty easy to figure that out if you were already a programmer). What we've learned over the years is that feature-based documentation doesn't really serve the user's needs.
Function-based documentation tells the user, "To accomplish this task," adding a new customer to the customer database, for example, "do these steps."
What use cases do is push this way of thinking back to the design phase--actually back before that to the functional specification phase.
Here is one use case scenario:
Marty is a user. Marty's role in the company is order taker. Marty has to access the customer's account information and ensure that the customer is not in arrears before proceeding to take the order. Marty has to verify that the customer contact information has not changed. Marty has to walk through the customer's store, scan a shelf tag for each item or scan the item itself if the shelf tag is missing, enter the quantity remaining for each item scanned, and have a way to indicate when all items have been scanned. Then Marty needs the system to generate a recommended order, with items grouped according to the way the store has its aisles organized and with quantities based on the item's disappearance rate in the store, seasonal considerations, promotion schedules, availability of new items in the same line, and other factors. Marty then needs to review the recommended order with the manager and change quantities interactively. Finally Marty needs to capture the manager's signature on the edited order and submit it to the warehouse for picking.
Now there may be several other kinds of transactions that Marty has to be able to do. And there certainly are many other roles in the company that interact with the system. So you can see that there are lots of scenarios.
But note that nothing above says what any given software module has to be able to do. Instead, the requirements for any given module will derive from the totality of use cases.
So your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to systematically analyze the roles in the company and the transactions each role is involved in, then create a use case for each such role and transaction.
This tape will self-destruct in 30 seconds, before anyone says DFD, I hope.
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