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Can anyone explain the authoring and preparation of use cases and the
process of putting one together?
--------------------------
Some time ago I tried to introduce use cases into a company's product
requirements/discovery process. The powers-that-be...were...unaccustomed
to, clueless about and not very enthused with UCs; I'm still waiting for
feedback on the UC documentation that I provided on the project. Two
years, much enlightenment and 4 business analysts later, I am beginning
to see content similar to mine creeping into Requirements docs....ah
well maybe technical writers *are* ahead of their time.
The morale: if you are getting support for documenting use cases, then
by all means dig in! You'll be grateful when it's time to write the user
guides.
Dick's overview and example were superb. It's important however to note
that you should try to chunk each case according to the following
details:
* Description
* Triggers (what initiates the activity)
* Pre-requisites
* Actors (business roles/systems that interact with your system)
* Steps (to Successful outcome)
* Deviations (from the standard paths)
* Post-requisites (outcomes and states that result form the activity)
If you are gamed to be thorough or if seasoned business analysts are
providing the UCs, then you should perhaps investigate UML
(http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/769.html) for
illustrating UCs. If you are expected to create the UCs, then you can
create diagrams from the UML symbols in MS Visio once you understand the
symbol relationships.
There's tons of info available all over the place...as someone
suggested...just google for it!
HTH,
Lisa H.
GTA, ON
"The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words."
George Eliot
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