What are use cases?
Use cases are methodologies and processes used to review and analyze systems,
like software platforms. You conduct use cases to help determine, interpret and
organize the requirements and features in a system and how they get used. For
example, a university developing new software for students to register for classes
electronically might product use cases to show how the system works ideally and
brainstorm potential misuses, issues or malfunctions that might occur.
Use cases often help outline:
Who's using the software or website
The user's goal and what the user wants to do
What ordered steps the user takes to complete a specific task
How the software or website reacts to the user's action
What is a use case
A use case explains how users interact with a product or system. It outlines
the flow of user inputs, establishing successful and failed paths to meeting
goals. This allows product teams to better understand what a system does,
how it performs, and why errors occur. You can write one out or diagram a
use case model for visual thinkers.
Use cases vary in complexity depending on your audience or system. But
across the board, your use case should identify a few key components. The
most important ones include:
Actor: anything exhibiting behavior that interacts with a system, such as a
single user, a team, or another piece of software
System: the product or service with defined functionality
Goal: the purpose or objective users reach with a system’s features
Actors, systems, and goals build the foundation for a use case. When you
begin tracking system interactions, a few new elements come into play:
Stakeholder(s): someone with a stake or interest in a system’s
performance
Primary actor: the actor who initiates a system’s function to reach a goal
Preconditions: underlying factors required for the use case to happen
Triggers: events that begin a use case
Basic flows: use cases where systems work as intended to reach a goal
Alternate flows: different outcomes based on when and how a system
veers off course
Types of use cases
Use cases come in two forms: business and system. A system use case is
a detailed look at how users interact with each part of a system. It
highlights how unique inputs and contexts cause the system to reach
different outcomes. This level of detail highlights how a system’s individual
functions work in any scenario.
Business use cases paint a more general picture of how a user might
interact with your business to reach their goals. Instead of focusing on
technical detail, it’s a cause-and-effect description of different inputs. For
example, if you run a code debugging platform, your business use case
explains how users enter their code and receive error notices.
How to write a use case
Writing a use case sounds complex, but only requires understanding your
system and its users. You can write a use case by following these six steps
Use case example
Assume you’re a product manager developing a mobile banking app for
your company. Your platform needs to streamline user registration and
account setup. Here’s a sample use case format based on this app:
Background information:
System: a mobile banking app
Primary actor: customers who want to open an account
Secondary actor: underwriters and automated tools calculating interest
rates and maximum principal balances
Goals: save time on account registration and onboarding
Stakeholders: the CEO and product VP of your company
Preconditions: users download the app and meet account requirements
Triggers: the user chooses to create a new account from the app