IEC SRD 62559-4:2020
(Main)Use case methodology - Part 4: Best practices in use case development for IEC standardization processes and some examples for application outside standardization
Use case methodology - Part 4: Best practices in use case development for IEC standardization processes and some examples for application outside standardization
IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 specifies best practices for an entity to engage in a use cases redaction process to determine and describe their user requirements for systems, based on the business needs. It complements the information in IEC TR 62559-1, IEC 62559-2 and IEC 62559-3 by providing users with best practices in:
- use cases drafting process,
- determining the skill sets of the people required,
- use case repository management, and
- using use cases for IEC or enterprise projects.
General Information
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IEC SRD 62559-4 ®
Edition 1.0 2020-03
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Use case methodology –
Part 4: Best practices in use case development for IEC standardization
processes and some examples for application outside standardization
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IEC SRD 62559-4 ®
Edition 1.0 2020-03
SYSTEMS
REFERENCE DELIVERABLE
colour
inside
Use case methodology –
Part 4: Best practices in use case development for IEC standardization
processes and some examples for application outside standardization
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 29.020 ISBN 978-2-8322-7939-7
– 2 – IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 IEC 2020
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
INTRODUCTION . 6
0.1 General . 6
0.2 Objectives of this document . 6
1 Scope . 8
2 Normative references . 8
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 8
3.1 Terms and definitions . 8
3.2 Abbreviated terms . 9
4 Overview of the methodology . 9
4.1 Concept of systems engineering . 9
4.2 Systems engineering methodology for use case development . 9
4.2.1 General . 9
4.2.2 Overview of the phased approach . 11
4.2.3 Phase 1: Methodology for executives . 11
4.2.4 Phase 2: Modelling user requirements with use cases . 13
4.2.5 Phase 3: Methodology for project engineers: developing detailed user
requirements . 22
4.3 Use of Unified Modelling Language (UML) . 25
4.3.1 General . 25
4.3.2 Use case diagram . 26
4.3.3 Scenario flow chart . 26
4.3.4 Activity diagram . 27
4.3.5 Sequence diagram . 30
4.3.6 Data class diagram . 30
4.4 Determining the quality of a use case . 30
4.4.1 General . 30
4.4.2 Considerations for use case management and collaborative working . 31
4.4.3 Version numbering . 32
4.4.4 Management of use case overarching topics like actors, information
objects or requirements . 32
4.4.5 Actor hierarchy und multiple instances of an actor . 33
4.5 Coordination of parallel system use case supporting the same business use
case . 34
4.5.1 General . 34
4.5.2 Decomposition of coordinated high-level use case into sets of low-level
use cases, maximizing the use of already existing elements of
standards (e.g. implantation example use case) . 35
4.5.3 Perform gap analysis to identify necessary standardization work . 35
4.5.4 Components as the linking element between use cases, reference
architectures model and standards . 36
4.6 Outlook to support cooperation of different contributing domains by
identifying cross standardization groups use cases . 36
Bibliography . 38
Figure 1 – Project definition process . 10
Figure 2 – Internal and external stakeholders for the ATM example . 13
Figure 3 – Use case workshop process . 15
Figure 4 – Graphically drafted business use case for the ATM example . 16
Figure 5 – Graphically drafted system use case for the ATM example . 17
Figure 6 – Sequence diagram showing the appropriate boundaries of exchange in the
step-by-step analysis . 20
Figure 7 – Sequence diagram showing an inappropriate level of detail of information
exchange . 21
Figure 8 – Flow diagram for alternate (error) scenarios . 22
Figure 9 – Base plane of the SGAM showing its requisite domains and zones . 25
Figure 10 – Example use case diagram showing actors, assumptions, objectives and
preconditions. . 26
Figure 11 – Example use case diagram scenario flow . 27
Figure 12 – Example activity diagram using Unified Modelling Language showing the
interaction of ATM operator bank, contractual bank, and a customer. 28
Figure 13 – Example activity diagram with object flow . 29
Figure 14 – Example for use case modelling down to data flow modelling . 29
Figure 15 – Example UML data class diagram showing the elements of a use case . 30
Figure 16 – Use case lifecycle process . 31
Figure 17 – Management of use case overarching topics . 33
Figure 18 – Translation of a technical architecture into an actor hierarchy . 33
Figure 19 – Mapping business processes with standards and components. 35
Figure 20 – Components as the linking element between use cases, reference
architecture models and standards . 36
Figure 21 – Actor naming in cross-domain use cases . 37
Table 1 – Use case scenario description according to IEC 62559-2 . 18
Table 2 – Use case information object description according to IEC 62559-2 . 19
Table 3 – Use case requirement description according to IEC 62559-2 . 19
Table 4 – Examples of poorly-formed requirements and requisite improvement. 24
– 4 – IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 IEC 2020
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
USE CASE METHODOLOGY –
Part 4: Best practices in use case development for IEC standardization
processes and some examples for application outside standardization
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
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9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of patent
rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
IEC SRD 62559-4, which is a Systems Reference Deliverable, has been prepared by
IEC systems committee Smart Energy.
The text of this Systems Reference Deliverable is based on the following documents:
Draft SRD Report on voting
SyCSmartEnergy/105/DTS SyCSmartEnergy/114/RVDTS
Full information on the voting for the approval of this Systems Reference Deliverable can be
found in the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A list of all parts in the IEC 62559 series, published under the general title Use case
methodology, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to
the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding
of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.
– 6 – IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 IEC 2020
INTRODUCTION
0.1 General
The IEC 62559 use case template and methodology evolved from work originally performed by
the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) as part of the IntelliGrid program. The primary
purpose of that effort was to develop descriptions of existing and future power systems and
their functions and requirements. In the evolution of this effort, the value of use cases as a
means to accurately and completely describe the requirements for these systems and functions
was demonstrated. The use case template was contributed to the IEC and this became a
Publicly Available Specification (IEC PAS 62559:2008). As the best practice of use cases
evolved, IEC PAS 62559:2008 was cancelled and replaced by IEC 62559-2:2015 to reflect
these updates.
This methodology was originally developed as part of the IntelliGrid Architecture developed by
the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) as a means to implement the “IntelliGrid vision”
of the automated, self-healing, and efficient power system of the future. However, the aim of
IEC 62559 has changed in such a way that it is now intended to describe a methodology which
is generic enough to become applicable for all domains served by IEC or other standardization
bodies.
Initially, IEC 62559 was dedicated to the smart grid domain, but with the introduction of systems
committees within IEC’s organizational structure, the focus was widened to allow the use of the
use case methodology also for other domains like active assisted living or smart cities. This
document also explains how the generic methodology of IEC 62559 can be dedicated to a
certain domain by complementary standards, e.g. the IEC 62913 series for smart energy [1],
[2].
0.2 Objectives of this document
As defined by the IEC, the scope of IEC systems committees like Smart Energy (SyC SE),
Active Assisted Living (SyC AAL) and others is to prepare and coordinate, in co-operation with
IEC technical committees and subcommittees, the development of International Standards and
other deliverables with emphasis on overall system aspects of technical systems and
acceptable balance between cost and quality for the users of these technical systems.
While SyC SE's main focus is on standardization in the field of smart energy in order to provide
systems level standardization, coordination and guidance in the areas of smart grid and smart
energy, including interaction in the areas of heat and gas, SyC SE works also on methodology
and tools to support the systems approach in standardization. In this regard, SyC SE has the
aim to widely consult within the whole IEC community and the broader stakeholder community
to provide overall systems level value, support and guidance to the TCs and other standards
development groups, both inside and outside the IEC.
This document has therefore been developed to address the following objectives:
• To develop a standard methodology for determining and defining user requirements in a
consistent and comprehensive manner. Standards often address only the technical issues
that are included in technical specifications; however, it is just as vital to develop standards
to assist users to clearly and comprehensively define their requirements.
• To clarify the distinction between “user requirements” (the “what” as needed by domain
system experts) and “technical specifications” (the “how” as technical descriptions of
systems, applications, and information flows to meet the “what”). Currently this distinction
is an “invisible line” so that often the “what” and the “how” are mixed together – with
technology-oriented project engineers jumping directly to the “how” without fully exploring
the “what” with the domain system experts.
• To emphasize the critical need to determine all user requirements first, before any
commitments are made on “how” to meet those requirements. Because automation and
control systems are so complex and are becoming increasingly so, if all requirements are
not clearly defined first, then the premature design of systems can block or seriously hinder
meeting those requirements that were not initially recognized.
• To provide a means for testing the systems once implemented to ensure that the user
requirements are truly met, regardless of what standards and technologies are ultimately
incorporated by the vendors.
– 8 – IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 IEC 2020
USE CASE METHODOLOGY –
Part 4: Best practices in use case development for IEC standardization
processes and some examples for application outside standardization
1 Scope
This document specifies best practices for an entity to engage in a use cases redaction process
to determine and describe their user requirements for systems, based on the business needs.
It complements the information in IEC TR 62559-1, IEC 62559-2 [3] and IEC 62559-3 [4] by
providing users with best practices in:
• use cases drafting process,
• determining the skill sets of the people required,
• use case repository management, and
• using use cases for IEC or enterprise projects.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1.1
use case
specification of a set of actions performed by a system, which yields an observable result that
is, typically, of value for one or more actors or other stakeholders of the system
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 19505-2:2012, 16.3.6]
3.1.2
business use case
use case that describes how business roles interact to execute a business process
Note 1 to entry: The business processes are derived from services, i.e. business transactions, which are needed
to achieve different strategic goals for an organization; e.g. for the purpose of achieving specified and measurable
results/products for internal or external customers.
Note 2 to entry: Business use cases are system agnostic.
[SOURCE: IEC TR 62559-1:2019, 3.8, modified – Note 2 to entry has been added.]
3.1.3
system use case
use case that describes how system and/or business roles of a given system interact to perform
a function required to enable or facilitate the business processes described in business use
cases
[SOURCE: IEC TR 62559-1:2019, 3.9]
3.1.4
actor
entity that communicates and interacts
Note 1 to entry: Actors can include people, software applications, systems, databases, and even the power system
itself.
[SOURCE: IEC 62559-2:2015, 3.2]
3.2 Abbreviated terms
AAL active assisted living
ATM automated teller machine
CIM common information model
CPU central processing unit
RAMI 4.0 reference architectural model industry 4.0
SE smart energy
SGAM smart grid architecture model
SyC systems committee
UCMR use case management repository
UML unified modelling language
4 Overview of the methodology
4.1 Concept of systems engineering
The use case methodology according to IEC 62559 is a subset of the science of systems
engineering. Systems engineering methodology separates the concepts of “user requirements”
from “technical specifications”: user requirements define “what” is needed without reference to
any specific designs or technologies, while technical specifications define “how” to implement
the automation systems in order to meet the user requirements.
4.2 Systems engineering methodology for use case development
4.2.1 General
The overall systems engineering methodology is illustrated in Figure 1 and consists of the
following types of people and project steps.
a) Executives or other managers of an enterprise review business cases which describe and
justify a perceived business need. They then approve specific projects.
b) Domain experts and project engineers are tasked to develop a project team to undertake
the project. As one of the first undertakings of the project team, all domain system experts
and other stakeholders (users) that could impact or be impacted by the project should be
identified and represented (full time, part time, or as applicable) on the project team.
c) Domain experts review the stock of existing use cases for applicability and ideas to
determine which content can inform their current effort. Preferably the use cases are stored
in digital form in a so-called use case management repository (UCMR).
– 10 – IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 IEC 2020
d) Domain experts develop a list of use cases (functional descriptions), covering not only the
specific business need but other user needs and future possibilities that could impact or
might be impacted by the project.
e) Domain experts, with possible assistance by project engineers who understand the use case
process, draft the key use cases, capturing all the necessary user requirements.
f) Domain experts review and update these use cases to ensure their needs are captured
correctly and to assess possible misunderstandings, overlaps, gaps, and other
inconsistencies.
g) Project engineers assess and coordinate the use cases from which they develop a
comprehensive and detailed user requirements document. This detailed user requirements
document contains only user requirements.
h) Information and communication technology (ICT) specialists apply the appropriate
standards and technologies, based on the user requirements document. If available, the
strategic vision of a domain-specific reference architecture (e.g. IEC TR 62357-1 [5]) should
be used to determine the key standards and technologies.
i) Design engineers develop the technical specifications, which combine the user
requirements from the domain experts, the preferred standards and technologies from the
information specialists, and the tactical approach to system development recommended by
the architecture.
Figure 1 – Project definition process
The user requirements as elicited by the use case process and ultimately described in the
detailed user requirements document cover the following aspects:
• functions from the user perspective, including functional description of processes, user
choices, types of input data, types of results, and possibly display appearance;
• configuration issues, such as access to field data, electrically noisy environment, control
centre LAN, or cross-organizational interactions;
• performance requirements, such as availability, response times, latency, precision,
frequency of updated results, and other user parameters;
• security requirements, such as confidentiality, access restrictions, detection of failures
and/or intrusions, failure management, and other safety, security, and failure issues;
• data management requirements, such as sizes, numbers of devices, amounts of data,
expected growth over time, data access methods, data maintenance, and other data
management considerations;
• constraints, such as contractual, legal, regulatory, safety rules, or other issues that could
impact the requirements.
While a complete system engineering methodology covers both the identification of user
requirements and the development of technical specifications, this document addresses only
the methodology for determining and documenting the user requirements.
4.2.2 Overview of the phased approach
Although the IntelliGrid methodology, upon which this document is based, covers the entire
process for developing systems, this document focuses only on the development of user
requirements, and therefore concentrates on the first three phases, although it also addresses
the remaining phases as they are applicable to user requirements.
Phase 1: Executives use business cases to approve projects in order to meet business needs.
Although this step in the process involves executive decisions based on cost justification and
other non-technical factors, from the architecture point of view, the key pre-requisite for these
executives in making decisions to approve projects is that all strategic vision issues are
addressed in the business cases.
Phase 2: Domain expert stakeholders give a first list of actors and describe their user
requirements through the formal use case process. Use cases permit these experts to express
their requirements in a formalized manner that can then be coordinated and solidified into more
detailed functional and performance requirements in the next phase.
Phase 3: Project engineers develop the more detailed functional and performance requirements
from the use cases that were developed by the domain experts.
Phase 4: Project engineers and IT specialists assess applicability to the project of the
standards, technologies, and best practices identified in the appropriate technology review.
Phase 5: Design engineers develop the technical specifications based on strategic vision,
tactical approach, applicable standards, and informed by the architecture.
4.2.3 Phase 1: Methodology for executives
4.2.3.1 Step 1: Recommendations for executives
The following are the general recommendations for executives in an enterprise.
• A domain-specific reference architecture should be adopted as a strategic vision for the
enterprise information infrastructure.
• It should be ensured that the different users of the reference architecture understand how
to utilize the relevant parts of reference architecture components, including functional
descriptions and reference architecture strategic vision.
• A plan for implementing the reference architecture methods and standards-based
technologies should be developed, based on the utility’s specific business needs, the
timeframe appropriate for meeting those needs, and the financial constraints.
• Feedback should be provided to the applicable standards organizations so that the
standards can evolve to meet future needs and recommend standards that are created in
the future.
– 12 – IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 IEC 2020
• It should be ensured that all business cases explicitly state how the strategic vision issues
will be part of the project, including use case modelling for functions, abstract data models,
security issues, network and system management, data management, and
integration/interoperability. Efforts that lack a clear link to strategic vision will often have
trouble in being seen through to implementation and may evolve the organizational
architecture in ways that are less optimal for long-term performance. If the strategic vision
issues will not be part of the project, it should be ensured that the business cases explicitly
state why not
4.2.3.2 Step 2: Executives and business needs
When specific business needs are identified, executives have long used business cases as the
method for assessing and determining which business needs can and should be met. Business
cases typically describe the business need, provide financial and organizational assessments
of potential ways for meeting the business need, and recommend a specific solution with a
justification for that recommendation. An organization typically lacks the resources to undertake
all business cases that may be presented, and this is a necessary step in the process to ensure
that only the highest value business cases are allowed to proceed.
Executives (or other decision-makers) are expected to review the business cases and approve
those that meet certain justification criteria (often financial payback criteria).
4.2.3.3 Step 3: Establishing a project team
Once the executives have approved a project to meet a business need, the first step is to
develop a project team. This project team should include representatives from all the main
stakeholders, in order to ensure more useful functional requirements and to help ensure “buy-
in” by these ultimate users of the function. Not all stakeholders need to be full-time members
of the project team but should always be included in any discussions that are relevant to their
areas of expertise to avoid any decisions being made in isolation or in silos, as this creates
additional interfaces and jeopardizes interoperability.
4.2.3.4 Example of the outcome of Phase 1 using cash withdrawal from an ATM as
business case
As most people are familiar with the use of an automated teller machine (ATM), it is a good
example for explaining the steps of the several phases as a practicable example.
The business need for ATM can be summarized into two main drivers.
• Bank customers request withdrawal of money independent of the availability and opening
hours of bank branches.
• Banks need to cut costs, e.g. by closing bank branches at secondary locations.
So, the challenge for a bank is to find a way to keep the customer while reducing the cost to
maintain or even to improve the money-related services to the customer.
The ATM combined with service agreements within the bank sector could help to solve this
challenge. However, certain standardization was paramount to enable service agreements
between different bank organizations. Bank executives might issue a project to sketch out a
scenario where the bank's customer may be enabled to perform a withdrawal of money at an
ATM operated by a different bank (see Figure 2). This example will be used for illustration
purposes through the rest of this document.
4.2.4 Phase 2: Modelling user requirements with use cases
4.2.4.1 Step 1: Identification of all potential stakeholders
One of the very first tasks of the project team should be to identify all potential stakeholders ,
even if some eventually do not directly participate in the project (see Figure 2). Often, they may
have requirements that appear peripheral to the main project but could easily be met if designed
in from the beginning.
Figure 2 – Internal and external stakeholders for the ATM example
Once identified, all these stakeholders should have the project explained (briefly) to them, and
then be asked if they have any user requirements that could impact (or be impacted by) the
project. They should be encouraged to think “out of the box”, to brainstorm future scenarios,
and to envision new capabilities, rather than just restating existing functions. Thinking “out of
the box” and generating “idealized designs” about what a stakeholder really needs can make
profound changes in how businesses operate and how projects are implemented. This process
can be difficult because understanding what might be possible under different conditions and
technologies is very different from stating what is currently done.
Some of the new user requirements could just piggyback on the project without significant
technical or financial impact, while others might involve changing the overall user requirements
to accommodate the new needs. Other requirements might lead to simple accommodations for
future expansion of the systems being implemented so that they could handle these new, but
possibly not yet justified, requirements in the future. Some brainstorming discussions might
cause other stakeholders to rethink their own needs in a new way.
Although not all new user requirements would be implemented immediately, this brainstorming
could lead to new ways of thinking and eventually new projects to address those needs.
____________
A stakeholder differs from an actor, as a stakeholder is only indirectly affected by the use case, for example the
IT manager has to take care that the computer systems support all requirements of a use case.
– 14 – IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 IEC 2020
4.2.4.2 Step 2: Reviewing repository use cases
To avoid “reinventing the wheel” the appropriate pre-existing use cases should be reviewed.
There are IEC use cases managed by various working group use case managers, and there
may also be parochial repositories, or a repository of use cases that already exists within the
working group or technical committee.
To support the reuse, IEC is currently implementing a central use case management repository
(UCMR), which will allow the collaborative editing of use cases according to the structure
defined in IEC 62559-2 [3]. The UCMR will support different workspaces for different domains
or systems committees, whereas each workspace could maintain its own domain-specific actor
list.
In the long run, these use cases will serve as a body of institutional knowledge and serve as a
checklist and a means to initiate new discussions on new functions.
4.2.4.3 Step 3: Brainstorming list of functions with stakeholders
A list of functions should be developed by the stakeholders that will capture all user
requirements associated with the project area, even if some are “peripheral” to the main purpose
of the project. This list of functions will ultimately be described by a set of interconnected use
cases.
However, applying brainstorming to the use case process involves not only discarding old
mindsets that inhibit creative thinking, but also learning how to use the use case process most
effectively. The requirements gathering process should use an iterative and stepwise
refinement-based methodology. This approach facilitates the requirements gathering process
by stimulating stakeholder interest, collaborating on new ideas, and obtaining stakeholder buy-
in. In some cases, the list of functions may need to be pared down, combined, or prioritized so
that the primary functions are identified.
4.2.4.4 Step 4: Drafting use cases
The functions identified in the list should then be drafted into a set of use cases. These use
cases should be the product of domain experts, but often these experts are not experienced in
use case concepts. Therefore, project engineers who are experienced in the use case process
could help elicit the requirements from the domain experts.
Drafting use cases can also be iterative, with some use cases expanded and possibly split into
multiple use cases, while others are amalgamated into one (see Figure 3).
The process of translating such use case drafts into the IEC use case template is described in
IEC 62559-2 [3].
Figure 3 – Use case workshop process
Each requirements team executes the following procedure to define requirements while
developing use cases.
1) Decide on the scope for this use case. The system will do many different things, and only
certain functions will be addressed by any given use case. This will help write the narrative,
which may be done now or later in the use case.
2) List the actors, what goals they want to accomplish and give a first description. Select one
actor as the primary actor, whose goal will determine when the use case is done.
Actors can be either generic or specific. For example, when modelling interactions when it
is not clear what systems might be used to initiate or respond to requests, one might use a
generic actor such “RequestInitiator”. In other cases, the systems might be known, but
specific vendors may not have been acquired so the generic system name might be used;
for example, the enterprise resource planning (ERP) or the customer information system
(CIS) might be used as actors. In the case where a vendor system is used, one might name
the actor, for example, “Vendor A” (where Vendor A is the name of the vendor or more
specifically the name of the vendor’s product).
3) Identify all stakeholders and their interests. All actors representing a role are stakeholders,
but there may be stakeholders who are not actors. The interests of all stakeholders need to
be satisfied for the use case to be complete.
4) Identify contracts and preconditions. What has to happen before the use case can start?
Knowing this will help to identify requirements.
For each use case there will be:
• an initial condition (the nominal state of the system);
• a trigger (the event that initiates the need for the use case);
• the series of steps as the use case is processed;
• a post-condition (the state of the system once the use case has been completed).
– 16 – IEC SRD 62559-4:2020 IEC 2020
These attributes of a use case are not only helpful in determining when a use case is
complete, but can also be used to feed into a request for proposal and test criteria to
determine when a vendor or the people responsible for implementing the solution have
completed their work. If the post-condition (outcomes) of the use case that was documented
has been met, then the work is complete. If the post-condition has not been met, then there
is still work to do on the part of the vendors or solution developers.
5) Select the success scenario or the happy flow, in which the primary actor successfully
achieves its goal. There may be several other scenarios in which it fails to do so.
6) Write down the steps as complete sentences written in formal language, i.e. actor-verb-
object-qualifier. As each step is written, check for the following requirements and write them
down:
• What does this mean the system will have to do?
• How quickly, reliably, safely, compatibly, useably and securely must it do it?
• How might our business process change because of it?
7) Write the alternate scenarios. Any place that something can go wrong or differently than
expected will be an alternate set of steps. Some of them may halt the main success
scenario; others may re-join it later in the story, i.e. the problem could be fixed.
8) Check for completeness. Check to see if all the stakeholder’s requirements, collected in
phase 2; step 1, were satisfied and, in particular, if the primary actor reached its goal.
So step 4 might start with drafting a use case from the business point of view. A business use
case for the ATM example is shown in a graphical presentation in Figure 4.
Figure 4 – Graphically drafted business use case for the ATM example
A business use case describes the interaction of business roles within the business process.
For further technical analysis, the business roles might be replaced by technical systems which
take over the necessary technical actions to implement the business process. This will translate
a business use case into a system use case. In the ATM example, Bank A might be replaced
by its bank computer and Bank B by its ATM (see Figure 5).
Also, the technical implementation of some business functions will be defined in a system use
case. In the ATM example, the technical implementation of some business process functions in
Figure 4 might be implemented like this.
• Customer identification → Bank card with PIN
• Presentation of available services option → Option menu on monitor screen
• Service option selection by customer → Keypad strokes
Figure 5 – Graphically drafted system use case for the ATM example
The sequence diagram in Figure 4 can easily be translated into the use case scenario steps.
Each horizontal arrow specifies one step and gives the information who is sending which
information to whom. Table 1 shows the IEC 62559-2 [3] compliant documentation of the ATM
use case scenario steps.
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