An Ontological Evaluation of Use Case Grammar

Use Case modeling is a popular technique for representing the functional requirements of an information system. The simple graphical notation of Use Case Diagrams, accompanied by well-structured narrative descriptions, makes Use Case models fairly easy to read and understand. This simplicity, however, belies the challenges associated with creating Use Case models. There is little, if any, theory underlying Use Cases, and little more than loose guidelines for creating a set of complete, consistent, and integrated set of Use Cases. We argue that Use Cases have strong potential value as a modeling and communication tool for different audiences and purposes, but there is a need for more rigor and consistency in the methods for creating and integrating Use Cases. Toward this end, we present a theoretical evaluation of Use Case modeling grammar. We use the findings from this evaluation to make recommendations for future research to understand and improve the Use Case modeling technique.