An Essential Textual Use Case Meta-model Based on an Analysis of Existing Proposals

Several studies have proposed meta-models for textual representations of use cases. Each of these meta-models has different goals and viewpoints, with either varying concepts and relationships or different semantics for the same concept. In Model-Driven Engineering approaches where there is no compatible proposal or a more appropriate viewpoint, or where there is no intention to limit the approach to a specific use case format, it might be difficult to choose between these proposals. Aiming at a generic textual representation, this paper presents a meta-model based on an analysis of 20 studies, chosen through a survey, that propose templates or meta-models. The more common elements of these studies are represented in a meta-model, together with their more frequent attributes. The goal is to create an essential and easily extendable meta-model that can be used directly in Model-Driven Engineering activities.