ArchiMetric

In the area of software testing, “use case” and “test case” are the most critical and closely interrelated terms, but they are quite different. A use case tells us how a system will behave or perform a given task under given conditions. A test case contains the actual test data, the instruction set of the system, and the expected results of the interaction with the system.

A use case diagram is a UML diagram that enables you to model system functions (i.e., goals) and the actors that interact with those functions. You can draw use case diagrams in Visual Paradigm or use the Event Flow Editor to document use case usage scenarios. On this page, you will see how to draw use case diagrams with UML tools.

One of the most difficult problems in software development is capturing exactly what you want to build. Inaccurate requirements can eventually lead to significant project delays, rework, or even abandonment. Effective application of use case techniques can help your team capture requirements from the user’s perspective, which can be easily understood by both the end user and your team. Use case-driven development supports subsequent development activities such as analysis, design, and testing.

A use case is a list of actions or event steps that typically define the interaction between an actor (called an actor in Unified Modeling Language (UML)) and a system to achieve a goal. Actors can be people or other external systems. In systems engineering, use cases are used at a higher level than in software engineering and usually represent task or stakeholder goals.