Use cases in task modeling and user interface design

  • Authors:
  • Larry L. Constantine;Lucy A. D. Lockwood

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia;Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd., Rowley, MA

  • Venue:
  • CHI '99 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

Use cases are increasingly recognized as a particularly versatile form of task model. Use cases are related to scenarios, which have a long history of application to computer-human interaction [2], but may offer distinct advantages. A use case comprises a single case of use of a system that is complete, well-defined, and meaningful from the perspective of an external user [5,8]. Concrete instances of multiple use cases can be combined into plausible sequences to form the narrative vignettes usually associated with scenario-based design, but because use cases are a finer-grained formal construct at a higher level of abstraction, they lend themselves to more rigorous definition and more systematic and structured expression. The structured narratives of use cases can be interrelated through formally defined constructs [6,8] to form a comprehensive model of the tasks to be supported by a system under design.