Have you ever wondered how to create the ideal systems, structures, and processes that your consumers would love? Perhaps you have been engaged in developing a new system, only to be disappointed when some critical features are missing. How to write an excellent use case is exactly what you need to learn.

A use case is a written document that describes how a job will be carried out in any system or process. For the end user, it simply refers to how a process or system responds to a request. 

Write a use case to determine what your business, industry, or computer system is good at and show how valuable it is. Use cases can be very helpful in figuring out how well a system can meet the needs of end users. When making software or a system, you can improve your work by considering how the product will be used in real life. Use cases can also be useful when marketing a product. Here are some steps on how to write a use case. 

In this article, we will work you through the basic steps on how to write a use case. 

What Is A Use Case

A use case is a written document stating how people will use your product. For example, you may write the use case on how people will use your website or mobile application. It shows how a system responds to a user's request from the user's point of view. 

Each use case is shown as a series of easy steps that start with the user's goal and end when that goal is met. Use cases are useful because they help explain how the system should work and, at the same time, help think of things that could go wrong. They give a list of goals, which can be used to figure out how much the system will cost and how hard it will be to set up. Then, the project teams can discuss which features are built and which become requirements.

What Makes-up A Use Case?

Depending on how detailed or complex you want your use case to be, the following elements are important:

• Primary Actor: a stakeholder who interacts with the system to reach a goal.
• Triggers: these are the factors that initiated the use case.  
• Actor: is any person (who is using the system) or thing that does something with the product.
• Stakeholder: a person or thing that has a vested interest in how the system in question works (SUD).
• Preconditions: are things that must be true or happen before and after the use case runs.
• Main success scenarios [Basic Flow]: is the path the user takes when nothing goes wrong.
• Alternative paths [Alternative Flow]: are the paths to take when things go wrong.

How To Write A Use Case

You can write a product use case using the following steps: 

1. Define The Scope and Purpose of The Use Case

Here is a concise step to take in defining the scope and purpose of your product’s use case:

• Write a goal statement
  Summarize the main objective of deploying the technology or business process in one or two sentences. Clearly state the objectives of the system's main user. Any business process, software, or technology that a firm employs can be described in a use case.
  
  
• Determine the stakeholders
  These are the individuals in the organization who are interested in the process outcome. They might not be participants in the procedure outlined in the use case; nonetheless, the system works to further their interests. List each stakeholder, their identities, and any relevant interests in the system's operation. Note any assurances they anticipate the system to provide as well.
  
  
• Define the scope
  Clearly define the system that is being assessed and exclude components that do not belong to this system. When defining the scope, making a spreadsheet with an in/out list might help in determining the project's scope. Columns should be made. Any subject at all that could be related to the system is listed in the left column. The two columns after that are labeled In and Out. Decide which subjects are included and which are excluded by going through the list.

2. Define The Elements of The Use Case

Your use case must specify how a system is used, what occurs when it works, and what happens when it doesn't. Each scenario outlines a process and what transpires once each stage is completed. Here are some possible scenarios:

• All individuals who will participate in the activities outlined in the use case are considered users. For instance, the users in a use case for logging into a software system would include everyone who needs to do so.
• Prerequisites are the components that need to exist before the use case can begin. For instance, the system will identify usernames and passwords supplied by users who have been given permission to use them since they have already been recognized and added to it.
• The fundamental flow is the process users follow to accomplish the system's main objective and how it reacts to their activities. Assuming the user enters a login and password, the system grants the user access.
• Other flows explain less prevalent activities. For instance, the user could have to respond to a security question while using a different computer.
• Exception flows describe what transpires when the user is unable to complete the task. For instance, the user could provide an incorrect password or username.

3. Define How Users Will Interact With The System or Process

Every action taken by the user is treated as a different use case. A use case has a limited range; so you might need to construct multiple use cases (based on each features) for a single product. For example, a corporation that is deploying a new software to process purchase orders may feature use-cases that include how users log into the system and how to run requisition reports. 

Interestingly, for a software product, you can reuse a feature (use-case) in multiple projects if you understand what you are doing. This can help reduce your development time. However, you can’t know how to do this if you don’t clearly define your use cases. 

Therefore, create a use case for each of the features you listed for the new technology or business process you are pursuing.

Conclusion

Use cases help product teams understand how a system works from different users' points of view. They help everyone in the organization see how the different flows work and how different user groups interact with the system. Use cases also help the development team develop ideas and determine if those ideas will work. 

Use case meaning is an important part of software development, and every product manager needs to know how to create one. If you need a professional freelance web developer who can help your define your product’s use cases and how to implement them, head straight to our website to hire some of the best designers and developers in the industry.