How to represent generalization relationships in use case specfications?

Question

I have use cases like this: get from here

When I showed my teacher this, she had required specifying all use cases and representing generalization in document. She want me to reuse Manage Account specfication in Add Account , Delete Account , Edit Account . How to do that?

Thank you in advanced and I'm sorry for my English

Answer 1

I think that in the diagram, the Admin actor should interact with the specialized (child) use cases rather than the more abstract (parent) use case of the generalization relationship.

Furthermore, it is a good practice to show the system boundary using a frame around all the use cases implemented by your system. This is especially helpful when you have more than one actor.

Complementing the use case diagram, you would typically have a use case specification describing the actual sequence of operations of each of your use cases. You could use this to show how all the use cases have a common structure (inherited from Manage Account ).

This page is also helpful for understanding the concept of generalization.