Use Case diagrams as a requirements gathering tool for new functionality - particularly in systems that only require very little user interaction

Question

I'm interested in persuing the idea of using Use Case Diagrams as a tool for collecting user requirements. However, it will be for new features as opposed to developing a system from scratch. Also, the system only has a small level of user interaction - most of the actors will be external systems.

I want to know what people's experiances have been with using this method of gathering requirements. How did your customers respond to the change and was it positive? Did it just not work for anybody?

Thanks,

Answer 1

One of the main benefits of use-cases is they help communicate ideas clearly, so that you and end-users can get on the same wavelength. They can provoke discussion and reveal subtleties that users (or you) might take for granted.

On the other hand interaction between systems is concrete, so you can dispense with discussion and instead seek to document hard facts; what data will be transmitted, what volumes, what form will it take, what happens when garbage is received, and so on.