Primary Actors

List the primary actors of the use case.

Primary actors use the system to create one of the purposed goals.

Secondary Actors

List the secondary actors of the use case.

Typical secondary actors are developers and administrators that support the system by maintaining or monitoring.

Supporting Actors

List the supporting actors of the use case.

Supporting actors of a system are only used by the system, but are not using the system (e.g. printers).

Goal Level

Define the level of abstraction of the use case.

Consider using the Use Case Level Macro.

Frequency

Define the expected frequency of use.

Dependent on the product this may be numbers like uses per visit/task of one user or uses per hour/day/week/month (of one/all user(s)). It is not important to compare two use cases by their frequency, it is important for the developer to get to know how often the function will be used by users of the system.

Level

Specify the level of this use case in the containment hierarchy.

Consider to use the Level Macro to calculate this information based on the location of this document within the hierachy of use case documents.

Description

Provide a description that sets the use case in a context without describing the steps of the use case.

Summary

Give a summary of the use case.

Preconditions

List the preconditions that have to be met that the use case can be triggered. You may use a table with two columns to name the precondition and describe it.

Postconditions

List the postcondition that will be met after the use case has been executed. The minimal postcondition is that is always met, all other conditions may be met in certain circumstances that will be specified. You may use a three column table to specify the name, the circumstances in which case the postcondition gets active and a description of the condition.

Triggers

List the triggers that initiate the use case. Use a two-column table with a name of the trigger and a description.

Basic Course

Describe the central course of events.

This is usually a numbered list of steps.

Alternative Sequences

List the alternative, non-exceptional courses of events.

Usually add one section of each alternative and use a numbered list for the individual steps.

Exception Sequences

List the exceptional courses of events.

Usually add one section of each exception and use a numbered list for the individual steps.

Extension Points

List the extension points defined by this use case. These references describe the extension of the use case that extends another one.

Technology and Data Variations

List the variations of the sequence due to technology or data constraints.

Business Rules

List the business rules related to the use case.

Stakeholders

List the stakeholders interested in this use case.

Subordinate Use Cases

Large use cases may be split into smaller ones.