Use Case Templates

Cockburn

Cockburn describes a more detailed structure for a use case, but permits it to be simplified when less detail is needed. His fully dressed use case template lists the following fields:

Basic

Full

In addition, Cockburn suggests using two devices to indicate the nature of each use case: icons for design scope and goal level.

Cockburn's approach has influenced other authors; for example, Alexander and Beus-Dukic generalize Cockburn's “Fully dressed use case” template from software to systems of all kinds, with the following fields differing from Cockburn:

Casual

Cockburn recognizes that projects may not always need detailed “fully dressed” use cases. He describes a Casual use case with the fields:

Fowler style

Martin Fowler states “There is no standard way to write the content of a use case, and different formats work well in different cases.” He describes “a common style to use” as follows::101

Business Use-Case

A Business Use-Case is a way in which a customer or some other interested party can make use of the business to get the result they want whether it’s to buy an item, to get a new driving license, to pay an invoice, or whatever. An important point is that a single execution of a Business Use-Case should encompass all the activities necessary to do what the customer (or other actor) wants, and also any activities that the business needs to do before the process is complete from its point of view.