Different scenarios where your system or application interacts with people, systems, or organizations can be modeled using your use case diagram. In addition, the diagram can be used to represent and discuss goals that users (or "actors") achieve with the help of your system or application.
Advantages of use case diagrams
Use case diagrams are effective tools that can help your team communicate and analyze the scope of your system. Draw a use case diagram anytime you need to specify context and requirements for a system to operate, or model the flow of events in a given use case.
How do you create a use case diagram?
Using FigJam's virtual collaboration tool, you and your team can easily create and share your own use case diagram. Select this Use Case Diagram Template, and start following these steps:
Step 1: Identify your actors
People who interact with your system are called actors. This can include customers, users, other systems, and organizations.
Step 2: Identify use cases
The best way to start is by asking what the actors need from the system. For example, at a library, actors may need to pick up books, return books, get a library card, reserve rooms, or use the internet. All of these activities would be classified as use cases.
Step 3: Identify common functionalities
If you have multiple use cases that share common functionality, you can extract that functionality into a separate use case.
Step 4: Identify generalizations
Can you think of any actors who might be associated with similar use cases that would trigger unique cases for them? If so, you can generalize that particular actor. A commonly cited example is the “make a payment” use case in a payment system, which can be generalized to “pay by debit card,” “pay by cash,” “pay by credit card,” and so on.
