International Workshop

Open Issues in Industrial Use Case Modeling

held in conjunction with

Seventh International Conference on the Unified Modeling Language, UML 2004

October 10-15, 2004, Lisbon, Portugal

Sunday, October 10th, Vila Galé Ópera Hotel


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Instructions to speakers

The UML 2004 local organizing committee will provide video projector, big screen for projection, flipchart and coloured pencils. There will be no overhead projector (transparencies).

The workshop organizers will provide a laptop computer for projection purposes, with Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, USB, CD-ROM and Floppy disk devices. Speakers can use their own laptops for their presentations. However, in order to save time during the presentations, we prefer to use only one laptop for the whole workshop, and we strongly encourage you to send your presentations via email to the organizing committee (ggenova[at]inf.uc3m.es) until Thursday, October 7th. Please make sure your presentation file is fully self-contained and, no need to say, virus-free.

Each speaker will be allocated a maximum slot of 30 minutes for his/her presentation. We suggest 15-20 minutes for the presentation, so that enough time is allowed for questions and discussion.


Schedule

Session 1 (09:00-10:30) - chair Gonzalo Génova

Coffe break

Session 2 (11:00-12:30) - chair Gonzalo Génova

Lunch

Session 3 (14:00-15:30) - chair Hernán Astudillo

Coffe break

Session 4 (16:00-17:30) - chair Hernán Astudillo


Accepted papers

Authors Bruce Anderson
Title Formalism, technique and rigour in use case modelling
Abstract In this paper I distil some of my experience in requirements engineering and use case modelling, then list some of the issues (both those I see and those that have been presented by others), together with some suggested resolutions and ways forward. This is not an academic paper - it contains few references, and there is no quest for novelty. My interest is in capturing and formulating good practice, and stimulating discussion, in order to assist practitioners. This does not preclude theory; quite the contrary “There is nothing so useful as a good theory.” (Lewin 1951). Note that although we talk of requirements, a use case model is in fact a specification at some level of detail and accuracy. And although we talk of analysis, in fact synthesis is the key - co-creating a specification that satisfies the client's requirements. My detailed experience is generally of rather conservative projects - iterative and incremental, but somehow subject to a pull (often from the client) to somewhat waterfall and artefact-heavy processes. I have tried to let this be allowed but not forced by my proposals in the paper. I'd like to be clearer on the distinction between technique and formalism, though I'm not sure there is a clean border there. In this paper I present my approach rather definitely, but of course I will discuss and improve any of the points I give
Download PDF 81 KB final version

 

Authors Nelly Bencomo, Alfredo Matteo
Title Traceability Management through Use Cases when Developing Distributed Object Applications
Abstract The software life cycle of Distributed Object applications encompasses many activities, which go from requirements specification and leads to design and implementation taking into account aspects related to architectural issues. In such a life cycle, activities related to communication and integration mechanisms defined in Distributed Objects Technologies have to be executed. On the other hand, the support for software traceability has been established as an important task in the development life cycle of software systems. As the design is refined to a concrete implementation, it is important that concepts in analysis and design have a clear correspondence to implementation artifacts. This article describes activities and artifacts associated with Analysis, Design, Implementation and Deployment models when developing Distributed Object applications. In this sense, this work proposes a clear traceability from the Use Case model through Analysis, Design, Implementation and Deployment models. An example of the traceability is presented by means of a case study involving web access to Bank accounts.
Download PDF 344 KB

 

Authors Clay Williams, Matthew Kaplan, Tim Klinger, and Amit Paradkar
Title Toward Engineered, Useful Use Cases
Abstract We explore common problems that exist in the practice of use case modeling: lack of consistency in defining use cases, misalignment between the UML metamodel and the textual representations of use cases expounded in the literature, and the lack of a semantics that allows use cases to be executable and analyzable. We propose an engineering approach to the issues that provides a precise foundation for use case development. We next discuss four potential uses of such a foundation and identify the research problems that must be addressed to support these applications.
Download PDF 78 KB final version

 

Authors Michal Smialek
Title Accommodating informality with necessary precision in use case scenarios
Abstract Paper contains a proposition of notation for use case scenarios that accommodates the needs of different roles in software development projects. Some roles require simple and informal English sentences with references to the domain vocabulary. Other roles need a relation and mapping to user interface elements or messages flowing inside the developed system. These contradictory requirements lead to a conclusion that the use case notation should be a composition of several notations with precisely defined rules for their transformation. There are proposed four such notations based on structured text, interaction diagrams and activity diagrams. There is also presented a mapping between specific elements of these notations and a mapping to elements of the static domain and design models.
Download PDF 99 KB final version

 

Authors Sadahiro Isoda
Title On UML2.0's Abandonment of the Actors-Call-Use-Cases Conjecture
Abstract UML2.0 recently made a correction which effectively means that they finally abandoned the ACU conjecture, admitting it was wrong. The ACU conjecture is a fallacious statement that makes people believe that actors call operations of a use case. It originated in OOSE and was implicitly employed by UML. It caused serious defects in UML's specification of the use-case class. Although the correction itself could shed light on the long-troubled use-case specification, UML2.0 does not recognize its significance. This is proved by the fact that it still retains those defects. The paper states how the ACU conjecture caused them. It then makes a model of a designer's simulation of a use case, derives a use-case class/object, and specifies its static and dynamic properties. In relation with this, it clarifies the meaning of a use-case diagram that has been left ambiguous.
Download PDF 84 KB final version

 

Authors Gonzalo Génova, Juan Llorens
Title The Emperor's New Use Case 
Abstract Use cases are intended to specify system behavior from the user's point of view. In UML, use cases are meta-modeled as classifiers, trying to fit them within the general object-oriented paradigm. Classifiers specify a set of instances, and use case instances are said to be occurrences of emergent behaviors, that is, concrete system-actor interactions. This idea poses some difficulties, since it is not clear how an interaction can have classifier features such as attributes, operations and associations. Therefore, we challenge the notion that use case instances are interactions. On the other side, if we proceed on to the complete specification of system behavior by means of use cases, we reach a notion of use case (a coordinated use of system operations) that is very close to the traditional role with an associated protocol interface, therefore concluding that use cases and protocols are not essentially different things.
Download PDF 154 KB final version

 

Authors Guy Genilloud, William F. Frank
Title Use Case Concepts from an RM-ODP Perspective
Abstract Use Cases have achieved wide use in software engineering. However, there is still controversy concerning the semantics of use case models, some practitioners find the official UML doctrines very awkward. The source of this awkwardness is the failure of UML to identify what a use case model is a model of – the official doctrine is self-referential, in that use cases are seen as kinds of specifications, rather than kinds of things in the world. The Extend relationship, in particular, illustrates these problems. In this paper, we show how the terminology and explanations of use cases in the UML standard(s) can confuse learners and users of use case techniques. We then show how the ontology of the RM-ODP can be used to analyze the problem, communicate effectively about it, and find appropriate solutions.
Download PDF 172 KB final version

 

Authors Joaquin Miller
Title Use Case from the ODP Viewpoint
Abstract Discussion of use cases and UML often focuses on the UML use case diagram. Use case diagrams are contrasted (usually unfavorably) with text use cases. But specification of use cases with UML is not limited to the use case diagram. In fact UML 2 includes a variety of expressive techniques for specifying a use case. This paper looks at UML use cases from the ODP viewpoint, and describes UML use case specification techniques in ODP terms.
Download PDF 34 KB

 


Updated: October 5th, 2004

Contact: ggenova[at]inf.uc3m.es