Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

COMP11113
Information Systems Analysis and Design

Unit 3

Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

Aims
To provide an overview of the system development process and software lifecycle models, and
describe how system analysis is involved in the process and software lifecycle models, as well
as explain how system analysis is carried out in the development.

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

Objectives
When you have completed this unit, you should be able to:

 Describe the process of system development.

 Discuss the relationship among software quality, development process, development
methods and techniques, and CASE tools in system development.
 Define the software lifecycle models.
 Explain how CASE tools support system development.
 Explain the factors that affect system quality.
 Explain the role of the system analyst in system development.
 Explain the importance of the user and analysis techniques for the system analyst.
 Specify the categories of requirements.
 Explain the process of system analysis.
 Understand the approaches to collecting requirements.

Overview
This unit introduces you to the system development process that consists of different stages:
system analysis, system design, system implementation, system testing, and system
maintenance. System developers need to go through these stages for developing a new
computer system. This unit also covers the issues relating to the system analysis that is the
first stage of system development and that is important to the success of the system because
it is responsible for requirements capture and system modelling and the results of the analysis
will have impact on the other stages of the process.

In this module the topics are broken down into the two sections:

Section 1 examines the system development process and explains how a computer system is
developed through the different stages in the process. It defines software lifecycle models and
measurement of software quality.

Section 2 then focuses on system analysis and examines it in deep detail. It looks at the role of
the system analyst and the user of the system. It further examines the process of system
analysis and tasks of the system analyst. This section also discusses the categories of user
requirements, the ways of capturing the requirements, and the specification of the
requirements.

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

Reading of the textbooks:

John W. Satzinger, Robert B. Jackson and Stephen D. Burd, Object-Oriented Analysis and
Design with the Unified Process, Thomson, 2005.

Alan Dennis, Barbara Wixom, and David Tegarden, Systems Analysis and Design: An Object-
Oriented Approach with UML (6th edition), Wiley, 2021.

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

Table of Contents
AIMS ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................................................... 2
OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... 2
READING OF THE TEXTBOOKS: .................................................................................................... 3
1 BASIC CONSTRUCTS IN UML .................................................................................................. 5
1.5 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 5
1.6 STRING ...................................................................................................................................... 5
1.7 NAME ........................................................................................................................................ 5
1.8 LABEL ....................................................................................................................................... 5
1.9 EXPRESSION .............................................................................................................................. 5
1.10 NOTE ......................................................................................................................................... 5
1.11 GENERAL EXTENSION MECHANISMS ......................................................................................... 6
1.12 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS ................................................................................................. 6
1.13 LEARNING OUTCOMES .............................................................................................................. 6
2 USE CASE DIAGRAM IN UML .................................................................................................. 7
2.1 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 USE CASE MODEL ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 BASIC FUNCTIONAL MODELLING CONSTRUCTS ........................................................................ 9
2.4 GUIDELINES FOR DRAWING A USE CASE DIAGRAM AND DESCRIBING USE CASES .................. 10
2.5 THE CASE STUDY: THE SOLENT HOTEL SYSTEM..................................................................... 11
2.6 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS ............................................................................................... 12
2.7 LEARNING OUTCOMES ............................................................................................................ 12

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

1 BASIC CONSTRUCTS IN UML

1.5 Objectives
After completing this section you should be able to:
 explain the basic constructs in UML.
 understand meaning of the basic constructs.
 understand what they represent in the system specification.

1.6 String
A string is a sequence of characters in some suitable character set used to display information
about the model. For example.
BankAccount
integrate (f: Function, from: Real, to: Real)
{ author = “Joe Smith”, deadline = 31-March-1997, status = analysis }

1.7 Name
A name is a string that is used to uniquely identify a model element within some scope. For
example,

BankAccount
integrate
abstract
this_is_a_very_long_name_with_underscores

1.8 Label
A label is a string that is attached to a graphic symbol. Figure 1 shows an example of a label.

Figure 1 Attachment by containment and attachment by adjacency

account

1.9 Expression
An expression is a linguistic formula yielding values when evaluated at run-time. For example,
Example 1: array [1..20]
Example 2: [i> j and size >i] (it is a condition/Boolean expression)

1.10 Note
A note is a graphical symbol containing textual information, such as constraints, comments,

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

method bodies, and tagged values.

This model was built by Alan

Wright after meeting with the
mission planning team.

1.11 General Extension Mechanisms

The elements “stereotype”, “tagged value” and “constraint” are general purpose mechanisms
that may be applied to any modelling element.

Constraint and Comment

A constraint specifies conditions (e.g., {subset} in Figure 2) that must be held true for the model
to be well-formed. A constraint can be represented in a brace bracket {} or in a note.
A comment is a text string (including references to human-readable documents) attached
directly to a model element (e.g., the note in Figure 2). A comment is normally contained by a
note.

Figure 2 Constraint and Comment

* member-of *
{subset} Represents
Person Committee An incorporated entity
1 chair-of *

worker employee employer

* Person * 0..1 Company
0..1
boss

Tagged Values
Tagged values may be “documentation” and “location”, as shown in Figure 3.

Stereotypes
The essence of the stereotype is to suggest certain outline responsibilities for a class, as shown in Figure
3.

When you extend a model with stereotypes, tagged values, and constraints,
 Standardize on a small set of stereotypes, tagged values, and constraints to use on your
project, and avoid letting individual developers create lots of new extensions.
 Choose short, meaningful names for your stereotypes and tagged values.
 Use free-form text for specifying constraints, when precision is not important

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

Figure 3 Extensibility

<<control>>
ActionQueue tagged value
stereotype {version=3.2}
add() {add() runs in every 30 seconds}
remove()
<<query>>
length() constraint
<<helper functions>>
reorder()

1.12 Self Assessment Questions

1. What kinds of basic constructs does UML provide?

2. Explain the meaning of each of the basic constructs.

1.13 Learning Outcomes

Having completed this section, you should be able to:

 Describe basic constructs in UML.

 Discuss the relationships between the basic constructs and diagrams in UML.
 Define the basic constructs.

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

2 USE CASE DIAGRAM IN UML

2.1 Objectives
After completing this section you should be able to:
 draw a use case diagram for an application.
 understand the meaning of the use case diagram.
 explain what the use case diagram represents in system specification.

2.2 Use Case Model

A use case model is part of an analysis model of a system that is created in the requirements
analysis. This model is represented by a use case diagram in UML for the whole system. The
use case diagram is used to document the user requirements, in particular, the functional
requirements, in the requirements analysis. Figure 4 shows a use case diagram for a Telephone
Catalogue system.
Figure 4 A use case diagram

Use case Telephone Catalogue System

Interaction Check
Actor status Salesperson

Place name
order
Shipping Clerk
Customer Fill orders

Establish
system boundary credit Supervisor

A use case diagram shows the functionality of a system. In particular, it shows

 a graph of actors, a set of use cases enclosed by a system boundary, communication
(participation) associations between the actors and the use cases, and generalisations
among the use cases.
 a good collection of use cases is central to understanding what your users want.
 functionality of a system or a class without specifying how the functionality is implemented.

Each use case specifies a complete functionality.

The use case diagram is produced in the requirements analysis at the beginning of system
analysis, as illustrated in Figure 5.

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

Figure 5 A use case diagram used in requirements analysis in a use case-driven process

System analysis

Analysis model of an object-oriented system

Object model in data view

Class diagram
Use case model in
process view
Use case diagram Behaviour model
User’s Sequence diagram
requirements and use case in event/state view
descriptions
State diagram
Activity diagram (i.e. Statechart)

2.3 Basic Functional Modelling Constructs

USE CASE
 A use case is a functional requirement of your system as a whole, or a part.
 A use case must always deliver some value to an actor.
 A use case may include (aggregate) or extend (inherit) other use cases.
 A use case describes what a system does but it does not specify how it does it.

ACTOR
An actor represents a role that a human, a hardware device, or even another system plays with
a system.
An actor interacts directly with a use case in the use case diagram.
An actor may perform many use cases; conversely, a use case may be performed by several
actors.

USE CASE RELATIONSHIPS

There are several standard relationships among use cases as shown in Figure 6:

Figure 6 Use case relationships

Place Order
Extension points <<extend>> Place rush order
set priority

Track
Order <<include>> generalization
<<include>>
Validate user Check password

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

 Generalization relationship
A generalization relationship among use cases indicates that the child use case inherits the
behaviour and the meaning of the parent use case; the child may add to or override the
behaviour of its parent; and the child may be substituted any place the parent appears.

 Include relationship
An include relationship between use cases means a delegation: you take a set of responsibilities
of the system and capture it in one place (the included use case), then let all other parts of the
system (other use cases) include the new aggregation of responsibilities whenever they need
to use that functionality.

 Extend relationship
An extend relationship between use cases means that the behaviour of the base use case may
be extended by the behaviour of another use case. You use an extend relationship to model the
part of a use case the user may see as optional system behaviour.

2.4 Guidelines for Drawing a Use Case Diagram

and Describing Use Cases
Each use case can be seen as a dialog between an actor and the system. The system performs
the tasks with objects so that it can respond in the way that is required by the actor.
 Establish the context of the system by identifying the actors that surround it.
 For each actor, consider the behaviour that each expects or requires the system to provide.
 Name these common behaviours as use cases.
 Factor
 common behaviour into new use cases that are used by others.
 variant behaviour into new use cases that extend more main line flows.
 Model these use cases, actors, and their relationships in a use case diagram.
 Specify the scenario (including normal, abnormal, error cases) of each of use cases in
Structured English.
 Validate the description against the user requirements or the problem statement. This can
also be down by showing the description to the user and asking the user to check the use
cases and to confirm the use case description.

2.5 The Case Study: The Solent Hotel System

Here is to demonstrate how to create a use case diagram for the Solent Hotel system provided
in Figure 7.

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

Figure 7 The case study: a Solent Hotel system

A computer system is required by the Solent Hotel to assist the management of

the hotel using computer.
The Solent Hotel has 5 function rooms, 20 single bedrooms and 40 double
bedrooms. The room are distinguished by their room numbers. The function
rooms have different sizes, but have same tariff. The hotel accepts the booking
requests for bedroom or function room only at present.
When customers arrive at the hotel, the receptionist books them into the first
available room of the required type. If none of rooms of the required type is
available, the receptionist has to reject the room booking request. The customer’s
name is recorded, along with the payee (i.e. who is paying for the room.) This is
recorded as ‘private’ if the customer is the payee, or the name of a company or
organization may be entered. The tariffs are £40 for a single bedroom, £55 for a
double bedroom and £200 for a function room. There is a set of presentation
equipments in the hotel which may be moved between function rooms if
necessary. The equipments are known with their names and descriptions. The
hotel also ensures that a room is made available for further bookings as soon as
it is vacated.
In order to improve the business, the hotel requires an information system that
supports the room booking using the computer and to store information for later
access.

 Establish the context of the system by identifying the actors that surround it: Customer and
Receptionist.
 For each actor, consider the behaviour that each expects or requires the system to provide
such as “Book bedroom”.
 Name these common behaviours as use cases.
 Factor
 common behaviour into new use cases that are used by others (e.g. Book room).
 variant behaviour into new use cases that extend more main line flows (e.g. Allocate
PE).
 Model these use cases, actors, and their relationships in a use case diagram shown in Figure
8.
 Specify the scenario (including normal, abnormal, error cases) of each of use cases in
Structured English. (See Unit 4).
 Validate the description against the user requirements or the problem statement. This can
also be down by showing the description to the user and asking the user to check the use
cases and to confirm the use case description.

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

Figure 8 A use case diagram for the Solent Hotel System

2.6 Self Assessment Questions

1. What is a use case diagram used for in system analysis?

2. What model does a use case diagram represent?

3. What are functional modelling constructs in a use case diagram?

4. Define the functional modelling constructs.

5. How a use case diagram is drawn?

2.7 Learning Outcomes

Having completed this section, you should be able to:

 Describe a use diagram that represents a case model for a system.

 Define the terms: use case, actor, interaction, generalization, extend, include.
 Draw a use case diagram for a system.
 Describe the role of the use case diagram in system analysis.
 Explain the impact of the use case diagram on the other diagram.

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Unit Title: Basic Constructs and Use Case Diagram in UML

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