Use Case Diagram Website (UML)

Question

I have a couple of questions regarding if the following process can be considered use-cases.

Website where establishments can post events. User can "follow" establishment, "attend" event. etc...

1. On my index page, i have the following sections: Recommended Events, Events recently created, Events from establishments that the user "follows", Top 10 establishments, Recent comments, Popular events and so on.. (all which i am pulling from a database)

Would the index page be considered a use case? And would all the sections i named be individual use-cases? Considering i already have a Consult establishment, and consult event use-case, would all the section fall into this category?

2. I have on the establishment page a button where the user can click and the user will follow the establishment and receive notifications. All the button does once clicked, is adds the user to a table (User_Preferences), pretty much like a "like" button or a follow button.

Would this be considered a use-case(Add to Preferences use case)?

3. When i visit an establishment page, i am pulling data from many tables, such as: beverages, music, artists_attended, food, etc.

On the use-case Consult establishment, would i need to include every individual information? consult_beverage, consults_music,consult_artist, consult food all included to consult establishment? or are they considered already in consult establishment?

4. Finally, would every page i create, Index,Establishment,Events,UserProfile, etc... would they all be considered a use-case? Consult Establishment, Consult Events, Manage Profile

thank you, any tips or help would be appreciated, i understand the concept of use cases, but i sometimes tend to overthink some uses cases. thanks for the help.

Answer 1

The index page itself is not a use case. A use case represents some interaction between an actor and the system, but the page and its sections are part of the system design. If you were to replace the web browser with a custom-written GUI application, the use cases should be essentially the same.

In this case, you seem to be creating the use cases after you've designed the system, which is probably what's tripping you up -- use cases are usually determined before the system is designed.

"Add to Preferences" seems like a good use case. How much work goes into realizing the use case is normally of little importance; what matters is whether the interaction provides some value to the actor. The complete set of use cases describes what the user can do with the system, not how many engineering hours were spent constructing it.

You should not incorporate details on the stored data in your use cases. If you find yourself doing that you need to take a step back and try to think a little more abstractly. What does the use case do for the actor, what does the actor want? To get information about an establishment? Then that's enough, you don't need to specify the exact information stored in the system. The important thing is that the actor wants the information and that the system provides it.

Use cases are part of system analysis, not system design. As such, there is no problem with having the same design component (page) realize several use cases. So you could for instance have use cases for "see recommended events", "see coming events for 'followed' establishments", "see coming 'attended' events", all being realized in different sections on the same page.

Answer 2

A page is never any use case. A use case is what brings value to an actor. Simple as that. If you can name the value then you got the name of the use case. If you can't name the value then you don't have a use case.

E.g. your 1st events page: I would assume that the use case behind it will be Find Event. Similarly you have to think of the other cases. On the opposite Login to Site is not a use case because it does not bring any value to the actor.