Business Analysis / Requirements / Requirements Models / Software development / Testing / Use Cases

The Difference Between Use Cases and Test Cases

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People who are new to software, requirements, or testing often ask “What’s the difference between a use case and a test case?” This article answers that question, by building on earlier articles about use cases and use case scenarios. At the soundbite level, each use case has one or more scenarios, and each use case scenario would lead to the creation of one or more test cases.

Business Analysis

Business Analyst Profit Center

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Kevin Brennan recently posted his presentation from BA World Toronto (hat tip to Ryan). It’s a great presentation, with compelling imagery. Kevin raises an interesting point – are BA’s doomed to obsolescence? Kevin cites outsourcing and agile as two developments that might make BA’s irrelevant. With outsourcing, your company risks […]

Agile / Business Analysis / Prioritization / Product Management / Project Management / Requirements / Requirements gathering / Requirements Models / Software development / Use Cases

How To Start The Use Case Process For Agile Software Development

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One of the goals of agile software development is to deliver value quickly and iteratively. One of the most effective ways to begin the software development process is with use cases. To deliver with agility, you start with the most valuable use case, bang it out, and then move on to the next most valuable use case. How do you know which use case is the most valuable if you haven’t defined all the use cases first?

Business Analysis / Product Management / Requirements / Requirements gathering / Requirements management software / Requirements Models / UML Modeling

UML Statecharts and Documenting Business Rules

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In yesterday’s article we compared use cases and UML statecharts as tools for discovering business rules. James Taylor asked a question about how we would document those rules, and then followed up my comment response with an article about business rules and RUP. In this article we move the conversation slightly forward – recognizing that we’re slowly entering the ocean of business process management.

Business Analysis / Product Management / Requirements / Requirements gathering / Requirements Models / UML Modeling / Use Cases

Use Case vs. UML Statechart – Business Rules

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What is the better requirements management model for capturing business rules? The use case, or the UML statechart? In this article, we explore how customer orders are submitted and processed, and contrast how use cases and statecharts expose and document business requirements and business rules.