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Use Cases for Better Business Modeling
Use case analysis is one of the first and primary techniques for capturing the potential requirements of a new system, or in this case, a web site. Each use case provides one or more scenarios that convey how the system should interact with the end user, or another system to achieve a specific business goal.
While use cases are a standard technique for gathering requirements in many modern software development methodologies, they have not been widely adopted by web developers, due to the time consuming process of developing them.
Why Web Developers Need Use Cases
Lack of usability and overly complex navigation is an all to common problem with large web sites. Web developers can apply use cases to capture the intended behavior of the web site without having to specify how that behavior is implemented, saving valuable time and resources. Use cases provide a way for your developers to come to a common understanding with your web site's end users and build a site that is easy-to-navigate and use. In addition, use cases serve to help validate the underlying architecture as it evolves during development, which results in a more stable, efficient web site.
Example Use Case
Think of use cases as stories of the web site experience. Use cases are not exactly requirements or functional specifications, but they illustrate and imply requirements in the stories they tell.
Example:
"This use case begins when the consumer has found a product of interest and selects to view the nearest retailer. The system displays all available retailers with the option to sort by state.
If they find a suitable retailer, they call the retailer or go to retail location for further examining.
Else, the use case starts over or ends when the consumer leaves."
As you can see, this basic use case walks through the process a visitor goes through when looking for a retailer of a particular product.