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Use Case Relationships

There are 5 relationship types in a use case diagram: association between actor and use case, generalization of an actor, extend between use cases, include between use cases, and generalization of a use case. The association relationship connects an actor to one or more use cases. The extend relationship adds optional functionality to a base use case. The include relationship shows that an included use case is mandatory part of an including use case. Generalization relationships inherit properties from a parent element.

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260 views4 pages

Use Case Relationships

There are 5 relationship types in a use case diagram: association between actor and use case, generalization of an actor, extend between use cases, include between use cases, and generalization of a use case. The association relationship connects an actor to one or more use cases. The extend relationship adds optional functionality to a base use case. The include relationship shows that an included use case is mandatory part of an including use case. Generalization relationships inherit properties from a parent element.

Uploaded by

Vikram Pop
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Use Case Diagram Relationships

There can be 5 relationship types in a use case diagram.

• Association between actor and use case


• Generalization of an actor
• Extend between two use cases
• Include between two use cases
• Generalization of a use case

Association Between Actor and Use Case


This one is straightforward and present in every use case diagram. Few
things to note.

• An actor must be associated with at least one use case.


• An actor can be associated with multiple use cases.
• Multiple actors can be associated with a single use case.

Different ways association relationship appears in use case diagrams

Generalization of an Actor
Generalization of an actor means that one actor can inherit the role of the
other actor. The descendant inherits all the use cases of the ancestor. The
descendant has one or more use cases that are specific to that role. Let’s
expand the previous use case diagram to show the generalization of
an actor.
A generalized actor in an use case diagram

Extend Relationship Between Two Use Cases


As the name implies it extends the base use case and adds more
functionality to the system. Here are a few things to consider when using the
<<extend>> relationship.

• The extending use case is dependent on the extended (base) use


case. In the below diagram the “Calculate Bonus” use case doesn’t
make much sense without the “Deposit Funds” use case.
• The extending use case is usually optional and can be triggered
conditionally. In the diagram, you can see that the extending use case
is triggered only for deposits over 10,000 or when the age is over 55.
• The extended (base) use case must be meaningful on its own.
This means it should be independent and must not rely on the behavior
of the extending use case.
Extend relationship in use case diagrams

Although extending use case is optional most of the time it is not a must. An
extending use case can have non-optional behavior as well. This mostly
happens when your modeling complex behaviors.

For example, in an accounting system, one use case might be “Add Account
Ledger Entry”. This might have extending use cases “Add Tax Ledger Entry”
and “Add Payment Ledger Entry”. These are not optional but depend on the
account ledger entry. Also, they have their own specific behavior to be
modeled as a separate use case.

Include Relationship Between Two Use Cases


Include relationship show that the behavior of the included use case is part
of the including (base) use case. The main reason for this is to reuse
common actions across multiple use cases. In some situations, this is done
to simplify complex behaviors. Few things to consider when using the
<<include>> relationship.

• The base use case is incomplete without the included use case.
• The included use case is mandatory and not optional.
Includes is usually used to model common behavior

Generalization of a Use Case


This is similar to the generalization of an actor. The behavior of the ancestor
is inherited by the descendant. This is used when there is common behavior
between two use cases and also specialized behavior specific to each use
case.

For example, in the previous banking example, there might be a use case
called “Pay Bills”. This can be generalized to “Pay by Credit Card”, “Pay by
Bank Balance” etc.

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