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New Post 10/7/2009 4:08 AM
User is offline Guy Beauchamp
257 posts
www.smart-ba.com
5th Level Poster




Re: Can the actor in a use case diagram be the system John, 

John,

I did the use case detail to show why the solution cannot be an actor.

Ok - another way to put it: actors are users of the solution that the use case description documents the requirements for. By putting the solution as an actor you are declaring that the solution is using (another?!) solution that you are going to document the detailed requirements for.

It doesn't make sense, does it? So - no the solution can not be an actor on a use case diagram...unless the solution is out of scope for the requirements you are documenting!

I hope that helps and is clearer.

Guy

 
New Post 1/16/2010 5:20 PM
User is offline Marc Thibault
7 posts
10th Level Poster


Re: Can the actor in a use case diagram be the system 

"the system user will be informed by the results of those processes"

That's your use case.

If something isn't part of an interaction with an external actor, no one will ever know whether it's implemented or not.  That's why

  1. The system can't be its own actor. "A" system can be an actor, but not "the" system.
  2. Postconditions are evil. Any postconditions must show up in some use case (possibly as preconditions), otherwise there's no way to know whether they've been met. Anything else is sneaking design into the requirements.

One of the questions you need to keep asking is "is this really the requirement, or is it a presumed realization?" Leave design to the developers.

 

 


 

 

 
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