The diagram connects the actors to the use cases they initiate or participate in. It can also indicate relationships between actors (such as those whose roles overlap) and dependencies between use cases.

Most Use Cases are created late in the requirements process or early in the design phase. They help to ensure that all influences to the system are accounted for before the system's interfaces are fully designed and built.

Throughout the years I have seen the popularity of Use Case Diagrams grow tremendously. They went from something I heard about on very few projects, to something that some organizations expect to be done on any project involving a system change.

As I hadn't used Use Cases much early in my career, in 2014 I quickly realized I was behind the times. I utilized this outstanding Use Case course to set the foundation for knowledge.

While there are well over twenty different visual models that Business Analysts could use on their project, these three are critically important.

If you an aspiring Business Analyst, or if you are working as a Business Analyst today, I highly recommend you know and utilize each of these visual models on your various projects. Your project team will thank you!

Written by Jeremy Aschenbrenner - The BA Guide