What is a use case?

• A. Background information including organization size and specialty and current systems and hardware in place.
• B. A technique for documenting the potential requirements of a new system or any type of system change.
• C. The defined learning curve for users/ administrators.
• D. Both a and c

Answer: (B)

A use case describes how a person interacts with a system to achieve a goal, usually laid out as a sequence of steps that show the user’s actions and the system’s responses. It’s written from the user’s viewpoint and focuses on what the system must do to support that goal, often including the main path plus alternative or error paths. In requirements work, a use case provides a structured way to document potential requirements for a new system or any type of system change, helping stakeholders agree on expected behaviors without getting into technical design details.

Context like the organization’s size, specialty, or existing hardware can inform requirements, but that information by itself isn’t a use case. Likewise, the learning curve for users or administrators is about training effort, not the sequence of interactions between user and system. For example, a use case might describe a clinician logging in, selecting a patient, and ordering a test, including what happens if the patient isn’t found or the order is rejected.