Extending the UML use case metamodel with behavioral information to facilitate model analysis and interchange

Abstract

Use case diagrams are primary artifacts used for modeling functional requirements. Use case diagrams are part of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) suite of models that has become a de facto standard for modeling object oriented languages. Each model in this suite is described by a metamodel that dictates its syntax and semantics. The use case diagram is considered the most controversial diagram in UML. Practitioners claim that the use case diagram cannot be used as a valuable artifact for requirement analysis. The main reason behind this concern is the lack of behavioral description of a use case depicted within the model. Quite a few extensions to the use case metamodel have been proposed in literature to incorporate behavioral aspect of a use case within the metamodel. All these extensions omit a few important features like generalization and most of them can only be used for model representation and cannot be used for model analysis and evaluation. In this paper, we propose an extension to the UML use case metamodel with use case behavior specification elements. The main objective of the proposed extension is to provide a complete metamodel for use case diagrams which includes representation for all its elements and relationships in a conflict-free manner and one that includes information for model analysis, evaluation, and interchange among modeling tools. In order to include all valuable information related to a use case, a number of use Communicated by Dr. case representation templates were considered for the proposed extension. Simultaneously, to enable the use case models generated based on the proposed metamodel to be used for analysis, pertinent information related to model usage in analysis such as effort estimation, use case scheduling, and use case metrics evaluation were considered from published studies, tools, and paradigms and included within the proposed metamodel.

A systematic literature review of use case specifications research

“…The rationale behind the format is to categorize the events, conditions and actions, which is further used to validate the functional requirements. Misbhauddin et al [102], extended the use case metamodel to facilitate the requirement analysis, verification and model transformation. Subsequently, a new use case template has been proposed to facilitate the constraint analysis and to model the use case elements information derived from the use case metamodel extension.…”

“…Hence, we manually searched these 119 papers patiently in order to identify the use case templates proposed in the respective subject areas. For instance, Mushabiddin et al [102], proposed a new format for the capturing the use case elements stated in the proposed use case meta-model, and Insfrán et al [71], proposed a new format for generating the conceptual models etc.…”

“…Misbhauddin et al [102] proposed an extended use case metamodel to facilitate model analysis and interchange by including the use case specification elements. The main objective of this extension is to provide a complete metamodel for the use case diagrams highlighting the elements and their relationships.…”

“…Figure 10 shows the statistics for the use case templates where we found that no such evidences about their practical implications (i.e., no study falls under Evaluation Research Category). The five use case templates namely Insfrán et al [71], Somé [131], Leite et al [39], Yue et al [151] and El-Attar et al [47] were evaluated by conducting some small experiments/case studies; six use case templates namely, Liu et al [98], Mushabiddin et al [102], Fleisch [52], Tiwari et al [141], Toro et al [143], and Mattingly et al [99] were proposed to provide the solutions to the problem, and rests were based on the experiences of the researchers gained from the industries or academia. Among all, two [86,64] use case templates were commonly used in the industrial context, but their practical implications, i.e., understandability, learnability and operability aspects are not evaluated.…”

Extensibility Interaction Flow Modeling Language Metamodels to Develop New Web Application Concerns

“…This extension makes it possible to integrate different audit properties for a wide range of UML models. Reference [14] documents the details of a rood traffic management system that is based on stereotypes, while [15] offers a Use Case metamodel. The proposed metamodel models the structural view of the use cases as well as the behavioral view.…”