Structural Design

Use Case

A use case is a structured description of how an actor interacts with a system, service, or process to achieve a goal under specific conditions.

Concept facts

A use case is a structured description of how an actor interacts with a system, service, or process to achieve a goal under specific conditions.

Also known as
Actor-goal scenario, system interaction scenario, usage scenario, service interaction case.
Used in
Requirements analysis, service design, system design, workflow modeling, product planning, QA, and implementation alignment.
Interpret with
User story, user requirement, functional requirement, acceptance criteria, service handoff, and journey mapping.

Plain-language explanation

A use case explains what happens when a user, staff member, partner, or system tries to achieve a goal through a service or system. It is more structured than a user story because it describes interaction and service behavior in more detail.

Why it matters

Use cases help teams understand how a service should behave in real situations, including exceptions and operational steps. Weak use-case thinking can cause wrong routing, incomplete verification, data-quality problems, and support escalation.

Use contexts

  • describing actor-goal interactions
  • clarifying functional behavior
  • mapping workflow and exception paths
  • planning verification, approval, status, payment, or referral processes
  • aligning UX, product, development, QA, and operations teams

Application guidance

Start with a clear actor and goal. Describe the trigger, main flow, alternative paths, and outcome. Keep use cases connected to user needs and requirements and include failure paths where they affect access, support, trust, or operational risk.

Practical example

A public scholarship platform needs to support institution verification before applicants receive final approval. A use case describes how an institutional officer logs in, reviews applicant documents, checks institution eligibility, requests correction if records are incomplete, and submits verification. The UX consequence is clearer responsibility, fewer wrongly rejected applications, better data quality, and reduced operational delay.

Interpretive boundaries

A use case is not the same as a user story, requirement list, journey map, or interface design. It can support requirements and testing but should not replace user research or service evidence.

Applied at Userhub

Userhub uses use cases to clarify how services, systems, users, and staff interact in real delivery conditions. In UX Lab work, use cases support workflow decisions and QA expectations.

See Userhub UX Lab for applied UX research and evaluation context.

Sources and references

Cockburn, A. (2001). Writing effective use cases. Addison-Wesley.

ISO/IEC/IEEE. (2018). ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018 Systems and software engineering — Life cycle processes — Requirements engineering. International Organization for Standardization. https://www.iso.org/standard/72089.html

Government Digital Service. (n.d.). Service Manual. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/service-manual

Government Digital Service. (n.d.). Service Standard. GOV.UK Service Manual. https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard

Cite this entry

APA

Userhub. (2026). Use Case. UX Reference. https://userhub.com.bd/reference/use-case/