Applies ToVisio (leping 2) Visio (leping 1) Visio Professional 2024 Visio Standard 2024 Visio Professional 2021 Visio Standard 2021 Visio Professional 2019 Visio Standard 2019 Visio Professional 2016 Visio Standard 2016

You can create a UML use case diagram in Visio to summarize how users (or actors) interact with a system, such as a software application. An actor can be a person, an organization, or another system.

Use case diagrams show the expected behavior of the system. They don't show the order in which steps are performed. (Use a sequence diagram to show how objects interact over time.)

A sample of a UML use case diagram showing referee certification system

Defining the system boundary determines what is considered external or internal to the system.

An actor represents a role played by an outside object. One object may play several roles and, therefore, is represented by several actors.

An association illustrates the participation of the actor in the use case.

A use case is a set of events that occurs when an actor uses a system to complete a process. Normally, a use case is a relatively large process, not an individual step or transaction.

Create a new use case diagram

  1. On the File tab, point to New.

  2. in the Search box, type UML use case.

  3. From the search results, select UML Use Case.

  4. In the dialog box, select the blank template or one of the three starter diagrams. (A description of each one is shown on the right when you select it.) Then select either Metric Units or US Units.

  5. Select Create.

  6. The diagram opens. You should see the Shapes window next to the diagram. A UML Use Case stencil is open in the Shapes window.

    (If you don’t see the Shapes window, go to View > Task Panes and make sure that Shapes is selected. If you still don’t see it, click the Expand the Shapes window button on the left.)

Add a subsystem to the use case diagram

  1. Drag a Subsystem shape onto the drawing page. The subsystem can represent your entire system or a major component.

    The Subsystem shape.

  2. Double-click the Subsystem shape, and then type a new name for the for it, or press the Delete key to delete the existing name. Click outside the shape on the drawing page.

  3. To resize the subsystem, select the shape, and then drag a selection handle.

Add shapes and connectors to the diagram

  1. Drag Use Case shapes The Use Case shape. from the UML Use Case stencil and place them inside the subsystem boundary, and then drag Actor shapes The Actor shape. to the outside of the subsystem boundary.

  2. Use connector shapes to indicate relationships between shapes in the diagram. There are five connectors available:

    Connector

    Description

    Association

    The Association connector.

    Shows the relationship of an actor to a use case.

    Dependency

    The Dependency connector.

    Indicates that one use case has a dependency on another.

    Generalization

    The Generalization connector.

    Indicates that a use case is a specific way to achieve goals of the general use case.

    Include

    The Include connector.

    Shows how a use case is broken into smaller steps.

    Extend

    The Extend connector.

    Shows that one use case adds functionality to another.

    Example: To indicate a relationship between an actor and a use case

    1. In a use case diagram, drag an Association connector shape onto the drawing page.

    2. Glue one endpoint of the Association shape to a connection point on an Actor shape. Glue the other endpoint to a connection point on a Use Case shape.

See Also

For more information about use case diagrams (and procedures for using Microsoft Visual Studio to create use case diagrams), go to UML Use Case Diagrams: Guidelines.

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