Evolving Use Case Maps as a Scenario and Workflow Description Language

Since 1996, the core Use Case Map (UCM) notation has remained remarkably stable. As the structure and intent of workflow and scenario languages are very similar, UCMs have been applied to scenario, workflow, and business process modeling. The recent rise of workflow languages for the description of business processes and web services resulted in a more formal assessment method for such languages based on generic workflow and communication patterns. We present such an assessment for UCMs, thereby measuring the applicability of UCMs for workflow description in particular and scenario descriptions in general and gathering evidence on how to evolve the UCM notation. The results are compared to similar assessments which were carried out for current standards for workflow, business process design, and business process execution languages such as the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS), and UML 2.0 Activity Diagrams.