Blog post | All About That Use Case: Back to Basics

Written by the DSH team*

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This fall, the Data for Society Hub (DSH) aims to establish a use case. In this first instalment of our series “All About That Use Case”, the team speaks with project manager Esmaël Mourtaza and solutions architect Luc Véronneau to learn more about what defines a use case and which milestones the DSH is working toward.

Use Cases: The Basics

A “use case” begins with a need, which prompts the creation of a product whose purpose is to fulfill that need. It describes, in plain and accessible language, how the intended end-user of a product will actually use that product to reach a goal. An example of this, offers Luc Véronneau, is website authentication. If someone wants to log into their Google account, the login process itself can be defined as a use case; prior to its implementation, “logging in” was considered a use case upon which specifications had to be built.

In the world of software development and IT programming, the term “use case” helps bridge the gap between developers and those who are unfamiliar with technical language. “The idea was to make it easier for everyone,” says Esmaël Mourtaza. “We all learn to speak human languages. Now, let’s speak machine languages.”