Actor-led object modelling for requirements and systems analysis

In the development of an object-oriented information system with a use case-driven process, the system analyst first builds a use case model that describes functional requirements of the system, and then builds an object model for the same system based on the use case model. Such object modelling approach is use case-led as the analyst identifies objects from use case descriptions. The problem with this approach is that objects identified probably show the interests of the analyst but not the interests of the actors of the use cases for the use case model. This paper suggests an actor-led object modelling approach that is to identify objects according to the actors’ interests in business. The new approach allows actors to select classes that they are interested in the business and makes the object model acceptable to the actors or users of the system.