Users and use cases
When gathering requirements, the developer must understand the users – that is, the people who will use the NLG system; and the use cases – that is, what these people will use the NLG system for.
Who are the users?
In NLG, users are commonly authors and readers. Authors use NLG Studio to create draft versions of a report, which they will iterate and improve until it reaches its final version. Readers read the final report produced use it to help make important decisions.
Both types of users are important. For example, in a financial-reporting context, an NLG system may produce a draft report for an analyst (the author) who edits it and then releases the narrative to company management and investors (the readers).
It is essential to properly understand the users and what their needs are. You may learn that the requirements of the users are different from the requirements as understood by the business sponsors. It is the perspectives of the actual system users that should drive the development.
What are the use cases?
Developers must also understand the use cases. Users will run the NLG system to achieve some task or goal, in some context. What is the goal? What is the context? What constitutes success?
For example, a financial analyst may use an NLG system to help write a report by automatically producing an initial draft of the report. In this use case, the goal is producing the final version of the report, and the context includes the analyst’s workflow. Success is defined by the user, but typically, the NLG system can be considered successful when it:
significantly reduces the time needed to produce the final report, and/or
significantly increases the quality of the final report, and/or
increases consistency across reports
Business sponsors and domain experts can often provide initial versions of use cases, but developers can identify ways to best apply the NLG technology to help address business goals, and elaborate on those initial use cases.
