Documenting Information System

Chapter Objectives: Teach students to read and prepare documentation to portray aspects of business processes including their operations and information processes Show students how to read and prepare data flow diagrams and systems flowcharts

Purposes of documentation To enable the users to understand, explain, evaluate, and improve complex business processes, information systems, and internal controls. To train personnel To understand the systems and to evaluate the systems controls A. DATA !O" DIA#$A% &D D' a graphical representation of a system. It depicts system components; data flows among the components; and the sources, destinations, and storage of data. Data (o) Diagram Symbo(s . *ubb(e symbo( depicts an entity or a process within which incoming data flows are transformed into outgoing data flows.

!. Data f(o) symbo( represents a pathway for data.

". +,terna( entity symbo( portrays a source or a destination of data outside the system.

#. Data store symbo( represents a place where data are stored.

Types of Data (o) Diagrams . Conte,t Diagram a top$level, or least detailed, diagram of the an information system that depicts the system and all of its activities as a single bubble, and shows the data flows into and out of the system and into and out of the external entities.

,ustomer
-ayment (eposit

%an&

,ash receipts process

External entities are those entities outside the system that sends data, or receive data from, the system. !. Physica( Data (o) Diagram is a graphical representation of a system showing the systems internal and external entities, and the flows of data into and out of these entities.
,ustomer
,ash

.. Sales ,ler&

,ash and register tape !.. ,ashier /erified register tape (eposit slip and cash

)orm 001

".. %oo&&eepi ng

%an&

%lue sales boo& Internal entity is an entity (i.e. person, place, or thing) within the system that transforms data. It includes accounting clerks (person), departments (places), and computers (things). Physical data flow diagrams specify where, how, and by whom a systems processes are accomplished. It does not tell us what is being accomplished. ". 'ogical (ata )low (iagram is a graphical representation of a system showing the systems processes *as bubbles+, data stores, and the flows of data into and out of the processes and data stores. It is used to document information systems because it can represent the logical nature of a system, what tas&s the system is doing, without having to specify how, where, or by whom the tas&s are accomplished.

,ustomer
-ayment

.. 8eceive payment

8eceipts and 8eceipts summary

Sales record

!.. ,ompare cash and tape /erified receipts summary /alidated receipts

#.. 8ecord sale

".. -repare deposit

(eposit

Sales 2ournal

%an&

'ogical (ata )low (iagram versus -hysical (ata )low (iagram 'ogical ()( users can concentrate on the functions that a system performs 134T 5 a system is doing *'ogical ()(+ will change less over time than 53617 *-hysical ()(+ it is doing it. 'ogical ()( uses verbs that described actions being performed than with the nouns in -hysical ()( 'ogical ()( portrays a systems activities, whereas as -hysical ()( depicts a systems infrastructure

-"e need both !ogica( D D and Physica( D D to understand a system comp(ete(y

-"hen t)o D D.s have e/uiva(ent e,terna( data f(o)s0 they are considered as *A!A1C+D. On(y ba(anced set of D D.s are correct. Compare the Conte,t D D and !ogica( D D above2 both have the same e,terna( data f(o)s
(eposit

%an&

*. S3ST+%S !O"C4A$T is a graphical representation of information processes *activities, logic flows, inputs, outputs, and data storage+, as well as the related operations processes *entities, physical flows, and operation activities+. It contains manual and computer activities, the systems flowchart presents a logical and physical rendering of the who, what, how, and where of operations and information processes. The systems flowchart combines the physical and logical aspects of the system as compared with -hysical and logical ()(s which depict different aspects of the system. In addition, the systems flowchart includes the operations process and management context for a system, aspects that are ignored in ()(s. Systems (o)charting Symbo(s . Inputs
=anual &eying -unch card

(ocument

9ote: 4lso output also be document ; report rarely used !. -rocessing

,omputer process

e.g. -,, other data entry device, &ey$to$dis& input

9ote: ,an output; cards

9ote: Includes in<uiries reader, and file updates device, scanner, 8)I( reader ". 6utput

=anua l proces e.g. s -repare

6ffline proces s

document,

e.g. =I,8 &ey$to$dis&

sign document

(ispla y

?eneral purpose input$ output

>sed when type of media is >n&nown or for manual card files, 'edgers, batch, logs, etc.

#. (ata stores
-ap er

(is&

Ta pe

)iling se<uence: 4 @ alphabetical , @ chronological 9 @ numerical A. ,onnectors

Start;stop

9ote: ,an also be external entity

6n$page connector >se 4, %, ,, etc.

6ff$page connector >se page number and 4, %, ,, etc.

'ogic flow Telecommunications lin&

0. =iscellaneous
4nnotation

%ridge for crossing flow

9otice lac& of arrowhead

?oods, e.g., Inventory, shipment

+,amp(es Systems (o)chart

C(er5

Computer

Input (ocument

(ata Store

Bey input

Cdit;validate input

(ata Store !

(ispla y Input or error 8esolve discrepanci es if any 8ecord input

Bey corrections; accept input

4ccept ed input

Input document

Scanning c(er5

Computer

Input document

Scan document

>pdate data

(ata Store*s +

-D D.s and f(o)charts provide us )ith mu(tip(e0 comp(ementary methods for describing a system