Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)

Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)

Data flow diagram (DFD) is a picture of the movement of data between external entities and the processes and data stores within a system DFDs are an excellent illustration of modeling as the bridge between specification and implementation.

Order CUSTOMER Status Message Status Data 2.0 Shipping Confirmation

In-Stock Request WAREHOUSE 1.0 Shipping Order

Check Status Order Data D1 Pending Orders 3.0

Issue Status Messages

Order Data Payment Invoice Manage Accounts Receivable 5.0 Accounting Data Accounts Receivable Data 4.0 Order Data

Generate Shipping Order

D2

Accounts Receivable Inventory Reports

Produce Reports

ACCOUNTING

DFD Symbols
Process

Data Flow
Data Store

Source/Sink (External Entity)

Process
1.0
Grade Detail

Grade Report

Produce Grade Report

Work or actions performed on data (inside the system) Labels should be verb phrases Receives input data and produces output

Rule 1: Process

Can have more than one outgoing data flow or more than one incoming data flow
1.0

Graded Work

Submitted Work

Grade Student Work

Student Grade

3.0

Hours Worked Pay Rate

Calculated Gross Pay

Gross Pay

Rule 2: Process

Can connect to any other symbol (including another process symbol)

1.0

2.0

Order

Accepted Order
Verify Order Assemble Order

Inventory Change

Process: Correct/Incorrect?
5.0
Services Perfomed

Invoice

Create Invoice

Policy Number
Apply Insurance Premium

Payment Amount

2.1

Hours Worked

Calculate Gross Pay

Pay Rate

Data Flow

Deposit

Is a path for data to move from one part of the IS to another Arrows depicting movement of data Can represent flow between process and data store by two separate arrows
2.1
Payment Detail Invoice Detail

Post Payment

D1

Accounts Receivable

Data Flow: Correct/Incorrect?

5.0 Post Payment

Courses

Customer Payment

Class List

D2

Daily Payments

Daily Payment

Students

6.0

Prepare Deposit

Data Store
D1 Students

Is used in a DFD to represent data that the system stores Labels should be noun phrases

Rule: Data Store

Must have at least one incoming and one outgoing data flow

Customer Payment

D1

Daily Payments

Daily Payment

Source/Sink (External Entity)

Order
CUSTOMER

1.0

Invoice

Verify Order

External entity that is origin or destination of data (outside the system) Is the singular form of a department, outside organization, other IS, or person Labels should be noun phrases

Source Entity that supplies data to the system Sink Entity that receives data from the system

Rule: Source/Sink

Must be connected to a process by a data flow

BANK

Bank Deposit

2.0

Prepare Deposit

Source/Sink: Correct/Incorrect?
CUSTOMER
PAYROLL DEPARTMENT

CUSTOMER

Payment
Paycheck

Payment

3.0

EMPLOYEE
Apply Payment

Accounts Receivable

Rules for Using DFD Symbols

Data Flow That Connects

YES

NO

A process to another process A process to an external entity A process to a data store An external entity to another external entity An external entity to a data store A data store to another data store

List the errors of this DFD

DF2 E1 1.0 DF5 P2

DF1

DS1 DF3 DF6 DF4 DF2 E1 2.0 P1

Level Of Details

Context Diagram

Top-level view of IS Shows the system boundaries, external entities that interact with the system, and major information flows between entities and the system. Example: Order system that a company uses to enter orders and apply payments against a customers balance

Context Diagram of Order System

Order
CUSTOMER WAREHOUSE

Order Reject Notice Payment Invoice

Picking List

Completed Order

Order System

Commission

Bank Deposit

Cash Receipts Entry

SALES REP

ACCOUNTING

BANK

Developing DFDs: An Example

Hoosier Burgers automated food ordering system Context Diagram (Figure 8-4) contains no data stores Next step is to expand the context diagram to show the breakdown of processes (Figure 8-5)

Figure 8-4 Context diagram of Hoosier Burgers food ordering system

Level-0 DFD

Shows the systems major processes, data flows, and data stores at a high level of abstraction When the Context Diagram is expanded into DFD level-0, all the connections that flow into and out of process 0 needs to be retained.

Figure 8-5 Level-0 DFD of Hoosier Burgers food ordering system

Context Diagram of Order System

Order
CUSTOMER WAREHOUSE

Order Reject Notice Payment Invoice

Picking List

Order

system that a company uses to enter orders and apply payments against a customers balance
Commission

Completed Order

Order System

Bank Deposit

Cash Receipts Entry

SALES REP

ACCOUNTING

BANK

Order

Picking List WAREHOUSE 1.0

Level-0 DFD of Order System

CUSTOMER

Order

Order Reject Notice

Fill Order

system that a company uses to enter orders and apply payments against a customer s balance

Invoice 2.0 Payment Invoice Accounts Receivable Create Invoice Completed Order

D1

Payment Detail

Invoice Detail

3.0

Apply Payment Commission Bank Deposit Cash Receipts Entry

SALES REP

BANK

ACCOUNTING

Levelled Diagram

Lower-Level Diagrams

Functional Decomposition
An

iterative process of breaking a system description down into finer and finer detail Uses a series of increasingly detailed DFDs to describe an IS

Balancing
The

conservation of inputs and outputs to a data flow process when that process is decomposed to a lower level Ensures that the input and output data flows of the parent DFD are maintained on the child DFD

Strategies for Developing DFDs

Top-down strategy
Create

the high-level diagrams (Context Diagram), then low-level diagrams (Level-0 diagram), and so on the low-level diagrams, then higherlevel diagrams

Bottom-up strategy
Create

Data Flow Diagram Errors

The following conditions are errors that occur when drawing a data flow diagram: A process with only input data flow or only output data flow from it.

1 Add New Customer 2 Add New Customer

Data Flow Diagram Errors (Continued)

Data stores or external entities are connected directly to each other, in any combination.
Customer D1 Customer

Vendor

D2

Vendor Master

Data Flow Diagram Errors (Continued)

Incorrectly labeling data flow or objects

Examples

are:

Labels omitted from data flow or objects. Data flow labeled with a verb. Processes labeled with a noun.

Too many processes on a data flow diagram.

Nine

is the suggested maximum.

Data Flow Diagram Errors (Continued)

Omitting data flow from the diagram Unbalanced decomposition between a parent process and a child diagram

The

data flow in and out of a parent process must be present on the child diagram.

Current Physical
There are two types of DFDs Physical and Logical DFDs In the early stages you'll build a current physical DFD. On these you'll be recording, warts and all, the ways things are presently (often known as the "As-is"). It will have all sorts of un-logical things to show and will reflect how things are done currently. There will likely be processes that exist purely because things are done manually. Data stores (such as stick pins or copy orders file etc.) will exists because of how things are

presently done.

Current Physical

shown as External Entities. Clerical and temporary data stores will likely feature heavily What you document on the DFD won't seem to be very logical (I've even found processes that aren't actually needed, but still are done because no one told the staff they were no longer needed!). Dataflow names will likely correspond to document names There are sure to be process to process flows Data flows between external entities will possibly feature

Logical Data Flow Diagrams

Logical data flow diagrams show how the business operates. They have processes that would exist regardless of the type of system implemented. In the current logical DFD variant, you start with the current physical and remove all aspects that are to do with "how" things are done presently you need to be showing only the "what" aspects.

Data Flow Diagram Progression

The progression of creating data flow diagrams is:
Create

current physical DFD Create a logical DFD of the current system. Next add all the data and processes not in the current system that must be present in the new system. Finally derive the physical data flow diagram for the new system.

Data Flow Diagram Progression

Logical Data Flow Diagrams Advantages

Advantages of logical DFDs are:
Better

communication with users. More stable systems, since the design is based on a business framework. Increased understanding of the business by analysts. The system will have increased flexibility and be easier to maintain. Elimination of redundancy.

Physical Data Flow Diagrams

Physical data flow diagrams show how the system operates or how the new system will be implemented. Physical data flow diagrams include:
Clarifying

which processes are manual and which are automated. Describing processes in greater detail. Sequencing processes in the order they must be executed.

Physical Data Flow Diagrams

Physical data flow diagrams include (continued):
Temporary

data stores and transaction files. Specifying actual document and file names. Controls to ensure accuracy and completeness.

Physical Data Flow Diagrams

Advantages Clarifying which processes are manual and which are automated

Describing processes in more detail than logical DFDs

Sequencing processes that have to be done in a particular order

Identifying temporary data stores

Physical and Logical Data Flow Diagrams

WHAT the system does - Current Physical DFD HOW it does it - Current Logical DFD WHAT it should do - Required Logical DFD HOW it should do it - Required Physical DFD

Guidelines for Drawing DFDs

Completeness DFD must include all components necessary for system Each component must be fully described in the project dictionary or CASE repository. Consistency The extent to which information contained on one level of a set of nested DFDs is also included on other levels

Exercise:
Precision Tools sells a line of high-quality woodworking tools. When customers place orders on the companys Web site, the system checks to see if the items are in stock, issues a status message to the customer, and generates a shipping order to the warehouse, which fills the order. When the order is shipped, the customer is billed. The system also produces various reports. Draw a context diagram for the order system Draw DFD diagram 0 for the order system

Order CUSTOMER Payment In-Stock Request WAREHOUSE

Status Message

Shipping Order

Invoice

Order System

Shipping Confirmation

Inventory Reports

Context Diagram of Order System

ACCOUNTING

Identify Entities,Process,Data Stores & Data

Entities

Data Flows

Customer Warehouse Accounting 1.0 Check Status 2.0 Issue Status Messages 3.0 Generate Shipping Order 4.0 Manage Accounts Receivable 5.0 Produce Reports D1 Pending Orders D2 Accounts Receivable

Processes

Data Stores

Order In-Stock Request 1.0 Order Data Status Data 2.0 Status Message Shipping Order 3.0 Order Data Invoice Shipping Confirmation 4.0 Payment Accounting Data Accounts Receivable Data 5.0 Order Data Inventory Reports

Order CUSTOMER Status Message Status Data 2.0 Shipping Confirmation

In-Stock Request WAREHOUSE 1.0 Shipping Order

Check Status Order Data D1 Pending Orders 3.0

Issue Status Messages

Order Data Payment Invoice Manage Accounts Receivable 5.0 Accounting Data Accounts Receivable Data 4.0 Order Data

Generate Shipping Order

D2

Accounts Receivable Inventory Reports

Produce Reports

Level-0 of Order System

ACCOUNTING