Irsyadillah Romney Ais11 Inppt03 PDF

C
HAPTER 3
Systems Development and

Documentation Techniques
© 2008 Prentice Hall Business Publishing Accounting

AccountingInformation
InformationSystems,
Systems,11/e
11/e Romney/Steinbart
Romney/Steinbart
INTRODUCTION
• Questions to be addressed in this chapter
include:
– What is the purpose of documentation?
– Why do accountants need to understand
documentation?
– What documentation techniques are used in
accounting systems?
– What are data flow diagrams and flowcharts?
• How are they alike and different?
• How are they prepared?
© 2008 Prentice Hall Business Publishing Accounting Information Systems, 11/e Romney/Steinbart
INTRODUCTION
• Documentation includes the following types of
tools:
– Narratives (written descriptions)
– Flowcharts
– Diagrams
– Other written material
1. DATA FLOW DIAGRAMS
• A data flow diagram (DFD) graphically
describes the flow of data within an
organization. It is used to:
– Document existing systems
– Plan and design new systems
• There is no black-and-white approach to
developing a DFD.
• Example of a data flow
diagram of the customer
payment process from Accounts
Figure 3-3 in your Receivable
textbook.
Customer Remittance Receivables

payment 1.0 2.0
data Information Credit
Customer Process Update
Payment A/R Manager
Deposit
Bank
• A data flow diagram consists of four basic
elements:
– Data sources and destinations
– Data flows
– Transformation processes
– Data stores
elements:
– Data flows
– Data stores
• Data sources and destinations
– Appear as squares
– Represent organizations or individuals that send or receive
data used or produced by the system
• An item can be both a source and a destination
• Data sources and
destinations are marked
in red. Accounts
• Can you tell which are Receivable
sources and which are
destinations?

payment 1.0 2.0
Payment A/R Manager
Deposit
Bank
elements:
– Data flows
– Data stores
• Data flows
– Appear as arrows
– Represent the flow of data between sources and
destinations, processes, and data stores
• Data flows are shown in red.
• Does it appear that a data
flow can be two-way? Accounts
• If so, how is it handled? Receivable

payment 1.0 2.0
Payment A/R Manager
Deposit
Bank
• Data flows should always be
labeled.
• The exception is a data flow Accounts
moving into or out of a data Receivable
store.
• What symbol is the data store?

payment 1.0 2.0
Payment A/R Manager
Deposit
Bank
• As you probably surmised from the previous slides, if
a data flow is two-way, use a bi-directional arrow.
Update
General
Receiv-
Ledger
ables
• If two data elements flow together, then the use of
one data flow line is appropriate.
Cash Rec’d & Remittance Slip Process

Customer
Payment
• If the data elements do not always flow
together, then multiple lines will be needed.
Customer Inquiry Process

Customer Payment
Customer Payment
elements:
– Data flows
– Data stores
• Processes
– Appear as circles
– Represent the transformation of data
• The transformation processes are
shown in red.
• Every process must have at least
Accounts
one data inflow and at least one
Receivable
data outflow. Why?
• What do you notice about how the
processes are labeled?

payment 1.0 2.0
Payment A/R Manager
Deposit
Bank
• Data stores
– Appear as two horizontal lines
– Represent a temporary or permanent repository of data
• The data store is shown in red.
• Notice that the inflows and
outflows to the data store are Accounts
not labeled. Receivable

payment 1.0 2.0
Payment A/R Manager
Deposit
Bank
• Subdividing the DFD:
– Few systems can be fully diagrammed on one
sheet of paper, and users have needs for differing
levels of detail.
– Consequently, DFDs are subdivided into
successively lower levels to provide increasing
amounts of detail.
• The highest level of DFD is called a context
diagram.
– It provides a summary-level view of the system.
– It depicts a data processing system and the
external entities that are:
• Sources of its input
• Destinations of its output
Govt.
Depart- Agencies
ments
Payroll Employee checks

Employees
Processing
System
Bank
Human
Resources
• This is the context diagram for the

Manage-
S&S payroll processing system
ment
(Figure 3-5 in your textbook).
DATA FLOW DIAGRAMS
Depart-
ments Employees
Employee
New employee Time paychecks
Human form cards
Resources
1.0
Update 2.0
Employee Payroll
Empl. Pay
change check
Payroll Employ- Bank
form
File ees
Payroll
disburse-
3.0 ment data 5.0
This diagram Prepare Employee/ Update
Reports Payroll File Gen.
shows the Ledger
next level of Payroll tax
Payroll disb. voucher
detail for the
report
context 4.0 General
Pay Ledger
diagram in Tax report
Manage- Taxes
Figure 3-5. ment
& payment
Govt.
Agencies
DATA FLOW DIAGRAMS
Depart-
ments Employees
Employee
New employee Time paychecks
Human form cards
Resources
1.0
Update 2.0
Employee Pay Payroll
Empl.
change check
form
Payroll Employ- Bank
File ees
Suppose we Payroll
exploded Process 3.0
Disburse-
ment data 5.0
2.0 (Pay Prepare Employee/ Update
Employees) in the Reports Payroll File Gen.
next level. The Ledger
Payroll tax
sub-processes disb. voucher
Payroll
would be report
General
numbered 2.1, 2.2, 4.0
Pay Ledger
2.3, etc. Tax report
Manage- Taxes
& payment
ment Govt.
Agencies
• You may wish to create a table with the
following headings to organize your
information:
– Data Inputs
– Processes
– Data Outputs
Data Inputs Processes Data Outputs
2. FLOWCHARTS
• A flowchart is an analytical technique that describes
some aspect of an information system in a clear,
concise, and logical manner.
• Flowcharts use a set of standard symbols to depict

processing procedures and the flow of data.
FLOWCHARTS
• Every shape on a flowchart depicts a unique
operation, input, processing activity, or storage
medium.
• Most flowcharts are now drawn using a software
program such as Visio.
– Microsoft and Power Point are also used.
– The software uses pre-drawn shapes, and the developer
drags the shapes into the drawing.
FLOWCHARTS
• There are four types of flowcharting symbols:
– Input/output symbols
Input/output symbols indicate the

type of device or media that provides
input to or records output from a
process.
FLOWCHARTS
– Processing symbols
Processing symbols indicate the type

of device used to process the data or
whether the data is processed
manually.
FLOWCHARTS
– Storage symbols
Storage symbols indicate the type of

device used to store data while the
system is not using it.
FLOWCHARTS
– Storage symbols
– Flow and miscellaneous symbols
• Flow and miscellaneous symbols may
indicate:
– The flow of data and goods
– The beginning or end of the flowchart
– The location of a decision
– An explanatory note
FLOWCHARTS
• Click on buttons below if you wish to review
symbols in the various categories.
Input/Output Processing
Symbols Symbols
Storage Flow & Misc.

Symbols Symbols
GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING FLOWCHARTS
• Let’s step through some guidelines for

preparing flowcharts:
– As with DFDs, you can’t effectively prepare a
flowchart if you don’t understand the system, so:
• Interview users, developers, auditors, and
management
• Administer questionnaires
• Read through narratives
• Walk through systems transactions
– Identify:
• Entities to be flowcharted, e.g., departments,
functions, external parties (the parties who “do”
things in the story)
• Documents or information flows
• Processes
– As you read through a narrative, you may want
to mark the preceding items with different
shapes (e.g., drawing a rectangle around
entities, circling documents, etc.).
– Use separate columns for the activity of

each entity.
• Example: If there are three different
departments or functions that “do” things in
the narrative, there would be three columns on
the flowchart.
What are the entities
in this flowchart?
– Flowchart the normal course of operations, and

identify exceptions with annotations.
– As much as possible, the flow should go from top
to bottom and left to right.
– Use standard flowcharting symbols, and draw with
a template or computer.
– Clearly label all symbols. Use annotations if
necessary to provide adequate explanation.
– Give the flowchart a clear beginning and ending.

• Show where each document originated and its final
disposition.
– One approach you can use is to read through the
narrative and for each step define:
• What was (were) the input(s)
• What process was carried out
• What was (were) the output(s)
– Note on the next slide that the flow sequence is
input—process—output.
Identifies where input is coming from
Inputs
Process
Output to
storage
Input for
next
process
Process
Output
SUMMARY
• We’ve learned about graphical forms of

documentation, particularly:
– Data flow diagrams
– Flowcharts
• We’ve learned why these tools are important
to accountants and how they are employed.
• We’ve learned basic guidelines for creating
data flow diagrams and flowcharts.
End of Chapter

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C

Systems Development and

© 2008 Prentice Hall Business Publishing Accounting

Customer Remittance Receivables

Customer Remittance Receivables

Customer Remittance Receivables

Customer Remittance Receivables

Cash Rec’d & Remittance Slip Process

Customer Inquiry Process

Customer Remittance Receivables

Customer Remittance Receivables

Payroll Employee checks

• This is the context diagram for the

Data Inputs Processes Data Outputs

• Flowcharts use a set of standard symbols to depict

Input/output symbols indicate the

Processing symbols indicate the type

Storage symbols indicate the type of

Storage Flow & Misc.

• Let’s step through some guidelines for

– Use separate columns for the activity of

– Flowchart the normal course of operations, and

– Give the flowchart a clear beginning and ending.

• We’ve learned about graphical forms of

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