04 DFDs 1

2010 Bennett, McRobb and Farmer
1
Data Flow Diagrams
Supplementary material to support
Bennett, McRobb and Farmer:
Object Oriented Systems Analysis and
Design Using UML, (4th Edition),
McGraw Hill, 2005.

2 2010 Bennett, McRobb and Farmer
In This Presentation You Will Learn:
What data flow diagrams (DFDs) are
What DFDs can be used for
Why DFDs are not used in object-oriented
analysis and design
Variations in notation for DFDs

What are DFDs?
Data flow diagrams (DFDs) are one of the
diagramming techniques used in
structured systems analysis and design
Data flow diagrams show:
Data flowing through a system to or from
users (external entities)
The processes that transform the data
The data stores that hold the data

What do DFDs look like?
2.4
Check
Campaign
Budget
Campaign
Manager
Client name +
Campaign name
Budget surplus
Campaigns
Adverts
Budget
Cost

Elements of DFDs
External Entities
People, organizations or systems that the
system being modelled communicates with
Rather like actors, except an external entity is
not necessarily a direct user of the system
Typically trigger processes
Campaign
Manager

Elements of DFDs
Processes
Processes that transform data in
some way
Named and numbered
Normally require at least one input
and produce at least one output
Inputs / outputs (I/O) may flow to or
from other processes, data stores
or external entities
2.4
Check
Campaign
Budget

Elements of DFDs
Data Stores
Represent the places where data is stored
Typically files or database tables
In a manual system can represent physical
data stores, like card indexes or filing systems
Campaigns

Elements of DFDs
Data Flows
Flows of data between:
external entities and processes
processes and other processes
processes and data stores
Can be simple data elements or complex data
structures
Client name +
Campaign name

Data Dictionaries
DFDs are supported by data dictionary entries
Each element is defined in a data dictionary
Data elements - name and data type
Data structures - name and composition
Data flows - name and content
Data stores - name and data structures contained
Processes - name and specification of the process,
for example in Structured English

Levels of DFDs
Context Diagram
Shows the system and the external entities
with which it interacts
Top Level Diagram
Shows the main processes in the system - a
decomposition of the context diagram process
Lower Level Diagrams
Decomposition of the processes in the top
level - can be successively decomposed

Context Diagram
Agate
Campaign
Management
System
Campaign
Manager
Client
Budget
Campaign
Staff
Campaign
Advert
Staff Assignment
Accountant
Concept Note
Staff
Concept Note
Staff
Staff Grade
Staff
Contact
Payment
Advert Completion
Client Contact

Top Level Diagram (Level 0)
1.
Record
Clients
Campaign
Manager
Client
Staff Assignment
Campaign
Staff
Campaign
Advert
Accountant
Concept Note
Staff
Concept
Note
Staff
Staff Grade
Staff
Contact
Payment
Advert Completion
Client Contact
3.
Prepare
Adverts
Notes
6.
Browse
Concept
Notes
Concept
Note
Concept Note
4.
Maintain
Staff
5.
Manage
Adverts
Adverts
Advert
Contact
+ Completion Date
Clients
Client
2.
Plan and
Manage
Campaigns
Staff Members
Staff
Budget
Cost
Concept
Note
Campaigns
Campaign
Staff
Staff

Level 1 Diagram
Advert Completion
Client Contact
5.1
Set Client
Contact
Adverts
Contact
Staff Members
Staff
Completion Date 5.2
Set Advert
Completed

Data Dictionary
Advert Completion = Advert Name +
Completion Date
Advert Name = Name of advert. Format:
X(40)
Completion Date = Date on which advert
was completed. Format: dd/mm/yyyy.

Data Dictionary
Client Contact = Staff ID + Advert Name
Staff = Staff ID + First Name + Last Name
+ Start Date + Grade + Date Of Birth
Staff Members = {Staff}
Contact = Staff ID

Process Definition
Process 5.1 Set Client Contact
BEGIN
FIND Staff in Staff Members with Staff ID
that matches Staff ID in Client Contact
Contact = Staff ID
Write Contact to Adverts using Advert
Name
END

Types of DFD
In some approaches different kinds of
DFD are produced:
Current physical - existing system with
physical stores, manual processes and
physical descriptions of I/O
Current logical - abstraction of current
physical to eliminate the way its done now
Proposed logical - proposed new system

Modelling existing systems that are to be
re-engineered using an object-oriented
approach
Modelling data flows in systems that do no
more than transform data
Modelling business processes in existing
manual systems
Determining the automation boundary for
a system (what is to be computerized)

Why DFDs arent used in O-O
In DFDs a clear separation is made
between processes and stored data
It is assumed that all data is visible to any
process that needs to access it
In an O-O system the processes that
operate on data are the methods of the
classes that contain the data as attributes
Data is encapsulated within objects, and
may be hidden too

Variations in Notation
We have used the notation from Yourdon
(1989) because it is the simplest to draw!
Alternatives include
Structured Analysis and Design Technique
(SADT)
Structured Systems Analysis and Design
Method (SSADM)

SADT
2.4
Check
Campaign
Budget
Campaign
Manager
Client name +
Campaign name
Budget surplus
Campaigns
Adverts
Budget
Cost

SSADM
2.4

Check
Campaign
Budget
Campaign
Manager
Client name +
Campaign name
Budget surplus
D1 Campaigns
D2 Adverts
Budget
Cost

SSADM
SSADM probably has the most complex
notation, which we have not covered here,
including:
Flows and stores of physical materials
Notation for duplicate elements appearing in
the same diagram
Special numbering systems for manual and
transient data stores

Other Structured Techniques
In a structured approach, data structures
are usually modelled separately in an
Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD), but
ERDs dont show processes
Entity Life Histories show the events that
affect entities over time
Structure Diagrams show program
structure as a tree hierarchy of modules

Summary
In this presentation you have learned about:
What data flow diagrams (DFDs) are
Why DFDs are not used in object-oriented
analysis and design
Variations in notation for DFDs

References
Yourdon (1989)
Skidmore, Mills and Farmer (1994)
(For full bibliographic details, see Bennett,
McRobb and Farmer)

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2010 Bennett, McRobb and Farmer

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