MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 8/E

Raymond McLeod, Jr. and George Schell

Appendix B
Process Modeling

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Copyright 2001 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
 Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)

Graphic representation of a system that uses

a small number of symbol shapes to
illustrate how data flows through
interconnected processes
Most natural way to document processes
Emphasis on processes rather than data

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 DFD Symbols

DFDs consist of four symbols

1) Environmental elements called terminators
Person
Organization
Another system
2) Processes which transform inputs to outputs
Labeled with verb and object
Also labeled with system or computer program
name

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 DFD Symbols [cont.]

DFD symbols [cont.]

Data flows which consist of logically related
data elements that travel from one point or
process to another. In other words, data in
motion.
Structures
Diverge
Converge

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 DFD Symbols [cont.]

DFD symbols [cont.]

Data stores which are data repositories. In
other words, data at rest.

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 A Data Flow Diagram (Figure 0
Mail
Customer
Diagram) of a Sales Commission
1.
Open
System
mail Sales
orders

Entered
2. sales orders
Enter sales Sales order
order data
Entered form file
sales order
data
3.
Sort
sales Sorted
order s sales
records
Sales commission
4. report Sales
Compute
sales manager
commissions
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 When Drawing a Context
Diagram
1. Use only a single process symbol
2. Label the process symbol to represent the
entire system
3. Do not number the single process symbol
4. Include all terminators for the system
5. Show all the data flows between the
terminators and the system

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 Mail A Context Diagram of a
Customer Sales Commission System

Sales
Commission
System

Sales
commission
report
Sales
Manager
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 Figure n Diagrams

Documents a single process of a DFD in a

greater amount of detail
n represents the number of the process on
the next higher level that is being
documented
The term leveled DFDs describe the
hierarchy of diagrams ranging from context
to the lowest-level figure n diagram
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Figure 4 Diagram of a Sales Commission System
Sorted
3
sales
records

4.1
Compute
commission
amounts
Sales
commission
report
4.2 Sales
Accumulate manager
totals
Commission
amounts

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 How Many Levels to Use?

Restrict a single DFD to no more than six to

eight processes
Use another tool to document the lowest
level of detail but use no more than a single
page.

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 Data Flow Diagramming
Guidelines
1. Label each data flow with a unique name.
2. Keep data flow names constant between levels.
3. Show proper disposition of records deleted from a data
store.
4. When documenting a computer program, do not include
reads/writes.
5. Avoid read-only processes.
6. Write-only processes are permissible when time serves as
the trigger.

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 Structured English

Narrative form of computer code

documentation
Based on Pseudocode
Abbreviated, formalized pseudocode in a
particular format that looks like computer
code

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 Structured English Guidelines
1) Use a verb when describing each
processing strip.
2) Supplement verb with one or more
objects when necessary.
3) Use only three constructs of
programming.
Sequence
Selection
Repetition
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 Structured English
Guidelines [cont.]
4) Use only data names defined in the data
dictionary.
5) Use uppercase for all data names and
computer syntax.
6) Indent to show a hierarchical structure.

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 Structured English
Guidelines [cont.]
7) When documentation is subdivided into
modules, use the first line of each module
for an identifying label and leave at least
one blank line in-between.
8) Restrict each module to a single entry
and exit point.

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Structure English Example
START

Initialize storage
TOTAL.SALES, TOT.COM = 0

Process sales data

DO WHILE (more records)
PERFORM READ DATA
PERFORM PROCESS DATA
PERFORM PRINT DATA
END DO

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 Summary
Process modeling is an important part of
system design
Various techniques exist for process
modeling
DFDs
Structured English
Manager can use Structured English and
DFDs to communicate system requirements

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