Data Flow Diagram

Data flow diagram is graphical representation of flow of data in an information system.

It is capable of depicting incoming data flow, outgoing data flow and stored data. The
DFD does not mention anything about how data flows through the system.
There is a prominent difference between DFD and Flowchart. The flowchart depicts
flow of control in program modules. DFDs depict flow of data in the system at various
levels. DFD does not contain any control or branch elements.

Types of DFD

Data Flow Diagrams are either Logical or Physical.

 Logical DFD - This type of DFD concentrates on the system process, and flow of data in the
system.For example in a Banking software system, how data is moved between different
entities.
 Physical DFD - This type of DFD shows how the data flow is actually implemented in the
system. It is more specific and close to the implementation.

DFD Components

DFD can represent Source, destination, storage and flow of data using the following
set of components -

 Entities - Entities are source and destination of information data. Entities are represented by
a rectangles with their respective names.
 Process - Activities and action taken on the data are represented by Circle or Round-edged
rectangles.
 Data Storage - There are two variants of data storage - it can either be represented as a
rectangle with absence of both smaller sides or as an open-sided rectangle with only one
side missing.
 Data Flow - Movement of data is shown by pointed arrows. Data movement is shown from
the base of arrow as its source towards head of the arrow as destination.

Levels of DFD
 Level 0 - Highest abstraction level DFD is known as Level 0 DFD, which depicts the entire
information system as one diagram concealing all the underlying details. Level 0 DFDs are
also known as context level DFDs.

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  Level 1 - The Level 0 DFD is broken down into more specific, Level 1 DFD. Level 1 DFD
depicts basic modules in the system and flow of data among various modules. Level 1 DFD
also mentions basic processes and sources of information.

 Level 2 - At this level, DFD shows how data flows inside the modules mentioned in Level 1.
Higher level DFDs can be transformed into more specific lower level DFDs with deeper
level of understanding unless the desired level of specification is achieved.

Structure Charts

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Structure chart is a chart derived from Data Flow Diagram. It represents the system in
more detail than DFD. It breaks down the entire system into lowest functional modules,
describes functions and sub-functions of each module of the system to a greater detail
than DFD.
Structure chart represents hierarchical structure of modules. At each layer a specific
task is performed.
Here are the symbols used in construction of structure charts -

 Module - It represents process or subroutine or task. A control module branches to more

than one sub-module. Library Modules are re-usable and invokable from any module.

 Condition - It is represented by small diamond at the base of module. It depicts that control
module can select any of sub-routine based on some condition.

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 Jump - An arrow is shown pointing inside the module to depict that the control will jump in

the middle of the sub-module.

 Loop - A curved arrow represents loop in the module. All sub-modules covered by loop

repeat execution of module.

 Data flow - A directed arrow with empty circle at the end represents data flow.

 Control flow - A directed arrow with filled circle at the end represents control flow.

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HIPO Diagram
HIPO (Hierarchical Input Process Output) diagram is a combination of two organized
method to analyze the system and provide the means of documentation. HIPO model
was developed by IBM in year 1970.
HIPO diagram represents the hierarchy of modules in the software system. Analyst
uses HIPO diagram in order to obtain high-level view of system functions. It
decomposes functions into sub-functions in a hierarchical manner. It depicts the
functions performed by system.
HIPO diagrams are good for documentation purpose. Their graphical representation
makes it easier for designers and managers to get the pictorial idea of the system
structure.

In contrast to IPO (Input Process Output) diagram, which depicts the flow of control
and data in a module, HIPO does not provide any information about data flow or
control flow.

Example

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Both parts of HIPO diagram, Hierarchical presentation and IPO Chart are used for
structure design of software program as well as documentation of the same.

Structured English
Most programmers are unaware of the large picture of software so they only rely on
what their managers tell them to do. It is the responsibility of higher software
management to provide accurate information to the programmers to develop accurate
yet fast code.
Other forms of methods, which use graphs or diagrams, may are sometimes
interpreted differently by different people.
Hence, analysts and designers of the software come up with tools such as Structured
English. It is nothing but the description of what is required to code and how to code it.
Structured English helps the programmer to write error-free code.
Other form of methods, which use graphs or diagrams, may are sometimes interpreted
differently by different people. Here, both Structured English and Pseudo-Code tries to
mitigate that understanding gap.
Structured English is the It uses plain English words in structured programming
paradigm. It is not the ultimate code but a kind of description what is required to code
and how to code it. The following are some tokens of structured programming.
IF-THEN-ELSE,
DO-WHILE-UNTIL

Analyst uses the same variable and data name, which are stored in Data Dictionary,
making it much simpler to write and understand the code.

Example

We take the same example of Customer Authentication in the online shopping

environment. This procedure to authenticate customer can be written in Structured
English as:
Enter Customer_Name
SEEK Customer_Name in Customer_Name_DB file
IF Customer_Name found THEN
Call procedure USER_PASSWORD_AUTHENTICATE()
ELSE
PRINT error message
Call procedure NEW_CUSTOMER_REQUEST()
ENDIF

The code written in Structured English is more like day-to-day spoken English. It can
not be implemented directly as a code of software. Structured English is independent
of programming language.

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Pseudo-Code
Pseudo code is written more close to programming language. It may be considered as
augmented programming language, full of comments and descriptions.
Pseudo code avoids variable declaration but they are written using some actual
programming language’s constructs, like C, Fortran, Pascal etc.
Pseudo code contains more programming details than Structured English. It provides a
method to perform the task, as if a computer is executing the code.

Example

Program to print Fibonacci up to n numbers.

void function Fibonacci
Get value of n;
Set value of a to 1;
Set value of b to 1;
Initialize I to 0
for (i=0; i< n; i++)
{
if a greater than b
{
Increase b by a;
Print b;
}
else if b greater than a
{
increase a by b;
print a;
}
}

Decision Tables
A Decision table represents conditions and the respective actions to be taken to
address them, in a structured tabular format.
It is a powerful tool to debug and prevent errors. It helps group similar information into
a single table and then by combining tables it delivers easy and convenient decision-
making.

Creating Decision Table

To create the decision table, the developer must follow basic four steps:

 Identify all possible conditions to be addressed

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  Determine actions for all identified conditions
 Create Maximum possible rules
 Define action for each rule
Decision Tables should be verified by end-users and can lately be simplified by
eliminating duplicate rules and actions.

Example

Let us take a simple example of day-to-day problem with our Internet connectivity. We
begin by identifying all problems that can arise while starting the internet and their
respective possible solutions.
We list all possible problems under column conditions and the prospective actions
under column Actions.

Conditions/Actions Rules

Shows Connected N N N N Y Y Y Y

Conditions Ping is Working N N Y Y N N Y Y

Opens Website Y N Y N Y N Y N

Check network cable X

Check internet router X X X X

Actions Restart Web Browser X

Contact Service provider X X X X X X

Do no action
Table : Decision Table – In-house Internet Troubleshooting

Entity-Relationship Model
Entity-Relationship model is a type of database model based on the notion of real
world entities and relationship among them. We can map real world scenario onto ER
database model. ER Model creates a set of entities with their attributes, a set of
constraints and relation among them.
ER Model is best used for the conceptual design of database. ER Model can be
represented as follows :

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  Entity - An entity in ER Model is a real world being, which has some properties
called attributes. Every attribute is defined by its corresponding set of values,
called domain.
For example, Consider a school database. Here, a student is an entity. Student has various
attributes like name, id, age and class etc.
 Relationship - The logical association among entities is called relationship. Relationships
are mapped with entities in various ways. Mapping cardinalities define the number of
associations between two entities.
Mapping cardinalities:

o one to one
o one to many
o many to one
o many to many

Data Dictionary
Data dictionary is the centralized collection of information about data. It stores meaning
and origin of data, its relationship with other data, data format for usage etc. Data
dictionary has rigorous definitions of all names in order to facilitate user and software
designers.
Data dictionary is often referenced as meta-data (data about data) repository. It is
created along with DFD (Data Flow Diagram) model of software program and is
expected to be updated whenever DFD is changed or updated.

Requirement of Data Dictionary

The data is referenced via data dictionary while designing and implementing software.
Data dictionary removes any chances of ambiguity. It helps keeping work of
programmers and designers synchronized while using same object reference
everywhere in the program.
Data dictionary provides a way of documentation for the complete database system in
one place. Validation of DFD is carried out using data dictionary.

Contents
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Data dictionary should contain information about the following

 Data Flow
 Data Structure
 Data Elements
 Data Stores
 Data Processing
Data Flow is described by means of DFDs as studied earlier and represented in
algebraic form as described.

= Composed of

{} Repetition

() Optional

+ And

[/] Or

Example

Address = House No + (Street / Area) + City + State

Course ID = Course Number + Course Name + Course Level + Course Grades

Data Elements

Data elements consist of Name and descriptions of Data and Control Items, Internal or
External data stores etc. with the following details:

 Primary Name
 Secondary Name (Alias)
 Use-case (How and where to use)
 Content Description (Notation etc. )
 Supplementary Information (preset values, constraints etc.)

Data Store

It stores the information from where the data enters into the system and exists out of
the system. The Data Store may include -

 Files
o Internal to software.

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 o External to software but on the same machine.
o External to software and system, located on different machine.
 Tables
o Naming convention
o Indexing property

Data Processing

There are two types of Data Processing:

 Logical: As user sees it

 Physical: As software sees it

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