1

Chapter 7:
Data Flow Diagram
Structuring System Process Requirements
Chapter 7 in Modern System Analysis and Design Book.
 2

Overview
✦ Process Modeling and Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs).

✦ Draw DFDs of well structured process models.

✦ Decompose DFDs into lower-level diagrams.

✦ Balance high-level and low-level DFDs.

✦ The differences between current physical, current logical, new physical, and new
logical DFDs.

✦ Using DFDs for analyzing information systems.

✦ Select among Structured English, decision tables, and decision trees for
representing processing logic.
 3

System Development Life Cycle “SDLC”

 4

Process Modeling

✦ A technique for graphically representing the processes that are used to capture,
manipulate, store, and distribute data;

▪ between a system and its environment,

▪ among system components.

✦ Build a DFD using information gathered during requirements gathering and

determination.

✦ Both processes and data structures are modeled in DFDs.

 5

Process Modeling
Deliverables and Outcomes
✦ Context data flow diagram (DFD).
▪ Shows the scope of a system (i.e., a top-level view).

✦ Often DFDs are created showing the current physical and logical
system.
▪ It enables analysts to understand how the current system operates.

✦ DFDs of new logical system.

▪ The DFD is independent of technology.
▪ It shows data flows, structure, and functional requirements of the new
system.
✦ Includes a thorough description of each DFD component.
 6

Data Flow Diagram (DFD)

✦ A picture of the movement of data between external entities and

the processes and data stores within a system.

✦ How does a DFD differ from a systems flowchart?

▪ DFDs depict logical data flow independent of technology.

▪ The focus is on data flows, not process flows alone.

 7

Comparison between DFD Symbols Sets

 8

DFD Symbols

✦ Process: work or actions performed on data (inside the system).

✦ Data Store: data at rest (inside the system).

✦ Source/Sink: external entity that is origin or destination of data

(outside the system).

✦ Data flow: arrows depicting movement of data.

 9

DFD Diagramming Rules

Process

No process can have only outputs or only inputs.

.Processes must have both outputs and inputs

.Process labels should be verb phrases

 10

DFD Diagramming Rules

Data Store

All flows to or from a data store must

.move through a process

.Data Store labels should be noun phrases

 11

DFD Diagramming Rules

Source/Sink

No data moves directly between external entities without

going through a process.

Interactions between external entities without intervening

processes are outside the system and therefore not
represented in the DFD.

Source and Sink labels should be noun phrases.

 12

DFD Diagramming Rules

Data Flow
Bidirectional flow
between process
and data store is
represented by two
separate arrows.

Forked data flow

must refer to exact
same data item (not
different data items)
from a common
location to multiple
destinations.
 13

DFD Diagramming Rules

Data Flow

Joined data flow

must refer to exact
same data item (not
different data items)
from multiple
sources to a common
location.

Data flow cannot go

directly from a
process to itself,
must go through
intervening
processes.
 14

DFD Diagramming Rules

Data Flow

✦ Data flow from a process to a data store means update (insert, delete or change).

✦ Data flow from a data store to a process means retrieve or use.

✦ Data flow labels should be noun phrases.

 15

Functional Decomposition

✦ An iterative process of breaking a system description down into finer and finer detail.

✦ High-level processes described in terms of lower-level sub-processes.

✦ DFD charts created for each level of detail.

 16

DFD Levels

✦ Context DFD
▪Overview of the organizational system.
✦ Level-0 DFD
▪Representation of system’s major processes at high
level of abstraction.
✦ Level-1 DFD
▪Results from decomposition of Level 0 diagram.
✦ Level-n DFD
▪ Results from decomposition of Level n-1 diagram.
 17

Context Diagram
of Hoosier Burger’s food ordering system

Context diagram shows the

system boundaries, external
entities that interact with
the system, and major
information flows between
entities and the system.

NOTE: only one process symbol, and no data stores shown.

 18

Level-0 DFD

Level-0 DFD shows the

system’s major
processes, data flows,
and data stores at a high
level of abstraction.

Processes are labeled

1.0, 2.0, etc. These will
be decomposed into
more primitive
(lower-level) DFDs.
 19

Level-1 DFD

Level-1 DFD shows the

sub-processes of one of
the processes in the
Level-0 DFD.

This is a Level-1 DFD for

Process 4.0.

Processes are labeled 4.1,

4.2, etc. These can be
further decomposed in
more primitive (lower-level)
DFDs if necessary.
 20

Level-n DFD

Level-n DFD shows the

sub-processes of one of the
processes in the Level n-1 DFD.

This is a Level-2 DFD for

Process 4.3.

Processes are labeled 4.3.1,

4.3.2, etc. If this is the lowest
level of the hierarchy, it is
called a primitive DFD.
 21

DFD Balancing

✦ The conservation of inputs and outputs to a data flow process when that process is
decomposed to a lower level.

✦ Balanced means:

▪ Number of inputs to lower level DFD equals number of inputs to associated process
of higher-level DFD.

▪ Number of outputs to lower level DFD equals number of outputs to associated

process of higher-level DFD.
 22

Unbalanced DFD

Context Diagram

This is unbalanced because

the process of the context
diagram has only one input
Level-0 Diagram
but the Level-0 diagram has
two inputs.
 23

Balanced DFD

input 1
outputs 3

Context Diagram

These are balanced because the

numbers of inputs and outputs of
context diagram process equal the
number of inputs and outputs of
Level-0 diagram.
Level-0 Diagram
 24

Balanced DFD

These are balanced because the numbers of

inputs and outputs to Process 1.0 of the
Level-0 diagram equals the number of
inputs and outputs to the Level-1 diagram.

Level-0 Diagram

1 input
4 outputs
Level-1 Diagram
 25

Data Flow Splitting

A composite data flow at a

higher level may be split if
different parts go to
Complex data flow
different processes in the
lower level DFD.

This remains balanced

because the same data is
involved, but split into two
parts.
Disaggregated data flows
 26

More DFD Rules

 27

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.

✦ Timing

▪ Time is not represented well on DFDs.

▪ Best to draw DFDs as if the system has never started and will never stop.
 28

Guidelines for Drawing DFDs

✦ Iterative Development

▪ Analyst should expect to redraw diagram several times before reaching the closest
approximation to the system being modeled.

✦ Primitive DFDs

▪ Lowest logical level of decomposition.

▪ Decision has to be made when to stop decomposition.

 29

Guidelines for Drawing DFDs

✦ Rules for stopping decomposition

▪ When each process has been reduced to a single decision, calculation or database operation.

▪ When each data store represents data about a single entity.

▪ When the system user does not care to see any more detail.

▪ When every data flow does not need to be split further to show that data are handled in
various ways.

▪ When you believe that you have shown each business form or transaction, online display and
report as a single data flow.

▪ When you believe that there is a separate process for each choice on all lowest-level menu
options.