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Chapter 9 Key Points

Chapter 9 discusses methods for documenting and analyzing structured decisions, including structured English, decision tables, and decision trees. It emphasizes the importance of process specifications to reduce ambiguity and validate system design, while outlining the roles of business rules and the conditions necessary for effective decision-making. The chapter also provides guidelines for selecting appropriate techniques based on the complexity and requirements of the decision-making process.

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Omotosho Busayor
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15 views3 pages

Chapter 9 Key Points

Chapter 9 discusses methods for documenting and analyzing structured decisions, including structured English, decision tables, and decision trees. It emphasizes the importance of process specifications to reduce ambiguity and validate system design, while outlining the roles of business rules and the conditions necessary for effective decision-making. The chapter also provides guidelines for selecting appropriate techniques based on the complexity and requirements of the decision-making process.

Uploaded by

Omotosho Busayor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter 9

Process Specifications and


Structured Decisions
Key Points
1. The methods available for documenting and analyzing the logic of structured decisions
include structured English, decision tables, and decision trees.

2. Process specifications are created for primitive processes and some higher level
processes on a data flow diagram. They are also called minispecs (mini specifications).

3. The goals of producing process specifications are:

A. Reduce process ambiguity


B. Obtain a precise description of what is accomplished
C. Validate the system design, including data flow diagrams and the data dictionary

4. Primitive process specifications are not created for:

A. Physical input and/or output processes


B. Processes that represent simple data validation
C. Processes for which prewritten code already exists

5. Process descriptions may exist on a form or within a CASE tool repository.

6. Process logic may be represented as:

A. Structured English
B. A decision table
C. A decision tree
D. A formula
E. Any combination of the above

7. Business rules include the following:

A. Definitions of business terms


B. Business conditions and actions
C. Data integrity constraints
D. Mathematical and functional derivations
E. Logical inferences
F. Processing sequences
G. Relationships among facts about the business

8. Conditions, condition alternatives, actions, and action rules must be known in order to
design systems for structured decisions.
9. Structured English is based on:

A. Structured logic, or instructions, organized into nested and grouped procedures


B. Simple English statements such as add, multiply, move, and so on

It is an appropriate technique for analyzing the system when structured decisions are not
complex.

10. To use structured English, the following steps are needed:

A. Express all logic in terms of sequential structures, decision structures, case


structures, or iterations.
B. Use and capitalize accepted keywords such as IF, THEN, ELSE, DO, and
PERFORM.
C. Indent blocks of statements to show their hierarchy (nesting) clearly.
D. When words or phrases used have been defined in a data dictionary, underline
those words or phrases to signify that they have a specialized, reserved meaning.
E. Be careful when using “and” and “or” operations, and avoid confusion when using
logical comparisons such as “greater than” and “greater than or equal to.”

11. Structured English has advantages of clarifying the logic and relationships found in human
languages, being an effective communication tool, and easy to teach and understand.

12. The data dictionary may be used as a starting point when creating structured English as
follows:

A. Sequenced (simple + between elements) data dictionary entries become simple


structured English statements.
B. Selection (elements within [ ] brackets) data dictionary entries become
IF...THEN...ELSE structured English statements.
C. Iteration (elements within { } braces) data dictionary entries become DO WHILE,
DO UNTIL, or PERFORM UNTIL structured English statements.

13. Decision tables provide a way to examine, describe, and document decisions using a table
consisting of four quadrants. They are used to: (1) describe the conditions, (2) identify
possible decision alternatives, (3) indicate which actions should be performed, and (4)
describe actions.

14. The use of decision tables helps analysts ensure completeness and accuracy in analyzing
structured decisions. However, there are four main problems that can occur in developing
decision tables. They are incompleteness, impossible situations, contradictions, and
redundancy.

15. Decision trees are used when complex branching occurs in a structured decision process.
Trees are also useful when it is essential to keep a string of decisions in a particular
sequence.

16. In drawing the decision tree:

A. First, identify all conditions and actions and the order and timing of these (if they
are critical).
B. Second, begin building the tree from left to right while making sure you are
complete in listing all possible alternatives before moving over to the right.
17. The decision tree has three main advantages over a decision table. First, the order of
checking conditions and executing actions is immediately noticeable. Second, conditions
and actions of decision trees are found on some branches but not on others, unlike
decision tables where they are all part of the same table. Third, compared to decision
tables, decision trees are more readily understood by others in the organization.

18. To select an appropriate structured decision analysis technique, systems analysts can
refer to these guidelines:

A. Use structured English when there are many repetitious actions or when
communication to end users is important
B. Use decision tables when complex combinations of conditions, actions, and rules
are found or you require a method that effectively avoids impossible situations,
redundancies, and contradictions.
C. Use decision trees when the sequence of conditions and actions is critical or when
not every condition is relevant to every action (the branches are different).

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