SYSTEM

ANALYSIS AND
DESIGN
CS 309
Faculty of Science – Cairo University
Ref.: Joseph S. Valacich, Joey F. George, Modern Systems Analysis
and Design, 8th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc, 2017
ANALYSIS
Part Three
Analysis Phase
Analysis is a large and involved process, it is divided into
two main activities to make the overall process easier to
understand:
■ Requirements determination. This is primarily a fact
finding activity.
■ Requirements structuring. This activity creates a
thorough and clear description of current business
operations and new information processing services.
STRUCTURING THE
SYSTEM PROCESS
REQUIREMENTS
Analysis Phase
As mentioned before, analysis is divided into two main activities:
■ Requirements determination.
■ Requirements structuring.
The analysis team enters the requirements structuring phase with an
abundance of information gathered during the requirements
determination phase.
During requirements structuring, the information must be organized
into a meaningful representation of the information system that
currently exists and of the requirements desired in a replacement
system.
Analysis Phase
Data Flow Diagram
■ Data flow diagrams enable you to model how data flow through an
information system, the relationships among the data flows, and
how data come to be stored at specific locations.
■ Data flow diagrams also show the processes that change or
transform data.
■ Because data flow diagrams concentrate on the movement of
data between processes, these diagrams are called process
models.
Structured Analysis
■ For traditional structured analysis, a process model is only one of
three major complementary views of an information system
together with logic, and data models
■ Process modeling involves graphically representing the functions,
or processes, that capture, manipulate, store, and distribute data
between a system and its environment and between components
within a system.
■ A common form of a process model is a data flow diagram (DFD).
■ Data flow diagram (DFD) is a picture of the movement of data
between external entities and the processes and data stores within
a system.
Data Flow Diagramming
Mechanics
■ DFDs are versatile diagramming tools.
■ With only four symbols, you can use DFDs to represent both
physical and logical information systems.
■ DFDs are not as good as flowcharts for depicting the details of
physical systems; on the other hand, flowcharts are not very useful
for depicting purely logical information flows.
■ In fact, flowcharting has been criticized by proponents of structured
analysis and design because it is too physically oriented.
Data Flow Diagramming
Mechanics
■ Flowcharting symbols primarily represent physical computing
equipment, such as terminals and permanent storage.
■ One continual criticism of system flowcharts has been that
overreliance on such charts tends to result in premature physical
system design.
■ DFDs do not share this problem of premature physical design
because they do not rely on any symbols to represent specific
physical computing equipment.
■ They are also easier to use than flowcharts because they involve
only four different symbols.
Definitions and Symbols
■ There are two different standard sets of DFD symbols
■ each set consists of four symbols that represent the same things:
– data flows,
– data stores,
– processes, and
– sources/sinks (or external entities).
Definitions and Symbols
Definitions and Symbols
■ A data flow can be best understood as data in motion, moving from
one place in a system to another
■ A data flow is data that move together, so it can be composed of
many individual pieces of data that are generated at the same time
and that flow together to common destinations.
■ A data flow could represent data on a customer order form or a
payroll check; it could also represent the results of a query to a
database, the contents of a printed report, or data on a data entry
computer display form.
 Definitions and Symbols
■ Data store: Data at rest, which may take the
form of many different physical representations.
■ Process: The work or actions performed on data
so that they are transformed, stored, or
distributed.
■ Source/sink: The origin and/or destination of
data; sometimes referred to as external entities.
■ A data flow is depicted as an arrow. The arrow
is labeled with a meaningful name for the data
in motion.
 Definitions and Symbols
■ The Gane and Sarson symbol for a process is
a rectangle with rounded corners, has a line
drawn through the top. The upper portion is
used to indicate the number of the process.
Inside the lower portion is a name for the
process
■ Data store is a rectangle that is missing its
right vertical side. At the left end is a small box
used to number the data store, and inside the
main part of the rectangle is a meaningful label
for the data store
 Definitions and Symbols
■ Because sources and sinks are outside the system we are studying,
many of the characteristics of sources and sinks are of no interest to the
system analyst.
■ A source/sink might consist of the following:
– Another organization or organization unit that sends data to or
receives information from the system
– A person inside or outside the business unit supported by the
system you are analyzing who interacts with the system
– Another information system with which the system you are analyzing
exchanges information
 Definitions and Symbols
■ Sources/sinks are always outside the information system and define the
boundaries of the system.
■ Data must originate outside a system from one or more sources, and the
system must produce information to one or more sinks
■ If any data processing takes place inside the source/sink, it is of no
interest because this processing takes place outside the system
diagramming.
Definitions and Symbols

An improperly drawn DFD showing a process as a source/sink

Definitions and Symbols

A DFD showing proper use of a process

Developing DFDs: An Example
■ Consider Hoosier Burger, a fictional restaurant.
■ The highest-level view of this system, is called a context diagram.
■ Context diagram: An overview of an organizational system that
shows the system boundaries, external entities that interact with
the system, and the major information flows between the entities
and the system.
■ The context diagram contains only one process, no data stores,
four data flows, and three sources/sinks.
 Developing DFDs: An Example
■ The single process, labeled 0,
represents the entire system.
■ All context diagrams have only one
process, labeled 0.
■ The sources/sinks represent the
environmental boundaries of the
system. Because the data stores of
the system are conceptually inside
one process, data stores do not
appear on a context diagram.
■ The analyst must determine which
processes are represented by the
single process in the context diagram
■ The main processes represent
the major functions of the
system, and these major
functions correspond to actions
such as the following:
1. Capturing data from
different sources (e.g.,
Process 1.0)
2. Maintaining data stores
(e.g., Processes 2.0 and 3.0)
3. Producing and distributing
data to different sinks (e.g.,
Process 4.0)
4. High-level descriptions of
data transformation
operations (e.g., Process 1.0)
■ These major functions often
correspond to the activities on
the main system menu.
■ Notice that the sources/sinks
are the same in the context
diagram and in this diagram: the
customer, the kitchen, and the
restaurant’s manager
■ This diagram is called a level-0
diagram because it represents
the primary individual processes
in the system at the highest
possible level.
■ Each process has a number
that ends in .0 (corresponding to
the level number of the DFD).
■ Level-0 diagram: A DFD that
represents a system’s major
processes, data flows, and
data stores at a high level of
detail.
■ The level-0 diagram illustrates
several important concepts
about information movement.
■ However, we do not know the
timing of when this data flow is
produced, how frequently it is
produced, or what volume of
data is sent.
■ Thus, this DFD hides many
physical characteristics of the
Data Flow Diagramming Rules
■ You must follow a set of rules when drawing DFDs:
– The inputs to a process are different from the outputs of that
process.
– Objects on a DFD have unique names.
■ The rules for DFDs are listed in Table 7-2. Figure 7-6 illustrates
incorrect ways to draw DFDs and the corresponding correct
application of the rules.
 Rules Governing Data Flow Diagramming

■ Process:
A. No process can have only outputs.
It would be making data from nothing
(a miracle). If an object has only
outputs, then it must be a source.
B. No process can have only inputs
(a black hole). If an object has only
inputs, then it must be a sink.
C. A process has a verb phrase label.
 Rules Governing Data Flow Diagramming
■ Data Store:
D. Data cannot move directly from one
data store to another data store. Data
must be moved by a process.
E. Data cannot move directly from an
outside source to a data store. Data must
be moved by a process that receives
data from the source and places the data
into the data store.
F. Data cannot move directly to an
outside sink from a data store. Data must
be moved by a process.
G. A data store has a noun phrase label.
 Rules Governing Data Flow Diagramming

■ Source/Sink:
H. Data cannot move directly from a
source to a sink. It must be moved by
a process if the data are of any
concern to our system. Otherwise, the
data flow is not shown on the DFD.
I. A source/sink has a noun phrase
label.
 Rules Governing Data Flow Diagramming
■ Data Flow:
J. A data flow has only one direction of
flow between symbols. It may flow in both
directions between a process and a data
store to show a read before an update.
The latter is usually indicated, however,
by two separate arrows because these
happen at different times.
K. A fork in a data flow means that
exactly the same data goes from a
common location to two or more different
processes, data stores, or sources/sinks
(this usually indicates different copies of
the same data going to different
locations).
 Rules Governing Data Flow Diagramming
■ Data Flow:
L. A join in a data flow means that
exactly the same data come from any of
two or more different processes, data
stores, or sources/sinks to a common
location.
M. A data flow cannot go directly back to
the same process it leaves. There must be
at least one other process that handles
the data flow, produces some other data
flow, and returns the original data flow to
the beginning process.
 Rules Governing Data Flow Diagramming
■ Data Flow:
N. A data flow to a data store means
update (delete or change).
O. A data flow from a data store means
retrieve or use.
P. A data flow has a noun phrase label.
More than one data flow noun phrase can
appear on a single arrow as long as all of
the flows on the same arrow move
together as one package.
Decomposition of DFDs
■ The act of going from a single system to four component
processes is called (functional) decomposition.
■ Functional decomposition: An iterative process of breaking the
description of a system down into finer and finer detail, which
creates a set of charts in which one process on a given chart is
explained in greater detail on another chart.
Level-1 Diagram
Level-1 diagram showing
the decomposition of
Process 1.0 from the level-0
diagram for Hoosier
Burger’s food-ordering
system
Level-1 Diagram
Level-1 diagram showing
the decomposition of
Process 4.0 from the level-0
diagram for Hoosier
Burger’s food-ordering
system
Level-2 Diagram
Level-2 diagram showing the
decomposition of Process
4.3 from the level-1 diagram
for Process 4.0 for Hoosier
Burger’s food-ordering
system

Level-n diagram: A DFD that is the result of n nested decompositions

from a process on a level-0 diagram.
Balancing DFDs
■ When you decompose a DFD from one level to the next, there is a
conservation principle at work. You must conserve inputs and
outputs to a process at the next level of decomposition. In other
words, Process 1.0, which appears in a level-0 diagram, must
have the same inputs and outputs when decomposed into a level-1
diagram. This conservation of inputs and outputs is called
balancing.
■ Balancing: The conservation of inputs and outputs to a DFD
process when that process is decomposed to a lower level.
Example: An unbalanced set of DFDs

Context diagram

Level-0 diagram
Data Flow Splitting

Composite data flow Disaggregated data flows

Advanced Rules Governing Data
Flow Diagramming
Q. A composite data flow on one level can be split into component
data flows at the next level, but no new data can be added and all
data in the composite must be accounted for in one or more subflows.
R. The inputs to a process must be sufficient to produce the outputs
(including data placed in data stores) from the process. Thus, all
outputs can be produced, and all data in inputs move somewhere: to
another process or to a data store outside the process or onto a more
detailed DFD showing a decomposition of that process.
Advanced Rules Governing Data
Flow Diagramming
S. At the lowest level of DFDs, new data flows may be added to
represent data that are transmitted under exceptional conditions;
these data flows typically represent error messages (e.g., “Customer
not known; do you want to create a new customer?”) or confirmation
notices (e.g., “Do you want to delete this record?”).
T. To avoid having data flow lines cross each other, you may repeat
data stores or sources/ sinks on a DFD. Use an additional symbol,
like a double line on the middle vertical line of a data store symbol or
a diagonal line in a corner of a sink/source square, to indicate a
repeated symbol.
Guidelines for Drawing DFDs
■ DFD completeness: The extent to which all necessary
components of a DFD have been included and fully
described.
■ DFD consistency: The extent to which information
contained on one level of a set of nested DFDs is also
included on other levels.
■ Timing: DFDs do not do a very good job of representing
time.
Guidelines for Drawing DFDs
■ Iterative Development: Iterative DFD development
recognizes that requirements determination and
requirements structuring are interacting, not sequential,
subphases of the analysis phase of the SDLC.
■ Primitive DFD: The lowest level of decomposition for a
DFD.
■ Gap analysis: The process of discovering discrepancies
between two or more sets of DFDs or discrepancies
within a single DFD.
THANK YOU