61FIT3REQ – Software Requirements Analysis

Lecture 5

Data Flow Diagram

Faculty of Information Technology

Hanoi University
 Data Flow Diagram Overview
• A DFD depicts:
– The system inputs and outputs at a high level of
abstraction
– The collections (storage) of data or physical
materials that the system manipulates
– The flows of data or material between processes,
stores, and the outside world
• DFDs are created in different levels of details,
starting at level-0.
Data Flow Diagramming Mechanics
• Represent both physical and logical
information systems
• Only four symbols are used
• Useful for depicting information flows
DFD notations

diagrams.net symbols
DFD Symbols
• Process: work or actions
performed on data (inside the
system)

• Data store: data at rest (inside

the system)
DFD Symbols
• Source/sink: external entity
that is the origin or destination
of data (outside the system)

• Data flow: arrows depicting

movement of data
 Developing DFDs
• Context diagram is an overview of an
organizational system that shows:
– the system boundaries
– external entities that interact with the system
– major information flows between the entities and
the system
• Note: only one process symbol, and no data
stores shown
Context diagram of some food-ordering system
 Developing DFDs
• Level-0 diagram is a data flow diagram that
represents a 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.
Level-0 DFD of a food-ordering system
 Data Flow Diagramming Rules
• There are two DFD guidelines that apply:
– The inputs to a process are different from the
outputs of that process.
• Processes purpose is to transform inputs into outputs.
– Objects on a DFD have unique names.
• Every process has a unique name.
 Process Rules
A. No process can have only outputs. It would
be making data from nothing. 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.
 Data Store Rules
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.
 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.
H. Otherwise, the data flow is not shown on the
DFD.
I. A source/sink has a noun phrase label.
Data Flow Rules
 Decomposition of DFDs
• Functional decomposition is an iterative
process of breaking a system description down
into finer and finer detail.
– Creates a set of charts in which one process on a
given chart is explained in greater detail on
another chart.
– Continues until no sub-process can logically be
broken down any further.
 Decomposition of DFDs
• Level-1 diagram results from decomposition
of Level-0 diagram.
• Level-n diagram is a DFD diagram that is the
result of n nested decompositions from a
process on a level-0 diagram.

• Primitive DFD is the lowest (most detailed)

level of a DFD.
 Level-1 DFD
Level-1 DFD for Process
4.0 in the Level-0 DFD.

Processes are labeled 4.1, 4.2, etc.

These can be further decomposed
into lower-level DFDs if needed.
 Level-n DFD

Level-2 DFD for Process 4.3.

Level-n DFD shows the sub-processes of one of the

processes in the Level n-1 DFD.
 Balancing DFDs
• Conservation Principle: conserve inputs and
outputs to a process at the next level of
decomposition.

• Balancing: conservation of inputs and outputs

to a data flow diagram process when that
process is decomposed to a lower level.
 Balancing DFDs
• 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
Example: A set of DFDs which are unbalanced
 Four Different Types of DFDs
• Current Physical
– Process labels identify technology (people or
systems) used to process the data.
– Data flows and data stores identify actual name of
the physical media.
• Current Logical
– Physical aspects of system are removed as much
as possible.
– Current system is reduced to data and processes
that transform them.
 Four Different Types of DFDs
• New Logical
– Includes additional functions
– Obsolete functions are removed.
– Inefficient data flows are reorganized.
• New Physical
– Represents the physical implementation of the
new system
 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
 Guidelines for Drawing DFDs
• Timing
– Time is not represented well on DFDs.
– Best to draw DFDs as if the system has never
started and will never stop.
• Iterative Development
– Analyst should expect to redraw diagram several
times before reaching the closest approximation
to the system being modeled.
 Using DFDs as Analysis Tools
• Gap Analysis is the process of discovering
differences between two or more sets of DFDs
or differences within a single DFD.
• Inefficiencies in a system can often be
identified through DFDs.
 Summary
• You learned how to:
– Understand logical process modeling via data flow
diagrams (DFDs).
– Draw well-structured DFDs.
– Decompose DFDs into lower-level diagrams.
– Balance high-level and low-level DFDs.
– Use DFDs for analyzing information systems.