Context Diagram,

DFD
 Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)
• Data flow diagram CUSTOMER
Order In-Stock Request
WAREHOUSE

(DFD) is a picture of Status

Message
1.0

the movement of data Status Data

Check
Status
Shipping
Order

between external 2.0

Order
Data
3.0
Shipping

entities and the Confirmation Issue

Status
Messages
D1
Pending
Orders
Generate

processes and data

Shipping
Order Data Order

stores within a system

Payment 4.0
Order Data
Invoice
Manage
Accounts
Receivable
5.0
Accounting Data Accounts Receivable Data

Produce
Accounts Reports
D2 Receivable
Inventory
Reports

ACCOUNTING
DFD Symbols (Gane & Sarson)

Process

Data Flow

Data Store

Source/Sink (External Entity)

 Process
1.0
Grade Detail Grade Report
Produce
Grade
Report

• Work or actions performed on data (inside the

system)
• Labels should be verb phrases
• Receives input data and produces output
 Rule 1: Process
• Can have more than one outgoing data flow or
more than one incoming data flow

1.0
Graded Work
Submitted Work Grade
Student Student Grade
Work

3.0
Hours Worked
Gross Pay
Calculated
Pay Rate
Gross
Pay
 Rule 2: Process
• Can connect to any other symbol (including
another process symbol)

1.0 2.0 Inventory

Order Accepted Order Change

Verify Assemble
Order Order
 Data Flow
Deposit

• Is a path for data to move from one part of the IS

to another
• Arrows depicting movement of data
• Can represent flow between process and data
store by two separate arrows
2.1
Payment Detail

D1 Accounts
Invoice Detail
Post Receivable
Payment
 Data Store
D1 Students

• Is used in a DFD to represent data that the

system stores
• Labels should be noun phrases
 Rule: Data Store
• Must have at least one incoming and one
outgoing data flow

Customer Payment

D1 Daily
Payments

Daily Payment
 Source/Sink (External Entity)
1.0
Order

CUSTOMER Invoice
Verify
Order

• External entity that is origin or destination of

data (outside the system)
• Is the singular form of a department, outside
organisation, other IS, or person
• Labels should be noun phrases
 Source – Entity that supplies data to the
system
 Sink – Entity that receives data from the
system
 Rule: Source/Sink
• Must be connected to a process by a data flow

BANK

Bank
Deposit

2.0

Prepare
Deposit
 Rules for Using DFD Symbols
• Data Flow That Connects
YES NO
A process to another process

A process to an external entity

A process to a data store

An external entity to another external entity

An external entity to a data store

A data store to another data store

 Context Diagram
• Top-level view of IS
• Shows the system boundaries, external entities that
interact with the system, and major information flows
between entities and the system.
• Example: Order system that a company uses to enter
orders and apply payments against a customer’s balance
Context Diagram Order
CUSTOMER WAREHOUSE
of Order System

Order
Picking
Reject
List
Notice
Payment Invoice

0 Completed
Order
Order
System

Bank Cash
Commission Receipts
Deposit
Entry

SALES
ACCOUNTING BANK
REP
 Level-0 DFD
• Shows the system’s major processes, data flows, and data
stores at a high level of abstraction
• When the Context Diagram is expanded into DFD level-0,
all the connections that flow into and out of process 0
needs to be retained.
Context Diagram Order
CUSTOMER WAREHOUSE
of Order System

Order
Picking
Reject
List
Notice
Payment Invoice

0 Completed
Order
Order
System

Bank Cash
Commission Receipts
Deposit
Entry

SALES
ACCOUNTING BANK
REP
Level-0 DFD of
Order
Order System Picking List
CUSTOMER WAREHOUSE

1.0

Fill
Order Order
Reject
Notice

Invoice

2.0
Payment
Create Completed
Invoice
Invoice Order

Accounts
D1 Receivable

Invoice
Payment 3.0
Detail
Detail

Apply
Payment

Commission Bank Deposit Cash Receipts Entry

SALES
BANK ACCOUNTING
REP
 Strategies for Developing DFDs
• Top-down strategy
– Create the high-level diagrams (Context Diagram),
then low-level diagrams (Level-0 diagram), and so
on
• Bottom-up strategy
– Create the low-level diagrams, then higher-level
diagrams