Data Modeling Techniques
1. Structured system design
methods
2. Object oriented system design
methods
Structured system
design
Data Flow Diagrams(DFD):
➢ Data Flow Diagrams are used to depict
the flow of data through a system and
the work or process performed by the
system.
➢ Data Flow Diagrams focus on the
movement of data between external
entities and processes, and between
processes and data stores
➢ Synonyms are bubble chart,
transformation graph, and process
model.
DFD symbols
➢External entities (sources and sinks)
➢Data Stores
➢Data Flows
➢Processes
External entities (sources and sinks)
➢ External entity is whatever or whoever donates
data/information to the system or receives
data/information from it.
➢ A rectangle is used to represent External
entities
➢ External entities can be exist in two types as
sources or sinks
➢ A source is where data comes from. A sink is
where data goes to.
Student
Ex
Data Stores
A data store is where data is held for a time
within the system, probably awaiting the arrival
of more data before it can be processed, or
awaiting being used to produce a report, or
before being transmitted to some other
system).
Data Store can be represented by using above
two shapes. A data store could be a file on
disk or a paper file.
Data Flows
A data flow represents a set of data being
transmitted between objects on the DFD.
Note
Data ALWAYS flows to or from a process. The
other end may be an external entity, a data
store or another process. This means data
CANNOT flow from Data Store to another. This
is obvious when you think about it - a process
needs to be performed to make the data flow.
Name of the flow
A data flow is just a line with an arrow
showing the direction of flow and a name.
Processes
A process transforms or manipulates data
within a system. Each process box contains the
name and very brief description of the process
Data Store can be represented by using above
three shapes
DFD Rules—General
• Basic rules that apply to all DFDs
– Inputs to a process are always different than
outputs
– Objects always have a unique name
• In order to keep the diagram uncluttered, you can
repeat data stores and sources/sinks on a diagram
8.9
DFD Rules for Symbols
• Process
– No process can have only outputs (a miracle)
process
stuff
– No process can have only inputs (black hole)
process
stuff
– A process has a verb phrase label
• Data Store
– Data cannot be moved directly from one store to another
– Data cannot move directly from an outside source to a data store
– Data cannot move directly from a data store to a data sink
– Data store has a noun phrase label
entity to
data store entity
to entity -
or reverse
data store
to data
store
Source/Sink
– Data cannot move directly from a source to a sink
– A source/sink has a noun phrase label
entity to
entity
• Data Flow
– A data flow has only one direction of flow between symbols
– A fork means that exactly the same data goes from a common location
to two or more processes, data stores or sources/sinks
– A join means that exactly the same data comes from any two or more
different processes, data stores or sources/sinks to a common location
– A data flow cannot go directly back to the same process it leaves
– A data flow to a data store means update
– A data flow from a data store means retrieve or use
– A data flow has a noun phrase label
Illegal Data Flows
Common Process Errors on DFDs
Different Levels of DFDs
• Context diagram
• Level-0 diagram (system diagram)
• Level-1 diagram
• Level-2 diagram……
• Level-n diagram