DATA FLOW

DIAGRAM

DEFINITION
A data flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation

of the "flow" of data through a computer system.

OR
A data flow diagram looks at how data flows through a
system.
It concerns things like where the data will come from and
go to as well as where it will be stored.
But you won't find information about the processing timing
(e.g. whether the processes happen in sequence or in
parallel).

DFD is not a flow chart

Flow chart shows flow of Control .
DFD shows flow of Data

The flowchart describes boxes that

describe
computations,
decisions,
interactions & loops.
It is important to keep in mind that
data flow diagrams are not flowcharts
and should not include control elements
.

TYPES OF DFD
Data flow diagrams (DFDs) are categorized as
either logical or physical.
1) LOGICAL DFD:- A logical DFD focuses on the
business and how the business operates. It
describes the business events that take place
and the data required and produced by each
event.
2) PHYSICAL DFD:- A physical DFD shows how
the system will be implemented.

DFD COMPONENTS
Data Flow Diagrams are composed of the four
basic symbols shown below:-

1)External Entity: The sharp cornered rectangles(or simply

boxes) in a DFD indicates entities.

The External Entity symbol represents sources

of data to the system or destinations of data

from the system.
Entities are people things, organizations etc
Entity

ENTITIES

Doctor

Student
Cashier

Teacher
Manager

Customer

User

2) Process: The rounded cornered rectangles in a DFD

indicate processes
The Process symbol represents an activity

that transforms or manipulates the data

(combines, reorders, converts, etc.).
Process

Processes
Accounting
System

Grading System

Reservation
System

Marketing
System

Patient
Administration
System

3) Data Store: Opened sided rectangles in DFD indicates

data store.
The Data Store symbol represents data
that is not moving (delayed data at rest).

A Data Store is a repository of data.

Data can be written into the data store.

This is depicted by an incoming arrow.
Two data stores cannot be connected by a
data flow.

 Data can be read from a data store. This is

depicted by an outgoing arrow.
External entity cannot read or write to the data
store.

Data Store

4) Data Flow:

Arrow symbol in DFD indicate data flow

The Data Flow symbol represents

movement of data

Data

RULES OF DATA
FLOW
Data can flow from
-external entity to process
-process to external entity
-process to store and back
-process to process

Data cannot flow from

-external entity to external entity
-external entity to store
-store to external entity
-store to store

EXAMPLE
1
This
diagram represents
a
banking process, which maintains
customer accounts.
In this example, customers can withdraw or

deposit cash, request information about

their account or update their account details.
The five different symbols used in this example

represent the full set of symbols required

to draw any business process diagram.

LEVELS OF DFD
Level 0 DFD
The level 0 DFD (also known as the
context level DFD ) is the simplest DFD.
The outermost level (Level 0) is
concerned with how the system
interacts with the outside world.
This level basically represents the input
and output of the entire system.

How to create Level

0 DFD
1. Identify your main system
2. Identify the external people who interact with

the system
3. Decide what data these entities will enter into

the system
4. Determine what these entities expect as

output from the system

Context Level DFD for a Mail

Order Business

CUSTOMER

ORDER
ORDER PROCESSING

DELIVERY

Level 1 DFD
The

basic

module

of

the

system

are

represented in this phase and how data

moves through different module is shown.
The level 1 DFD provides a high level view

of the system that identifies the major

processes and data stores.

How to create Level

1 DFD
1. Focus on your process and break it into 2

or more sub-processes
2. Identify what data flows between these

processes and between the entities

3. Identify

What permanent data files are

used in this system

4. Note

that

introduced

no

new

entities

can

be

Level 1 DFD for a Mail

Order Business
Order

SALES
PROCESSING

CUSTOMER

Delivery
Credit

Order

Status
Order
CUSTOMER
DATABASE

Credit
Status
Customer
no.

ORDERS
ACCOUNTING
SYSTEM

2-Level DFD and other

level of DFD
Each process from level 1 is exploded even

more into sub processes. This decomposition

continues for each level.
The number of levels possible depends on the

complexity of the system

LEVELLING DFD
A context diagram is expanded into a
number of inter-related processes. Each
process may be further expanded into a set of
inter-connected sub processes. This
procedure of expanding a DFD is known as
leveling.

The value of a
DFD
With a dataflow diagram, users are able to
visualize how the system will operate, what
the system will accomplish, and how the
system will be implemented
2. Data flow diagrams can be used to provide
the end user with physical idea of how the
data they input ultimately has an effect
upon the structure of the whole system.
3. The old systems dataflow diagrams can also
be drawn up and compared with the new
systems
dataflow
diagrams
to
draw
comparisons in order to help implement a
1.

Questions ?

1) In a DFD external entities are represented

by a______
a. Rectangle
b. Ellipse
c. diamond shaped box
d. Circle
A
2) External Entities may be a_________
a. source of input data only
b. source of input data or destination of results
c. destination of results only
d. repository of data
B

3) A data store in a DFD represents

a. a sequential file
b. a disk store
c. a repository of data
d. a random access memory
C
4) A data cannot flow between a store and
(i) a store
(ii)a process
(iii)an external entity
a. i and iii
b. i and ii
c. ii and iii
d. ii
A

5) Data cannot flow from an external entity to

an external entity because
a. it will get corrupted
b. it is not allowed in DFD
c. an external entity has no mechanism to read or
write
d. both are outside the context of the system
D
6) A data flow can
a. only enter a data store
b. only leave a data store
c. enter or leave a data store
d. either enter or leave a data store but not both
C

7) The following portion of a DFD is not correct as

a. there is no output data flow from the process
b. there are three data flow inputs to the process
c. there is no external entity
d. there is no data store

Quantity
Quantity

Cost/unit

Billing
Billing
Process
Process
Discount
Discount

8) The following portion of a DFD is not correct as

(a) there are many data flows out of the process
(b) there are no input data flows to the process
(c) the output does not go to an external entity
(d) there is no data store
Order to
vendor

Out of
stock

Billing
Proces
Too much
stock

9) A context diagram
a. describes the context of a system
b. is a DFD which gives an overview of the system
c. is a detailed description of a system
d. is not used in drawing a detailed DFD
B

10) By leveling a DFD we mean

a. splitting it into diff erent levels
b. make its structure uniform
c. expanding a process into one with more subprocesses giving more detail
d. summarizing a DFD to specify only the essentials

11 ) A physical DFD specifies

a. what processes will be used
b. who generates data and who processes it
c. what each person in an organization does
d. which data will be generated
B
12) Data flow in a DFD must have
(i) an arrow showing direction of flow of data
(ii)a meaningful name
(iii)a label such as: xyz
(iv)no arrows as they are confusing
a. i and iii
b. ii and iv
c. iii and iv

Your Assignment
A general DFD for
reservation system

an

airline

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Data_Flow
http://www.visual-paradigm.com/product/bpva/tutorials/dfd.
jsp
http://www.civil.utm.my/staff /file/141/file/CIMLectureNotes2
011.pdf
http://spot.colorado.edu/~kozar/DFDtechnique.html
http://www.fbk.eur.nl/PRJ/MEETEYEES/dfd.htm
Http://ratandon.mysite.syr.edu/cis453/notes/DFD_over_Flow
charts.pdf
http://www.slideshare.net/mohit4192/dfd-examples
http://ecourses.vtu.ac.in/nptel/courses/Webcourseconten
ts/IIScBANG/System%20Analysis%20and%20Design/pdf/module
5.pdf

Submitted by
Nidhi Sharma
8503