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Data Flow Diagrams - 2025

A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) visually represents information flows within a system, illustrating how data enters, exits, and is stored. It serves as a communication tool for system analysts and stakeholders, detailing system boundaries and components through notations like external entities, processes, data stores, and data flows. DFDs are categorized into levels, with Level 0 providing an overview and subsequent levels detailing internal processes, and the creation process involves building context diagrams and validating with users.

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32 views4 pages

Data Flow Diagrams - 2025

A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) visually represents information flows within a system, illustrating how data enters, exits, and is stored. It serves as a communication tool for system analysts and stakeholders, detailing system boundaries and components through notations like external entities, processes, data stores, and data flows. DFDs are categorized into levels, with Level 0 providing an overview and subsequent levels detailing internal processes, and the creation process involves building context diagrams and validating with users.

Uploaded by

fahathaat
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data Flow Diagrams

A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) is a traditional visual representation of the information flows within a system. It shows
how information enters and leaves the system, what changes in the information and where information is stored.
The purpose of a DFD is to show the scope and boundaries of a system as a whole.

It may be used as a communications tool between a systems analyst and any person who plays a part in the system
that acts as the starting point for redesigning a system.

DFD Diagram Notations

1. External Entity

An external entity can represent a human, system or subsystem. It is where certain data comes from or
goes to. It is external to the system we study, in terms of the business process. For this reason, people used
to draw external entities on the edge of a diagram.

2. Process

A process is a business activity or function where the manipulation and transformation of data takes place.
A process can be decomposed to finer level of details, for representing how data is being processed within
the process.

3. Data Store

A data store represents the storage of persistent data required and/or produced by the process. Here are
some examples of data stores: membership forms, database table, etc.

4. Data Flow

A data flow represents the flow of information, with its direction represented by an arrow head that shows
at the end(s) of flow connector.
The benefits of data-flow diagrams

• It aids in describing the boundaries of the system.


• It is beneficial for communicating existing system knowledge to the users.
• A straightforward graphical technique, which is easy to recognize.
• DFDs can provide a detailed representation of system components.
• It is used as the part of system documentation file.
• DFDs are easier to understand by technical and nontechnical audiences
• It supports the logic behind the data flow within the system.

DFD rules and tips

DFD levels

1. DFD Level 0 is also called a Context Diagram. It’s a basic overview of the whole system or
process being analyzed or modeled. It’s designed to be an at-a-glance view, showing the
system as a single high-level process, with its relationship to external entities. It should be
easily understood by a wide audience, including stakeholders, business analysts, data
analysts and developers.

2. Level 1 data-flow

• Generally, one level 1 diagram is created for every major process on the level 0
diagram
• Shows all the internal processes that comprise a single process on the level 0
diagram
• Shows how information moves from and to each of these processes
• It can include the Datastore
3. Level 2 data-flow diagrams

• Show all the processes that comprise a single process on the level 1 diagram
• Show how information moves from and to each of these processes.
• It’s not needed for all level 1 processes.

Steps in Building DFDs

• Build the context diagram


• Create DFD fragments for each use case
• Organize DFD fragments into level 0 diagram
• Decompose level 0 processes into level 1 diagrams as needed; decompose level 1
processes into level 2 diagrams as needed; etc.
• Validate DFDs with user to ensure completeness and correctness

Example -

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