Data-flow diagram

A data-flow diagram is a way of representing a flow of data through a process or a system (usually an information system). The DFD also provides information about the outputs and inputs of each entity and the process itself. A data-flow diagram has no control flowthere are no decision rules and no loops. Specific operations based on the data can be represented by a flowchart. There are several notations for displaying data-flow diagrams. The notation presented above was described in 1979 by Tom DeMarco as part of structured analysis. For each data flow, at least one of the endpoints (source and / or destination) must exist in a process. The refined representation of a process can be done in another data-flow diagram, which subdivides this process into sub-processes. The data-flow diagram is a tool that is part of structured analysis and data modeling. When using UML, the activity diagram typically takes over the role of the data-flow diagram. A special form of data-flow plan is a site-oriented data-flow plan. Data-flow diagrams can be regarded as inverted Petri nets, because places in such networks correspond to the semantics of data memories. Analogously, the semantics of transitions from Petri nets and data flows and functions from data-flow diagrams should be considered equivalent. The DFD notation draws on graph theory, originally used in operational research to model workflow in organizations. DFD originated from the activity diagram used in the structured analysis and design technique methodology at the end of the 1970s. DFD popularizers include Edward Yourdon, Larry Constantine, Tom DeMarco, Chris Gane and Trish Sarson. Data-flow diagrams (DFD) quickly became a popular way to visualize the major steps and data involved in software-system processes. DFDs were usually used to show data flow in a computer system, although they could in theory be applied to business process modeling. DFDs were useful to document the major data flows or to explore a new high-level design in terms of data flow.