BTEC Unit 03: Lesson 4 Information Flow Diagrams Mr C Johnston ICT Teacher

Session Objectives Know the need to document information flows within an organisation, Know the components which make a good information flow diagram, Understand the steps required to draw an information flow diagram.

Information Flow An information flow diagram is a useful way of showing how information moves into and out of an organisation and between individuals or departments within it, To draw a diagram we need to discover who needs or uses what information and then draw some links. Example diagrams could include: Customer Orders, Purchase Orders to Suppliers, Design and Production Drawings, Wages and Tax-Paid Details, Records of Staff Training, Names and Addresses of Employees, Stock Details, Invoices Paid, Monthly Income, Monthly Outgoing, Web Publicity Pages, Monthly Profit or Loss.

Communication Methods Information within an organisation can be broadcasted in number of different ways: Face to Face, Central Database (MIS), Invoice, Appointment, EDI and E-Commerce, Fax, Internet / Intranet, Mobile Phone (verbal and sms). Telephone and Voice Mail, Post (internal/external) (internal/external), Memo, Letter, Meeting, Reports, Purchase Order, Two Way Radio,

Establishing Flows To draw information flow diagrams you will need to interpret a written description of the information movement during a situation, This could be done by highlighting different words within the case study paragraph in different colours / styles – I use Bold for senders / receivers' Italic for the information being sent Underline for the method

Drawing Information Flow Diagrams Mark up the case study paragraph showing the sender / receiver, information and method, Put the names of senders and receivers of information in boxes around a page, Draw arrows between the sender and receiver for each type of information (arrow head show direction of flow), Rearrange the boxes on the diagram so that flows don’t cross, Label each arrow with the information flow and the method used to communicate it.

Example Flow Diagram Draw an information flow diagram based on the following passage: A customer posts an order to the sales department, the order details are entered into a centralised database which is accessed by the warehouse to makeup the order. A delivery note is attached to the goods and handed to the despatch department for delivery. On delivery, the member of the despatch department hands the goods and delivery note to the customer. The sales department creates an invoice that is posted to the customer. The accounts department assesses a copy of the invoice from the centralised database. The customer posts payment to the accounts department.

Customer Accounts Department Warehouse Dispatch Department Sales Department Delivery Note - hand (face-to-face) Delivery Note - hand (face-to-face) Order Details - Centralised Database Customer Order - post (exteral) Invoices - post (external) Payment - post (external) Order Details via centralised database

Drawing Information Flow Diagrams You can draw organisational structures using: Pen and paper, The standard drawing tools in any office application, “M1 is often not achieved because of learners’ inability to manipulate text boxes so that the labelling of the information flows was ambiguous. Leaners may find it easier to label the flows unambiguously if they hand write the labels on the arrows.” Therefore ensure that all flows are clearly labelled and its clear which label belongs to which flow. Each flow and its label could be a different colour A key is allowed as long as diagram and key on same page.

WARNING……Labels on diagrams Many leaners don’t get M1 as the labels are not simple and clear… “M1 is not achieved were learners described processes on the arrows, such as ‘the Membership Manager detaches the direct debit mandate and hands it to the Finance Clerk’, rather than identifying the information and method, i.e. ‘direct debit mandate - hand’.”

Membership Manager Finance Clerk the Membership Manager detaches the direct debit mandate and hands it to the Finance Clerk Membership Manager Finance Clerk direct debit mandate - hand

Exercise Download the information Flow Diagram Exercise from my website and complete the exercises. Start off by completing the answers on paper to get used to drawing them, Once you understand them use a computer to present your answers as they look much neater.