1. Data & Process Modeling

2. Data Modeling
Data modeling – a technique for organizing and documenting a system’s data. Sometimes called database modeling.
Entity relationship diagram (ERD) – a data model utilizing several notations to depict data in terms of the entities and relationships described by that data.

3. ERD Sample
In an entity-relationship diagram, entities are labelled with singular nouns and relationships are labelled with verbs. The relationship is interpreted as a simple English sentence.

4. ERD: Entity
Entity – a class of persons, places, objects, events, or concepts about which we need to capture and store data.
Persons: agency, contractor, customer, department, division, employee, instructor, student, supplier.
Places: sales region, building, room, branch office, campus.
Objects: book, machine, part, product, raw material, software license, software package, tool, vehicle model, vehicle.
Events: application, award, cancellation, class, flight, invoice, order, registration, renewal, requisition, reservation, sale, trip.
Concepts: account, block of time, bond, course, fund, qualification, stock.
Teaching Notes:
Prompt the students for additional examples. Have them classify their example(s).
Obtain a data model from a source other than the textbook. Ask the students to classify the entities.

5. ERD: Relationships
Relationship – a natural business association that exists between one or more entities.
The relationship may represent an event that links the entities or merely a logical affinity that exists between the entities.
Teaching Notes
Explain that there may be more than one relationship between two entities. You may reinforce this by adding additional relationships to the example (such as “transferred from” (to reflect a relationship where students changed from one curriculum to another).

6. ERD: Relationships Types of Relationships
Three types of relationships can exist between entities
One-to-one relationship (1:1)
One-to-many relationship (1:M)
Many-to-many relationship (M:N)

7. one-to-one Relationship

8. one-to-many Relationship

9. many-to-many Relationship

10. ERD: Cardinality
Cardinality – the minimum and maximum number of occurrences of one entity that may be related to a single occurrence of the other entity.
Because all relationships are bidirectional, cardinality must be defined in both directions for every relationship.
bidirectional

11. Cardinality Notations
Teaching Notes
Although this figure shows five different options, help students see that there are really only two options for minimum cardinality (0 or 1) and two options for maximum cardinality (1 or many).

12. JRP and Interview Questions for Data Modeling
Purpose
Candidate Questions (see Table 8-4 in text for a more complete list)
Discover system entities
What are the subjects of the business?
Discover entity keys
What unique characteristic (or characteristics) distinguishes an instance of each subject from other instances of the same subject?
Discover entity subsetting criteria
Are there any characteristics of a subject that divide all instances of the subject into useful subsets?
Discover attributes and domains
What characteristics describe each subject?
Discover security and control needs
Are there any restrictions on who can see or use the data?
Discover data timing needs
How often does the data change?
Discover generalization hierarchies
Are all instances of each subject the same?
Discover relationships?
What events occur that imply associations between subjects?
Discover cardinalities
Is each business activity or event handled the same way, or are there special circumstances?
Teaching Notes
Regardless of whether you use JRP, interviewing, or any other approach for information gathering, these are good questions to ask.
Ask students to suggest other questions they could ask. It will help them and you make sure they understand the concepts and their real-world application.
Students can ask themselves these questions as they walk though data modeling for class assignments.

13. What is a Good Data Model?
A good data model is simple.
Data attributes that describe any given entity should describe only that entity.
Each attribute of an entity instance can have only one value.
A good data model is essentially nonredundant.
Each data attribute, other than foreign keys, describes at most one entity.
Look for the same attribute recorded more than once under different names.
A good data model should be flexible and adaptable to future needs.
No additional notes.

14. Data Analysis & Normalization
Data analysis – a technique used to improve a data model for implementation as a database.
Goal is a simple, nonredundant, flexible, and adaptable database.
Normalization – a data analysis technique that organizes data into groups to form nonredundant, stable, flexible, and adaptive entities.
No additional notes

15. More Issues on ERD Degree Foreign Key
Binary & ternary relationship
Foreign Key
Primary Key (Identification Entity)
Normalization

16. Process Modeling and DFDs
Process modeling – a technique used to organize and document a system’s processes.
Flow of data through processes
Logic
Policies
Procedures
Data flow diagram (DFD) – a process model used to depict the flow of data through a system and the work or processing performed by the system. Synonyms are bubble chart, transformation graph, and process model.
Teaching Notes
Many, if not most students have drawn or seen process models in the form of program flowcharts.
Unfortunately, flowcharts are control-flow process models as opposed to data flow process models. This can cause some students trouble because they want to illustrate structured flow of control (nonparallel processing) in their early DFDs.
Most introductory information systems books at least introduce, with one or two examples, DFDs.

17. Data Flow Diagrams
A data flow diagram (DFD) shows how data moves through an information system but does not show program logic or processing steps
A set of DFDs provides a logical model that shows what the system does, not how it does it

18. Differences Between DFDs and Flowcharts
Processes on DFDs can operate in parallel (at-the-same-time)
Processes on flowcharts execute one at a time
DFDs show the flow of data through a system
Flowcharts show the flow of control (sequence and transfer of control)
Processes on a DFD can have dramatically different timing (daily, weekly, on demand)
Processes on flowcharts are part of a single program with consistent timing
No additional notes

19. Data Flow Diagrams DFD Symbols
DFDs use four basic symbols that represent processes, data flows, data stores, and entities
Gane and Sarson symbol set
Yourdon symbol set
Symbols are referenced by using all capital letters for the symbol name

20. DFD Symbols

21. Process Concepts
Process – work performed by a system in response to incoming data flows or conditions. A synonym is transform.
Teaching Notes
The nebulous “system environment” was intended to represent the constantly changing reality that characterizes all systems. The trick is to design systems to adapt to such change, or to be easily adapted to such change.
Feedback and control is included to monitor the system and adapt to change.

22. Data Flows Data flow – data that is input to or output from a process.
A data flow is data in motion
A data flow may also be used to represent the creation, reading, deletion, or updating of data in a file or database (called a data store).
Conversion Notes
Most books do not teach “control flows.” The were initially proposed by Paul Ward in his books that extended structured analysis techniques to cover real- time systems. They are especially useful in contemporary information systems analysis because they are as close as structured analysis gets to illustrating “messages” in an object-oriented world.
Teaching Notes
Make sure students do not confuse data flows with flowchart arrows. Flowchart arrows are not named because they merely indicate “the next step.” Data flows pass actual data attributes to and from processes.
CRUD is a useful acronym from the database world to remember the basic data flows as they relate to data stores: Create, Read, Update (or change), and Delete.
One of the most common uses of composite data flows is to combine many reports into a single data flow on a high-level DFD. They can also be used to combine similar transactions on a higher level DFD before differentiating between those flows on lower-level DFDs.
Use case diagrams, an object-oriented analysis tool that also describes interfaces are taught in Chapter 7.

23. External Agents
External agent – an outside person, organization unit, system, or organization that interacts with a system. Also called an external entity.
External agents define the “boundary” or scope of a system being modeled.
As scope changes, external agents can become processes, and vice versa.
Almost always one of the following:
Office, department, division.
An external organization or agency.
Another business or another information system.
One of your system’s end-users or managers
Named with descriptive, singular noun
Conversion Notes
Most books refer to external agents by the name of external entities. Eventually, we expect to borrow the object-oriented term “actors.”
Teaching Notes
It is very important to emphasize the external agents on DFDs are not the same as entities on ERDs (from Chapter 7)—especially if the instructor prefers the more traditional term “external entity.”
This is true even though you could have both an entity (on an ERD) with the same name as an external agent/entity on a DFD. Consider the entity CUSTOMER and the external agent CUSTOMER:
The entity CUSTOMER indicates the requirement to store data about customers.
The external agent CUSTOMER indicates the requirement for an interaction (inputs and/or outputs) with customers.
It is very important for students to understand that external agents are “processes” outside of the scope of the system or business. As such, as scope “increases,” external agents can become processes. Conversely, if scope “decreases,” processes can become external agents.

24. Data Stores
Data store – stored data intended for later use. Synonyms are file and database.
Frequently implemented as a file or database.
A data store is “data at rest” compared to a data flow that is “data in motion.”
Almost always one of the following:
Persons (or groups of persons)
Places
Objects
Events (about which data is captured)
Concepts (about which data is important)
Data stores depicted on a DFD store all instances of data entities (depicted on an ERD)
Named with plural noun
Teaching Notes
Emphasize that a data store contains all instances of a data entity (from the data model). That is why data store names are plurals (as contrasted to data entity names that are singular).
Although we don’t prefer it, some analysts designate a data store to contain all instances of several entities and relationships from a data model. For example, an ORDERS data store might include all instances of the data entities ORDER and ORDERED PRODUCT, and all instances of the relationship between ORDER and ORDERED PRODUCT—We prefer the simplicity of representing each data entity from the data model as its own data store on the process models.
Emphasize that because data stores are shared resources available to many processes, it is acceptable to duplicate them on several DFDs—The duplication does NOT indicate redundant storage (on logical DFDs); it merely represents the sharing of the data store by several processes.

25. Process Decomposition
Decomposition – the act of breaking a system into sub-components. Each level of abstraction reveals more or less detail.
No additional notes

26. Decomposition Diagrams
Decomposition diagram – a tool used to depict the decomposition of a system. Also called hierarchy chart.
Teaching Notes
Decomposition is a top-down problem-solving approach.
It might be useful to point out the numbering scheme. This scheme is common, but we do not like it because if the system is restructured, it forces renumbering all processes.
Some instructors like to do a quick example using a small but realistic problem.

27. Data Flow Diagrams Context Diagrams
Top-level view of an information system that shows the system’s boundaries and scope
Do not show any data stores in a context diagram because data stores are internal to the system
Begin by reviewing the system requirements to identify all external data sources and destinations

28. Data Flow Diagrams Context Diagrams
Record the name of the entities and the name and content of the data flows, and the direction of the data flows
What makes one system more complex than another is the number of components, the number of levels, and the degree of interaction among its processes, entities, data stores, and data flows

29. Data Flow Diagrams Conventions for DFDs
Each context diagram must fit on one page
The process name in the context diagram should be the name of the information system
Use unique names within each set of symbols

30. Data Flow Diagrams Conventions for DFDs Do not cross lines
Use a unique reference number for each process symbol

31. Data Flow Diagrams Strategies for Developing DFDs
A set of DFDs is a graphical, top-down model
With a bottom-up strategy, you first identify all functional primitives, data stores, entities, and data flows
The main objective is to ensure that your model is accurate and easy to understand

32. Data Flow Diagrams Strategies for Developing DFDs
General rule of thumb is that a diagram should have no more than nine process symbols
To construct a logical model of a complex system, you might use a combination of top-down and bottom-up strategies
The best approach depends on the information system you are modeling

33. Illegal Process Spontaneous generation Black Hole Gray Hole
Process with no inputs
Black Hole
Process with no outputs
Gray Hole
The inputs is insufficient to generate the output

35. Data Flow Packet Concept
No additional notes

36. Illegal Data Flows
No additional notes

37. More Issues on Process Model
Natural English
Structured English
Decision Table
Use Cases

38. Test Yourself
Data flow diagrams show what a system does, not how it does it (T/F). 49

39. Test Yourself
Data flow diagrams show what a system does, not how it does it (T/F).
True 49

40. Test Yourself
The following symbols are from the _____________ set. Name them: 49

41. Test Yourself
The following symbols are from the Gane and Sarson set. Name them:
Data Store
Process 49

42. Test Yourself Select the correct example below. A) B) Customer
Payment
Payment
Apply
Payment
Accounts
Receivable 49

43. Test Yourself Select the correct example below.
A) is correct. An external entity can’t be directly connected to a data store. A) B)
Customer
Apply
Payment
Accounts
Receivable 49

44. Test Yourself
Match the terms in the left column to the proper definitions in the right column.
1. Black Hole
2. Spontaneous
Generation
Process
3. Gray Hole
A process with at least 1 input
and output, but the input is
insufficient to generate the shown
output.
b. A process that has no output
c. Used to describe an unexplained
generation of data or information. 49

45. Test Yourself
Match the terms in the left column to the proper definitions in the right column.
1. Black Hole
2. Spontaneous
Generation
Process
3. Gray Hole
A process with at least 1 input
and output, but the input is
insufficient to generate the shown
output.
b. A process that has no output
c. Used to describe an unexplained
generation of data or information. 49