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215046Software Engineering Lecture 3for BCA 4th Sem 09-04-2020

The document provides an overview of Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs), which graphically represent the flow of data in an information system without detailing how the data flows. It distinguishes between Logical and Physical DFDs, outlines the components of DFDs, and explains the levels of DFDs, including 0-level, 1-level, and 2-level DFDs. Each level serves to decompose the system into more detailed processes, preserving the number of inputs and outputs as the abstraction increases.

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18 views

215046Software Engineering Lecture 3for BCA 4th Sem 09-04-2020

The document provides an overview of Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs), which graphically represent the flow of data in an information system without detailing how the data flows. It distinguishes between Logical and Physical DFDs, outlines the components of DFDs, and explains the levels of DFDs, including 0-level, 1-level, and 2-level DFDs. Each level serves to decompose the system into more detailed processes, preserving the number of inputs and outputs as the abstraction increases.

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manal
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Compiled

Software Engineering By
For BCA 4th
Semester Sakhi Bandyopadhyay
Lecture 3 Dept. of Computer Science & BCA,
Kharagpur College,
Kharagpur 721305

Data Flow Diagram (DFD)


Data Flow Diagrams
Data flow diagram is graphical representation of flow of data in an information system. It is capable of
depicting incoming data flow, outgoing data flow and stored data. The DFD does not mention anything
about how data flows through the system.
There is a prominent difference between DFD and Flowchart. The flowchart depicts flow of control in
program modules. DFDs depict flow of data in the system at various levels. DFD does not contain any
control or branch elements.

Types of DFD
Data Flow Diagrams are either Logical or Physical.
 Logical DFD - This type of DFD concentrates on the system process, and flow of data in the
system.For example in a Banking software system, how data is moved between different entities.
 Physical DFD - This type of DFD shows how the data flow is actually implemented in the system.
It is more specific and close to the implementation.
DFD Components
DFD can represent Source, destination, storage and flow of data using the following set of components
-

 Entities - Entities are source and destination of information data. Entities are represented by a
rectangles with their respective names.
 Process - Activities and action taken on the data are represented by Circle or Round-edged
rectangles.
 Data Storage - There are two variants of data storage - it can either be represented as a rectangle
with absence of both smaller sides or as an open-sided rectangle with only one side missing.
 Data Flow - Movement of data is shown by pointed arrows. Data movement is shown from the
base of arrow as its source towards head of the arrow as destination.

Levels in Data Flow Diagrams (DFD)


The DFD may be used to perform a system or software at any level of abstraction. Infact, DFDs may be
partitioned into levels that represent increasing information flow and functional detail. Levels in DFD
are numbered 0, 1, 2 or beyond. Here, we will see primarily three levels in the data flow diagram, which
are: 0-level DFD, 1-level DFD, and 2-level DFD.

0-level DFDM
It is also known as fundamental system model, or context diagram represents the entire software
requirement as a single bubble with input and output data denoted by incoming and outgoing arrows.
Then the system is decomposed and described as a DFD with multiple bubbles. Parts of the system
represented by each of these bubbles are then decomposed and documented as more and more detailed
DFDs. This process may be repeated at as many levels as necessary until the program at hand is well
understood. It is essential to preserve the number of inputs and outputs between levels, this concept is
called leveling by DeMacro. Thus, if bubble "A" has two inputs x1 and x2 and one output y, then the
expanded DFD, that represents "A" should have exactly two external inputs and one external output as
shown in fig:

The Level-0 DFD, also called context diagram of the result management system is shown in fig. As the
bubbles are decomposed into less and less abstract bubbles, the corresponding data flow may also be
needed to be decomposed.

1-level DFD
In 1-level DFD, a context diagram is decomposed into multiple bubbles/processes. In this level, we
highlight the main objectives of the system and breakdown the high-level process of 0-level DFD into
subprocesses.
2-Level DFD

2-level DFD goes one process deeper into parts of 1-level DFD. It can be used to project or record the
specific/necessary detail about the system's functioning.

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