Information Systems

College of Business Administration
University of Missouri - St. Louis

Process Modeling

Process modeling shows data flows through the system as determined by organizational rules, decisions, and policies.

A Data Flow Diagram is a Process Model consisting of Data Flows, Data Stores, and Data Transformations.

A Decomposition Diagram (also called Hierarchy Charts) is a Process Model that breaks a system into processes and subprocesses showing increasing detail. They show top-down functional decomposition of the system's structure.

Important Concepts
Function - A set of related & ongoing activities

Event - A logical work unit which must be completed in its entirety - events are also called "Transactions."
Process Customer Order - is an Event.

Elementary Process - detailed & discrete that complete the response to an Event.
"Validate Customer Identification" is an Elementary Process.
Other Elementary Processes
Perform Calculations
Make Decisions
Summarize Data
Organize Data into Reports
Trigger other Processes
Use Stored Data

Procedures of Representing Elementary Processes

Use Structured English
Simple Declarative Sentences (Get, Find, Record,....), Conditional Decision Structures (If, Then, Else,...), Iteration (Do until...). We are dealing here with Process Logic.
Structured English - Reflects Organizational Policy, deals with data flows, data attributes, etc.
* Use Decision Tables


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