Mis Exam One

Front 1

What is a business process?

Back 1

A network of activities, resources, facilities, and information that interacts to achieve some business function

Front 2

Identify business requirements

Back 2

Description, Explanation, Prescription

Front 3

Entity

Back 3

Person place or thing

Front 4

External Entity

Back 4

an entity that does not perform any information processing activities

Front 5

Internal Entity

Back 5

an action being performed by an internal or external entity

Front 6

Information Processing Actions (DP)

Back 6

transform data, retrieve data from store, filing data, document processing, data entry, verification, classification, arrangement or sorting, calculating, summarizing

Front 7

Not information (NDP) processing actions

Back 7

Sending and receiving data between entities, operational and physical activities

Front 8

Data flow diagram

Back 8

A graphical representation of a business system or subsystem that shows how system components are interconnected

Front 9

"Business Process" (as in DFD terminology)

Back 9

An activity that converts inputs into outputs, verbs rather than nouns, Types: DP and NDP

Front 10

Data Flow

Back 10

Data moving from one place to another without being transformed

Front 11

Data Store

Back 11

A data flow at rest

Front 12

"External Entity" as in DFD Terminology

Back 12

An object that either sends or receives flows from within the system bu doesn't perform any processing activities or interest

Front 13

Context Diagram

Back 13

a graphical, top-level (i.e. overall overview) representation of the data flows into and out of the entire system under study. Marks the "boundary" (scope) of the sub-system under study (aka focus area), often exploded into more detail

Front 14

Logical or Physical Data flow diagram

Back 14

A detailed graphical representation of the data flows, processes, stores, and sources destination in a business subsystem. Used to model: how data flow through an information system, relationships among data flows and entities, how data end up stored at certain locations

Front 15

What are the components of a business process?

Back 15

Activities - Transforms resources and information
Resources - Items of value
Facilities - Structures within the business process
Databases
Inventory
Equiptment

Front 16

Information

Back 16

knowledge derived from data

Front 17

Data

Back 17

raw recorded facts or figures, used to create information

Front 18

Characteristics of good information

Back 18

Accurate - correct and complete
Timely - produced in time for intended use
Relevant - appropriate to context and subject
Sufficient - adequate (but just barely)
Worth the cost - trade-off

Front 19

Automated systems

Back 19

work done by computers/machines that was formerly done by people

Front 20

Business process brings together various data items and generates information.

Back 20

System/process uses data inputs
Based on these inputs (historical or even short term), various decisions can be made

Front 21

Activities in a business process often use IS

Back 21

One IS may support entire process or,
Each activity witin a process may have separate IS
Activities may be performed by automated systems

Front 22

DFD (Other)

Back 22

a drawing of a system that shows how system components, processes, and data are interonnected

Front 23

DFD's are used to model:

Back 23

How data flow through an information system
Relationships among data flows and entities
How data end up stored at certain locations

Front 24

DFD's show processes (comprised of various activities) that change or transform data - called process modeling. Aims of process modeling:

Back 24

Descriptive - traces what happens
Prescriptive - how process should be performed to achieve better results
Explanatory - possible reason for false or poor performance

Front 25

Symbol for External Entity

Back 25

Square or rectangle

Front 26

Symbol for Process

Back 26

Circle

Front 27

Symbol for data store (data at rest)

Back 27

Parellel lines/3sided retangle

Front 28

Symbol for Data Flow

Back 28

Arrow

Front 29

Context Diagram (DFD) - Other Description

Back 29

Overall overview of hte system, contains ONLY a single innumbered process that represents the entire system. Includes boundaries of system, external entities that interact with the system, and major information flows between external entities and system

Front 30

Context Diagram Rules (1)

Back 30

Contains ONE and only ONE process bubble describing entire system / process that is being modeled

Front 31

Context Diagram Rules (2)

Back 31

Process name should accurately describe the system being modeled

Front 32

Context Diagram Rules (3)

Back 32

No data stores shown in CD

Front 33

Context Diagram Rules (4)

Back 33

No flows between external entities in CD

Front 34

Context Diagram Rules (5)

Back 34

Each external entity must have at least one flow going into OR one flow coming out of the process (can have more)

Front 35

Context Diagram Rules (6)

Back 35

Flow names (arrows showing data flows) are NOUNS

Front 36

Pysical DFD

Back 36

Internal Entities and flows between then (who is involved)

Front 37

Logical DFD

Back 37

Activities and flows between them (what is being done)

Front 38

Why use both logical AND physical DFD?

Back 38

show different things...
physical - where and by whom
logical - what actions are occurring and how performed

Front 39

Differences between Logical and Physical

Back 39

Logical - Activities: processes are verbs
Physical - Peoples, places, and things: processes are nouns

Front 40

Balanced DFD?

Back 40

?

Front 41

Drawing the CD

Back 41

1. Read the problem description
2. Identify the process being modeled
3. Identify the external entities. Entities the process interacts with, but are not part in the process itself
4. Identify the data flows between the process and the external entities

Front 42

Physical DFD Rules (1)

Back 42

External entities have one or more data flows

Front 43

Physical DFD Rules (2)

Back 43

Labels on data flows must be nouns.
- Flows describe data moving through the system
- What are the data that are moving?
- SHould include form these data take: paper, electronic (for physical and context more descriptive info is better)
- DO NOT include verb descriptors in flows

Front 44

Physical DFD Rules (3)

Back 44

No flows between external entities.
- We do not care what occurs outside the system
- Flows between ecternal entities (even if tey seem intuitive) are not within the scope of the system/problem being model

Front 45

Physical DFD Rules (4)

Back 45

Data stores are nouns
- Data at rest
- Where are data being stored?

Front 46

Physical DFD Rules (5)

Back 46

Process bubbles should have at least one flow in and one flow out
- In physical DFD bubbles/processes are internal entities
- Each must receive some input (a flow) change it or do something to the data described in that flow in some way, and produce a different output flow
- A flow name should not be the same coming into a process and going out of a process 0 otherwise, how have the data been changed?

Front 47

Physical DFD Rules (6)

Back 47

No flows between data stores
- Data stores do not send / receive data
- Processes send / receive data

Front 48

Physical DFD Rules (7)

Back 48

Flows into or out of data stores start with or end with a process bubble
- Here (Physical DFD), the internal entities (process bubbles that are numbered) place data into a data store, pull data out of a data store, and update data stores

Front 49

Physical DFD Rules (8)

Back 49

Requests for data (to a data store) are not shown by a request flow coming in, just a data flow coming out of the store
-“Request” would be a verb
-Flows are nouns that show the data on the move

Front 50

Physical DFD Rules (9)

Back 50

In Physical DFD, process bubbles will be labeled with nouns
-Internal entities (WHERE or WHO)
-In Logical DFD process bubbles describe the activities or actions (WHAT is being done)

Front 51

Physical DFD Rules (10)

Back 51

DFD must be balanced with CD
-If CD has 2 external entities, so does Physical and Logical DFD
-The number of entities and flows (incoming and outgoing) do not change as more detail is provided

Front 52

Process of Creating a Physical DFD

Back 52

-Read through the narrative
-Create a table (list) of activities and entities
-Identify the entities (who or what) is responsible for each activity (what action being performed) – map these two
-Every activity should correspond to at least one entity
-Each entity may perform multiple activities