An Automatic Tool for Checking Consistency between Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)
System development life cycle (SDLC) is a
process uses during the development of any system. SDLC
consists of four main phases: analysis, design, implement and
testing. During analysis phase, context diagram and data flow
diagrams are used to produce the process model of a system.
A consistency of the context diagram to lower-level data flow
diagrams is very important in smoothing up developing
process of a system. However, manual consistency check from
context diagram to lower-level data flow diagrams by using a
checklist is time-consuming process. At the same time, the
limitation of human ability to validate the errors is one of the
factors that influence the correctness and balancing of the
diagrams. This paper presents a tool that automates the
consistency check between Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)
based on the rules of DFDs. The tool serves two purposes: as
an editor to draw the diagrams and as a checker to check the
correctness of the diagrams drawn. The consistency check
from context diagram to lower-level data flow diagrams is
embedded inside the tool to overcome the manual checking
problem.
[1] Dennis, A., Wixom, B.H. and Roth, R.M., Systems Analysis and
Design. 3rd ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.
[2] Dixit, J. B. & Kumar, R., Structured System Analysis and Design.
Paperback ed. New Delhi, India: Laxmi Publisher, 2008.
[3] Lucas, F.J., Molina, F. and Toval, A., A Systematic Review of UML
Model Consistency Management. Information and Software
Technology, 51(12), pp. 1 - 15, 2009.
[4] Tao, Y.L. and Kung, C.H., Formal Definition and Verification of Data
Flow Diagrams. Journal of Systems and Software, 16(1), pp. 29-36,
1991.
[5] Tong, L. and Tang, C.S., Semantic Specification and Verification of
Data Flow Diagrams. Journal of Computer Science and Technology,
6(1), pp. 21-31, 1991.
[6] Leavens, G.T., Wahls, T. and Bakar, A.L., Formal Semantics for SA
Style Data Flow Diagram Specification Languages. Proceedings of the
1999 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing. Oregon, US: IEEE
Computer Society. pp. 526-532, 1999.
[7] Ahmed Jilani, A. A., Nadeem, A., Kim, T. H. & Cho, E. S., Formal
Representations of the Data Flow Diagram: A Survey. Proc. of the
2008 Advanced Software Engineering and Its Applications.
Washington, USA: IEEE Computer Society. pp. 153-158, 2008.
[8] Jeffrey, A. H., George, J.F. and Valacich, J.S., Modern Systems
Analysis and Design. 3rd ed. US: Prentice-Hall, 2002.
[9] Donald, S. Le Vie, Jr., Understanding Data Flow Diagram. Proceedings
of the 47th annual conference on Society for Technical Communication.
Texas: Integrated Concepts, Inc. 2000.
[1] Dennis, A., Wixom, B.H. and Roth, R.M., Systems Analysis and
Design. 3rd ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.
[2] Dixit, J. B. & Kumar, R., Structured System Analysis and Design.
Paperback ed. New Delhi, India: Laxmi Publisher, 2008.
[3] Lucas, F.J., Molina, F. and Toval, A., A Systematic Review of UML
Model Consistency Management. Information and Software
Technology, 51(12), pp. 1 - 15, 2009.
[4] Tao, Y.L. and Kung, C.H., Formal Definition and Verification of Data
Flow Diagrams. Journal of Systems and Software, 16(1), pp. 29-36,
1991.
[5] Tong, L. and Tang, C.S., Semantic Specification and Verification of
Data Flow Diagrams. Journal of Computer Science and Technology,
6(1), pp. 21-31, 1991.
[6] Leavens, G.T., Wahls, T. and Bakar, A.L., Formal Semantics for SA
Style Data Flow Diagram Specification Languages. Proceedings of the
1999 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing. Oregon, US: IEEE
Computer Society. pp. 526-532, 1999.
[7] Ahmed Jilani, A. A., Nadeem, A., Kim, T. H. & Cho, E. S., Formal
Representations of the Data Flow Diagram: A Survey. Proc. of the
2008 Advanced Software Engineering and Its Applications.
Washington, USA: IEEE Computer Society. pp. 153-158, 2008.
[8] Jeffrey, A. H., George, J.F. and Valacich, J.S., Modern Systems
Analysis and Design. 3rd ed. US: Prentice-Hall, 2002.
[9] Donald, S. Le Vie, Jr., Understanding Data Flow Diagram. Proceedings
of the 47th annual conference on Society for Technical Communication.
Texas: Integrated Concepts, Inc. 2000.
@article{"International Journal of Information, Control and Computer Sciences:63956", author = "Rosziati Ibrahim and Siow Yen Yen", title = "An Automatic Tool for Checking Consistency between Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)", abstract = "System development life cycle (SDLC) is a
process uses during the development of any system. SDLC
consists of four main phases: analysis, design, implement and
testing. During analysis phase, context diagram and data flow
diagrams are used to produce the process model of a system.
A consistency of the context diagram to lower-level data flow
diagrams is very important in smoothing up developing
process of a system. However, manual consistency check from
context diagram to lower-level data flow diagrams by using a
checklist is time-consuming process. At the same time, the
limitation of human ability to validate the errors is one of the
factors that influence the correctness and balancing of the
diagrams. This paper presents a tool that automates the
consistency check between Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)
based on the rules of DFDs. The tool serves two purposes: as
an editor to draw the diagrams and as a checker to check the
correctness of the diagrams drawn. The consistency check
from context diagram to lower-level data flow diagrams is
embedded inside the tool to overcome the manual checking
problem.", keywords = "Data Flow Diagram, Context Diagram, ConsistencyCheck, Syntax and Semantic Rules", volume = "4", number = "9", pages = "1464-5", }