IFSM 436 Project Requirements
Deliverable 2: Structured Requirements

In this deliverable, you are required to provide the following:

·  An Entity-Relationship Diagram to model the current data entities and their relationships in the organization you are studying

·  A set of Data Flow Diagrams to indicate the processes and related data flows for the current system

·  Network models to illustrate your understanding of the current geographic structure of the organization you are studying

·  A set of logic models describing one process from one of your data flow diagrams.

·  A partial data dictionary that describes some of the data components of these models in greater detail.

·  A Review Report that documents that a walkthrough of this deliverable was conducted and the results of that walkthrough.

Please keep in mind that this deliverable is concerned with the current system, not the new system you will be designing later. The details for each of the above components are discussed below.

Data Modeling

The purpose here is to develop an entity-relationship diagram for your system. Here are some suggestions:

  1. First identify all the entity types in your organization. These are things that the system keeps information about, not the sources, sinks, or users of that information.
  2. Identify the attributes of each entity type.
  3. Identify the nature of the relationships between these entities. The relationships are different than data flows.
  4. Identify the cardinality of these relationships.

Requirements for the Deliverable
You are required to turn in the following:

·  An Entity-Relationship Diagram for the system.

·  A brief narrative that will help me (or anyone else that is not familiar with your organization) understand the meanings of the entities, attributes, and relationships. The narrative should not include information that is already clear on the diagram.

Data Flow Modeling

The purpose here is to develop a coordinated set of data flow diagrams for your system, as it exists currently. Here are some suggestions:

1.  Draw the context diagram first. To reduce the number of data flows on that diagram, show only the main idea of the system, not the less common data flows (which will be deferred to lower levels).

2.  Explode the process in the context diagram, producing a level 0 diagram.

3.  Continue exploding, creating child diagrams, until the system is described in adequate detail, at the logical level.

4.  Create either a level 0 physical DFD or a representative sample (2-3) of physical child diagrams. These should include some details of the current physical implementation, including which processes are manual and which automated, the form of the data stores, etc.

Requirements for the deliverable
You are required to turn in the following with your deliverable:

·  A leveled set of data flow diagrams for the system.

·  A brief narrative that will help me (or anyone else that is not familiar with your organization) understand the meanings of the processes, data flows, etc. The narrative should not include information that is already clear on the diagrams.

Network Modeling

The purpose of this activity is to develop models that describe the network connections in your system. Here are some suggestions:

1.  Begin by drawing a network decomposition diagram.

2.  Draw a hub connectivity diagram that shows the relationship between all of the hubs immediately underneath the root location.

Requirements for the Deliverable
You are required to turn in the following:

·  A Network Decomposition Diagram for the system.

·  A Hub Connectivity Diagram for the system.

·  A brief narrative that will help me (or anyone else that is not familiar with your organization) understand the diagrams. The narrative should not include information that is already clear on the diagrams.

Logic Modeling

This part of the deliverable has three parts, each describing the logic of the same process. First, choose one process from any one of your data flow diagrams that contains some significant logic that is not clear from the DFD (e.g. the process must evaluate a number of conditions and take different actions depending on the values of the conditions). Then build three representations of that logic. The three representations should be consistent, i.e. they should represent exactly the same logic. Please indicate which process is represented.

Requirements for the Deliverable
You are required to turn in the following:

·  A description in structured English of the process’s logic

·  A decision table representing the process’s logic

·  A decision tree representing the process’s logic

Data Dictionary

Normally, a data dictionary provides precise definitions of all names used in the ERD and DFDs to identify entities, attributes, relationships, data flows, data stores, and data elements. For this deliverable, you are only required to write dictionary definitions for three of each of these items (i.e. three entities, three attributes, etc.). But the items you choose should be interrelated and at least some of them should appear in each others’ “contains” and “contained in” parts. Here are some guidelines:

1.  First choose three entities from your ERD. Then choose three attributes that are part of at least one of the entities you’ve already chosen. Then choose three relationships on the ER diagram, at least one of which is between entities you’ve already chosen.

2.  Then choose three data flows and three data stores that appear on your DFDs and that are related to the entities, attributes, and relationships you’ve already chosen from your ERD.

3.  For one of the data stores or data flows you’ve chosen, define and name three of the data elements that make up that store. At least one of the data elements you choose should correspond to one of the attributes you’ve already chosen from the ERD.

4.  Write definitions for all the entities, attributes, relationships, data flows, data stores, and data elements you’ve chosen. You should have 18 definitions in all. Make sure that the “contains” and “contained in” fields of all the definitions are correct.

5.  Definitions for attributes and data elements should include the permissible values (e.g. “a sequence of 5 characters,” “a real number with two digits to the right of the decimal point,”, “yes or no,” etc.).

Requirements for the Deliverable

·  Definitions for three each of the entities, attributes, relationships, data flows, data stores, and data elements referenced in the ERD or DFDs. The definitions should not be grouped by type of item, but should be in alphabetical order.

Review Report

This report documents the walkthrough that was conducted to check the quality of the other parts of this deliverable. Some of the information in the report can be written before the actual walkthrough meeting, some during, and some after. The walkthrough should be conducted as described in the textbook and the course slides.

Requirements for the Deliverable

The report must contain the following information:

1.  The date, time (both beginning and ending) and place of the walkthrough meeting, and the name of the project team.

2.  The names of all people present at the walkthrough and the roles they played.

3.  A list of the problems discovered during the walkthrough. For each problem, the report must include:

·  a brief description of the problem, including what parts of the deliverable will have to be changed in order to fix the problem,

·  who discovered the problem,

·  who was assigned to fix the problem,

·  the date the problem was finally fixed.