■ Gantt Chart and PERT

Design ■ DFD
■ Flowcharts
Data Modeling
■ HIPO
Process ■ Structured English
Specifications ■ Decision Trees/ Tables
■ Nassi-Schneiderman Charts
■ ERD
■ Data Dictionary
■ Structure Chart
■ modified form of the English language
used to specify the logic of information
system processes
■ typically relies on action verbs and
nouns

Examples:
Read Inventory Records
Write Inventory Item
Compute Salary
Generate Pay Check
  a matrix representation of the
logic of a decision, which can
very concisely show possible
conditions and the resulting
action of a decision

Three parts:
Condition Stubs
 lists the conditions relevant to
the decision
Action Stubs
 lists the actions that result for a
given set of conditions
Rules
 specifies which actions are to be
followed for a given set of
conditions
 Conditions/ Courses of Rules
Action 1 2 3 4 5 6
Condition Employee type S H S H S H
Stub Hours worked <40 <40 40 40 >40 >40

Pay base salary X X X

Action
Calculate hourly wage X X X
Stub Calculate overtime X
Produce Absence Report X

Employee type: Hours Worked:

S = Salaried <40 = works less than 40 hours
H = Hourly 40 = works exactly 40 hours
Wroker
>40 = works more than 40
hours
Decision Table for Payroll System example
■ a graphical representation that depicts a
decision or choice situation as a
connected series of nodes and branches

two (2) main components:

Decision Points
represented by nodes
Actions
represented by ovals

■ to read a decision tree, begin at the root

node on the far left and work across,
taking the appropriate path as we go
 Salary
1 Pay base salary

Hourly
<40 Pay hourly wage;
2 Absence Report
40
>40 Pay hourly wage

Pay hourly wage;

Pay overtime wage
Legend:
1) Type of employee
2) Hours worked

Decision Tree example

Basic
symbols:

Do-while loop
Sequence

Do-until loop

Conditional statement

Case statement
 Set New-balance to 0

Set Status to 0

Read Current-balance, New-charges, Amount-paid, EOF

New-balance
New-balance = Current-balance
= Current-balance + New-charges- -Amount-paid
+ New-charges Amount-
paid
New-balance < 0

Yes No

New-balance = 0

Status = 1 Yes No

Status = 2 Status = 3

Return New-balance, Status

Until EOF = YES

The contents of the module

Calculate New Balance in the
form of a Nassi-Shneiderman
chart
Data Dictionary

 is a repository of all data definitions for

all organizational applications
 is a reference work of data about data
(metadata), one that is compiled by
systems analysts to guide and coordinates
specific data terms, and it confirms what
each item means to different people in
the organization

Entity Relationship Diagram (E-R-D)

 a detailed, logical representation of the data

for an organization or for a business area
 is expressed in terms of entities in the
business environment, the relationship or
associations among those entities, and the
attributes or properties of both entities
and their relationships
■ provides the engineer with the ability to
automate manual activities and improve
engineering insights
■ helps ensure that quality is designed before
the product is built
ADVANTAGE

 Increase Analyst Productivity

 Improve Analyst-User
Communication
 Integrate Life Cycle Activities
 Accurately Assess Maintenance
Changes
■ is a category of similar objects
■ defines the set of shared attributes
and behaviors found in each object in the
class

Automobile

Make/Model VIN Engine