Business Process Diagramming: Data Flow Diagrams and System Flowcharts

I developed this course for the City of Santa Fe when they were upgrading to a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. I’ve taught data flow diagrams (DFDs) and system flowcharts in my Accounting Information Systems courses for many years.

It covers the follow topics:

• motivation for diagramming processes - why we do it?
• theory of a process
• application of process theory to find diagramming mistakes
• different types and levels of DFDs
• DFD building blocks: internal and external entities, processes, and data flows
• appropriately labeling DFD building blocks
• translating DFD concepts to system flowcharts for a different perspective on the process