Logical Models

Describe what a system is or does.

Are independent of technical
implementation.
Depict business requirements.
Are good for communicating with end
users.
Examples: Data, process and object
models.

Data Modeling
A technique for organizing and
documenting a systems data.
Sometimes called database
modeling or information modeling.
The basic tool for data modeling is
called an entity-relationship diagram
(ERD).

Entity Relationship
Diagrams (ERDs)
Three basic elements:
Entity types - the kinds of things the
information system collects information
about.
Relationship - the way an entity type is
associated with another.
Attributes - specific information about
an entity type.

ERDs

Professor

Professor

Course

Section

Has

Teaches

Has

Is registered in

Office

One-to-one relationship

Section

One-to-many relationship

Section

Optional one-to-many
relationship

Student

Many-to-many relationship

Types of relationships in entity-relationship

Source: Alter S. (1999), Information Systems: A Management Perspective, Third Edition

Entity Relationship Diagram

Offers

Department

Course
Has

Belongs to

Professor

Teaches

Is registered in

Section

Student

Has

Office

Entity - Relationship Diagram for part of a university registration system

Source:

Alter S. (1999), Information Systems: A Management Perspective, Third Edition

Process Modeling
A technique for organizing and
documenting
the structure and flow of data through a
systems processes and/or
the logic, policies, and procedures to be
implemented by a systems processes.
(Whitten and Bentley 1998)

Tools: data flow diagrams (DFD) and

IDEF0

Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)

Four basic symbols:
Process - transforms inputs into outputs.
Process

External entity - any person or

organization that provides data to a
process in the system or receives data
from a process. External
Entity

Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)

Data store - a location where data is
stored.
Data Store

Data flow - represents movement of

data between processes, data stores
and external entities.
Data Flow

Creating DFDs
Starting point is a context diagram,
which verifies the scope of the system by
showing the sources and destinations of
data used and generated by the system.
System represented as a single process
is at the center of the context diagram.
Surrounding that process are external
entities and external data stores.

Creating DFDs (contd.)

The business process in the context
diagram is broken into its constituent
processes to describe exactly how
work is done.
These constituent processes along
with the data stores, external entities
and data flows constitute the top
level data flow diagram.

Creating DFDs (contd.)

Constituent processes can be broken
into sub-processes.
DFDs make it possible to look at
business processes at any level of
detail.
In addition to the context diagram,
one or more DFDs are developed
based on the level of detail required.

Purchasing system Context diagram

Order
Supplier

Material
Planning
Department
Material requirement

Payment
PURCHASING
SYSTEM

Invoice

Confirmation of receipt

Receiving
Department

Context diagram for the Ford purchasing system

Source: Alter S. (1999), Information Systems: A Management Perspective, Third Edition

Purchasing System Data Flow Diagram

PCH 1

Material Planning
Department

Material requirement

Purchase order

Order
material

Purchase order

Purchase Orders

Purchase
order details

PCH 2

Decide
what to pay

Invoice

Supplier

Receipt Confirmations

Receipt
details
Receipt
confirmation

Receiving
Department

Payment
authorization
PCH 3

Pay the
supplier

Payment

Data flow diagram showing the main processes in Fords original purchasing system
Source: Alter S. (1999), Information Systems: A Management Perspective, Third Edition

Integration Definition for

Function (IDEF)
Background
Integrated Computer Aided Manufacturing
(ICAM) program in US Air Force developed
the IDEF series of techniques to improve
manufacturing productivity.
IDEF0 - Function model, IDEF1 Information model, IDEF2 - Dynamic
model.

IDEF techniques widely used in

government/industrial sectors.

IDEF0 Concepts
Technique for performing and
managing needs analysis, benefits
analysis, requirements definition,
functional analysis, and systems
design.
Reflects how system functions
interrelate and operate.

IDEF0 Semantics
Box - Function (Ex. Perform Inspection)
Left arrow - Inputs (Ex. Design data)
Top arrow - Controls (Ex. Design
requirements)
Bottom arrow - Mechanisms (Ex. Design
Engineer)
Right arrow - Output (Ex. Detailed design)

IDEF0 Semantics (contd.)

Control

Input

FUNCTION

Requirements

Output

Mechanism

Design
data

DESIGN

Engineer

Detailed
design

IDEF0 Diagrams
IDEF0 models composed of: graphic
diagrams, text, and glossary.
Boxes representing a function can be
broken down or decomposed into more
detailed diagrams.
Top level diagram in the model provides
the most general description, with
details provided in the lower levels.

Purchasing System Context diagram

Policies and procedures
Material requirements
Purchase Order
Invoice
Confirmation of receipt

PURCHASING
SYSTEM

Resources

Payment

Purchasing System - IDEF

Diagram
Material
requirements

ORDER
MATERIAL

Purchase order

Receipt details
Invoice

DETERMINE
PAYMENT

Payment authorization

PAY THE
SUPPLIER

Payment

Data Warehouses
Used for building the data management
infrastructure for DSSs and EISs.
A database (or collection of databases)
that is optimized for decision support.
Populated through the extraction and
integration of data from both operational
and external data sources.

Warehouse Architecture
Three types of components
the platform and software (including the
repository) that house the data warehouse,
the data acquisition software or back end,
which extracts data, consolidates and
summarizes the data, and loads the data
into the data warehouse, and
the client or front end software, which
allows users to access and analyze data.

Role of the Repository

Technical role - to support the building
and maintenance of the data warehouse.

document data sources and targets

data transformation and cleanup rules
interface to CASE tools
document warehouse data model

Business-related role - to support end

users in accessing and analyzing data.

Data Marts
Data stores specific to usercommunities.
Examples are
EIS server for executives
DSS servers for departments
(marketing, finance, and manufacturing)

Data is structured in the form of a

multi-dimensional database.

Multidimensional Analysis
An analytical technique that allows users
to view data in a dimensional cube format.
Users can perform operations such as drilldown, roll-up, slice and dice, and data
pivoting.
Another term for multidimensional
analysis is on-line analytical processing
(OLAP).

Multidimensional Database
Relational structure - data is stored in a
tabular form and is not preprocessed.
Slow performance is an issue.
Star structure - two types of tables are
used, fact and dimension. A virtual cube
representation.
Multidimensional database - preprocessed
data stored in the form of arrays.

MOLAP and ROLAP

MOLAP is OLAP with a
multidimensional database.
ROLAP or relational OLAP allows
access to the data without building a
specific multidimensional database.
MOLAP is suited for analysis on data
marts in a multi-user environment.