Business Processes

Wander through the offices of a group of systems analysts and you will likely see many flowcharts and other diagrams taped to the walls. These diagrams are roadmaps for the systems and processes that run the business. The analysts themselves may have created them, but more than likely business process owners or business process experts provided the description or narrative of the existing or proposed process. Business professionals who work with complex information systems can benefit greatly from knowing how to understand and create flowcharts and narratives of their business processes. These professionals may be users, designers, or evaluators of business processes, as well as systems professionals. 

A recent graduate described how he has used flowcharting and other documentation techniques in his job: 

Auditors and consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP use flowcharts and systems narratives in a variety of engagements, including financial audits, business process reengineering, and security reviews. During financial audits, auditors review business applications – such as sales, billing, and purchasing – and the processes associated with those applications. To document each process, the auditor conducts interviews with the process owner, writes a narrative, and prepares accompanying flowcharts. Then, the auditor reviews the narrative with the process owner for accuracy and completeness. These documents allow an auditor to design the audit, identify areas where controls may be needed, and prepare audit findings and recommendations. 

With the increasing use of computers in business today, flowcharting is essential in financial audits to allow the auditor – as well as consultants and the business process owners – to see information flows and identify areas where information may be changed, manipulated, or even lost. In addition, with the reliance on automated processing systems for financial information, the IRS now requires flowcharts and narratives to be created and maintained for all automated processing systems used by businesses.

In professional services firms, individuals may work on many different types of jobs at many different clients. It is rare that auditors and consultants work with the same systems year after year. This has made it necessary for documentation of information systems to be created and maintained for all clients serviced by such professional services firms and carried forward for each subsequent audit or other engagement. Such documentation is usually kept as part of the audit bundle and on disk, or in the automated working papers.

Source: Ulric J. Gelinas Jr., https://s3.amazonaws.com/saylordotorg-resources/wwwresources/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/BusinessProcesses.pdf
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This chapter discusses reading and preparing documentation to portray aspects of business processes and related information systems. The text describes how to read data flow diagrams, systems flowcharts, and entity-relationship diagrams and, in the appendices, how to prepare data flow diagrams and systems flowcharts. In Chapter 3 we show you how to prepare entity-relationship diagrams. Proficiency with these tools should help you to read and prepare systems documentation, which will help you understand and evaluate business processes and their information systems. 

Consultants, auditors, systems analysts, business process owners, students, and others use documentation to understand, explain, and improve complex business processes and information systems, such as an enterprise system. First, consider a typical enterprise system. This system probably includes all of the activities associated with receiving a customer order, picking the goods off a warehouse shelf, packing and shipping the goods, and billing the customer. Further, the Information System supporting this business process is likely to be used by dozens of people within and outside the organization. Enterprise systems have hundreds of programs that perform functions for virtually every department in the organization, process thousands of transactions and hundreds of requests for management information, and have people throughout the organization preparing inputs and receiving system outputs within the company and over the Internet. 

For such complex systems, we require maps or pictures, rather than a detailed narrative description, to "see" and analyze all the activities, inputs, and outputs. Being able to draw these diagrams demonstrates that we understand the system and will be able to explain the system to someone else. For example, with a systems flowchart we can understand and analyze document flows (electronic and paper) through the business process, including its management system and information system. Perhaps our analysis will lead to system improvements. Data flow diagrams, systems flowcharts, and entity-relationship diagrams are much more efficient (and effective) than narratives for working with complex systems. The application of these tools, even to the relatively simple systems depicted in this textbook, demonstrates this fact. 

In addition to using documentation to understand and improve a system, an organization can use it for other important purposes. For example, managers use documentation to explain systems and to train personnel. Auditors also use documentation to understand systems and to evaluate the systems’ controls. 

Review Question

Why do we need to document an Information System?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• To read and evaluate data flow diagrams 
• To read and evaluate systems flowcharts 
• To read and evaluate entity-relationship diagrams 
• To prepare data flow diagrams from a narrative 
• To prepare systems flowcharts from a narrative 

When you learn to read, you first learn individual letters, then string them together in words, and finally the words collectively make sentences. It is only when you practice reading that real understanding occurs, and you open up a new path to learning. These diagramming techniques are another pathway, one that gives a visual overview of complex organizational relationships. 

This chapter begins by showing you how to read data flow diagrams, systems flowcharts, and entity-relationship diagrams. Then, in the appendices, you see how to prepare data flow diagrams and systems flowcharts. You will use these documentation tools throughout the remainder of the textbook. Don't be a passive observer; work along with the text and practice these tools to develop your skills. 

Although we discuss drawing diagrams as if you were to draw them with pencil and paper, keep in mind that professionals using these techniques prefer using specialized flowcharting or documenting software. Specialized tools produce highly professional-looking diagrams that are much easier to update and share. You may have access to one of these tools through your instructor or workplace. 

This chapter shows you how to read and interpret three types of systems documentation: data flow diagrams, systems flowcharts, and entity-relationship diagrams. We will look at data flow diagrams first. 

Reading Data Flow Diagrams