Modern Systems Analysis and Design Chapter 7 (Structuring System Process Requirements) with Appendices A,B,C,D

Use Case

A depiction of a system's behaviour or functionality under various conditions as the system responds to requests from users.

Decision table

A matrix representation of the logic of a decision, which specifies the possible conditions for the decision and the resulting actions

Asynchronous message

A message in which the sender does not have to wait for the recipient to handle the message.

Simple Message

A message that transfers control from the sender to the recipient without describing the details of the communication.

Data flow diagram (DFD)

A picture of the movement of data between external entities and the processes and data stores within a system.

Use Case Diagram

A picture showing system behaviour, along with the key actors that interact with the system.

Scenario

A scenario, in UML refers to a single path, among many possible different paths, through a use case.

Synchronous message

A type of message in which the caller has to wait for the receiving object to finish executing the called operation before it can resume execution itself.

Extend Relationship

An association between two use cases where one adds new behaviours or actions to the other. [The base use case can stand alone without the _____ case(s)].

Include Relationship

An association between two use cases where one use case uses the functionality contained in the other. [The base use case can't function without the ___ case(s).]

Actor

An external entity that interacts with a system.

Data store

Data at rest, which may take form of many different physical representations.

Sequence diagram

Depicts the interactions among objects during a certain period of time

Trigger

Event that initiates a use case.

Gateway

In business modelling, a decision point.

Event

In business process modelling, a trigger that initiates the start of a process.

Pool

In business process modelling, a way to encapsulate a process that has two or more participants.

Swimlane

In business process modelling, a way to visually encapsulate a process.

Activity

In business process modelling, an action that must take place for a process to be completed.

Flow

In business process modelling, it shows the sequence of action in a process.

Stakeholder

People who have a vested interest in the system being developed.

Level

Perspective from which a use case description is written, typically ranging from high-level to extremely detailed.

Sequence Diagram - Generic Form

Shows all possible sequences of interactions, that is, the sequences corresponding to all the scenarios of a use case.

Activity Diagram

Shows the conditional logic for the sequence of system activities needed to accomplish a business process.

Sequence Diagram - Instance Form

Shows the sequence for only one scenario.

Balancing

The conservation of inputs and outputs to a DFD process when that process is decomposed to a lower level

DFD completeness

The extent to which all necessary components of a DFD have been included and fully described

DFD consistency

The extent to which information contained on one level of a set of nested DFDs is also included on other levels

Minimal Guarantee

The least amount promised to the stakeholder by a use case

Primitive DFD

The lowest level of decomposition for a DFD

Source/sink

The origin and/or destination of data; sometimes referred to as external entitiies

Action stubs

The part of a decision table that lists the actions that result for a given set of conditions

Condition stubs

The part of a decision table that lists the conditions relevant to the decision.

Rules

The part of a decision table that specifies which actions are to be followed for a given set of conditions.

Gap analysis

The process of discovering discrepancies between two or more sets of DFDs or discrepancies within a single DFD

Extension

The set of behaviours or functions in a use case that follow exceptions to the main success scenario.

Activation

The time period during which an object performs an operation.

Process

The work or actions performed on data so that they are transformed, stored, or distributed

Preconditions

Things that must be true before a use case can start.

Success Guarantee

What a use case must do effectively in order to satisfy stakeholders.

Level-n diagram

a DFD that is the result of n nested decompositions from a process on a level-0 diagram

Level-0 diagram

a DFD that represents a system's major processes, data flows, and data stores at a high level of detail

Functional decompoition

an iterative process of breaking the description of a system down into finer and finer detail, which creates a set of charts in which one process on a given chart is explained in greater detail on another chart

Context diagram

an overview of an organizational system that shows the system boundaries, external entities that interact with the system, and the major information flows between the entities and the system.

Indifferent condition

in a decision table, a condition whose value does not affect which actions are taken for two or more rules.