SOFTWARE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

Software analysis and design includes all activities, which help the transformation of
requirement specification into implementation. Requirement specifications specify
all functional and non-functional expectations from the software. These requirement
specifications come in the shape of human readable and understandable
documents, to which a computer has nothing to do.
Software analysis and design is the intermediate stage, which helps human-
readable requirements to be transformed into actual code.
Let us see few analysis and design tools used by software designers:

Data Flow Diagram

Data flow diagram is graphical representation of flow of data in an information
system. It is capable of depicting incoming data flow, outgoing data flow and stored
data. The DFD does not mention anything about how data flows through the
system.
There is a prominent difference between DFD and Flowchart. The flowchart depicts
flow of control in program modules. DFDs depict flow of data in the system at
various levels. DFD does not contain any control or branch elements.

Types of DFD

Data Flow Diagrams are either Logical or Physical.

• Logical DFD - This type of DFD concentrates on the system process, and
flow of data in the system.For example in a Banking software system, how
data is moved between different entities.
• Physical DFD - This type of DFD shows how the data flow is actually
implemented in the system. It is more specific and close to the
implementation.

DFD Components

DFD can represent Source, destination, storage and flow of data using the following
set of components -

• Entities - Entities are source and destination of information data. Entities are
represented by a rectangles with their respective names.
• Process - Activities and action taken on the data are represented by Circle or
Round-edged rectangles.
 • Data Storage - There are two variants of data storage - it can either be
represented as a rectangle with absence of both smaller sides or as an open-
sided rectangle with only one side missing.
• Data Flow - Movement of data is shown by pointed arrows. Data movement is
shown from the base of arrow as its source towards head of the arrow as
destination.

Levels of DFD

• Level 0 - Highest abstraction level DFD is known as Level 0 DFD, which

depicts the entire information system as one diagram concealing all the
underlying details. Level 0 DFDs are also known as context level DFDs.

• Level 1 - The Level 0 DFD is broken down into more specific, Level 1 DFD.
Level 1 DFD depicts basic modules in the system and flow of data among
various modules. Level 1 DFD also mentions basic processes and sources of
information.
 • Level 2 - At this level, DFD shows how data flows inside the modules
mentioned in Level 1.
Higher level DFDs can be transformed into more specific lower level DFDs
with deeper level of understanding unless the desired level of specification is
achieved.

Structure Charts
Structure chart is a chart derived from Data Flow Diagram. It represents the system
in more detail than DFD. It breaks down the entire system into lowest functional
modules, describes functions and sub-functions of each module of the system to a
greater detail than DFD.
Structure chart represents hierarchical structure of modules. At each layer a specific
task is performed.
Here are the symbols used in construction of structure charts -

• Module - It represents process or subroutine or task. A control module

branches to more than one sub-module. Library Modules are re-usable and
 invokable from any module.

• Condition - It is represented by small diamond at the base of module. It

depicts that control module can select any of sub-routine based on some

condition.
• Jump - An arrow is shown pointing inside the module to depict that the control

will jump in the middle of the sub-module.

 • Loop - A curved arrow represents loop in the module. All sub-modules
covered by loop repeat execution of module.

• Data flow - A directed arrow with empty circle at the end represents data flow.

• Control flow - A directed arrow with filled circle at the end represents control

flow.

HIPO Diagram
HIPO (Hierarchical Input Process Output) diagram is a combination of two
organized method to analyze the system and provide the means of documentation.
HIPO model was developed by IBM in year 1970.
HIPO diagram represents the hierarchy of modules in the software system. Analyst
uses HIPO diagram in order to obtain high-level view of system functions. It
decomposes functions into sub-functions in a hierarchical manner. It depicts the
functions performed by system.
HIPO diagrams are good for documentation purpose. Their graphical representation
makes it easier for designers and managers to get the pictorial idea of the system
structure.
In contrast to IPO (Input Process Output) diagram, which depicts the flow of control
and data in a module, HIPO does not provide any information about data flow or
control flow.

Example

Both parts of HIPO diagram, Hierarchical presentation and IPO Chart are used for
structure design of software program as well as documentation of the same.

Structured English
Most programmers are unaware of the large picture of software so they only rely on
what their managers tell them to do. It is the responsibility of higher software
management to provide accurate information to the programmers to develop
accurate yet fast code.
Other forms of methods, which use graphs or diagrams, may are sometimes
interpreted differently by different people.
Hence, analysts and designers of the software come up with tools such as
Structured English. It is nothing but the description of what is required to code and
how to code it. Structured English helps the programmer to write error-free code.
Other form of methods, which use graphs or diagrams, may are sometimes
interpreted differently by different people. Here, both Structured English and
Pseudo-Code tries to mitigate that understanding gap.
Structured English is the It uses plain English words in structured programming
paradigm. It is not the ultimate code but a kind of description what is required to
code and how to code it. The following are some tokens of structured programming.
IF-THEN-ELSE,
DO-WHILE-UNTIL

Analyst uses the same variable and data name, which are stored in Data Dictionary,
making it much simpler to write and understand the code.

Example

We take the same example of Customer Authentication in the online shopping

environment. This procedure to authenticate customer can be written in Structured
English as:
Enter Customer_Name
SEEK Customer_Name in Customer_Name_DB file
IF Customer_Name found THEN
Call procedure USER_PASSWORD_AUTHENTICATE()
ELSE
PRINT error message
Call procedure NEW_CUSTOMER_REQUEST()
ENDIF

The code written in Structured English is more like day-to-day spoken English. It
can not be implemented directly as a code of software. Structured English is
independent of programming language.

Pseudo-Code
Pseudo code is written more close to programming language. It may be considered
as augmented programming language, full of comments and descriptions.
Pseudo code avoids variable declaration but they are written using some actual
programming language’s constructs, like C, Fortran, Pascal etc.
Pseudo code contains more programming details than Structured English. It
provides a method to perform the task, as if a computer is executing the code.

Example

Program to print Fibonacci up to n numbers.

void function Fibonacci
Get value of n;
Set value of a to 1;
Set value of b to 1;
Initialize I to 0
for (i=0; i< n; i++)
{
if a greater than b
{
Increase b by a;
Print b;
}
else if b greater than a
{
increase a by b;
print a;
}
}

Decision Tables
A Decision table represents conditions and the respective actions to be taken to
address them, in a structured tabular format.
It is a powerful tool to debug and prevent errors. It helps group similar information
into a single table and then by combining tables it delivers easy and convenient
decision-making.

Creating Decision Table

To create the decision table, the developer must follow basic four steps:

• Identify all possible conditions to be addressed

• Determine actions for all identified conditions
• Create Maximum possible rules
• Define action for each rule
Decision Tables should be verified by end-users and can lately be simplified by
eliminating duplicate rules and actions.

Example

Let us take a simple example of day-to-day problem with our Internet connectivity.
We begin by identifying all problems that can arise while starting the internet and
their respective possible solutions.
We list all possible problems under column conditions and the prospective actions
under column Actions.

Conditions/Actions Rules

Shows Connected N N N N Y Y Y Y
Conditions
Ping is Working N N Y Y N N Y Y
 Opens Website Y N Y N Y N Y N

Check network cable X

Check internet router X X X X

Actions Restart Web Browser X

Contact Service provider X X X X X X

Do no action
Table : Decision Table – In-house Internet Troubleshooting

Entity-Relationship Model
Entity-Relationship model is a type of database model based on the notion of real
world entities and relationship among them. We can map real world scenario onto
ER database model. ER Model creates a set of entities with their attributes, a set of
constraints and relation among them.
ER Model is best used for the conceptual design of database. ER Model can be
represented as follows :

• Entity - An entity in ER Model is a real world being, which has some

properties called attributes. Every attribute is defined by its corresponding
set of values, called domain.
For example, Consider a school database. Here, a student is an entity.
Student has various attributes like name, id, age and class etc.
• Relationship - The logical association among entities is called relationship.
Relationships are mapped with entities in various ways. Mapping cardinalities
define the number of associations between two entities.
Mapping cardinalities:

o one to one
o one to many
o many to one
o many to many
Data Dictionary
Data dictionary is the centralized collection of information about data. It stores
meaning and origin of data, its relationship with other data, data format for usage
etc. Data dictionary has rigorous definitions of all names in order to facilitate user
and software designers.
Data dictionary is often referenced as meta-data (data about data) repository. It is
created along with DFD (Data Flow Diagram) model of software program and is
expected to be updated whenever DFD is changed or updated.

Requirement of Data Dictionary

The data is referenced via data dictionary while designing and implementing
software. Data dictionary removes any chances of ambiguity. It helps keeping work
of programmers and designers synchronized while using same object reference
everywhere in the program.
Data dictionary provides a way of documentation for the complete database system
in one place. Validation of DFD is carried out using data dictionary.

Contents

Data dictionary should contain information about the following

• Data Flow
• Data Structure
• Data Elements
• Data Stores
• Data Processing
Data Flow is described by means of DFDs as studied earlier and represented in
algebraic form as described.

= Composed of

{} Repetition

() Optional

+ And

[/] Or

Example

Address = House No + (Street / Area) + City + State

Course ID = Course Number + Course Name + Course Level + Course Grades
Data Elements

Data elements consist of Name and descriptions of Data and Control Items, Internal
or External data stores etc. with the following details:

• Primary Name
• Secondary Name (Alias)
• Use-case (How and where to use)
• Content Description (Notation etc. )
• Supplementary Information (preset values, constraints etc.)

Data Store

It stores the information from where the data enters into the system and exists out
of the system. The Data Store may include -

• Files
o Internal to software.
o External to software but on the same machine.
o External to software and system, located on different machine.
• Tables
o Naming convention
o Indexing property

Data Processing

There are two types of Data Processing:

• Logical: As user sees it

• Physical: As software sees it