Chapter 5Chapter 5

Flowcharting

Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

OutlineOutline

• Objectives

• Flowchart types

• Design issues

• Symbols

• Uses in the AIS

• Risk / control matrix

• Example

5-2

ObjectivesObjectives

When you finish this chapter, you should be able to:– List and discuss the purpose and use of various flowchart

types

– Explain the basic parts of and design considerations common to all types of flowcharts

– Identify and describe common symbols and IT tools used in flowcharting

– Discuss ways flowcharts impact the design, implementation and evaluation of the AIS

– Create a risk / control matrix

– Create and interpret systems and document flowcharts

5-3

Flowchart typesFlowchart types

• System flowcharts“Big picture” look at an

information system

• Program flowchartsLogic of a computer

program

• Document flowchartsTrace documents

through an information system

• Hardware flowchartsShow relationship

between hardware elements

5-4

Design issuesDesign issues

• Top to bottom, left to right

• Iterative nature of flowcharting

• White space• Title• Columns depict areas

of responsibility

• Clear origin, termination and progress for documents

• Discussion of rough drafts with others

5-5

SymbolsSymbols

The universe of flowcharting symbols is practically

endless. You can find examples in most

software programs—particularly in programs

designed for flowcharting. A few examples

follow, but they are by no means exhaustive.

5-6

Uses in the AISUses in the AIS

• Understanding how a system works

• Making suggestions for system

improvement

• Spotting internal control deficiencies

• Developing procedures manuals

5-7

Why Documentation Is Why Documentation Is ImportantImportant??

• Seven Reasons – Depicting how the system works– Training users– Designing new systems– Controlling system development and

maintenance costs– Standardizing communications with others– Auditing AIS– Documenting business processes

SymbolsSymbols

Process

Decision

Document

Multiple documents

5-9

SymbolsSymbols

Terminator

Manual operation

Connector

File

5-10

11

Standard Flowchart Symbols

12

13

Enter document into computer via keyboard, edit input, record input

14

15

User queries the computer

Update sequentialdata store

16

17

Preparation and later manualreconciliation of control totals

18

19

Key and key verify inputs

20

21

Enter document intocomputer using a scanner

Entity Relationship (ER) Entity Relationship (ER) DiagramDiagram

A documentation technique to represent the relationship between entities in a system.

Information generated often used when building a database from scratch

Entities can be:– resources (cash, securities, inventory)– events (sales orders, purchases, release of

raw materials into the production)– agents (customers, vendors, production

workers)

Entity Relationship SymbolsEntity Relationship Symbols

• Entities represented by rectangles

• Relationship between any two entities is represented by a diamond symbol that connects them and indicates the nature of the relationship

• Cardinality is often shown

CardinalityCardinality

• represents the numerical mapping between entities in the database:– one-to-one (each consultant has only one skill

i.e. taxation)– one-to-many (a specific consultant works on

several projects at the same time)– many-to-many (several consultants are

assigned to work on multiple projects at the same time)

Sales-person

CompanyCar

Customer SeveralOrders

Vendors EntireInventory

Assigned

Places

Supply

Entity Relationship Entity

1

M

M M

1

1

Cardinalities

ORDER

CUSTOMER SALE

INVENTORY

madeto

receivedfrom

lineitem

lineitem

M

MM

M

M M

M

1

1

1

fills

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