Design Methodology › Step Two: Developing the Design › External/Functional Specifications › How to Develop a Structural Diagram

How to Develop a Structural Diagram

At this point in the design, it is useful to develop a graphic representation of the application, identifying the functions and responses, and incorporating them in a structural diagram that illustrates their interrelationships.

In addition to identifying the functions and responses of the application, the developer needs to be concerned with the following design items:

• The number of levels the application will contain.
• The commands that will be used to pass control between dialogs.
• The system-provided functions (for example, POP, POPTOP, QUIT) that will be incorporated into the design.
• The assignment of function keys and response codes.

The diagram presents one way in which the developer can begin to sketch out the application and graphically depict the flow between functions and responses. The management information system being developed in this sample diagram has administrative and personnel applications; only the personnel application is represented in the flowchart. The user begins by selecting an application from the main menu. After obtaining the record on a particular employee, the user can select the appropriate response from the employee information menu to add, modify, and display the skills of the employee; obtain information on employee rank within the company's organizational structure; and update the personnel data on the employee.