An
information flow diagram (IFD) is an illustration of
information flowIn discourse-based grammatical theory, information flow is any tracking of referential information by speakers. Information may be new, just introduced into the conversation; given, already active in the speakers' consciousness; or old, no longer active...
throughout an organisation. An IFD shows the relationship between external and internal information flows between an organisation. It also shows the relationship between the internal departments and sub-systems.
An Information Flow Diagram is information about a system laid out in diagramatic form. Usually using "blobs" to explain in more details the system and sub-systems to elemental parts.
Discussion
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An
information flow diagram (IFD) is an illustration of
information flowIn discourse-based grammatical theory, information flow is any tracking of referential information by speakers. Information may be new, just introduced into the conversation; given, already active in the speakers' consciousness; or old, no longer active...
throughout an organisation. An IFD shows the relationship between external and internal information flows between an organisation. It also shows the relationship between the internal departments and sub-systems.
An Information Flow Diagram is information about a system laid out in diagramatic form. Usually using "blobs" to explain in more details the system and sub-systems to elemental parts. Following on from this you can add in lines of how the information travels from one system to another. This is used in businesses, Government agencies, television and cinematic processes.
Overview
Peter ChecklandPeter Checkland is a British management scientist and professor of Systems at Lancaster University. He is the developer of soft systems methodology : a methodology based on a way of systems thinking.- Biography :...
, a British management scientist, identifies that information flows between the different elements that compose the system. He also defines a system as a 'community situated within an environment'.
IFD is useful for specifying the boundaries and scope of the system. The IFD shows the boundaries and scope of the system, it's interactions with its external entities, and the main flows of information within the system and within any complex subsystems.
The Information Flow Diagram (IFD) is one of the simplest tools used to document findings from the requirements determination process. They are used for a number of purposes:
1. to document the main flows of information around the organisation;
2. for the analyst to check that he/she has understood those flows and that none has been omitted;
3. the analyst may use them during the fact-finding process itself as an accurate and efficient way to document findings as they are identified;
4. as a high-level (not detailed) tool to document information flows within the organisation as a whole or a lower-level tool to document an individual functional area of the business.