System context diagram

A context diagram is used to model a system environment in an early design or analysis phase (see Structured Analysis ). The context diagram represents the top of the hierarchy of data flow diagrams dar. It is an abstract data flow diagram with the interfaces of the system are mapped to the environment. It consists of exactly one process that is represented as a circle and marked with the number 0. This process is gradually divided finely and separated into its components. The components that interact with the system are represented as rectangles, data flows are represented by arrows to or from the process. The context diagram is originally from the computer science industry and is used for example in enterprise application integration, to visualize the requirements of a system. Only if the structured analysis is extended to dynamic analysis, the otherwise not provided for control flows can be represented.

When using the UML usually assumes the use case diagram the role of the context diagram.

• Diagram
• Software Engineering
• Economic computer science
• Technical Drawing