By means of a data flow diagram, the analyst can detect

2011

By means of a data flow diagram, the analyst can detect

Answer: D. All of the aboveConcept: A data flow diagram (DFD) models a system using only four kinds of element: external entities (the sources and sinks of data), processes (the…

  1. A.

    Task duplication

  2. B.

    Unnecessary delays

  3. C.

    Task overlapping

  4. D.

    All of the above

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Correct answer: D

Concept: A data flow diagram (DFD) models a system using only four kinds of element: external entities (the sources and sinks of data), processes (the transformations applied to data), data stores (data at rest), and data flows (data in motion between them). It deliberately carries no control logic, no decision branches and no timing, so what a DFD exposes is the structure of the work itself - which process touches which data, where data comes to rest, and which transformations repeat. Drawn for the system as it actually operates, that structural picture becomes a diagnostic instrument: an inefficiency in the way work is organised leaves a visible trace in the pattern of processes, stores and arrows.

Applying it here: Each of the three conditions named in the options leaves a structural signature that the analyst can look for on such a diagram:

Condition

Signature the analyst looks for

Task duplication

The same input flow reaches two different processes that emit the same output flow, marking a transformation that is being performed twice.

Unnecessary delays

A flow ends in a data store that only a later process reads, instead of passing straight to the next process. This marks a point at which data is held, which the analyst then examines to judge whether the hold is required or is idle waiting.

Task overlapping

Two processes each carry out part of the same function, so the flows they consume and the transformation they apply partly coincide, marking responsibilities that are not cleanly separated.

All three signatures are read from the same four DFD elements, so a single diagram brings all three conditions within the analyst's reach; none of the three is excluded, and no single one of them can be the exclusive answer.

Cross-check: A DFD carries no timing or sequencing information, so it never measures how long a wait lasts, and an intervening data store does not by itself prove that a hold is avoidable - genuinely required persistence and idle queueing share the same notation. What the diagram gives the analyst is the candidate point to investigate; whether the hold is unnecessary is settled from the surrounding business context. The same qualification applies in weaker form to the other two conditions, which the structure likewise flags for confirmation rather than settling on its own. Detection here therefore means surfacing the condition for analysis, and on that reading each of the three is a structural property of processes, stores and flows that the diagram can surface, so the conjunction is the correct reading.

Hence a data flow diagram lets the analyst detect task duplication, unnecessary delays and task overlapping alike: All of the above.

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