What are Data Flow Diagrams?

The normal Visio user selects a Visio template from

a category in the Backstage Getting Started view of the Visio user interface.

A quick search on the web reveals that Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) are a graphical representation of the flow of data into, around, and out of a system:

http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/dataFlowDiagram.htm

Throughout the seventies, various academics developed methodologies for modeling data flows. The one by Gane and Sarson is utilized in the Data Flow Model Diagrams template in Visio. This methodology has the following four elements:

• Squares representing external entities, which are the source or destination of the data. These are the places that provide the organization with data, or have data sent to them by the organization (for example, customers, partners, or government bodies).
• Rounded rectangles representing processes, which take data as input, perform an action with the data, and then produce an output.
• Arrows representing...