A data object is a piece of information exchanged, at a high conceptual level, between processes using flows or between processes and resources using resource flows.
Data objects can be created in models targeting the Analysis or Data Flow Diagram
languages. Data
objects can be used in conjunction with a:
- Flow or resource flow –
to identify the type of data exchanged between processes or between a process
and a resource. In the following example, the Order to Ship flow conveys the
Account ID and Customer ID data from the Process Order process to the Ship US
Postal Ground process:
- Message format – to identify the type and the format of data exchanged between a resource and a process or between processes.
- Process – to identify the type of action (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) the process performs on the data required for its execution.
You can specify a type for data and decompose them into sub-data. The same data can be shared by several flows, message formats, or processes, but only once each.
Data have no graphical symbol, but you can display a list of data on the flow and resource flow symbols by selecting , clicking Flow in the Category list and selecting Data List in the Center group box.
You can link data to an object in a CDM, LDM, PDM, or OOM in order to analyze further the nature of the piece of information exchanged (see Linking Data with Other Model Objects):
