Applied
GCE Applied ICT G041: Lesson 05
Information Flow Diagrams
Mr C Johnston
ICT
Applied
ICT
STARTER1
 What are the issues with this organisation structure
diagram?
Applied
ICT
STARTER2
 Describe how each shop is linked into the overall
organisational structure of the company [2]
Applied
ICT
Learning Outcome
 Know the need to document information flows within an
organisation
 Know the components which make a good information flow
diagram
 Understand the steps required to draw an information flow
diagram
Applied
ICT
Information Flow
• An information flow diagram is a useful way of showing
how information moves into and out of an organisation
and between individuals or departments within it
• To draw a diagram we need to discover who needs or uses
what information and then draw some links. Example
diagrams could include:
▫ Customer Orders, Purchase Orders to Suppliers, Design and
Production Drawings, Wages and Tax-Paid Details, Records of Staff
Training, Names and Addresses of Employees, Stock Details,
Invoices Paid, Monthly Income, Monthly Outgoing, Web Publicity
Pages, Monthly Profit or Loss
Applied
Communication Methods
• Information within an organisation can be broadcasted in
number of different ways.
How many different methods can you think of?

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

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Telephone and Voice Mail,
Post (internal/external)
E-Mail (internal/external),
Memo,
Letter,
Meeting,
Reports,
Purchase Order,
Two Way Radio,
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Face to Face,
Central Database (MIS),
Invoice,
Appointment,
EDI and E-Commerce,
Fax,
Internet / Intranet,
Mobile Phone (verbal and sms).
ICT
Applied
ICT
Establishing Flows
• To draw information flow diagrams you will need to
interpret a written description of the information movement
during a situation,
• This could be done by highlighting different words within
the case study paragraph in different colours / styles - I use
▫ Bold for senders / receivers
▫ Italic for the information being sent
▫ Underline for the method
Applied
Drawing Information Flow Diagrams
• Mark up the case study paragraph showing the sender /
receiver, information and method
• Put the names of senders and receivers of information in
boxes around a page
• Draw arrows between the sender and receiver for each
type of information (arrow head show direction of flow)
• Rearrange the boxes on the diagram so that flows don’t
cross
• Label each arrow with the information flow and the
method used to communicate it
Some students that struggle with this task find recording each
flow in a table before drawing the diagram helps.
Sender
Receiver
Information
Method
ICT
Applied
Example Flow Diagram
• Draw an information flow diagram based on the
following passage:
A customer
department,
the order
customerposts
postsananorder
ordertotothe
thesales
sales
department,
the
details
are entered
into a into
centralised
database
which which
is
order details
are entered
a centralised
database
is
accessed by the warehouse
warehousetotomakeup
makeupthe
theorder.
order.A Adelivery
delivery
note is attached to the goods and handed to the despatch
despatch
department
forfordelivery.
ofofthe
department
delivery.OnOndelivery,
delivery,the
themember
member
the
despatch
hands
thethe
goods
andand
delivery
note
to to
despatchdepartment
department
hands
goods
delivery
note
the customer.
department
creates
an invoice
that is
customer.The
Thesales
sales
department
creates
an invoice
posted
to the customer.
The accounts
department
assesses a
that is posted
to the customer.
The accounts
department
copy
of the
invoice
frominvoice
the centralised
database. The
assesses
a copy
of the
from the centralised
database.
customer
posts posts
payment
to theto
accounts
department.
The customer
payment
the accounts
department.
ICT
Customer Order - post (exteral)
Customer
Invoices - post (external)
Payment - post
(external)
Delivery Note
Order Details -
centralised database
Accounts
Department
- hand (face-to-face)
Dispatch
Department
Sales
Department
Order Details
- Centralised
Database
Warehouse
Delivery Note - hand (face-to-face)
Applied
Drawing Information Flow Diagrams
• You can draw organisational structures using:
▫ Pen and paper
▫ The standard drawing tools in any office application
▫ Specialist drawing software e.g. MS Visio
“Marks were most often lost because of the candidates’ inability to manipulate
text boxes so that the labelling of the information flows was ambiguous.
Candidates may find it easier to label the flows unambiguously if they hand write
the labels on the arrows.”
Maggie Banks (Principle Examiner G041) Reports on the Units June 2007
• Therefore ensure that all flows are clearly labelled and its clear
which label belongs to which flow
 Each flow and its label could be a different colour
 A key is allowed as long as diagram and key on same page
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Applied
ICT
WARNING……Labels on diagrams
• Many learners throughout the country loose marks by
not labelling diagrams in the correct way…
“marks were lost when candidates described processes on the arrows,
such as ‘the Membership Manager detaches the direct debit mandate and
hands it to the Finance Clerk’, rather than identifying the information and
method, i.e. ‘direct debit mandate by hand’.”
Maggie Banks (Principle Examiner G041) Reports on the Units June 2007
Membership
Manager
Membership
Manager
the Membership Manager detaches the
direct debit mandate and hands it to the
Finance Clerk
direct debit mandate - hand
Finance
Clerk
Finance
Clerk
Applied
Activity
• Download and complete InformationFlowExercise01 from
the website and complete it within class - mark schemes
will be provided for you to assess your work
• Download and complete InformationFlowExercises02 from
either my website or Google Classroom
• Upload your completed work for assessment
ICT