1. Rationale for graphical representations
   1. Why do people prepare graphical representations of business information systems and processes?
   2. Are there things that graphical portrayals represent better than paragraphs of text?
   3. How can you decide whether to use graphical or text representations of processes?
2. Variety of graphical approaches
   1. Why are there several kinds of graphical representations, i.e., flowcharts (system, document, and program) and DFDs?
   2. What is different about the information or process flows depicted in the different kinds of representations?
   3. How can you decide which is better for a specific purpose? Hint: Consider the information or process flows that the different techniques do not represent or represent in awkward ways.
3. Automating system development activities
   1. Why is documentation (textual and graphical) sometimes non-existent or out-of-date?
   2. How might more automation in the preparation of documentation (textual and graphical) enable better system development?

*To facilitate note taking, download this page, open it in Word, and compose responses to the questions as they are discussed in class.