BTEC Unit 03: Lesson 4
Information Flow Diagrams
Mr C Johnston
ICT Teacher
www.computechedu.co.uk
Session Objectives
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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.
Information Flow
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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:
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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.
Communication Methods
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Information within an organisation can be
broadcasted in number of different ways:
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Telephone and Voice Mail,
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Face to Face,
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Post (internal/external)
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Central Database (MIS),
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E-Mail (internal/external),
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Invoice,
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Memo,
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Appointment,
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Letter,
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EDI and E-Commerce,
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Meeting,
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Fax,
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Reports,
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Internet / Intranet,
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Purchase Order,
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Mobile Phone (verbal and sms).
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Two Way Radio,
Establishing Flows
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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

Drawing Information Flow Diagrams
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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.
Example Flow Diagram

Draw an information flow diagram based on the
following passage:
A customer posts an order to the sales department, the order
details are entered into a centralised database which is accessed by
the warehouse to makeup the order. A delivery note is attached to
the goods and handed to the despatch department for delivery.
On delivery, the member of the despatch department hands the
goods and delivery note to the customer. The sales department
creates an invoice that is posted to the customer. The accounts
department assesses a copy of the invoice from the centralised
database. The customer posts payment to the accounts
department.
Customer Order - post (exteral)
Customer
Invoices - post (external)
Payment - post
(external)
Delivery Note
Order Details
via centralised
database
Accounts
Department
- hand (face-to-face)
Dispatch
Department
Sales
Department
Order Details
- Centralised
Database
Warehouse
Delivery Note
- hand (face-to-face)
Drawing
Information Flow Diagrams
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You can draw organisational structures using:
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Pen and paper,
The standard drawing tools in any office application,
“M1 is often not achieved because of learners’ inability to manipulate text boxes
so that the labelling of the information flows was ambiguous. Leaners may find it
easier to label the flows unambiguously if they hand write the labels on the
arrows.”
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Therefore ensure that all flows are clearly labelled and its clear which
label belongs to which flow.
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Each flow and its label could be a different colour
A key is allowed as long as diagram and key on same page.
WARNING……Labels on diagrams
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Many leaners don’t get M1 as the labels are not
simple and clear…
“M1 is not achieved were learners 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 - hand’.”
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
Exercise
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Download the information Flow Diagram Exercise
from my website and complete the exercises.
Start off by completing the answers on paper to get
used to drawing them,
Once you understand them use a computer to
present your answers as they look much neater.