A source or destination of information, materials or resources outside the immediate scope of analysis.
Because some producers or receivers of data are outside the system or business area under investigation, you cannot tell what procedures produce or accept the data, or what happens to those data. There must be procedures to or from which the data are flowing, but because you cannot formally identify them, you identify the producers or receivers as external objects.
Such external objects are typically named by using the name of an entity type that represents the procedures, people or organizations receiving or producing the data flow.
Imports and Exports
It is useful to describe not only the imports and exports, but where they come from and go to. Imports and exports link an activity in the business with its corresponding sources and destinations.
The external sources and destinations of information, materials or resources are represented as external objects (e.g., CUSTOMER, SUPPLIER, GOVERNMENT AGENCY). They carry out their own activities, which create or use the imports or exports through which they interact with your enterprise. They are therefore of interest to the business, and they usually also appear as entity types in the information model.
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Section Overview : Development Technique Concepts
Overview : Table of Contents
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