01 May 1996 updated
The new ProcessAnalyst extends PowerDesigner upstream from modeling data structures to discovering them. The classic data flow diagram techniques of Gane and Sarson and DeMarco were invented for discovering data elemets in context. Yourdan's classic square warned us that we must raise our discovery (DFD) to an abstract level (data and process models) before attempting to improve on the current situation:
Note that the DFD approach is not process modeling. It specifically lacks any concept of sequence and consequence; there is no time elemet to a DFD. However, the DFD provides a powerful and articulate bridge between data structures and process modules.