Architecting and designing > DoDAF > DoDAF 1.5 Activity Based Methodology (ABM) > Developing system views with DoDAF ABM > Building SV-4 data flows (ABM for DoDAF) > Generating a hierarchy of SV-4 data flow diagrams
  
Generating a hierarchy of SV-4 data flow diagrams
You can generate data flow diagrams to view the flow of data among system functions and to view system functions in a hierarchical structure.
1 Select Tools > DoDAF (ABM) Utilities.
2 Select the SV-04 Functional Decomposition to SV-04 Data Flow utility.
A dialog box opens that presents all Functional Decomposition diagrams in the encyclopedia.
3 Select a Functional Decomposition diagram; then click Run.
4 In the dialog box, type a name for the Context diagram of the SV-4 Data Flow diagrams to be generated; then click OK.
The default name is set to the top-level system function on the Functional Decomposition diagram that you are generating from, with the word “Context” appended to the front.
5 In the dialog box, type a name for the decomposition, child diagrams of the SV-4 Data Flow diagrams to be generated; then click OK.
The default name is the same name as the top-level system function on the Functional Decomposition diagram that you are generating from.
6 When the generation of data flow diagrams is finished, a Utility execution complete message box opens. Click OK.
7 In Explorer, in the Diagrams section of the All Methods tab, expand the SV-04 Data Flow diagrams.
8 To refresh the view, in the Explorer, right-click, and select Refresh.
If you have enabled auto-refresh in the Preferences, you do not need to manually refresh the view.
The new, automatically created diagrams are listed in the Explorer.
9 To open the context diagram, double-click the diagram.
The context diagram has one system function on it: the top-level system function from the SV-04 Functional Decomposition diagram. The symbol has a child diagram attached, which is signified by the three bullets in its upper left-hand corner, the middle bullet filled in.
10 To open the child diagram, right-click the symbol, and click Child > Open.
The sub-System Functions are shown on the child diagram.
This graphic is described in the surrounding text.
See also
Building SV-4 data flows (ABM for DoDAF)