Data elements and data structures (generically referred to as "data") are used to define data flows, data structures, data stores, data flags, entities, and access paths.
The names of data can consist of any characters. If a character other than the letters A through Z, or a through z, are part of the name, the entire name must be enclosed within double quotes.
EmployeeName can be a data element. Alternatively, it can be a data structure, consisting of the data elements
FirstName MiddleInitial FamilyName
In System Architect, data structures can be defined with data structures. For example, the data structure Address can be defined as:
StreetAddress POBox City State Zip code
wherein Zip code is a data structure defined by the data elements
ZipFirstFive ZipLastFour
If you use data structures, we suggest that you select Struct as Entity data choice in the System Architect Property Configuration dialogue.
Note When using Expressions with AND OR logic; take note that System Architect does not support the use of parenthesis ( ) as an indicator of OR for optionally, as in the case of the Yourdon notation. Instead, it uses square brackets [ ] as its indicator. For example, a + [b] can be used.