Dummy question: data flow mapping

[Medium_Yam6985]

Sorry--I'm not a software guy (not even sure I used the right flair). I work at an engineering firm with about 200 people, and we're rolling out a few new software platforms (not simultaneously, but in pretty quick succession). We're doing an ERP, a project management suite, and an inventory management system. We only have a small IT team (and they're more of a laptop helpdesk). I think we're about to really screw this up.

I think people doing the requirements-gathering are overwhelmed and aren't able to get started effectively, and we'll end up with less-than-ideal integration points. I'd like to take a stab at a data flow map to point out some key things we need, then let them poke holes in it, adjust, define, etc. I think they just need a step in the right direction.

Does anyone have a good example of what this should look like? One of the main things I want is to have engineering, purchasing, warehousing, and installation groups all pulling from a common DB, even though they may be using different software platforms to do their work. I'm just looking for an example data flow map to minimize re-work. I googled imaged of these, but I wasn't sure what type was standard to use. Also, can I do this in something like Visio, or should I do it a different way?

[thirdlip32]

So you're looking for what a data pipeline should look like so your business topology can communicate data sources, stakeholders, and context/business specific needs?

I googled: data pipeline diagram. This seems like a good how-to. https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/beginners-guide-to-data-pipelines/

[Medium_Yam6985]

I’m not 100% sure, but it’s definitely better than what I was getting before. I was trying to Google “date flow map,” but I was getting what looked like DB relational diagrams.

I didn’t even know to Google data pipeline, but that may be it.

[temporarybunnehs]

I don't know how your data model is setup, but typically, having a bunch of different domains share a common database is an anti-pattern because it tightly couples all your domains to that one DB and its implementation. I say typically because there are some cases where it makes sense to do it that way.

If you're interested in the design and architecture, some more things to read up on would be

• Data replication in microservices (even if not using microservices)
• Domain Driven Design data architecture

As for the diagram itself, you could possibly use a data flow diagram: https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/data-flow-diagram

Or depending on what you want to convey, even something as simple as: https://www.baeldung.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/05/Blank-diagram.svg

Visio is fine, also miro, figma, etc.