Re: Flow Chart Tools?

[Wendy Phillips <wendy -at- SYNERGEX -dot- COM>]

Hi, Diane,
        For the purposes of developing documentation, I use Visio almost
exclusively for flowcharts.  Unless you just do it by hand, it's very
hard to construct flowcharts any other way than with a specialized
flowcharting program.  I have done it in Aldus Freehand and Adobe
Illustrator, but it was a pain.  Usually, I would rather ask for a
sketch on paper (or sketch one out together) than ask an SME to use a
software package to create one.
        For purposes of designing software, however, a developer would
probably want to use a Computer Aided Engineering (CASE) tool that helps
him/her create Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs).  (An ERD is a type
of flowchart that specifies the relationships between entities,
attributes, and relationships in a software/business system.)  A couple
examples of CASE tools are Oracle's Developer 2000 (non-object oriented)
and Rational Rose (object-oriented).  I haven't used any CASE tools
personally (yet) so I'm afraid I can't offer a recommendation on which
is best for what.  Are they any Techwhirlers on the list who can make a
recommendation?
        HTH,
                Wendy

On Wednesday, February 04, 1998 7:47 AM, Diane Williams
[SMTP:diane_williams -at- YAHOO -dot- COM] wrote:
> What programs do y'all use for flow charts?
>
> I'm inclined to just draw things by hand in Word or PowerPoint since
> all the folks I work with have MS Office and won't likely have special
> tools like Visio to make any changes.
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