Functional Analysis Using Partitioned Engineering Data Flow Model

Abstract

Functional analysis is important for developing information systems in facility engineering. In this paper, we propose the partitioned engineering data flow model (abbreviated PANDA), an extension of the data flow model developed to analyze facility engineering processes. PANDA provides the concepts necessary to do the analysis, while retaining the simplicity and ease of use of the data flow model. PANDA also provides graphical representations of these concepts. Moreover, PANDA has a unique multileveled partitioned data flow architecture. In PANDA, the data flow diagram is structured according to three major partitions: Participants, process, and data‐material products. This architecture helps the designer organize thinking about a complicated engineering process and produce highly readable functional schemata. PANDA also includes syntactic and semantic rules and basic schema transformation operations. To assist the designer, PANDA offers a customized method that benefits from the model's partitioned architecture. PANDA was also applied to an industry transmission tower engineering domain.