System Flows are systems models that show the activities and decisions that systems execute. They are useful for understanding complex system interactions because they visually show the back and forth interactions between systems and complex branching. They are very similar to Process Flows in look and feel; however, Process Flows are used to document a user’s actions whereas System Flows are used to document a system’s actions. Below is a template of a system flow with swim lanes denoting different systems needed in the flow.
Learn more about requirements models in our book Visual Models for Software Requirements (Microsoft Press, 2012) Joy Beatty and Anthony Chen. (See Chapter 13 for System Flows)
