Structured analysis

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Structured Analysis (SA), and its allied technique, Structured Design (SD), are methods for analyzing and converting business requirements into specifications and ultimately, computer programs, hardware configurations and related manual procedures. Later versions of SA/SD were based on the principles of General Systems Theory (GST) first defined by Ludwig von Bertalanffy.

SA and SD were accompanied by notational methods including structure charts, data flow diagrams and data model diagrams, of which there were many variations, including those developed by Ken Orr, Larry Constantine, Vaughn Frick, Ed Yourdon, Steven Ward, Peter Chen, Thomas Bachman and others.

These techniques were combined in various published System Development Methodologies, including Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method, Profitable Information by Design (PRIDE), Nastec Structured Analysis & Design, SDM/70 and the Spectrum Structured system development methodology.