Work has proceeded well on the Williams Specialty Company engagement. The staff members were able to work effectively through the process of use case modeling, and the team has begun the development of the data flow diagrams. As often happens on consulting teams, however, one of your team members has left the firm, and a new member has been assigned to your team. As you reviewed the file on your new team member, you noticed that his previous experience has been as a business analyst on several large consulting projects. In this role, he worked closely with the users, helping them to define their goals and objectives for the system, and helping to outline their requirements in business terms. He has not had much direct experience with some of the tools and techniques employed by systems analysts, although the firm clearly wants him to develop these skills.

Since a set of data flow diagrams has been drafted, you believe that a good way for your new team member to get oriented to the project is to go through them carefully. In fact, a good assignment for your new team member is to review the diagrams for balance as he studies them. Explain to your new team member why balancing is important in the development of data flow diagrams. Explain exactly what he should be looking for as he reviews the diagrams.