When it comes to keeping track of all the details within a business, things could get messy. To help organise and visualise business processes, you can count on a process flowchart. A process flowchart helps to illustrate the relationship between tasks and the people responsible for carrying them out.
We will break down everything you need to know about process flowcharts and how you can use them to help oversee your business practices!
1. What is a Process Flowchart?
4. Why are Process Flowcharts Beneficial?
5. When Should I Use a Flowchart?
6. What are the Types of Flowcharts?
7. How to Create and Use a Flowchart
8. Flowcharts Help Business Flow
A process flowchart is a diagram that shows the sequential steps of a process and the decisions needed to make the process work. Within the chart/visual representation, every step is indicated by a shape. These shapes are connected by lines and arrows to show the movement and direction of the process.
Process flowcharts are standardised such that anyone who has an understanding of flowcharts can look at one and know what is happening. They follow the logical flow of information so that business stakeholders have a guide as to how to fulfil processes properly.
One of the best things about process flowcharts is how easy they are to create! You can either draw a flowchart by hand or leverage easy-to-use, powerful software tools to develop your process flowchart.
A business process is a compilation of tasks that stakeholders perform to deliver an outcome (product or service) to a customer. Any business process can be made into a flowchart or visual representation of the flow of the process. Let’s take a look at some common examples of business processes as flowcharts.
Document Approval Process: The document approval process is one in which a primary action may be approved (and so the process continues), or denied (and thus the process starts back at square one, no pun intended!). Let’s see how this plays out:
Incident Response Process: Businesses face a multitude of risks. More often than not, risks cannot be entirely avoided, but they can be mitigated. It’s also best practice to have a contingency plan in place, or process ready, for when an adverse event occurs. For example:
Employee Onboarding Process: Bringing on new employees is a crucial step for any business. It requires a seamless and smooth experience that should happen fairly quickly so that new employees can get to work! Here’s a look at how you may outline the process of employee onboarding:
Just from these examples of standard business processes, it’s clear to see how a process flowchart can be useful. When everyone is on the same page as to what should happen next, processes can flow more smoothly and happen more efficiently.
For flowcharts to work universally, there is the standardised notation of many shapes and symbols. Use this abbreviated list as a reference when getting started on creating your flowchart:
A process flowchart can help your business in many ways. The purpose of creating one will aid you in:
How do you know when it is right to use a flowchart? You can incorporate process flowcharts for a variety of reasons, including:
Flowcharts are useful across organisations and industries to answer needs for manufacturing, engineering, business, technology, medicine, government, administration, finance, and much more. Across these industries, flowcharts are used for purposes like:
Depending on your business and its need, you can choose from a variety of process flow charts and styles. These include:
Now that we’ve covered the basics of flowcharts let’s get into the fun. Follow these steps to create your process flowcharts.
First, ask yourself “Do I need a flowchart for this?” If you aim to define and detail each step of a process, then the answer is yes. If your main goal is to deeply analyse how a process is operating to determine optimal efficiency, later you should try other methods like a SIPOC diagram, perhaps.
Once you’ve determined that a flowchart is a right tool for the job, continue with these steps:
1. Identify tasks: The process may seem straightforward from a broad perspective. But, if you’re not the one in the weeds, then rely on the team that is to help you outline the steps and tasks with you.
2. Compile the necessary information: You should know the exact steps, the variables and events that may cause the process to deviate, and also who is responsible for each step along the way.
3. Double-check the process: Gather critical stakeholders to review this outline of events to ensure the information is accurate.
4. Create the flowchart: Now, it’s time to get to drawing! You can use the basic symbols mentioned above or go into more detail with BPMN, or Business Process Modeling and Notation.
As previously mentioned, you have options as to how to create your process flowchart. You can choose from:
For example, automation tools like SolveXia allow you to design your process and then execute it with the click of a button. The software takes care of pulling the necessary data and information to achieve the steps in a fluid way that removes human error from the equation.
As a leader of an organisation, the power is in your hands to ensure that your business is running smoothly. There are a variety of business processes that must happen correctly to make this happen. But, keeping track of them all and making sure that everyone knows their duties don’t occur daily. Instead, you can utilise process flowcharts to help standardise procedures, train your team, and check in on how processes are functioning over time.
One way to make sure that processes are functioning day-in optimally and day-out are to use data automation tools. The use of data automation software can help you to not only track how your operations are running, but they can also run processes for you, without the need for human intervention.