PROCESS FLOW CHART

Process Flow chart

Process Flow chart

Process flow chart

What is it?

A process flow chart is an instrument that visualises and analyses the various systems and procedures (e.g. delivery of services, decision-making, funds allocation, accounting and monitoring) within an organisation.

Flowcharting

Flowcharts are maps or graphical representations of a process. Steps in a process are shown with symbolic shapes, and the flow of the process is indicated with arrows connecting the symbols. Computer programmers popularized flowcharts in the 1960's, using them to map the logic of programs. In quality improvement work, flowcharts are particularly useful for displaying how a process currently functions or could ideally function. Flowcharts can help you see whether the steps of a process are logical, uncover problems or miscommunications, define the boundaries of a process, and develop a common base of knowledge about a process. Flowcharting a process often brings to light redundancies, delays, dead ends, and indirect paths that would otherwise remain unnoticed or ignored. But flowcharts don't work if they aren't accurate, if team members are afraid to describe what actually happens, or if the team is too far removed from the actual workings of the process.

There are many varieties of flowcharts and scores of symbols that you can use. Experience has shown that there are three main types that work for almost all situations:

High-level flowcharts map only the major steps in a process for a good overview.

Detailed flowcharts show a step-by-step mapping of all events and decisions in a process.

Deployment flowcharts which organize the flowchart by columns, with each column representing a person or department involved in a process.

The trouble spots in a process usually begin to appear as a team constructs a detailed flowchart.

Although there are many symbols that can be used in flowcharts to represent different kinds of steps, accurate flowcharts can be created using very few (e.g. oval, rectangle, diamond, delay, cloud).

What can you do with it?

The flow chart analysis helps to identify the bottlenecks in the different processes within the organisation. It identifies unnecessary involvement of people, loopholes in decision making or unnecessary delays in the process. It assists to make the organisation more efficient in its operations. The process flow chart helps to design new processes for the primary process, support processes and supervisory processes, and helps to analyse the bottlenecks in existing procedures. It is very useful to help participants understand the interrelation of the work activities ...