HOW TO DRAW BUSINESS PROCESS FLOWCHART
Part 1 – Introduction, Concepts and Models.
How to draw flowchart business processes – Part 1 of 3- Introduction, Concepts and Models.
Often we are faced with the difficulty that those responsible for processes in organizations have to show them graphically. In order to assist colleagues in this activity in this article we describe a simple method, but at the same time is very useful and practical.
Let’s use in the manufacture of this article, streams and graphs drawn using Microsoft Visio, however the player may use any other tool available in the market, including free tools.
Our goal here is not to evaluate this or that tool, or determine whether a tool is better than another, or the possibility of using other models and formats for documenting processes. Our goal is to describe a method that the reader can easily learn and apply in the documentation of its processes.
1 – Introduction to the processes study
Before discussing the technique to be used in the design itself of the processes is necessary that our reader has an understanding of the basic principles of processes, so that we will cover the major topics and in this sense even knowledge.
1.1 – Process Basic Components
By definition, a “process” should have a set of basic components to be
considered a process, they are: Component “input”, based on this component is carried out the activities of “processing” and as a result will produce an any “output ”.
1.2 – Quality Control between Process Components
Like any activity intended to produce something, the process requires the completion of control activities to ensure their quality and that should be applied to each of its components (Input-Process-Output).
By doing so we avoid communication errors or gaps between the elements of the process within the universe understood by the process itself.
Translating this in a more clear:
1.3 – Inter-Process Quality Control
However, a process is not an element of absolute and restricted himself, possibly at some point will depend on other processes to be “fed” and possibly, after performing its own processing, it will “feed” another process through its “product” and so on.
Given this, it is good practice to consider actions of quality control also between processes, and thereby ensure the quality and integration between them, ie, it is important to ensure that the “product” generated by a “supplier process ” is validated by himself before being communicated to your “Customer Process”.
Translating this in a more clear:
In theory, when we act this way, “Process Performer” would not need to validate their “inputs” to proceed when the receipt of his “entry”, since this should have occurred previously in the “Provider Process”, little carry out even before the release of “output”.
However, if we check the quality only once, we are subject to occurrence of a fault in the output of “Process supplier” and not always the “Quality declared” in the output of a process, will fulfill the quality requirements needed to meet the “entry” to the next process.
Practical Example:
Try to run life cycle of a project to develop systems, where each step of the cycle can be likened to a process. When we do not do these checks in and out at each stage of the production process of the system, the degree of variation of the resulting product will be a factor of error rates occurring at each stage, (the result will be measured by multiplying the rates error in each step, the error rates of the following steps, and so
on), this is the mathematical explanation of possible distances between the “original requirement of the business” and the “work product” project, note that first of all a methodology is a process and can be used in formulating the concept of quality control in formatting steps or stages of an MDS – Software Development Methodology).
Translating this in a more clear:
Once you understand these components and the basic criteria of quality review and integration between the components of a process and processes between suppliers and client processes, we return to our initial goal, which is graphically demonstrate the business processes through flowcharts.
2 – Standard Symbology
There are several possible patterns of symbols to draw flowcharts of processes, including standards and specifications for technical design and software, data models and many others. We adopt here a very simple model composed of a small number of symbols, but suffice to establish a business process using a flowchart.
They are:
3 – The Model Structure of the Process Flowchart.
There are several possible ways to structure a process flow diagram, to map the most appropriate process is called (CROSS-FUNCTIONAL), which could be translated roughly as “flowchart crossover between functions.”
In this format, the flowchart enables the inclusion of information in addition
to the sequence of activities provided by the sequencing of symbols, and it is
possible to segment the design process in “sectors / cells” like a mother, being
inserted in the lines or the Actors functions responsible for implementation of
activities and steps in the existing columns in a given process.
See how the design would be a process following the structure Cross-Functional in Landscape view:
The same process, following the vision in Cross-Functional portrait view:
And yet, the same process using the free form usually used.
Note that the additional information present in the two previous options are in fact the difference in understanding the process.
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Part 2 – Survey, Analysis and Design Workflow (Step-by-Step to Draw a Flow).
In the next article (Part 2), we will address the techniques to be used during the
interviews for information gathering processes to be drawn and some examples of
how we organize and prepare the content of the information obtained in the
survey to facilitate the preparation of the corresponding flowchart.
Part 2 – Survey, Analysis and Design Business Process.
- What’s in the 2a.Part (Continuation of this article): (This article is in translation).
Part 3 – Survey, Analysis of Capacity and Load Processes (Learn how to calculate effort, time and costs)
- See What’s in the third. (Continued from second. Part) in: (This article is in translation).
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The information and comments in this article are the result of observations and experiences gained by the author during the execution of projects over 30 years of experience in the market.
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Eurico Haan de Oliveira
http://www.aghatha.com/index.htm
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