Flowcharting is one of the Seven Management Tools for Quality Management. Flowcharting is typically used to map a process flow showing the beginning of a process, decision points and the end of the process.
Steps to creating a flowchart
1. Identify Steps to the Process
The first step in creating a flow chart is to identify all the steps in a process. To begin this process, gather a team of people who are familiar with the process that will be flowcharted. Have everyone in the group write individual steps to the process on post-it notes.
2. Flip Chart Post-it Notes
Put post-it notes on a piece of flip chart paper and hang on the wall. Take all of the steps and put them in the order of the process. At decision points, branch the columns to reflect decision processes.
3. Draft Flowchart
Use computer program to flipchart process. Visio is the most common flowchart software but Microsoft Word also has a program that works.
4. Review Chart
Once flowchart is drawn on paper, review the chart with the process owners to ensure the flowchart accurately represents the process.
5. Next Steps
The next step would be to either formalize the process by communicating the flowchart and incorporating into training materials or use the flowchart as part of a process improvement initiative and use the performance improvement team to identify steps in the process that need to be modified or changed.
This is an oversimplified example of a flowchart and obviously very complex processes are much more in depth than this. The key is to start small and get some practice identifying steps and drawing them out. You will soon find yourself drawing most processes you use on a day-to-day basis.
