10+ Flowchart Templates and Examples

10+ Flowchart Templates and Examples

11-13 minutes

Flowcharts allow you to draw a picture of the way a process works so that you can understand the existing process and develop ideas about how to improve it. Since humans are primarily a visual species, a picture of a process conveys information more efficiently than a written or verbal description. Making a process visible also renders it easier to manage and captures the subtle interactions among components.

Flowcharts can provide a step-by-step diagram for mapping out complex situations, such as programming or business workflow. There are many types of flow charts including swim lanes, such as cross-functional, opportunity or deployment flowchart.

Use Flowchart in Different Levels of Detail

A high-level flowchart, showing six to 12 steps, gives a panoramic view of a process. These flowcharts show clearly the major blocks of activity, or the major system components, in a process.

High-level flowcharts are especially useful in the early phases of a project. A detailed flowchart is a close-up view of the process, typically showing dozens of steps. These flowcharts make it easy to identify rework loops and complexity in a process. Edit this Flowchart Template Detailed flowcharts are useful after teams have pinpointed issues or when they are making changes in the process.

Edit this Flowchart Template

(*Source – ASQ – What is a Flowchart? )

When to Use a Flow Chart

• When document a process
• When planning a project
• When you need to define or analyze an existing process.
• When you need to standardize or redesign a process.
• When you need to find areas for improvement in a process such as unnecessary steps, gaps, barriers, etc.

The Benefits of Using a Flowchart

• Serve as a basis for designing new processes and help a team understand whether a process occurs in one or multiple ways
• Facilitates the team’s common understanding of the steps in a process and uses this knowledge to collect data, identify problems, focus discussions, and identify resources among team members.
• Identify steps and add values to the internal or external customer, including delays; needless storage and transportation; unnecessary work, duplication, and added expense; breakdowns in communication.
• Enables comparison of the way the process occurs with the planned or ideal flow

The Elements of a Flowchart

Flowcharts are diagrams that use shapes to show the types and flow of steps in a process. The shapes represent different types of steps or actions.

Terminal Symbol : Every flowchart has a unique starting point and an ending point. The flowchart begins at the start of the terminator and ends at the stop terminator.

• The Starting Point is indicated with the word START inside the terminator symbol.
• The Ending Point is indicated with the word STOP inside the terminator symbol.
• There can be only one START and one STOP terminator in your entire flowchart. Incase a program logic involves a pause, it is also indicated with the terminal symbol.