How to Create a Flowchart for Your Business
How to Create a Flowchart for Your Business
Business flowcharts can be a helpful tool to have for any company or business. It can help one depict the various aspects of their business and what each area will do. By creating a flowchart, one can easily show how one task relates to another and where there might be trouble spots that could cause errors in the future.
Jonathan Osler is an expert in process design and business transformation. Jonathan has created flowcharts for many different types of businesses, both large and small. By using Jonathan’s simple steps to create a flowchart, one can better their company’s efficiency. In order to create a flowchart, one can follow Jonathan Osler’s simple steps that he has outlined below.
Step 1: Define the Process
By defining what one is creating a flowchart for, he says that it will be much easier. If one has an idea of what this process is in its entirety, then they can break it down into its individual parts. He explains that identifying individual steps allows individuals to create the flowchart in pieces instead of all at once.
Step 2: Document where each step goes on the chart
After defining how the process should look, Osler recommends drawing out where each step should go on the sheet of paper or computer document. It is best to draw these boxes out before writing anything inside them, so there is no confusion about which goes where. Each box represents an individual task that must be completed in order to move on to the next step. Jonathan also suggests that one should number these boxes in order of how they are processed for simplicity.
Step 3: Write out each step inside the correct box
After creating the layout, he recommends writing what each step is within each separate box. If necessary, he assures his readers that it isn’t a bad idea to label parts of steps if it will make completing them easier or more efficient. Osler explains that this is where the flowchart really becomes useful because it displays all the tasks that complete an action and their relation to other actions directly beneath them. One should start with an initial input and then progress through every piece needed to complete that input.
Step 4: Test the flowchart
Once one has an entirely written out flowchart, Osler recommends testing it to ensure accuracy and efficiency. To test the chart, perform every single task together as if one were doing it for real. Once completed, check through the flowchart to ensure each step flowed correctly without any problems occurring along the way. In conclusion, Jonathan Osler explains that creating an exemplary flowchart takes only four steps. If there is an issue with one of the steps, such as skipping or getting lost somewhere in the process, then go back into that specific box and rewrite what needs to be changed so it makes more sense and continues smoothly from there. By following these four simple steps with patience and diligence, one will create a useful and practical flowchart for their business.