Workflow Diagrams and Charts
What is a Workflow Diagram and How Are They Produced?
Let us start by defining what exactly we mean by "a workflow". There are several definitions on the web, but for our purpose, we have chosen a simple dictionary definition of a workflow as being:
‘The sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.’
From this definition, we can identify that three parameters further describe each workflow component or step:
Workflow needs to be performed by someone or something; these are termed resources such as people, machines, or software. It is the resources that make the workflow happen.
A business workflow is a repeatable process that consists of a series of tasks that generally need to be completed in a specific sequence. Think of it as work flowing from one stage to the next until it is finished. Workflows help ensure that essential processes are done the right way every time. A good example is the assembly of a motor car. The components parts are added to the vehicle’s chassis in sequential stages, such as counting the engine and transmission, the bodywork, the seats, interior fittings, and the wheels until the finished car rolls off the assembly line.
A workflow diagram, sometimes called a workflow chart, is a visual representation of a business process (or workflow), usually done through a flowchart. It is a visual way for business analysis to show how work gets accomplished. Workflows are composed of symbols that show how various workers perform tasks and interact with each other and how information (data) flows through the business area. It may also identify individual responsibility for each step in the process.
Workflows can also be documented by numbered sequential steps or in a checklist form. This method is well suited for detailing a specific task or activity in the process or a simple sub-process. However, it is not suitable for a complicated process where a parallel action or decision points may be multiple outputs or sub-processes for the complete (end-to-end) process cycle.
Often, workflow diagrams are created to document and share a process, improve the way a process is done, for workflow analysis or prepare a process for automation.
As the adage goes, "a picture paints a thousand words." This concept equally applies to using workflow diagrams and workflow charts to provide a visual representation or overview of a business process.
The origins of workflows can be traced back, unsurprisingly, to Henry Gantt. Yes, the same person responsible for the Gantt chart. The industrial revolution was the catalyst for intelligent thinkers like Gantt to develop efficient ways of organizing a workforce.
There are numerous types of diagrams that are used to visualize the workflow. Some of these diagrams have been around for a long time and come in many varieties. Let’s look at some workflow diagram examples. Some of the most popular ones are:
Listed below are common workflow diagram examples of some of these flowcharts:
You can do it in Integrify.
Workflow diagrams and workflow charts provide an easy visual means of documenting and then analyzing a business process or sub-process.
A workflow diagram demonstrates all the significant steps of a process or business unit. It helps you understand the big picture and relationships between different actions and work functions, locates critical stages of the process or business unit, and identifies potential improvement opportunities.
Some of the benefits of workflow and process diagrams are:
Using workflow charts and other flowcharts as part of process documentation empowers entire teams to collaborate as they create, edit and analyze their processes using flowcharts.
Studies have shown that communication in the workplace is critical because it affects every aspect of the company. Flowcharts provide the tool for communicating and providing visibility of the organization’s processes.
Communication using flowcharts makes day-to-day operations smoother with clear responsibility lines and ultimately leads to fewer errors, a better-informed workforce, and reduced employee turnover.
A key member of the team leaves, and suddenly, the process no longer works. In many organizations, the processes are only reviewed or analyzed when there are problems, or the process has become cumbersome or no longer working effectively.
Documentation of the process avoids these pain points as newcomers can be inducted into the position with a run-through of the existing process documentation.
The documentation can also provide awareness of the organization's ‘Big Picture’ of who does what and where a particular role fits the overall process.
Finally, documentation provides a quality assurance process to ensure that optimum products or services are being offered to your customers or clients.
Precise and up-to-date documentation of the current processes provides an opportunity for problem-solving when things do not run smoothly or when an analysis is required due to a change of policy or circumstances or application of new technologies.
Unfortunately, because a business evolves, unnecessary and redundant tasks creep into the work practices that take place daily. Once you have more insights into your processes, you can determine what activities are essential while identifying and eliminating redundant, non-value-adding tasks and activities. This, of course, has countless benefits and creates value for your business.
We all know that without our customers, there is no business to run.
So, it is essential to constantly find ways to align our processes to the customers’ needs. After all, we are all in business to satisfy our customers and clients. Unfortunately, customer requests or complaints can be easily overlooked when relying on people remembering the process. A key measure in the process evaluation should be customer feedback and complaints management.
Mapping out your processes in a workflow allows you to get a more precise, top-level view of your business. Even if you have a well-established set of business processes, do you know if they deliver you results? Are the processes as good as they could be? Think about how your business might benefit from following proven workflow diagram examples in order to streamline and optimize all your varied processes. Time is money, and efficient workflows save you time.
One of the biggest reasons why workflow is important is because it gives you greater insight into your processes. Using the insights from the workflows provides an opportunity to become efficient and improve its bottom line.
The famous process expert Edwards Deming once quoted, “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you are doing.” That quote merits some further discussion. What does it mean to describe what you are doing as a process?
Typically, workflow diagrams are created during the process discovery phase of a project, where the first step is usually to map out the existing processes. In the process mapping, we need to conduct the following activities:
From the process mapping activities, we can create workflow diagrams for the processes.
To develop each workflow diagram, the following step by step approach is helpful:
Specialist flowcharting software is not a prerequisite for developing the workflow diagrams. It is sometimes better to keep things simple and use sticky notes on a board to elicit the information from those working. Once the information has been gathered, analysts can use the software to produce the visuals. There is an abundant array of tools available for this, from office productivity tools such as MS Office. Yes, MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have the charting capability. Another popular tool specifically for creating workflows and charts is MS Visio. These have sufficient capability for almost all workflow diagram creation for standalone usage.
All the BPM software products also have workflow diagramming capability. The benefits of using the built-in capability are that they can then be used to analyze and move to full process automation.
An automated workflow identifies tasks performed by employees and automates them with tools, apps, and technology.
There are a host of tasks that consume time and are repetitive in any organization. Examples include lead management, data input, follow-up emails, and even human resource management and marketing. Switching a manual task to a self-operating workflow process not only saves your business money but also removes the risk of human error when set up correctly.
There are several drivers for adopting workflow automation. Some of the most common include:
Business processes in various business functions can be automated, including marketing, finance, human resource management, and operations, by applying automated workflows.
The best way to illustrate automating a workflow is to take an example. Let us consider the onboarding process for a new employee in an HR function.
When a new hire comes on board, a team member must manually input all their details into the company’s systems and records. The list can be vast: personal information, tax details, addresses, payroll details, skills & competency details. Other people may also enter this same information in the organization into medical & insurance records, expense accounts, and many more. The same or similar data is entered into several records and systems by different people with lots of room for human errors.
By automating this workflow, not only can your company free up time for the employees tasked with inputting all this data, but it ensures your database record is a lot more accurate, creating a single source of the truth. (The same data populating the array of records).
Workflow automation software allows you to do this by understanding your current processes, using the workflow diagrams, and creating a future state process that is automated by the software. I.e., You create routines, rules, and logic in the automation software to take your new hire data and populate all your systems automatically.
This is shown in the workflow diagram below:
By correctly implementing automation of this onboarding process, we can:
From this automation approach, we can see that applying automation in the business is endless. Business process automation software products are developing at an incredible pace. Many products come with pre-built automation routines based on best practices that can be tailored to any newcomer. These routines cover many business functions from HR, finance, sales, marketing, operations, maintenance, and supply chain. This is speeding up the uptake of automation software.
If you have not considered automating your processes, please visit our Resources page to find out more about workflow automation.
We have a variety of resources to help you on your journey to an automated workflow.
To see how quickly you can begin diagramming and then automating your processes, request a demonstration or trial of Integrify.
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