Basic Flowchart Symbols and Meaning

Flowcharts are the best for visually representation the business processes and the flow of a custom-order process through various departments within an organization. ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with Flowcharts solution offers the full set of predesigned basic flowchart symbols which are gathered at two libraries: Flowchart and Flowcharts Rapid Draw. Among them are: process, terminator, decision, data, document, display, manual loop, and many other specific symbols. The meaning for each symbol offered by ConceptDraw gives the presentation about their proposed use in professional Flowcharts for business and technical processes, software algorithms, well-developed structures of web sites, Workflow diagrams, Process flow diagram and correlation in developing on-line instructional projects or business process system. Use of ready flow chart symbols in diagrams is incredibly useful - you need simply drag desired from the libraries to your document and arrange them in required order. There are a few serious alternatives to Visio for Mac, one of them is ConceptDraw PRO. It is one of the main contender with the most similar features and capabilities.

Process Flowchart

The main reason of using Process Flowchart or PFD is to show relations between major parts of the system. Process Flowcharts are used in process engineering and chemical industry where there is a requirement of depicting relationships between major components only and not include minor parts. Process Flowcharts for single unit or multiple units differ in their structure and implementation. ConceptDraw PRO is Professional business process mapping software for making Process flowcharts, Process flow diagram, Workflow diagram, flowcharts and technical illustrations for business documents and also comprehensive visio for mac application. Easier define and document basic work and data flows, financial, production and quality management processes to increase efficiency of your business with ConcepDraw PRO. Business process mapping software with Flowchart Maker ConceptDraw PRO includes extensive drawing tools, rich examples and templates, process flowchart symbols and shape libraries, smart connectors that allow you create the flowcharts of complex processes, process flow diagrams, procedures and information exchange. Process Flowchart Solution is project management workflow tools which is part ConceptDraw Project marketing project management software. Drawing charts, diagrams, and network layouts has long been the monopoly of Microsoft Visio, making Mac users to struggle when needing such visio alternative like visio for mac, it requires only to view features, make a minor edit to, or print a diagram or chart. Thankfully to MS Visio alternative like ConceptDraw PRO software, this is cross-platform charting and business process management tool, now visio alternative for making sort of visio diagram is not a problem anymore however many people still name it business process visio tools.

Local area network (LAN). Computer and Network Examples

Local Area Network (LAN) is a network which consists of computers and peripheral devices connected each other and to the local domain server, and covers a little territory or small number of buildings, such as home, school, laboratory, office, etc. LAN serves for few hundreds of users. It includes many cables and wires, and demands to design previously a Network diagram. All local area network devices can use the shared printers and disk storage. ConceptDraw PRO is a perfect network diagramming software with examples of LAN Diagrams, templates and predesigned vector objects. ConceptDraw PRO is the ideal choice for network engineers and network designers who need to draw fast and easy Local Area Network Diagrams, for IT specialists, developers and other IT professionals which need to visualize the communication schemes of LAN and visually document the LAN's physical structure and arrangement in houses, offices and other buildings. Ready-to-use vector objects from Computer Network Diagrams solution will help you design LAN diagrams in minutes.

Types of Flowcharts

A Flowchart is a graphical representation of process, algorithm, workflow or step-by-step solution of the problem. It shows the steps as boxes of various kinds and connects them by arrows in a defined order depicting a flow. There are twelve main Flowchart types: Basic Flowchart, Business Process Modeling Diagram (BPMN), Cross Functional Flowchart, Data Flow Diagram (DFD), IDEF (Integrated DEFinition) Flowchart, Event-driven Process Chain (EPC) Diagram, Influence Diagram (ID), Swimlane Flowchart, Process Flow Diagram (PFD), Specification and Description Language (SDL) Diagram, Value Stream Mapping, Workflow Diagram. Using the Flowcharts solution from the Diagrams area of ConceptDraw Solution Park you can easy and quickly design a Flowchart of any of these types. This solution offers a lot of special predesigned vector symbols for each of these widely used notations. They will make the drawing process of Flowcharts much easier than ever. Pay also attention for the included collection of ready Flowchart examples, samples and quick-start templates. This is business process improvement tools. If you are looking for MS Visio for your Mac, then you are out of luck, because it hasn't been released yet. However, you can use Visio alternatives that can successfully replace its functions. ConceptDraw PRO is an alternative to MS Visio for Mac that provides powerful features and intuitive user interface for the same.

Data Flow Diagram

Data Flow Diagram (DFD) is the part of the Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM), which is intended for information systems projection and analysis. Data Flow Diagrams allow graphically represent the data flows in information system and analyze the data processing during the structural projection. This type of diagrams lets visually show a work of information system and results of this work, it is often used in connection with human processes and can be displayed as Workflow diagram. Data Flow Diagram visualizes processes and functions, external entities, data depositories, and data flows connecting these elements and indicating direction and data character. Each of these elements used for DFD has its own graphical notation. There are two notations to draw DFDs - Yourdon & Coad and Gane & Sarson. ConceptDraw PRO extended with Data Flow Diagrams (DFD) solution from Software Developmant area is ideal for designing professional looking DFDs, which can be then easily exported in various formats.

Fully Connected Network Topology Diagram

Fully Connected Network Topology (Complete topology, Full mesh topology) is a network topology characterized by existence of direct links between all pairs of nodes. The Fully connected network including n nodes, contains n(n-1)/2 direct links. This topology is mostly used in military applications. It is a quite expensive network technology and is extremely impractical for the large networks. But when it is set, it provides a high degree of reliability thanks to the large quantity of redundant links between nodes and so multiplicity of paths for the data. The two-node network is also considered as a Fully connected network. Computer Network Diagrams solution from Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park offers the predesigned vector stencils libraries, examples and templates for easy designing various Computer network topology diagrams for wired and wireless networks, including the Fully connected topology. This solution is intended to help computer network designers and engineers perfectly illustrate network documentation, reports, presentations, etc.

Metropolitan area networks (MAN). Computer and Network Examples

A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a great computer network located on the large geographical area or region. It is a network bigger than Local Area Network (LAN), but territorially smaller than Wide Area Network (WAN), its diameter usually ranges from 5 to 50 kilometers. MAN usually includes several buildings or even the whole city (metropolis). It is based on high data rate compounds using the fiber channels and other digital data transmission channels. MAN includes a lot of communicating devices, for its construction are used multiple routers, switches and hubs. MAN can combine together several Local Area Networks or Campus Area Networks located in different buildings within a city and provides the Internet connectivity for them. Solutions included to Computer and Networks Area for ConceptDraw Solution Park are the real godsend for those who want design Computer Network Diagrams, and among others the Metropolitan Area Network Diagrams. They offer the libraries with ready-to-use vector design elements, professional-looking examples, samples and templates.

Personal area (PAN) networks. Computer and Network Examples

Personal area network (PAN) is a network organized on a limited area and used for data transmission between various personal devices, such as computers, tablets, laptops, telephones, different digital and mobile devices, etc. and also for connecting to higher level network and Internet. PAN is used to manage the interconnections of IT devices which surround a single user and generally contains such appliances, as cordless mice, keyboard, phone, and Bluetooth handsets. PANs can be wired with computer buses, or wirelessly connected to the Internet using such network technologies as Bluetooth, Z-Wave, ZigBee, IrDa, UWB, Body Area Network. PANs have a lot of pros and cons, they are expedient, lucrative and handy, but sometimes have bad connection with other networks on the same radio bands, Bluetooth has distance limits and slow data transfer speed, but is comparatively safe. ConceptDraw PRO diagramming software supplied with numerous solutions of Computer and Networks Area included to ConceptDraw Solution Park perfectly suits for designing the Personal Area Networks.

Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) with ConceptDraw PRO

Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (abbr. SSADM) is a method developed in Great Britain and accepted in 1993 as a national standard for information systems development and analysis. SSADM is based on Data Flow Diagrams and is characterized with presence of clear sequence of steps at projecting, analysis, and documenting of information system. It involves 6 main stages: analysis of existing system or estimation of practicability, requirements definition, determination of technical requirements and equipment cost, development of logical data model, projecting of logical requirements and specification them, physical projecting. Each of them is also divided into several steps defining the tasks that should be fulfilled at a given stage. The most important SSADM elements are flows modeling with help of DFD, data logic modeling with help of LDS (Logical Data Structure) and description of entities behavior. Applying of SSADM is easy with ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software and Data Flow Diagram solution.

Wide area network (WAN) topology. Computer and Network Examples

Wide area network (WAN) is a type of telecommunication network, which is used to connect the computers on a wide geographical area. WANs are quite popular and widely used networks, the most known and bright example of WAN is the Internet. They offer exceedingly convenient and quick way of exchanging information and data between employees, suppliers, and clients that are geographically remote each other. WANs are often constructed from several smaller networks (LANs, MANs, etc.) and use effectively different packet switching and circuit switching technologies. ConceptDraw PRO is a powerful network diagramming software. Including Computer and Networks Area with extensive variety of solutions, ConceptDraw PRO offers a lot of ready-to-use predesigned vector stencils, wide set of examples and samples, helping the business and government entities effectively design professional-looking Wide area networks (WANs) and Wide area network topology diagrams of any complexity. Wide export capabilities of ConceptDraw PRO greatly extend your opportunities.