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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.
How to Build a Flowchart
How to Build a Flowchart

Business Process Flowchart Symbols

Business process modeling is known in the corporate world as an excellent tool which can speak. Business process flowcharts, diagrams and maps are used to define the business processes in terms of inputs and outputs, to visually represent and effectively explain complex business processes of an enterprise, and also showcase decisions on a single piece of paper. The process of business process mapping supposes the use of special business process flowchart symbols predefined by Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) and taking their roots from the data processing diagrams and programming flow charts. In other words the BPMN standard notation is a common language used for business process design and implementation, that guarantees a clarity of designed Business Process Flowcharts for all business analysts, technical developers and business managers. The ability to create professionally-looking Business Process flowcharts, maps and diagrams, is provided by powerful ConceptDraw PRO software and the Business Process Mapping solution included to ConceptDraw Solution Park.
This audit flowchart sample was created on the base of the figure from the website of The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR).
"Audit Process.
There are many steps in the audit process and during a number of these steps there is substantial opportunity to communicate with the audit staff to ask questions and participate in the audit process. ... a flow chart providing a visual picture of the sequence of events that occur in the audit process." [dir.ca.gov/ osip/ AuditUnit/ AuditProcess.html]
The flowchart example "Audit process" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Audit Flowcharts solution from the Finance and Accounting area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ finance-audit-flowcharts
Audit flowchart
Audit flowchart, terminator, tagged process, tagged document, subroutine, predefined process, stored data, data storage, decision, data transmission,

Flow Chart Symbols

The Flowcharts are incredibly useful and popular tool used in science, business, software development, analytics, engineering, marketing, manufacturing, administration, architecture, government, politics, and many other fields thanks to a variety of existing types of flowcharts. A Flowchart is a visual graphical representation of the process, algorithm, or the set of steps taken for problem's solution. Widely used for designing, visualizing and documenting simple and complex processes and programs, they effectively help to understand the process and to find easier the flaws if they are. Each flowchart type supposes the use of its own set of notations for drawing corresponding diagram, which includes the symbols of process, decision, data, document, data base, termination, initiation processes, processing loops, conditions, etc. It is easily design a Flowchart using the special professional flowchart maker - ConceptDraw PRO diagram software with numerous predesigned flow chart symbols grouped in libraries of Flowcharts solution from ConceptDraw Solution Park.

Flow Chart Diagram Examples

Draw your own business process flowcharts using ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and business graphics software.
The vector stencils library "Sales flowchart" contains 62 sales process flow chart symbols.
Use these flow chart icon set to draw your sales flowcharts, workflow diagrams and process charts with the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software.
The sales process flowchart symbols library "Sales flowchart" is included in the Sales Flowcharts solution from the Marketing area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Annotation
Annotation, annotation,
Card
Card, card,
Check / audit (diamond)
Check / audit (diamond), check, audit,
Check / audit (square)
Check / audit (square), check, audit,
Collate
Collate, collate,
Comment / note symbol (brace)
Comment / note symbol (brace), brace callout, comment, note,
Communication link
Communication link, communication link,
Compare (diamond)
Compare (diamond), compare,
Compare (square)
Compare (square), compare,
Completed form
Completed form, completed form, document,
Concurrency symbol (fork / join)
Concurrency symbol (fork / join), concurrency symbol,
Conditional selector
Conditional selector, conditional selector,
Control transfer
Control transfer, control transfer,
Database
Database, database,
Data input / output
Data input / output, data input, data output,
Decision
Decision, decision,
Decision indicator - No
Decision indicator - No, decision indicator, no,
Decision indicator - Yes
Decision indicator - Yes, decision indicator, yes,
Delay
Delay, delay,
Direct access storage
Direct access storage, direct access storage,
Disk storage
Disk storage, disk storage,
Display
Display, display,
Divided process (table view)
Divided process (table view), divided process,
Document
Document, document,
Entity (rounded)
Entity (rounded), entity,
Event
Event, event,
Extract
Extract, extract, part, device,
Flow line
Flow line, flow line, arrow, connector,
Internal storage
Internal storage, internal storage,
Junction symbol
Junction symbol, junction symbol,
Lined document
Lined document, lined document,
Lined / shaded process
Lined / shaded process, lined process, shaded process,
Loop limit
Loop limit, loop limit,
Manual file
Manual file, manual file,
Manual input
Manual input, manual input,
Manual operation
Manual operation, manual operation,
Merge
Merge, merge,
Multi document
Multi document, multi document,
Multi process
Multi process, multi process,
Off-page reference - arrow
Off-page reference - arrow, off-page reference,
Off-page reference - incoming
Off-page reference - incoming, off-page reference,
Off-page reference - outgoing
Off-page reference - outgoing, off-page reference,
On-page reference/ Inspection point
On-page reference/ Inspection point, on-page reference, inspection point,
Or
Or, or,
Page
Page, page,
Paper tape
Paper tape, paper tape,
Predefined process
Predefined process, subroutine, predefined process,
Prepare conditional
Prepare conditional, preparation, prepare conditional,
Process step
Process step, process step,
Reference point
Reference point, reference point,
Sequential access storage
Sequential access storage, sequential access storage,
Sort
Sort, sort,
Start (circle)
Start (circle), start,
Start (ellipse)
Start (ellipse), start,
Stickman pictogram
Stickman pictogram, stickman pictogram,
Stored data
Stored data, stored data,
Summary
Summary, summary,
Tagged document
Tagged document, tagged document, document,
Tagged process
Tagged process, tagged process,
Terminal point
Terminal point, terminal point,
Title block
Title block, title block,
Torso pictogram
Torso pictogram, torso pictogram,

Flowchart Software

Flowchart is a simple diagram, map or graphical schematic representation the sequence of actions within a process. It is ideal for displaying how a process currently flows or can function ideally. The Flowcharts let define the steps and boundaries of a process, uncover problems or miscommunications. The Flowcharts are widely used in education, software development, business, economics, thanks to their visuality they are ideal for presentations, reports, for using on conferences to help the audience comprehend the content better, or easy find flaws in a process flow diagrams. ConceptDraw PRO is professional flowcharts software and feature-rich flowchart maker, which supports Mac OS X and Windows. It contains at ConceptDraw Solution Park a rich set of stencils and professional flowchart symbols for design. It lets create simply professional-looking Flowcharts based on thousand free flowchart templates, colored symbols and examples. ConceptDraw PRO is a 3 times cheaper alternative to MS Visio available for both Mac and PC. It’s is another full featured business and technical diagramming application that can easily take care of Visio files within OS X. Another bonus with ConceptDraw PRO – it's cross-platform. You can work on a document in both OS X and Windows, skipping Visio entirely.
How to Build a Flowchart
How to Build a Flowchart
Cross-Functional (Deployment) Flowcharts visualize what functional units (people, departments or functional areas) are responsible for the business process operations. The flowcharts are divided into rows/ columns of functional units. Blocks of various shapes represent the process steps, and are placed in rows/ columns of the responsible functional units. These flowcharts are used to display the relationships of processes and responsible functional units.
The cross-functional horizontal flowchart template for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Cross-Functional Flowcharts solution from the Business Processes area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Cross-functional flowchart template
Cross-functional flowchart template, yes, terminator, process, predefined process, process, preparation, no, horizontal swimlanes, document, decision, data,

Flowchart Components

The ConceptDraw Flowchart component includes a set of samples and templates. This geathered as flowchart maker toolbox which focused on drawing flowcharts of any industry standards.

SWOT analysis, TOWS analysis SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis, TOWS analysis
SWOT and TOWS Matrix Diagrams solution extends ConceptDraw PRO and ConceptDraw MINDMAP software with features, templates, samples and libraries of vector stencils for drawing SWOT and TOWS analysis matrices and mind maps.
The vector stencils library "HR flowchart" contains 62 flow chart symbols.
Use it to design your HR flowcharts, workflow diagrams and process charts by the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software.
"Flowcharts are used in designing and documenting simple processes or programs. Like other types of diagrams, they help visualize what is going on and thereby help understand a process, and perhaps also find flaws, bottlenecks, and other less-obvious features within it. There are many different types of flowcharts, and each type has its own repertoire of boxes and notational conventions. The two most common types of boxes in a flowchart are:
(1) a processing step, usually called activity, and denoted as a rectangular box,
(2) a decision, usually denoted as a diamond." [Flowchart. Wikipedia]
The shapes example "Design elements - HR flowchart" is included in the HR Flowcharts solution from the Management area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Flowchart symbols
Flowchart symbols, torso pictogram, title block, terminal point, tagged process, tagged document, summary, subroutine, predefined process, stored data, stickman pictogram, start, sort, sequential access storage, reference point, process step, preparation, prepare conditional, paper tape, page, or, on-page reference, inspection point, off-page reference, multi process, multi document, merge, manual operation, manual input, manual file, loop limit, lined process, shaded process, lined document, junction symbol, internal storage, flow line, arrow, connector, extract, part, device, event, entity, document, divided process, display, disk storage, direct access storage, delay, decision indicator, yes, decision indicator, no, decision, database, data input, data output, control transfer, conditional selector, concurrency symbol, completed form, document, compare, communication link, collate, check, audit, card, brace callout, comment, note, annotation,

Selecting & Creating Flowcharts

ConceptDraw Flowcharts visualize a process or algorithm of program as step/operation blocks of various shapes connected with arrowed lines showed the process flow direction. They are used to visualize business or technical processes and software algorithms.

Cross-Functional Flowchart

Use of Cross-Functional Flowchart is a clear way of showing each team member’s responsibilities and how processes get shared or transferred between different responsible people, teams and departments. Use the best flowchart maker ConceptDraw PRO with a range of standardized cross-functional flowchart symbols to create the Cross-Functional Flowcharts simply and to visualize the relationship between a business process and the functional units responsible for that process. To draw the most quickly Cross-Functional Flowcharts, Cross Functional Process Maps, or Cross Functional Process Flow Diagrams, start with a Cross-functional flowchart samples and templates from ConceptDraw Solution Park. The ConceptDraw Arrows10 and RapidDraw technologies will be also useful for you in drawing. ConceptDraw PRO supports designing both types - horizontal and vertical Cross-functional flowcharts. A vertical layout makes the accents mainly on the functional units while a horizontal layout - on the process. If you need a Visio alternative in Mac OS X, try ConceptDraw PRO. Its interface is very intuitive and it’s actually much easier to use than Visio, yet somehow it’s just as powerful if not more so. ConceptDraw PRO performs professional quality work and seamless Visio interaction.
How to Draw a Cross Functional Flowchart using visio alternative ConceptDraw PRO as visio for mac
How to Draw a Cross Functional Flowchart using visio alternative ConceptDraw PRO as visio for mac

Flowchart Examples

It’s very simple, convenient and quick to design professional looking Flowcharts of any complexity using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with Flowcharts Solution from the "Diagrams" Area of ConceptDraw Solution Park which provides a wide set of predesigned objects, templates, samples and Flowchart examples.

Easy Flowchart Program and Standard Flowchart Symbols

Fast visualization of structured data is main capability of the ConceptDraw PRO. With numerous vector stencils and standard flowchart symbols from object libraries and the RapidDraw technology this program stands as the best professional flowchart software for drawing with type of flowchart symbols. ConceptDraw PRO also known as best flowchart maker.