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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 DIAGRAM 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 DIAGRAM. It is one of the main contender with the most similar features and capabilities.
How to Build a Flowchart
How to Build a Flowchart

Cross-Functional Flowchart (Swim Lanes)

Cross-Functional Flowchart is a type of chart which shows the series of process steps connected by the arrows to depict their order and applies the swim lanes to provide an extra dimension with means of assigning each process step to certain category. Often the category or the functional unit is a stakeholder (department, person, role), resource, project, phase, or any other attribute. Cross-Functional Flowcharts visually illustrate relationships between the business processes and the functional units responsible for this processes. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM is a powerful diagramming and vector drawing software for professional design Cross-Functional Flowcharts using the common notation of shapes and swim lanes. Cross-Functional Flowcharts solution included to the Business Processes area of ConceptDraw Solution Park provides numerous well-designed vector objects and connector tools for quick, easy and effective organizing information, representing process flows and relationships, and drawing Cross-Functional Flowcharts for business, science, education, technology, etc.

Swim Lane Flowchart Symbols

Use the set of special professionally developed swim lane flowchart symbols - single, multiple, vertical and horizontal lanes from the Swimlanes and Swimlanes BPMN 1.2 libraries from the Business Process Diagram solution, the Swim Lanes library from the Business Process Mapping solution as the perfect basis for your Swim Lane Flowcharts of processes, algorithms and procedures.

Swim Lane Diagrams

Swim Lane Diagrams are the kind of process flow diagrams and effective tool for documenting the business processes required for any business company for its productive work, for easy defining the weak points, reasons of defects, or delays during the process. Swim Lane Diagram is based on the IDEF3 standard and was developed primarily for using in projecting. Its name derives from the use of horizontal or vertical lanes. The blocks that denote the parts of the processes are arranged within definite lanes according to the belonging to responsible worker. So the process of any complexity is visually divided into the parts and represented with indication the responsibility for execution of each part. This significantly facilitates the comprehension of its work. Use the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software and predesigned vector objects from the Swim Lanes library of Business Process Mapping Solution included to ConceptDraw Solution Park to easy develop Swim Lanes Flowcharts and Diagrams, for modeling and documenting the business processes in a simple and visual graphic form.

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 DIAGRAM 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 DIAGRAM 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 DIAGRAM. 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 DIAGRAM performs professional quality work and seamless Visio interaction.
How to Draw a Cross Functional Flowchart using visio alternative ConceptDraw DIAGRAM as visio for mac
How to Draw a Cross Functional Flowchart using visio alternative ConceptDraw DIAGRAM as visio for mac

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 DIAGRAM is an alternative to MS Visio for Mac that provides powerful features and intuitive user interface for the same.
How to Simplify Flow Charting
How to Simplify Flow Charting

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 DIAGRAM 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.

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 DIAGRAM software and the Business Process Mapping solution included to ConceptDraw Solution Park.

Process Flow Chart Symbol

Process Flow Charts are very popular and widely used in chemical and process engineering for representation a general flow of plant processes and equipment. If you need often draw them, the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and vector drawing software extended with tools of Flowcharts Solution will be useful for you. The mostly used set of process flow chart symbols includes the following: Rectangle (box) process flow chart symbol, Rounded rectangle, Circle, Diamond.

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) with ConceptDraw DIAGRAM

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (abbr. PERT) is a method developed by Ministry of Defense of the USA in 1958 for the project of creation the missile system Polaris. PERT diagram is one of the tools for project management that lets greatly simplify the planning and scheduling of large and complex projects. PERT diagram provides evaluation of project run-time and labor forces, it helps to analyze the time necessary for execution each of project tasks and the whole project, and to calculate the project critical path. PERT chart depicts the set of tasks connected each other in order of their execution and is constructed according to one of definite rules - AOA (activity on arrow) or AON (activity on node). It doesn't give you ready concrete decisions, but helps to find them. Design easy the PERT diagrams in ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software enhanced with Seven Management and Planning Tools solution from Management area of ConceptDraw Solution Park. You have a possibility to build the PERT chart of any type, but AON variant is easier for building and perception.