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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

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.
How To Create a Process Flow Chart (business process modelling techniques)
How To Create a Process Flow Chart (business process modelling techniques)

Organizational Structure Total Quality Management

The Total Quality Management Diagram solution helps you and your organization visualize business and industrial processes. Create Total Quality Management diagrams for business process with ConceptDraw software.

ERD Symbols and Meanings

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) is a popular software engineering tool for database modeling and illustration the logical structure of databases, which uses one of two notations - Chen's or Crow’s Foot. Crow's foot notation is effective when used in software engineering, information engineering, structured systems analysis and design. Each of these notations applies its own set of ERD symbols. Crow's foot diagrams use boxes to represent entities and lines between these boxes to show relationships. Varied shapes at the ends of lines depict the cardinality of a given relationship. Chen's ERD notation is more detailed way to represent entities and relationships. ConceptDraw PRO application enhanced with all-inclusive Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution allows design professional ER diagrams with Chen's or Crow’s Foot notation on your choice. It contains the full set of ready-to-use standardized ERD symbols and meanings helpful for quickly drawing, collection of predesigned ERD samples, examples and templates. ConceptDraw Pro is a great alternative to Visio for Mac users as it offers more features and can easily handle the most demanding professional needs.
How to Build an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)
How to Build an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

TQM Diagram Example

The Total Quality Management Diagram solution helps you and your organization visualize business and industrial processes. Create Total Quality Management diagrams for business process with ConceptDraw software.

Probability Quality Control Tools

The Total Quality Management Diagram solution helps your organization visualize business and industrial processes. Create Total Quality Management diagrams for business process with ConceptDraw software.

Value Stream Mapping Symbols

VSM symbols are the best for a production process designing. The entire Value Stream Mapping method uses a graphical representation of the manufacturing process, factors' pros and cons, that all stakeholders can easily understand. Value Stream Mapping is a graphical technique that provides possibilities to improve analysis of a manufacturing process, at the stage of the transferring information or materials that required to deliver a product or service to the customer.

House of Quality Matrix Software

House of Quality Matrix Software - Use the predesigned objects from the Involvement Matrix Objects Library from the Seven Management and Planning Tools Solution to create professional looking House of Quality Matrices in minutes.

TQM Diagram Tool

The Total Quality Management Diagram solution helps you and your organization visualize business and industrial processes. Create Total Quality Management diagrams for business process with ConceptDraw software.

Quality Management Teams

ConceptDraw MINDMAP with Quality mindmaps solution as a demonstration of the creative approach to quality management in daily work of quality management team.

Quality Control

Using mind mapping for quality management is a creative approach that allows one to structure all key quality points on the one page.

Types of Flowchart - Overview

When designing a process or an instruction in clear and understandable way, you should consider creating a flowchart. You can avoid spending a lot of time understanding complex concepts as they get clear with different diagrams. The flowcharts are very popular diagram type, they are useful at different fields from the description business processes to the presentation of cooking recipes. Basic Flowchart, Business Process Modeling Diagram, Process Flowchart, Cross Functional Flowchart, Procedure Flowchart, Data Flow Diagram, IDEF Flowchart, SDL Diagram, Workflow Diagram, Document Flowchart, Program Flowchart, Value Stream Map, System Flowchart, Highlight Flowchart, Sales Flowchart are the main types flowchart. The ConceptDraw PRO is one of the professional applications which has great advantages and using which you can create different types of Flowcharts easy and fast. Try to draw an illustrative and comprehensible diagram in ConceptDraw PRO describing the processes instead of writing complex long text and make sure how it is convenient. Visio is expensive, and if you use it in a team environment, these costs are compounded. ConceptDraw PRO is an affordable alternative to Visio and luckily, it comes with a team plan. ConceptDraw PRO can import and export Visio files, so Mac users can collaborate with PC users stuck on Microsoft's software.
How to Simplify Flow Charting
How to Simplify Flow Charting
The library of vector stencils "Fishbone diagrams" contains 13 symbols for drawing the Ishikawa diagrams using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software.
"Ishikawa diagrams were popularized by Kaoru Ishikawa in the 1960s, who pioneered quality management processes in the Kawasaki shipyards, and in the process became one of the founding fathers of modern management.
The basic concept was first used in the 1920s, and is considered one of the seven basic tools of quality control. It is known as a fishbone diagram because of its shape, similar to the side view of a fish skeleton." [Ishikawa diagram. Wikipedia]
"The Seven Basic Tools of Quality is a designation given to a fixed set of graphical techniques identified as being most helpful in troubleshooting issues related to quality. They are called basic because they are suitable for people with little formal training in statistics and because they can be used to solve the vast majority of quality-related issues.
The seven tools are:
(1) Cause-and-effect diagram (also known as the "fishbone" or Ishikawa diagram);
(2) Check sheet;
(3) Control chart;
(4) Histogram;
(5) Pareto chart;
(6) Scatter diagram;
(7) Stratification (alternately, flow chart or run chart)." [Seven Basic Tools of Quality. Wikipedia]
The example "Design elements - Fishbone diagram" is included in the Fishbone Diagrams solution from the Management area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Ishikawa diagram symbols
Ishikawa diagram symbols, third level cause, reason, secondary cause, fishbone, effect, cause, category,

Business Processes

The most worked out and commonly used methodology of business processes description is IDEF methodology. Besides business processes it allows to describe functional blocks, for example production and marketing. ConceptDraw lets creation of business processes description using IDEF0 and IDEF2 methods.

Workflow Diagram

Workflow diagram is a perfect tool to represent visually a repeatable pattern of organizational activity that is powered by resources and to describe in details the transferring of data, documents or tasks during a work process. It effectively explains and documents the process flow that exists and that requires the studying, analyzing and execution. Workflow diagrams help to represent the working processes in a simple visual manner, to follow easy the path of a task in a workflow, to identify the persons responsible for the execution of each stage, to show the accompanied documents and needed resources. All this helps to optimize the workflow and to discover its weak points. Workflow diagrams are mainly designed and used as a part of project documentation, certification process and company policies to comply the standards. To design professionally the Workflow diagrams, use the ConceptDraw PRO software. Enhanced with Workflow Diagrams solution from the Business Processes area, the ConceptDraw PRO it is a powerful workflow diagram maker.