Process flow diagrams: what they are & how to create them

Key Takeaways

• A process flowchart is a visual diagram that uses standardized symbols to map the sequential steps and decision points in a specific workflow.

• These charts help teams identify inefficiencies, standardize operations, and ensure everyone understands the correct task order.

• Visualizing a process makes it easier to communicate complex procedures to new team members and external stakeholders.

• Review your completed chart with the people who perform the work to ensure it accurately reflects the current state of the process.

Keeping your business organized can be a tall order — especially as it grows. Process flow diagrams (also known as process flowcharts) are one way to organize business processes by visualizing their steps. As you dive deeper into the individual steps of a process, you can discover opportunities to improve teamwork and productivity.

Visualizing processes with a flowchart can help you organize important details and improve your operations. As you develop your process flowchart, you can identify non-value-added processes and optimize your workflow.

In this guide, we’ll discuss what a process flowchart is and how you can create one for your business. Keep reading to learn more.

What is a process flow diagram?

Process flow diagrams visually organize your workflow. They use different shapes connected by lines, each representing an individual step.

A process flow diagram aids in project management by helping you outline and visualize your workflows. An example could be a chart showing how you process and fulfill customer orders from the moment an order is placed to delivery.

Importance of process flowcharts

Visualizing your business process model helps you better understand your project scope, enabling you to plan your project based on your goals and deadlines.

Having a clear visual representation of your processes helps improve teamwork and keep everyone on the same page. This way, everyone can understand your business processes from start to finish and the role they play in those workflows.

Creating a flow process chart can improve productivity by weeding out non-value-added activities. You have ample room to grow and improve if you’re not wasting precious time on unnecessary steps.

Types of flowcharts

There are several types of flowcharts, each serving a different purpose. You can learn more about some of the different flowcharts below:

• Basic flowchart: Simple flowcharts are ideal for visualizing basic steps without many complexities or details.

• System flowchart: System flowcharts show how every part of a system interacts with the other parts.

• Workflow diagram: Workflow diagrams visualize the steps or processes required to complete a project, helping you minimize waste.

• Data flow diagram: Data flowcharts show how data moves throughout your system and other connected systems.

• Decision tree diagram: These flowcharts play a vital role in the decision-making process, answering simple questions to reach a final decision.

• Swimlane flowchart: Swimlane flowcharts allow you to visualize who’s responsible for each part of a process or project, whether that’s an individual or a group

• Block flow diagram (BFD): A block flow diagram provides a high-level overview of a process by using simple blocks to represent major stages or functions. They’re ideal for showing the big picture without getting into detailed steps or decision points.

• Top-down flowchart: Top-down flowcharts break a process into levels, starting with the overall workflow and then drilling down into more detailed subprocesses. They’re useful when you want to show hierarchy and clarify how complex processes are structured.

• Value stream map: A value stream map visualizes the flow of materials and information needed to deliver a product or service. They help teams identify waste, reduce delays, and improve efficiency across the entire process.

Components of a process flow diagram

Process flowcharts use a few key symbols to contextualize the information. Different symbols are used for different steps within a process flowchart, with connecting lines between them.

Common process flowchart symbols include:

• Rectangle: Represents a process step or task.

• Diamond: Indicates a decision point where the process branches based on different outcomes.

• Oval or circle: Marks the start or end of a process.

• Parallelogram: Represents an input or output, such as information, materials, or data.

• Document or report symbol: Represents a deliverable or outcome, such as a form, report, or record generated during the process.

• Arrow or connecting line: Shows the direction of the process flow and links each symbol in sequence.

• Equipment symbols: In industrial or chemical process flowcharts, specialized symbols may be used to represent equipment such as pumps, storage tanks, valves, reactors, or heat exchangers.

Understanding these symbols makes it easier to create clear, accurate flowcharts that support planning, communication, and process improvement.

Steps to create a process flowchart

Creating a process flowchart isn’t rocket science, but there are some basic guidelines you need to follow. Below is a step-by-step guide to help you create your next process flowchart.

1. Identify the process

Start by clearly defining the process map or workflow you’ll outline. Choosing which projects to visualize and optimize is critical to strategic planning. Before making improvements, document the process as it actually exists today so you have an accurate baseline to work from. Once you have a clear picture of the current process, you can identify opportunities to refine and improve it.

2. Define boundaries

When it comes to process flowcharts for businesses, you can always add more details or break a process down further by adding more steps. However, when creating a flowchart, you only want to include the necessary details.

Figure out the scope and boundaries of your flowchart before you start fleshing it out. That way, you’ll avoid wasting time adding information that complicates the main objective. Details are good, but you don’t want to go overboard.

It’s also important to tailor the level of detail to your audience. A high-level chart may be enough for executives or stakeholders, while team members responsible for day-to-day execution may need a more detailed view.

3. Gather information

This is where knowledge sharing comes into play. Now, it’s time to collect detailed information on the steps, inputs, and outputs that contribute to the process. Ensure you track the process from start to finish to avoid missing crucial steps.

Gathering accurate information often requires more than reviewing existing documentation. Observation, interviews, team research, and input from consultants or subject-matter experts can help you build a more complete picture of how the process works. If the process is new, standards, benchmarks, and available data can help you design a practical and consistent workflow from the start.

4. Identify the sequence of steps

Now that you know the steps involved in the process you’re outlining, you can put them in the correct sequence to start organizing your flowchart. Your flowchart should move in a single, consistent direction from beginning to end, with each step bringing you closer to completing the process.

5. Draw the flowchart

With process flowcharts, the individual steps only tell part of the story—you need to connect them to tell the whole story. Complete your flowchart using symbols and connectors to connect individual steps and create an accurate visual representation of the process from start to finish.

At this stage, start with a rough draft using sticky notes, index cards, paper, or a whiteboard before moving the roadmap into software. This makes it easier to rearrange steps, test different sequences, and collaborate with others.

The first draft should ideally be led by the people who carry out the process each day, since they’re often best positioned to identify what really happens in practice.

6. Review and revise

Once you’ve organized and drawn everything out, review your flowchart to ensure it’s accurate, complete, and clear. This review should involve the people responsible for performing, managing, or supporting the process, such as team members, department leads, and other key stakeholders. If there are any issues, you can revise your flowchart.

As you review the chart, look for:

• Unclear, missing, or duplicated steps

• Bottlenecks or unnecessary delays

• Rework, redundancies, or non-value-added activities

• Communication gaps or excessive handoffs between teams

• Decision points that create confusion or slow progress

• Missing inputs, outputs, or approvals

• Quality, compliance, or documentation risks

• Areas where responsibilities are unclear

Reviewing and revising is a never-ending battle. Even after completing a flowchart, you must review and update it regularly to ensure accuracy. Make sure to reflect any changes appearing in your flowchart maker as they occur.

Uses of process flowcharts

A good process flowchart can provide several benefits for businesses. Here are some of the common uses of process flowcharts:

• Process improvement: Visualizing processes helps you understand how to optimize them, saving you time and money.

• Training and onboarding: When you clearly understand your process, you can streamline it and ensure everyone receives the same training.

• Communication: Flowcharts can help you identify communication gaps across project stages to keep everyone on the same page.

• Documentation: Using visuals helps everyone follow documentation best practices—from project to team documentation.

• Compliance and quality assurance: Creating a step-by-step visual representation of a process helps you identify potential compliance or quality assurance issues before it’s too late.

• Problem-solving and root cause analysis: Process flowcharts can support problem-solving by helping teams trace issues back to specific steps, identify where breakdowns occur, define process boundaries more clearly, and uncover opportunities for corrective action.

• Comparing methods for performing a process: Flowcharts make it easier to compare different ways of completing the same process, enabling teams to evaluate efficiency, consistency, and potential areas for improvement.

• Engineering and industrial process planning: In technical fields such as engineering, manufacturing, and chemical processing, specialized flowcharts can help teams understand equipment, systems, and process relationships. More detailed diagrams, such as Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), are often used to map piping, instrumentation, and control systems in complex industrial environments.

Best practices for creating effective process flowcharts

An effective flowchart can help you optimize business processes, improve productivity, and enhance project collaboration. Here are some guidelines to follow to ensure you’re doing it right.

1. Keep your process flowchart simple. Focus on adding only key steps and information.

2. Use consistent symbols and connecting lines to clarify your process flowcharts. This makes it easier to collaborate with your team and boost productivity. You can even involve stakeholders in the process.

3. Align your flowchart with the key performance indicators (KPIs) that matter most to your business. Mapping a process visually can help you identify which steps have the biggest impact on efficiency, quality, cycle time, cost, or customer outcomes.

Once your flowchart is complete, there’s still work to do. Updating and maintaining flowcharts helps you maintain a clear visualization of the processes your business relies on.

Create process flowcharts with Confluence Whiteboards

Process flowcharts can offer several benefits for businesses, improving productivity and teamwork while eliminating unnecessary steps. With Confluence Whiteboards, you can visualize and turn ideas into tasks.

Confluence brings everyone together in a connected workspace to move projects forward. Teams can create, edit, and share project plans in a connected workspace, keeping everyone on the same page.

Confluence flowchart templates make it easy to create effective flowcharts quickly, plus you can convert stickies into Jira work items with a few clicks.

Process flow chart: Frequently Asked Questions

What is an example of a process flowchart?

A great process flowchart example is product delivery. You can use a process flowchart to visualize the delivery of a product from the moment the customer contacts you to the moment you finish the job. The first step may be the customer contacting you (or vice versa), eventually leading to the point where you fulfill the order, and the customer receives an email letting them know their order arrived.

You can use process flowcharts for almost anything, including manufacturing, service delivery, product delivery, and project management.

What tools can you use to create process flowcharts?

Confluence lets you create process flowcharts that accurately visualize your business processes. Confluence is easy to use, and you can start with a flowchart template so you don’t have to do all the work. Once you’ve chosen a template, you can add individual steps and symbols to clarify the chart. Confluence also integrates seamlessly with Jira and various third-party tools.

Process flowcharts can also work alongside adjacent planning tools. For example, teams may use Excel to organize process data, track inputs and outputs, compare workflows, or support analysis before turning that information into a visual chart.

Depending on the project, flowcharts may complement timelines, project plans, task trackers, whiteboards, and other documentation tools that help teams plan, manage, and improve work.

How often should process flowcharts be updated?

If you modify a workflow or process outlined in a flowchart, update the chart accordingly. Flow charts don’t provide much value if they’re inaccurate, and you probably add or remove steps from various processes and workflows more than you think. You should regularly review and update your process flowcharts to ensure they continuously add value to your business.

What is the difference between a process flowchart and a process flow diagram?

The terms process flowchart and process flow diagram are often used interchangeably, and in many cases, they mean nearly the same thing. Still, there can be a slight difference in emphasis:

• Process flowchart: A broader term for visual step-by-step diagrams that map workflows, decisions, or logic.

• Process flow diagram: Often a more specific term for showing the sequence of activities, inputs, outputs, or equipment in a process.

In some industries, especially engineering, manufacturing, or chemical processing, a process flow diagram may also imply a more technical or specialized view of how a system operates. In contrast, a process flowchart is often used more generally in business, project management, and operations to document and improve workflows.

Process flowcharts and diagrams also relate closely to other planning and analysis frameworks. For example, decision trees help map choices and possible outcomes, fishbone diagrams help teams explore root causes of a problem, and data flow diagrams show how information moves through a system.

You may also use workflow diagrams to focus on how work progresses between people or tasks, and work breakdown structures to organize a project into smaller deliverables or components.

Each framework serves a different purpose, but they can work together to help teams understand, manage, and improve processes.