Flowchart

The main shapes used in flowcharts include:

• A rectangular box for a step in the process, often called an activity.
• A diamond shape for a decision point.

Sometimes, flowcharts are split into sections to show which parts of an organization are responsible for different steps. This helps clearly show who is in charge of each part of the process. Flowcharts are just one way to show processes and are often used with other types of diagrams. They are one of the basic tools for checking quality in processes, along with diagrams like histograms, Pareto charts, and scatter diagrams. Other types of process diagrams, such as Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams and Drakon-charts, are also used.

Flowcharts can also be called process maps, process charts, or business process models. The basic structure of a flowchart follows the rules of a flow graph.

History

The first way to write down how work should be done was created by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth in 1921. They showed it to people who study how to make work better.

Soon after, in the 1930s, a man named Allan H. Mogensen began teaching these ideas to business people.

Later, two people who learned from Mogensen used these ideas at big companies. In 1947, a group of engineers made a set of symbols to use in these charts.

In 1949, it was said that Herman Goldstine and John von Neumann used a special kind of chart to plan computer programs. These charts, called flowcharts, became popular for showing how computer steps should work. Even though other ways to write computer steps became common later, flowcharts are still used today to explain computer steps clearly. Some newer chart styles are like flowcharts, too.

Types

Flowcharts can be made for different kinds of people, like managers or computer experts. They come in several types. Some show how papers move through a system. Others show how data or programs work.

There are also flowcharts for making choices, logic, systems, products, and processes. Some diagrams look like flowcharts but have different names, such as UML activity diagrams.

Reversible flowcharts are a special kind that lets you go back in the steps of a computer process. This can help save energy.

Building blocks

The American National Standards Institute made rules for flowcharts in the 1960s, and the International Organization for Standardization agreed to use these rules. Flowcharts usually go from the top to the bottom and from left to right.

Flowcharts use many different shapes to show steps in a process. Special lines can show when tasks can happen at the same time. For example, a fork shows where a task splits into several tasks happening together, and a join shows where several tasks come back together as one.

ANSI/ISO Shape	Name	Description
	Flowline (arrowhead)	Shows the process's order of operation. A line coming from one symbol and pointing at another. Arrowheads are added if the flow is not the standard top-to-bottom, left-to right.
	Terminal	Indicates the beginning and ending of a program or sub-process. Represented as a stadium, oval or rounded (fillet) rectangle. They usually contain the word "Start" or "End", or another phrase signaling the start or end of a process, such as "submit inquiry" or "receive product".
	Process	Represents a set of operations that changes value, form, or location of data. Represented as a rectangle.
	Decision	Shows a conditional operation that determines which one of the two paths the program will take. The operation is commonly a yes/no question or true/false test. Represented as a diamond (rhombus).
	Input/output	Indicates the process of receiving and sending data, as information available for processing (input), or the sending of processed information (output). Represented as a rhomboid.
	Annotation (comment)	Indicating additional information about a step in the program. Represented as an open rectangle with a dashed or solid line connecting it to the corresponding symbol in the flowchart.
	Predefined process	Shows named process which is defined elsewhere. Represented as a rectangle with double-struck vertical edges.
	On-page connector	Pairs of labeled connectors replace long or confusing lines on a flowchart page. Represented by a small circle with a letter inside.
	Off-page connector	A labeled connector for use when the target is on another page. Represented as a home plate-shaped pentagon.

Shape	Name	Description
	Data File or Database	Data represented by a cylinder symbolizing a disk drive.
	Document	Single documents represented as a rectangle with a wavy base.
		Multiple documents represented as a stack of rectangles with wavy bases.
	Manual operation	Represented by a trapezoid with the longest parallel side at the top, to represent an operation or adjustment to process that can only be made manually.
	Manual input	Represented by quadrilateral, with the top irregularly sloping up from left to right, like the side view of a keyboard.
	Preparation or Initialization	Represented by an elongated hexagon, originally used for steps like setting a switch or initializing a routine.

Diagramming software

You can use any drawing program to make flowchart diagrams, but they might not work well with other programs like project management tools or spreadsheet apps. There are special software packages that can make flowcharts automatically, either from code or from special instructions.

Some tools use flowcharts to help teach programming to beginners. These tools show the steps of a program in an easy-to-understand way.