 A simple flowchart representing a process for dealing with a broken lamp. A flowchart is a schematic representation of an algorithm or a process. Image File history File links Lava_lamp_flowchart. ...
Image File history File links Lava_lamp_flowchart. ...
A schematic of the Washington Metro. ...
Flowcharts are often used to graphically represent algorithms. ...
Process (lat. ...
A flowchart is one of the seven basic tools of quality control, which also includes the histogram, Pareto chart, check sheet, control chart, cause-and-effect diagram, and scatter diagram. They are commonly used in business/economic presentations to help the audience visualize the content better, or to find flaws in the process. Alternatively, one can use Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams. For the histograms usage in digital image processing, see Image histogram and Color histogram. ...
Pareto Chart A Pareto Chart is a special type of Histogram where the values being plotted are arranged in descending order. ...
The check sheet is a simple document that is used for collecting data in real-time and at the location where the data is generated. ...
In statistical process control, the control chart, also known as the Shewhart chart or process-behaviour chart is a tool to determine whether a manufacturing or business process is in a state of statistical control or not. ...
The Ishikawa diagram is a graphical method for finding the most likely causes for an undesired effect. ...
A scatterplot or scatter graph is a graph used in statistics to visually display and compare two or more sets of related quantitative, or numerical, data by displaying only finitely many points, each having a coordinate on a horizontal and a vertical axis. ...
A Nassi-Shneiderman diagram is a graphical design representation for structured programming. ...
A flowchart is described as "cross-functional" when the page is divided into different "lanes" describing the control of different organizational units. A symbol appearing in a particular "lane" is within the control of that organizational unit. This technique allows the analyst to locate the responsibility for performing an action or making a decision correctly, allowing the relationship between different organizational units with responsibility over a single process.
History
The first structured method for documenting process flow, the flow process chart, was introduced by Frank Gilbreth to members of ASME in 1921 as the presentation “Process Charts—First Steps in Finding the One Best Way”. Gilbreth's tools quickly found their way into industrial engineering curricula. In the early 1930s, an industrial engineer, Allan H. Mogensen began training business people in the use of some of the tools of industrial engineering at his Work Simplification Conferences in Lake Placid, New York. Frank Bunker Gilbreth (July 7, 1868-June 14, 1924), born in Fairfield, Maine, was a proponent of Taylorism and a pioneer of time-motion studies. ...
ASME redirects here. ...
This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ...
For other places with the same name, see Lake Placid (disambiguation). ...
This article is about the state. ...
A 1944 graduate of Mogensen's class, Art Spinanger, took the tools back to Procter and Gamble where he developed their Deliberate Methods Change Program. Another 1944 graduate, Ben S. Graham, Director of Formcraft Engineering at Standard Register Corporation, adapted the flow process chart to information processing with his development of the multi-flow process chart to displays multiple documents and their relationships. In 1947, ASME adopted a symbol set derived from Gilbreth's original work as the ASME Standard for Process Charts. Procter & Gamble Co. ...
Benjamin S. Graham, Sr. ...
According to Herman Goldstine, he developed flowcharts with John von Neumann at Princeton University in late 1946 and early 1947.[1] Herman Heine Goldstine (September 13, 1913 – June 16, 2004) was one of the original developers of ENIAC. He worked closely with John von Neumann. ...
For other persons named John Neumann, see John Neumann (disambiguation). ...
Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ...
Software
Manual Any vector-based drawing program can be used to create flowchart diagrams, but these will have no underlying data model to share data with databases or other programs such as project management systems or spreadsheets. Some tools offer special support for flowchart drawing, e.g., ConceptDraw, SmartDraw, EDraw Flowchart, Visio, and OmniGraffle. The following is a list of vector graphics editors. ...
Project Management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources (e. ...
A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. ...
ConceptDraw V is a professional cross-platform drawing and diagramming software for quick creation of business diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings, home and office layouts and much more. ...
SmartDraw is the first design tool for people who have never designed anything. ...
Visio was a software company in Seattle, Washington. ...
OmniGraffle is a diagramming application made by The Omni Group. ...
Automatic Many software packages exist that can create flowcharts automatically, either directly from source code, or from a flowchart description language:
For example, Graph::Easy, a Perl package, takes a textual description of the graph, and uses the description to generate various output formats including HTML, ASCII or SVG. The example graph listed below was generated from the text shown below. The automatically generated SVG output is shown on the right: For other uses, see Perl (disambiguation). ...
HTML, an initialism of HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. ...
Image:ASCII fullsvg There are 95 printable ASCII characters, numbered 32 to 126. ...
SVG redirects here. ...
 This simple flowchart was created automatically. graph { flow: south; } node.start { shape: rounded; fill: #ffbfc9; } node.question { shape: diamond; fill: #ffff8a; } node.action { shape: rounded; fill: #8bef91; } [ Lamp doesn't work ] { class: start } --> [ Lampn plugged in? ] { class: question; } -- No --> [ Plug in lamp ] { class: action; } [ Lampn plugged in? ] --> [ Bulbn burned out? ] { class: question; } -- Yes --> [ Replace bulb ] { class: action; } [ Bulbn burned out? ] -- No --> [ Buy new lamp ] { class: action; } There exist also various MediaWiki Extensions to incorporate flowchart descriptions directly into wiki articles. Image File history File links Lava_lamp_flowchart. ...
Image File history File links Lava_lamp_flowchart. ...
Examples
 A simple flowchart for computing factorial N (N!) A flowchart for computing factorial N (N!) Where N! = 1 * 2 * 3 *...* N. This flowchart represents a "loop and a half" — a situation discussed in introductory programming textbooks that requires either a duplication of a component (to be both inside and outside the loop) or the component to be put inside a branch in the loop. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (361x661, 21 KB)Flowchart example of calculating factorial N ( N! ). I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (361x661, 21 KB)Flowchart example of calculating factorial N ( N! ). I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Since computer programming languages do not contain all of the constructs that can be created by the drawing of flowcharts, they do not often help new programmers learn the concepts of logical flow and program structure.[citation needed] To try writing flowcharts for computer programs, an on-line applet for iconic programming is available that limits the flowchart components and connections to those that can be directly converted into any programming language. (Note: click on the yellow square to begin.)
Symbols A typical flowchart from older Computer Science textbooks may have the following kinds of symbols: - Start and end symbols, represented as lozenges, ovals or rounded rectangles, usually containing the word "Start" or "End", or another phrase signaling the start or end of a process, such as "submit enquiry" or "receive product".
- Arrows, showing what's called "flow of control" in computer science. An arrow coming from one symbol and ending at another symbol represents that control passes to the symbol the arrow points to.
- Processing steps, represented as rectangles. Examples: "Add 1 to X"; "replace identified part"; "save changes" or similar.
- Input/Output, represented as a parallelogram. Examples: Get X from the user; display X.
- Conditional (or decision), represented as a diamond (rhombus). These typically contain a Yes/No question or True/False test. This symbol is unique in that it has two arrows coming out of it, usually from the bottom point and right point, one corresponding to Yes or True, and one corresponding to No or False. The arrows should always be labeled. More than two arrows can be used, but this is normally a clear indicator that a complex decision is being taken, in which case it may need to be broken-down further, or replaced with the "pre-defined process" symbol.
- A number of other symbols that have less universal currency, such as:
- A Document represented as a rectangle with a wavy base;
- A Manual input represented by parallelogram, with the top irregularly sloping up from left to right. An example would be to signify data-entry from a form;
- A 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.
- A Data File represented by a cylinder
- Note: All process symbols within a flowchart should be numbered. Normally a number is inserted inside the top of the shape to indicate which step the process is within the flowchart.[citation needed]
Flowcharts may contain other symbols, such as connectors, usually represented as circles, to represent converging paths in the flow chart. Circles will have more than one arrow coming into them but only one going out. Some flow charts may just have an arrow point to another arrow instead. These are useful to represent an iterative process (what in Computer Science is called a loop). A loop may, for example, consist of a connector where control first enters, processing steps, a conditional with one arrow exiting the loop, and one going back to the connector. Off-page connectors are often used to signify a connection to a (part of another) process held on another sheet or screen. It is important to remember to keep these connections logical in order. All processes should flow from top to bottom and left to right. In computer science control flow (or alternatively, flow of control) refers to the order in which the individual statements, instructions or function calls of an imperative or functional program are executed or evaluated. ...
A parallelogram. ...
For other uses, see Rhombus (disambiguation). ...
A 5 by 4 rectangle In geometry, a rectangle is defined as a quadrilateral where all four of its angles are right angles. ...
A parallelogram. ...
This article is about the geometric figure. ...
The word iteration is sometimes used in everyday English with a meaning virtually identical to repetition. ...
In computer science control flow (or alternatively, flow of control) refers to the order in which the individual statements, instructions or function calls of an imperative or functional program are executed or evaluated. ...
See also An augmented transition network (ATN) is a type of graph theoretic structure used in the operational definition of formal languages, used especially in parsing relatively complex natural languages, and having wide application in artificial intelligence. ...
A recursive transition network (RTN) is a graph theoretical schematic used to represent the rules of a context free grammar. ...
In the field of software engineering, the Unified/Universal Modeling Language (UML) is a standardized visual specification language for object modeling. ...
Activity diagram for a for loop In the Unified Modeling Language, an activity diagram represents the business and operational step-by-step workflows of components in a system. ...
Σ This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
A control flow graph (CFG) is a representation, using graph notation, of all paths that might be traversed through a program during its execution. ...
A data flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation of the flow of data through an information system. ...
State diagrams are used to graphically represent finite state machines. ...
A Petri net (also known as a place/transition net or P/T net) is one of several mathematical representations of discrete distributed systems. ...
Process architecture is the structural design of general process systems and applies to fields such as computers (software, hardware, networks, etc. ...
Pseudocode (derived from pseudo and code) is a compact and informal high-level description of a computer programming algorithm that uses the structural conventions of some programming language, but typically omits details that are not essential for the understanding of the algorithm, such as subroutines, variable declarations and system-specific...
In order that business processes can be improved they must first be illustrated. ...
A Warnier/Orr diagram (also known as a logical construction of a program/system) is a kind of hierarchical flowchart that allow the description of the organization of data and procedures. ...
Example of a Sankey diagram Sankey diagrams are a specific type of flow diagram, in which the width of the arrows is shown proportionally to the flow quantity. ...
References The Princeton University Press is a publishing house, a division of Princeton University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. ...
Further reading - ISO (1985). Information processing -- Documentation symbols and conventions for data, program and system flowcharts, program network charts and system resources charts. International Organization for Standardization. ISO 5807:1985.
External links - Flowcharting Techniques, an IBM manual from 1969 (5MB PDF format)
- Introduction to Programming in C++ flowchart and pseudocode (PDF)
- Advanced Flowchart - Why and how to create advanced flowchart
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