Interpreting Flowchart

Having a flowchart will help one in understanding a process as

well as aid in finding ways to help improve the steps involved
in a task. By examining or interpreting a flowchart you will be
able to:
• find out who is involved in the task
• form theories about root causes
• help make the steps more efficient
• find out how to apply changes to the process
• locate steps that only add cost
• conduct or provide training on how the process or task is
done
How to Analyze a Flowchart
1) Examine Each Step
• bottlenecks – these are parts where the process is slowed
down example: unnecessary steps, rework, or other factors; a
step saying, “technicians will go to storage to get needed
tools”
• weak links – these are steps where problems occur because of
insufficient knowledge or training example: assigning people
not trained well to do a specific task
• poorly defined step – these are steps that are not properly
worded which can be misunderstood and may lead to the step
being done in a different way or even incorrectly example: a
step saying “improvise what tool will help”
2) analyze each decision symbol
• check how often the “yes” or “no” answers in decision
points (diamond shaped symbol) always seem to go in
one direction. If this is the case, we can consider
removing the decision point that causes this
• example: a decision point asking “is the part free from
dust?”: it may be possible that where the person is
cleaning the computer part has a lot of dust where it may
be difficult to eliminate all of it, which may result to the
decision point being answered “NO”
3) check each rework loop
• look for ways to shorten or eliminate the loop
• example: step/s that is making the process go back
to a step multiple times
4) examine each activity symbol
• consider eliminating steps that does not help with
the quality of result or end product or only add cost
example: a step saying, “wait until tool needed is
available”
Types of Flowchart
1) Linear Flowchart – a diagram that shows the
sequence of steps that are included in a process. This
can help identify rework and unnecessary steps in a
process.
2) Deployment Flowchart – shows actual process
flow and identifies the people involved in each step.
Horizontal lines define customer-supplier
relationships. This type of flowchart shows where the
people fit in the steps included and how they relate
to one another throughout the procedure.
Constructing a linear flowchart

• 1) Define the procedure that needs to be flowcharted

• Think about the process that you need to create a flow chart on.
• Examples: how to create a PowerPoint presentation; cleaning parts of the
computer
• 2) Gather the right people to develop the flowchart
• Who do you think will be the best people to do the task that needs to be done?
• Examples: troubleshooting a network problem will be best done by computer
technicians; building a cement post for a house will be best done by
construction workers
• 3) Establish boundaries in the process
• Think about what should be the starting and ending point of the task.
• Example: in CPU disassembly, we do not need to include steps that pertain to
disassembly of the automatic voltage regulator
• 4) List the steps, activities, and decisions
• Think about the steps or activities that need to be done.
• Try to foresee what decisions might come up that needs to be resolved.
• Examples: if the task to be done is cleaning parts of the computer, we can say that one of the steps to
list down is preparing the tools needed for cleaning; a decision or problem that might need solving
could be something about insufficient cleaning solution
• 5) Assign flowchart symbols
• What symbols should be used and how do we connect them? As you have already learned about
flowchart symbols and what they are for, it would be very easy and simple to assign the flowchart
symbols to each of the steps that you have listed and how to connect them with arrows.
• Examples: - if there is a question or decision that needs to be answered or done, the symbol to use for
it would be this:
• if we need to put down a step, the symbol to use is:
• 6) Analyze and name the flowchart
• Looking at all the steps that you have listed, think about what title would best suit the flowchart.
• Examples: steps that include ‘wipe the LCD screen’ would best be titled as “Cleaning Computer Parts”;
while steps that include ‘twist screw off from the unit’ may be titled as “Disassembling the CPU”