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Process Flow Charts for Quality
Use Top-down Flow Charts to map out the process you are studying or planning. Use a maximum of 6 or 7 steps. Also, no more than 6 or 7 sub-steps. The process you describe should produce only a single result, whether this is a product or a service. If there are intertwined processes, either create separate diagrams, or show them in parallel. A good Top-down Flow Chart will identify inputs, throughputs and outputs. It may also help to indicate customers of, and suppliers to the process, and any other entities that may be impacted by the process.
If you require increased sophistication, add operational definitions or specifications to the Flow Chart to give direction and aid in decision making. You may also use colour coding, special symbols (see next page), differentiated boxes, arrows or lines, or any other information that will make your diagram more potent and easier to use.
Because flow charts can be very powerful tools to use when communicating a plan across a large organization, it can be very helpful to begin a quality improvement initiative with a "standards setting exercise" to determine how flow charts will be developed. The idea is to establish a shared format or syntax for Flow Chart Symbols and formats. Such standards can make the sharing of ideas a lot easier, especially between groups of people who have not interacted previously on an operational level.
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