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BENEFIT - Process & Data Flow Analysis

As part of the examination of a company's internal operations, two types of analysis flowcharts will help guide an understanding of where a company sits presently and what changes need to be enacted: a process flow and a data flow.

The process flow diagram will show the path, by department, of how a business operation, such as the fulfillment of a customer order, is executed.  In this example, we may see a flow from the order entry department to the distribution center (picking and packing), then to shipping, and finally to accounting for invoicing.

The data flow diagram will show along a parallel path to the process flow, critical data elements that must be passed from one process to another to ensure the success of the process.  The customer purchase order number may critical to be displayed on the packing list.  If so, how does the computer system allow this piece of information to be carried over from order entry to packing?  What manual procedures must be put in place (like e-mail notification) to compensate for what the computer system does not do automatically?

There are several, inexpensive, and readily available flowchart software programs, such as Microsoft Visio® and SmartDraw® that are very useful in putting together this type of documentation.