Book Image

Visualize Complex Processes with Microsoft Visio

By : David J Parker, Šenaj Lelić
Book Image

Visualize Complex Processes with Microsoft Visio

By: David J Parker, Šenaj Lelić

Overview of this book

Every business has process flows, but not all of them are fully described to or verified for accuracy with each stakeholder. This not only presents a risk for business continuity but also removes the ability to make insightful improvements. To make these complex interactions easy to grasp, it’s important to describe these processes visually using symbology that everybody understands. Different parts of these flows should be collaboratively developed and stored securely as commercial collateral. Visualize Complex Processes with Microsoft Visio helps you understand why it is crucial to use a common, systematic approach to document the steps needed to meet each business requirement. This book explores the various process flow templates available in each edition of Microsoft Visio, including BPMN. It also shows you how to use them effectively with the help of tips and techniques and examples to reduce the time required for creating them, as well as how you can improve their integration and presentation. By the end of this book, you’ll have mastered the skills needed to create data-integrated business flowcharts with Microsoft Visio, learned how to effectively use these diagrams collaboratively, but securely, and understood how to integrate them with other M365 apps, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Power Automate.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)

Choosing the Correct Business Process Diagram Type

It is critical for a business that its processes are clearly understood by all of those involved for each step to run smoothly. Too many processes are not documented properly, and this presents a risk to business continuity. Writing down each step can be long and laborious, and it can still fail to describe the flow of a process and the interaction between different stakeholders or departments. However, a clear diagram can show what the process steps are, who is responsible, when a decision has to be made, and how one process relates to another.

These flow diagrams represent a model of an organization’s processes to achieve a desired outcome and demonstrate how various stakeholders, or actors, interact with each other along the way.

It is essential that some diagramming and symbology standard is adopted; otherwise, there are bound to be misunderstandings and ambiguity when interpreting these diagrams. Diagrams should be...