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)

Capturing interactions with a cross-functional diagram

Once the relationships between the actors of a process are agreed to, then it is time to define exactly what happens between them, and when. This is best depicted in a cross-functional flowchart diagram, which is sometimes called a swimlane diagram. In this type of diagram, the actors, or organizational teams, are shown as horizontal or vertical bands, and the steps that must be done are linked together in the sequence that they follow. The following example shows the process steps and flow of responsibility for actions, from the start to the end, of the final draft stage of this book.

Figure 1.13 – An example of a cross-functional flowchart diagram

Figure 1.13 – An example of a cross-functional flowchart diagram

In the preceding example, each step has been shown as a sub-process to indicate that there is a further breakdown of each step in another diagram. Other cross-functional flowcharts could be a mixture of process and sub-process shapes.

Flowcharts...