The current scholarly research, backed up by our own field experience, indicates that flow charting your processes and procedures has definite proven value as an analytical tool for understanding high-level workflow and grasping the Big Picture. As well, by providing a Flow Chart or System Diagram when writing policies and procedures and employee manuals you can often help readers create “mental models” of procedure steps more easily.
However, while flow charts can provide a good process overview, large complicated flow charts can be very counter-productive—only confusing and intimidating employees. Except for very simple processes, flow charts can rarely stand alone. In practical settings such as training and daily operations, concise, detailed text procedures do a better job at providing the levels of detailed information employees actually need to carry out work tasks.
The Policy and Procedure Pros agree that the optimal solution is to utilize flow charts for what they do best—giving the "Big Picture"—and to utilize clear, concise written procedures and work instructions for what they do best—supporting task learning, reference and performance improvement.
The COMPROSE Operations Mapping approach helps you analyze your operating procedures and break them out into modular tasks, processes, procedures, and work instructions that you can easily link to relevant policies. Zavanta software creates reader-friendly “drill down” websites and company procedure manuals that give you high level process descriptions including flow charts for management views as well as increasingly detailed step by step instructions for task performers. This integrated approach delivers optimal results.
For additional information, check out our Educational Webinars: Operations Mapping: Achieving Performance Outcomes with Good Systems and How to create User-friendly Procedures.
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