Process mapping symbols are essential tools for visualizing the steps, decisions, and flows within a business process. These symbols, also known as business process mapping symbols, provide a standardized method of representing complex workflows in a simplified, visual manner. Using these process mapping symbols not only improves clarity but also ensures a shared understanding across different teams within an organization.
Process mapping symbols are visual tools that help represent the flow, decisions, and tasks within a process.
- Basic Flowchart Symbols: Fundamental for representing simple processes.
- Process & Operation Symbols: Represent actions or operations.
- Branching & Control of Flow Symbols: Control the direction and flow of a process.
- Input & Output Symbols: Represent data entering or leaving a process.
- File & Information Storage Symbols: Represent data storage and retrieval.
- Data Processing Symbols: Represent specific data processing operations.
BPMN symbols are a more detailed way to represent complex workflows.
- Flow Objects: Events, activities, and gateways that define the process flow.
- Connecting Objects: Sequence flows, message flows, and associations that link objects.
- Gateways: Control the flow of a process based on conditions or events.
- Swimlanes: Organize processes by participants or departments.
- Artifacts: Data objects, annotations, groups, choreographies, and conversations that provide additional information.
What Are Process Mapping Symbols?
Process mapping symbols are standardized visual elements used to represent the components of a process within a diagram. These process mapping symbols provide a universal language for illustrating tasks, decisions, inputs, outputs, and flows, ensuring that processes are easy to understand and analyze. Each symbol has a specific meaning, enabling process designers and teams to map out workflows accurately and efficiently.
The most commonly used process mapping symbols include rectangles for activities or tasks, diamonds for decision points, and arrows for connecting steps to indicate the flow of the process. In more advanced uses, such as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), process mapping symbols become more detailed and specialized, representing events, gateways, data flows, and interactions between different entities.
Using process mapping symbols simplifies communication among team members, stakeholders, and external collaborators by providing a clear visual representation of even the most complex workflows. They are essential for improving process efficiency, identifying bottlenecks, and ensuring that all team members have a shared understanding of the workflow.
Why Process Mapping Symbols Matter
Standardized process mapping symbols, such as those found in flowcharts and BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation), play a crucial role in facilitating effective communication between various stakeholders, including business strategists and process analysts. By adopting universal process mapping symbols, organizations can minimize misunderstandings and enhance the accuracy of process documentation. This consistency is vital for process mapping notation, allowing for seamless integration and analysis of business processes.
The significance of process mapping symbols extends beyond clear communication—it enables process optimization and strategic planning. Whether you are capturing high-level processes or defining organizational workflows, using standardized symbols ensures that everyone is on the same page, paving the way for improved collaboration and efficiency.
- Facilitate Effective Communication: Standardized process mapping symbols like those in flowcharts and BPMN enable clear communication between stakeholders, including strategists and analysts, reducing misunderstandings.
- Enhance Documentation Accuracy: Universal process mapping symbols ensure consistency in process documentation, making workflows easier to analyze and optimize.
- Support Process Optimization: Standardization in process mapping symbols aids in identifying inefficiencies and planning strategic improvements for enhanced operational performance.
- Ensure Consistency Across Operations: Using a uniform visual language ensures that all stakeholders interpret process maps consistently, fostering better collaboration.
- Improve Workflow Analysis and Collaboration: Standardized process mapping symbols streamline integration and analysis of business processes, aligning team efforts toward shared organizational goals.
Standardization in process mapping symbols is a cornerstone in preserving consistency and coherence throughout business operations. By utilizing standardized process mapping symbols, notably through business process mapping symbols like BPMN or flowcharts, organizations can maintain a uniform visual language. This uniformity guarantees that stakeholders, including project managers and operations teams, can interpret process maps without ambiguity, leading to more integrated and effective communication.
Benefits of Standardized Process Mapping Symbols
Using standardized process mapping symbols offers numerous advantages that go beyond creating visually appealing diagrams. These process mapping symbols provide a universal framework for representing workflows, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and clarity across various teams and organizational levels. Here’s why standardized notations are indispensable:
Improved Clarity
Standardized process mapping symbols offer a clear and universally understood representation of steps, decisions, and workflows. By using these process mapping symbols, teams can reduce misunderstandings and ambiguities, making complex processes easier to follow for all stakeholders.
Efficient Training and Onboarding
New team members benefit immensely from standardized process mapping symbols, as they eliminate the need for interpreting custom or inconsistent diagrams. Employees can quickly grasp workflows, leading to faster onboarding and a shorter learning curve. This is particularly valuable in large organizations or those with frequently changing processes.
Seamless Collaboration Across Teams
Process mapping symbols create a common language for cross-departmental collaboration. Teams from different areas can easily interpret and align on process maps, eliminating confusion and fostering better teamwork toward shared goals. This is especially important when working on cross-functional projects or initiatives.
Enhanced Analysis and Optimization
Standardized process mapping symbols provide a structured approach to analyzing workflows, making it easier to pinpoint inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement. With clear documentation, teams can conduct data-driven evaluations and implement solutions to optimize processes and enhance overall productivity.
Long-Term Scalability and Consistency
Using recognized process mapping symbols and notations ensures that process documentation remains consistent over time, even as teams or workflows evolve. This consistency supports scalability, allowing businesses to maintain alignment across processes as they grow or integrate new systems.
By adopting standardized notations, such as those supported by tools like Creately, organizations can ensure that their process maps are not only visually effective but also functionally robust. These notations empower businesses to communicate processes effectively, streamline operations, and drive continuous improvement in dynamic environments.
Types of Process Mapping Symbols
Process mapping symbols are the foundational building blocks in visually representing business processes. These process mapping symbols help communicate the flow, decisions, and tasks within a process, ensuring clarity and standardization. Below is an overview of the most commonly used process mapping symbols, including both flowchart and Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) symbols, and their specific applications in process mapping.
Flowchart Symbols Overview
Flowchart symbols are powerful visual tools used to represent the sequence, decisions, inputs, and outputs of a process. They serve as the building blocks for creating clear and logical diagrams that can be easily understood by stakeholders across different roles and departments. By using these standardized symbols, businesses can map out workflows, identify inefficiencies, and communicate processes effectively. While flowchart symbols are widely used for general process mapping, they also provide a foundation for more advanced diagrams in process optimization and documentation.
Basic Flowchart Symbols
- Start/End (Oval or Circle): Marks the beginning and end points of a process. These symbols help identify the entry and exit points in a process, making them essential for clearly defining the scope of the workflow.
- Process (Rectangle): Represents an activity or task within the process. This is the most commonly used symbol in flowcharts, used to denote steps or actions that need to be performed during the process.
- Decision (Diamond): Indicates a decision point where the process can branch based on conditions. Helps illustrate where the process flow diverges depending on the outcome of a decision, such as “yes/no” or “true/false.”
- Arrow: Depicts the direction of the flow of the process. Arrows guide the viewer through the steps, ensuring they understand the order of tasks.
Process & Operation Symbols
These process mapping symbols represent specific actions or operations in a process. They outline the tasks, activities, or steps involved in a process. For example, a process flowchart for a software development project might use these process mapping symbols to show steps like “code review,” “testing,” and “deployment.”
- Manual Operation Symbol: Indicates a manual operation or task performed by a person.
- Preparation Symbol: Represents an initial setup or preparation step before the main process begins.
Branching & Control of Flow Symbols
These process mapping symbols control the direction and flow of a process. They determine the next step based on certain conditions or decisions.
- On-Page Connector Symbol: Links different parts of a flowchart on the same page.
- Off-Page Connector/Reference Symbol: Links different pages of a flowchart.
- Or Symbol: Indicates that one of the multiple paths can be followed.
- Merge Symbol: Combines multiple flowlines into a single path.
Input & Output Symbols
These symbols represent the data that enters or leaves a process. They show how information is fed into a process and how results are generated. For example, a flowchart for an order processing system might use input symbols to represent customer orders and output symbols to represent invoices.
- Input/Output (Data) Symbol: Represented as a parallelogram and often distinguished by labeling, the Data symbol specifically highlights input/output operations, such as user input, reports, or system-generated outputs.
- Manual Input Symbol: This trapezoid-shaped symbol indicates where human intervention is required to input data or perform an action manually, emphasizing steps where automation may not be present.
- Display Symbol: Represents the display of information, such as on a monitor or printer.
File & Information Storage Symbols
These process mapping symbols represent the storage and retrieval of data. They show where data is kept and how it’s accessed.
- Document/ Documents Symbol: Represents a document or report.
- Database Symbol: Represents a database or data repository.
- Stored Data/Storage Symbol: Represents general storage of data.
- Direct Data Symbol: Represents data that is directly accessed, such as from a register or memory location.
- Internal Storage Symbol: Represents data stored within a process or system.
- Sequential Access Storage Symbol: Represents data stored in a sequential manner, such as on a tape drive.
Data Processing Symbols
These symbols represent specific data processing operations or subroutines. They show how data is manipulated and transformed. For example, a flowchart for a payroll system might use these process mapping symbols to represent calculations like gross pay, taxes, and net pay.
- Predefined Process/ Subroutine: Represents a process or subroutine that is defined elsewhere.
- Summoning Junction Symbol: Indicates a point where a subroutine is called.
- Delay Symbol: Represents a delay or wait in the process.
BPMN Symbols Overview
Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) symbols are more detailed and specific, designed to represent more complex workflows. BPMN is particularly useful for organizations looking to map intricate business processes, especially those involving multiple systems or departments. BPMN symbols provide a standardized way to visually document and analyze business processes. These symbols represent the activities, events, decision points, and flows within a process, enabling clear communication among stakeholders. Understanding [BPMN symbols[(https://creately.com/guides/bpmn-symbols/)] is essential for creating effective process diagrams that convey even complex workflows with precision and consistency.
1. Flow Objects
Flow objects form the core of BPMN diagrams, depicting the sequence, activities, and decision points that drive a process from start to finish. They are the essential building blocks for illustrating how a process operates.
Events: Represent specific occurrences or triggers in a process.
- Start Events: Indicate where the process begins, triggered by conditions like a message, time, or signal.
- Intermediate Events: Mark occurrences that happen during the process, such as delays, signals, or errors.
- End Events: Denote the process’s conclusion, often tied to outcomes like messages, errors, or abrupt terminations.
Activities: Represent the tasks or operations carried out in a process.
- Tasks, sub-processes, transactions, and call activities define the type of work performed, whether simple or complex.
- Activity markers add further detail, such as loops for repetition or parallel execution.
2. Connecting Objects
Connecting objects link flow objects, ensuring logical transitions between steps.
- Sequence Flows: Show the order in which tasks or events occur.
- Message Flows: Depict communication between different participants or entities.
- Associations: Connect flow objects with artifacts like annotations or data objects for added context.
3. Gateways
Gateways in BPMN are used to manage the flow of a process by defining decision points or coordinating paths. They enable a process to branch, merge, or follow multiple paths based on conditions or events. Each type of gateway serves a specific purpose:
- Exclusive Gateway: Represents a decision point where only one outgoing path is taken. The process evaluates conditions linked to each outgoing path, and only the path with the true condition is followed.
- Parallel Gateway: Allows multiple paths to proceed simultaneously without evaluating conditions. Used to model concurrent activities that occur independently of each other.
- Inclusive Gateway: Represents a decision point where one or more paths can be taken based on conditions. All paths with true conditions are executed, allowing for more flexibility than an exclusive gateway.
- Event-Based Gateway: Directs the process flow based on the occurrence of specific events, such as receiving a message or a timer expiring. Useful when decisions are dependent on external triggers.
- Complex Gateway: Handles more sophisticated decision-making with conditions that may combine logical operators or involve multiple triggers. Used when process requirements exceed the capabilities of other gateways.
- Exclusive Event-Based Gateway: A special type of event-based gateway that ensures only one path is taken based on the first event that occurs.
- Parallel Event-Based Gateway: Similar to the event-based gateway, but all subsequent events trigger their respective paths simultaneously.
4. Swimlanes
Swimlanes organize processes by participants, roles, or departments, clarifying responsibilities.
- Pools: Represent separate organizations or entities. Each pool holds its own activities and processes.
- Lanes: Subdivisions within pools, often used to indicate specific roles, systems, or departments.
5. Artifacts
Artifacts enhance process diagrams by providing supplementary information.
- Data Objects: Represent data created, used, or stored during the process.
- Annotations: Add notes or clarifications to the diagram.
- Groups: Visually organize related elements without affecting the process flow.
5. Choreographies
Choreographies illustrate interactions between multiple participants, focusing on communication rather than individual workflows. They highlight message exchanges, collaboration, and responsibilities, making them ideal for multi-party or inter-organizational processes.
6. Conversations
Conversations capture the high-level interactions between participants, showing how communication contributes to the overall process. Sub-conversations and links provide additional detail or connection points within broader exchanges.
By combining these BPMN symbols, businesses can model workflows that are not only visually clear but also accurate and aligned with industry standards. This level of detail supports better communication, improved process analysis, and more effective optimization efforts across all organizational levels.
Steps to Effective Process Mapping
Creating process maps that are clear and informative is essential for effective business process management. Follow these steps to create high-quality process maps:
- Define the Process Scope: Start by identifying the boundaries of the process you need to map. Clarify the start and end points and the desired outcomes.
- Collect Relevant Data: Gather all necessary information about the process, including inputs, outputs, process goals, and decision points.
- Select Appropriate Symbols: Use standardized process mapping symbols such as those from flowchart or BPMN notation to ensure consistency and clarity.
- Map the Process: Begin drafting the map, marking decisions and data flows using the selected symbols.
- Assign Responsibilities: Use swimlanes to clearly delineate roles and responsibilities within the process.
- Validate the Map: Review the process map with stakeholders to ensure accuracy.
- Analyze and Optimize: Evaluate the map for bottlenecks or inefficiencies and identify opportunities for improvement.
Illustrating Process Mapping Symbols with Templates
To fully understand how process mapping symbols come together to form a coherent process map, it’s helpful to see them in action. Below are several examples showcasing how different flowchart symbols are used in practice to map out business processes. These examples demonstrate the versatility and clarity that process mapping symbols bring to process documentation.
Simple Customer Service Process
A customer service workflow typically starts when a customer submits an inquiry, which is then assessed by the service team. The process may branch based on the nature of the query, such as product-related or service-related questions. Each type of inquiry is handled by a dedicated department, ensuring that the customer receives accurate and timely support. Once the issue is resolved, a confirmation is sent, and the process ends. This straightforward process map ensures clarity in tracking each step of the customer service journey, making it easy for teams to follow and optimize.
Order Processing Workflow
The order processing flow in an e-commerce system begins with a customer placing an order and ends with the delivery of the product. Key steps include confirming the order, checking product availability, and processing payment. If the product is in stock, it proceeds directly to shipping; otherwise, the inventory must be restocked first. This process map helps businesses manage each phase of order fulfillment efficiently, providing a clear visual representation of how orders flow through the system, from purchase to delivery.
Employee Onboarding Process
The employee onboarding process ensures that new hires are seamlessly integrated into the organization. It begins with the acceptance of the job offer and proceeds with setting up the necessary tools and systems for the employee. Key tasks include document completion, IT equipment setup, and training sessions. This process map allows HR and IT teams to collaborate and track progress efficiently, ensuring that every new hire has the resources they need to succeed from day one.
Software Development Lifecycle
In software development, the lifecycle process involves multiple stages, including planning, coding, testing, and deployment. Each stage requires different team members to complete specific tasks, and the flowchart shows how these stages are interrelated. The process map ensures that all milestones, such as testing and bug fixes, are tracked, and that software is delivered on schedule. This clear representation aids development teams in managing their tasks, identifying bottlenecks, and ensuring the software meets all requirements before being released.
Inventory Management Process
In inventory management, businesses track the flow of goods from suppliers to the warehouse, and then to customers or stores. The process begins with the receipt of new stock, which is then logged into the inventory system. The process includes stages like stock checking, categorization, and order fulfillment. If stock levels are low, the process will trigger an automatic reorder. This process map helps warehouse and inventory teams monitor stock in real-time , optimize space, and ensure that the correct items are available for shipment, reducing errors and improving operational efficiency.
Banking Transaction Process
In banking, transaction processes are crucial for ensuring secure and accurate financial services. A typical banking transaction process starts when a customer initiates a request, such as transferring money, withdrawing cash, or checking an account balance. The process map captures each stage, from verifying the customer’s identity to checking account balances, authorizing the transaction, and then updating the account records. If any errors or issues arise—such as insufficient funds or account security concerns—the process includes decision points for notifying the customer or rejecting the transaction. This flow ensures smooth operations, minimizes risks, and provides a clear overview of the transaction lifecycle from initiation to completion, helping both bank staff and customers track and manage financial activities effectively.
Helpful Resources
Effortlessly design, review, and optimize workflows. Visualize each process, collaborate in real time, and achieve efficiency using intuitive, user-friendly tools.
Dive into the fundamentals of process mapping with this guide. Discover effective techniques, proven practices, and tools to streamline processes and boost productivity.
Learn about different business process modeling methods, with practical examples to help you visualize, evaluate, and enhance workflows for greater efficiency and insight.
Unlock the potential of business process analysis with this in-depth guide. Discover essential strategies, best practices, and tools to refine workflows and drive organizational improvement.
Why Choose Creately for Process Mapping?
Selecting the right tool for process mapping is crucial to creating clear, effective workflows and ensuring seamless collaboration across teams. Creately stands out as a versatile platform with robust features designed to simplify and enhance the process mapping experience. Here’s why Creately is an ideal choice:
1. Intuitive and User-Friendly Interface
Creately’s drag-and-drop functionality enables users to create even the most complex process maps with ease. The platform’s clean, intuitive design ensures that anyone—from beginners to experienced professionals—can quickly get started without the need for extensive training.
2. Comprehensive Symbol Libraries
Creately provides a wide range of process mapping symbols to cater to diverse process mapping needs. Whether you’re working with standard flowcharts, BPMN diagrams, or specialized templates, the platform offers an extensive library of ready-to-use symbols to ensure precision and adherence to industry standards.
3. Advanced Database and Linking Features
Creately revolutionizes process mapping with its advanced database feature, enabling centralized updates that automatically sync changes across all workspaces and locations. Unlike other tools, Creately’s database is created automatically as you drag and drop shapes onto the canvas, linking all entities to a central repository. This ensures consistency and eliminates the need for manual updates, saving time and reducing errors. Additionally, its business process modeling capability allows processes to be reused across multiple diagrams and views, making it ideal for long-term applications. With these features, Creately delivers a data-driven, efficient approach to process mapping that adapts to evolving business needs.
4. Real-Time Collaboration for Teams
Collaborative tools are at the heart of Creately. Multiple users can work on the same process map simultaneously, adding comments, making edits, and sharing feedback in real-time. This fosters better communication, reduces silos, and accelerates decision-making across teams.
5. Tailored Templates for Efficiency
Creately offers a rich collection of customizable templates tailored to various process mapping scenarios. From simple workflows to complex business processes, these templates help save time and standardize processes while maintaining flexibility for personalization.
6. Seamless Integration with Popular Tools
Creately integrates effortlessly with popular business tools such as Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and more. This ensures that process maps are easily accessible, shareable, and aligned with existing workflows, improving overall efficiency and collaboration.
7. Streamlined Sharing and Accessibility
Sharing process maps is simple with Creately. Export diagrams in multiple formats, share links for real-time access, or embed them in reports and presentations. This ensures that stakeholders can view and interact with process maps, regardless of their technical expertise.
Wrapping Up: Streamline Your Workflows with Creately
Effective process mapping is crucial for optimizing workflows, improving collaboration, and achieving organizational efficiency. With Creately, you gain access to powerful tools and features that make process mapping intuitive, scalable, and future-proof. From its user-friendly interface and extensive library of process mapping symbols to its innovative database-driven updates and real-time collaboration, Creately empowers teams to design, analyze, and refine processes effortlessly.
Whether you’re creating detailed BPMN diagrams or high-level flowcharts, Creately ensures your process mapping symbols remain consistent, accurate, and adaptable to your business’s evolving needs. Start leveraging Creately today to enhance your process mapping efforts and drive meaningful improvements across your organization.
FAQs About Process Mapping Symbols
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Resources:
Biazzo, S. (2002). Process mapping techniques and organisational analysis. Business Process Management Journal, 8(1), pp.42–52. doi: www.doi.org/10.1108/14637150210418629.
Johansson, A. and Nafisi, M. (2020). Process mapping in industry – the self-centred phenomenon and how it affects continuous improvements. Procedia CIRP, [online] 93, pp.718–723. doi: wwww.doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2020.03.046.
