Types of Flowchart

Types of flowcharts

Different authors describe various types of flowcharts in different terms. These people include published experts such as Alan B. Sterneckert, Andrew Veronis, Marilyn Bohl and Mark A. Fryman.

Sterneckert, in his 2003 book Critical Incident Management, listed four popular flowchart types, framed around the concept of flow controls rather than the flow itself:

• Document Flowcharts: These “have the purpose of showing existing controls over document-flow through the components of a system. … The chart is read from left to right and documents the flow of documents through the various business units.”
• Data Flowcharts: These show “the controls governing data flows in a system. … Data flowcharts are used primarily to show the channels that data is transmitted through the system rather than how controls flow.”
• System Flowcharts: These “show the flow of data to and through the major components of a system such as data entry, programs, storage media, processors, and communication networks.”
• Program Flowcharts: These show “the controls placed internally to a program within a system.

Veronis , in his 1978 book Microprocessors: Design and Applications, outlined three flowchart types based on scope and level of detail:

• System Flowchart: Identifies the devices to be used.
• General Flowchart: Overview.
• Detailed Flowchart: Increased detail.

Bohl, in her 1978 book A Guide for Programmers, listed only two:

• System Flowchart.
• Program Flowchart.

But Fryman, in his 2001 book Quality and Process Improvement, differentiated the types in multiple ways from more of a business perspective than a computer perspective:

• Decision Flowchart.
• Logic Flowchart.
• Systems Flowchart.
• Product Flowchart.
• Process Flowchart.

Additional flowchart types defined by others include:

• Swimlane Diagram, a.k.a Swimlane Flowchart: To delineate who does what in cross-team processes.
• Workflow Flowchart: To document workflows, often involving tasks, documents and information in offices.
• Event-Driven Process Chain (EPC) Flowchart: To document or plan a business process.
• Specification and Description Language (SDL) Flowchart: To brainstorm computer algorithms using three basic components: system definition, block and process.

These related diagrams are also sometimes thought of as types of flowcharts:

• Data Flow Diagram (DFD): To map out the flow of information for any system or process.
• Process Flow Diagram (PFD), a.k.a. Process Flowchart: To illustrate the relationships between major components at an industrial plant.
• Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN 2.0): To model the steps of a planned business process.