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Activity��(Process Flow Diagram)

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PROCESS OVERVIEW – REVIEWING BUSINESS TRAVEL REQUESTS

It all starts when an employee identifies a need for travel (i.e. the timeframe, location, and customer that will be visited). He or she then goes to the company’s internal travel site and completes the travel request. Next, within the system, there is an automated review that determines (based on the remaining balance of the employee’s departmental travel budget) if there is money available for his or her travel. If none is available, the request is denied by the system. If funds are available, an e-mail notification is then sent to the employee’s manager who reviews the request and either approves or denies. (When doing so, the manager is provided his or her remaining budget for reference.)

If the employee’s manager approves the request, the company’s travel office purchases hotels, flights, and vehicle rentals, as needed. The employee does not have an opportunity to select from a list of preferred travel options.

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TRAVEL OFFICE

EMPLOYEE MANAGER

TRAVEL SYSTEM

EMPLOYEE

PROCESS FLOW – REVIEWING BUSINESS TRAVEL REQUESTS

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PROCESS FLOW – COMMON SYMBOLS

DECISION

ACTIVITY

OFF-PAGE CONNECTOR

START/END

FLOW

PRE-DEFINED PROCESS

(defined elsewhere)

DOCUMENT

(often shown where created)

ON-PAGE CONNECTOR

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PROCESS FLOW – THINGS TO REMEMBER

  • Activities should begin with a verb (“pack the order”)
  • Decisions should be a question and have “yes” and “no” outputs
  • Activities should have at least 1 arrow in and 1 arrow out
  • It should always have a start and end terminator
  • A swim lane could be a person or a system
  • Your chart should have a descriptive title and short summary.
  • Avoid lines that are diagonal or that cross other shapes.