Flowchart

This is an accepted version of this page A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents a workflow or process.

A flowchart can also be defined as a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm, a step-by-step approach to solving a task.

Flowcharts are used in analyzing, designing, documenting or managing a process or program in various fields.

For instance, Kaoru Ishikawa defined the flowchart as one of the seven basic tools of quality control, next to the histogram, Pareto chart, check sheet, control chart, cause-and-effect diagram, and the scatter diagram.

Art Spinanger, a 1944 graduate of Mogensen's class, took the tools back to Procter and Gamble where he developed their Deliberate Methods Change Program.

"[4] Douglas Hartree in 1949 explained that Herman Goldstine and John von Neumann had developed a flowchart (originally, diagram) to plan computer programs.

[7] The original programming flowcharts of Goldstine and von Neumann can be found in their unpublished report, "Planning and coding of problems for an electronic computing instrument, Part II, Volume 1" (1947), which is reproduced in von Neumann's collected works.

[9] Some techniques such as UML activity diagrams and Drakon-charts can be considered to be extensions of the flowchart.

Sterneckert (2003) suggested that flowcharts can be modeled from the perspective of different user groups (such as managers, system analysts and clerks), and that there are four general types:[10] Notice that every type of flowchart focuses on some kind of control, rather than on the particular flow itself.

Some are:[19][20] For parallel and concurrent processing the Parallel Mode horizontal lines[21] or a horizontal bar[22] indicate the start or end of a section of processes that can be done independently: Any drawing program can be used to create flowchart diagrams, but these will have no underlying data model to share data with databases or other programs such as project management systems or spreadsheet.