Regardless of your specific role on a team or project, the work you do is part of a larger process. Understanding — and sometimes improving — that process is an important agenda item for both management and team members who value efficiency and accurate results.

Teams often meet to discuss process improvements. To make these discussions effective, however, team members need to understand the scope of the business process beyond their area of expertise.

A diagram of your business process can give your team members a common frame of reference when discussing changes and improvements. Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2003 features can help your team create a business process diagram that specifically reflects the steps in your workflow. Visio also offers many valuable business-specific features and templates to get your team off to a rapid start.

After you identify the process or problem that you want to illustrate, use the following resources to choose the best diagram type for your needs. You can review the major business process diagram types in general use, and learn how to use Visio to build them. Two general-purpose templates are also provided: one for business processes spanning multiple departments, and another for processes requiring detailed sub-steps. When your process is converted to a flowchart format, you and your colleagues can begin to analyze and improve the way you work from the same starting point.

Use the following articles and templates to help you develop, diagram, and diagnose the way you work as a business.

• I can see clearly now: Business processes in Visio (Demo)
  Use Visio 2003 to chart your business process and diagnose errors in your workflow.
• Illustrate business processes with Visio flowcharts (Article)
  Choose the right business workflow diagram for your needs.
• Business process diagrams (Article Index)
  Review articles about creating major business diagrams.
• Cross-functional flowchart (landscape, U.S. units) (Template)
  Use this template to diagram a process that spans multiple functional areas.
• Drill-down flowchart (landscape, U.S. units) (Template)
  Use this template to map out a general overview of your process, with corresponding details about each process sub-step.