depicts the sequence of events of a specific business process. Another type of flowchart is a functional flowchart. "A functional flowchart identifies how vertically oriented functional departments affect a process flowing horizontally across an organization." (Harrington 101) For example, the hiring process might begin with a manager realizing the need for another employee so his request would then be submitted to the controller to evaluate the budget. The controller would then ask the personnel department to conduct interviews to search for an employee to hire. Using either standard or block flowchart symbols works effectively with a functional flowchart. The last of the four basic flowcharts is a geographical flowchart. Using rectangles andbroken lines, geographic flowcharts depict various locations in a specific sequence. For example, when an employee is hired with a company he or she will show up at the lobby, then walk over to payroll to fill out forms, then walk over to the medical department to get insurance information, and then back to the lobby. Each department is represented by a rectangle and the route that he or she takes is represented by a broken line. "Geographic flowcharting is a useful tool for evaluating department layout and paperwork flow, and for analyzing product flow, by identifying excessive travel and storage delays." (Harrington,108) With the use of basic symbols, flowcharts graphically depict a process or group of pro-cesses in a particular sequence allowing for a better understanding of how a unit functions. 2Applying a flowchart is a constructive tool for business process improvement. 3...
