Real thrill just begins, considering that after becoming able to model and draw your processes, you will be able to see through your company better than the majority of company owners. However, it leads us to the next question: What shall we do with the ready process drawings or refined process models?
Today we have a look into the world of professional flowchart tools to see options for process drawing.
In case we decided to prepare flowcharts for our workflows, it is crucial to choose a drawing tool that fits at least the following needs:
Luckily, today we have many free options to choose from, when looking for a flowchart drawing tool. However, professional tools, such as Microsoft Visio are paid solutions, offering great functions such as collaboration or cloud sharing. Using these tools is only viable when editing processes everyday on a professional level. Free solutions the other hand are satisfactory for common process editing needs. In our experience, such tools are great when starting process modeling. Let’s see some of these tools!
The first solution we examine is Draw.io, a free online solution, available from any web browser. After registration and login, we see the main screen. On the left menu in this screen we can find the process elements such as steps, connectors, decisions among others. By clicking on the element we wish to use, it moves to the editor area, and its properties can be set freely. In case of connectors, their direction can of course be set too. In case of connectors, there is always a breakpoint at the middle, so mind this when setting up a connector. The break comes handy when drawing right angle or different angle connectors. Draw.io can integrate with Google Drive or other online storage tools and ready flowcharts can be exported to HTML, PDF or XML formats. All in all, Draw.io is a great tool for starting process modeling. It is free, flexible and user friendly. However in case you are looking for an on premise solution, see the next tool!
Evolus Pencil by default is not a flowchart tool, but a wireframing solution for software development. On the other hand it contains everything needed for process modeling, so we do suggest it for this purpose too. After download and installation it can be used immediately and is able to create professional process models. Usage is similar to Draw.io – choose the element you want to use from the left menu and draw the process flowchart. It can also be saved locally, exported and it is the same professional looking result as in the case of Draw.io.
In case we would like to create professional process models is standard visual tools, we can do this easily with free applications online or offline. The main principles are the same in both cases: by using standard process elements, all business processes will become transparent and comprehensible.
