Page 397 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)

Design and Improvement of Service Processes—Process Management 357

Table 10.1 Commonly Used Flowchart Symbols

Symbol Name Activity Represented
Boundary Identifies the beginning or end
(start or end) of a process. Start or End
can be written inside.
Activity or Identifies an activity or task in the
task process that changes input.
Usually, the name of the activity is
written inside.
Movement or Indicates movements of outputs
transportation between locations.

Inspection Identifies that the flow has
stopped in order to evaluate the
quality of the output or to obtain
an approval to proceed.
Delay Identifies when something must
wait or is placed in temporary
storage.

Storage Identifies when an output is in
storage waiting for a customer.

Decision Identifies a decision or branch
point in the process.
Document Identifies when the output of an
activity is recorded.

Database Identifies when the output of an
activity is electronically stored.

Connector Indicates that an output from this
flowchart will be input to another
flowchart.
Arrow Indicates the sequence and
direction of flow within the process
and usually transfers an output of
one activity to the next activity.