How to create a functional flow diagram

- So where do you start? The answer always starts with the external entity whose relationship you are looking to analyze. In nearly all cases, it is the customer that initiates the process, based on their needs, wants or expectations. The functional flow diagram is the next level of detail. By focusing on a single external entity, you can map out what functions are required inside your organization, providing context to the relationship that you are now analyzing. Think of it a bit like a context diagram within a context diagram. Rather than providing context to the organization itself, you are now providing context to the interaction between these two entities. Choose the external entity in the interaction that you want to focus on in the functional flow diagram. In this case, we will choose the customer making a purchase. Have a think about all the potential stakeholders or functional areas within your organization that are involved throughout the end-to-end process you are analyzing. With all of the potential stakeholders listed, you're now in a great position to work with them in validating their involvement. The best way to achieve this is to run high-level process workshops with subject matter experts from the areas that you believe are impacted, especially if you are not. It's a great to whiteboard each function from end-to-end. These stakeholders will be able to tell you if their respective areas are involved or not. We will now walk through an example on how to create a functional flow diagram. Firstly, we start with drawing an oval and labeling inside the oval with the narrative customer. The customer initiates a purchase request against the merchant selling the product. You will note that we do not map what was purchased, but only capture that a purchase has been requested. The merchant then needs to determine if the customer has authority to make the purchase by sending a request for approval to the authorizations department. The decision on the request for approval is returned to the merchant and the merchant sends a charge receipt to the customer. The authorization department also sends the purchase information on to the billing department. The billing department is required to send a bill to the customer. The customer makes the purchase payment, which is the received by the billing department and a statement is sent to the customer. The customer happily leave the merchant with their newly purchased goods. So the core of creating a functional flow diagram is, one, draw a circle to represent each functional area. Secondly, connect the areas with arrows to illustrate the relationships. And thirdly, label the arrows to identify what is exchanged in the two areas. Remember, at no time does the functional flow diagram mention anything about how the merchant requests approval or how the billing department issues a receipt. These steps are captured in a process flowchart at a later stage. Then, lastly, be sure to check back in with the stakeholders that represented each of the functional area and validate your functional flow diagram. They'll be delighted to see that their area has been captured correctly and you'll be prepared for more detailed analysis.