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Before a flowchart is developed, it is important that the analyst gains a clear understanding of a system by clearly defining any input, output, decisions and processes that occur. Once this information has been clearly defined then the flowchart can be developed.

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There are some rules that must be followed when developing a flowchart:

Every flowchart must begin with 'Start' and finish with 'End'.

A decision must have two flows coming from it; 'Yes' and 'No'.

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Flowcharts can be used to model all kinds of systems, not just computer systems. They can be used to break a process into small steps or to give an overview of a complete system.

People who are not involved in the IT industry can easily understand them. However, flowcharts do not translate easily into code and they can sometimes become so complex they can be hard to follow.

For these reasons flowcharts are used by the analyst to give a generalised overview of a system or the functions which make up a specific process.

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There are many different sets of symbols that can be used. As with DFDs and ERDs it is important that once a set of symbols has been selected it is used constantly throughout the flowchart. One set of symbols is shown below.

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Flowcharts are a diagrammatical representation of the operations/processes involved in a system. They are good at showing a general outline of the processing that is involved in the system under investigation but, generally, they do not relate very well to the actual software system which is eventually developed. Different shaped symbols are used to represent different actions.