One of the most mundane parts of an identity and access management (‘IAM’) project may be creating process flowcharts. It may not seem very important to the technical team such as engineers and even testers later during the testing phases. But it matters a lot to the non-technical stakeholders of the project. IAM requirement specifications may be well-written but most people are visual learners and can see things more clearly when they see lines and shapes and other representations than just pure words in a document. Remember, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
When it comes to understanding the identity lifecycle management, process flowcharts can give a bird’s eye-view of the different events and triggers and what happens at a high-level from start to finish. This blog discusses how to leverage the use of flowcharts in documenting requirements in an IAM project.
What is a Flowchart?
Enrolling for post-graduate studies? There is a flowchart for that.
Planning to buy a house? An agent has a flowchart guide for that.
Need to consult a doctor? There should be a flowchart or something similar in the hospital bulletin that a patient can follow to get a consultation appointment.
In general, a flowchart is an illustration of a specific process or an activity. It should show and breakdown the steps of that activity from start to end. There might be some steps in which succeeding steps will vary depending on the input and conditions that needs to be checked.
If there is a series of steps for an activity to be completed, a flowchart can help to layout everything and make sure nothing will be missed out.
How to create a Flowchart?
There are five (5) basic symbols used in a flowchart.
| Symbol | Name | Purpose |
| Oval – Start/ End | Indicates the beginning or end of a process | |
| Rectangle – Action/ Operation | Represents a step or task in the process (e.g., fill-out a form, login to the system, write an email, pay at the cashier) | |
| Parallelogram – Data Entry/ Result | Represents input to or output from a process (e.g., provide full name, enter mobile number, specify marital status) | |
| Diamond – Decision Point | Represents a decision that leads to different outcomes (e.g., Yes/No) | |
| Circle – Jump Point | Used to connect flowchart sections across pages or areas (a letter is labeled in the circle and should always be used in pairs within the same page in the flowchart) | |
| Arrow – Flowline | Shows the direction of process flow (one step may branch out to several steps in parallel) |
Some Good Practices
Some of the key considerations for creating a good flowchart are as follows:
- A flowchart represents the high-level activities of a process. Be concise about what steps to include and make sure that the main steps are properly covered. Details can be added in a narrative below the flowchart.
- Clearly identify and focus on one process at-a-time. There might be sub-processes that can have its own separate flowchart.
- Use the circle symbol for redirection very sparingly. Two pairs of those can easily clutter the whole flowchart. Best if it does not have to be used at all.
- Do not leave any hanging processes. If a step does not have any succeeding steps, make sure to direct it to the “End” symbol.
- Check the flow lines. Make sure the arrowhead points to the next step correctly. It can easily confuse people when one of those lines is pointing incorrectly.
- Maximize the diamond (decision) symbol. If there are only 3 outcomes in a decision step, use it instead of branching it out to 2 diamond symbols. Ex: Is the person’s birthday in the past, at the present date, or in the future.
- Simplify the statements in each symbol. When creating/ plotting the chart, it might be tempting to put more details to be very specific when laying out the process/ steps. It can easily fill those symbols, and a wordy chart is not very pleasant to look at.
Appreciating the “Big Picture”
When a flowchart is carefully created, most people can easily go through it and get a grasp of what is happening or what will happen overall. In an IAM project, users (especially non-technical) will appreciate the “to-be” changes in the flowchart and compare it to their current process. It may also help them uncover parts of the process where risks could be present and change it accordingly. They can also continuously improve the process and optimize things. Flowcharts help the stakeholders to zoom out, give a good perspective of the project and enable them to see the “Big picture”.
