All templates

Process Flowchart

Map workflows, decision points, and handoffs so everyone understands the process the same way. Try it in Elium.

Example: Fictional content for illustration purposes

Purchase order approval: orders above €5,000


Department
Procurement
Status
Active
Process Owner
HDHélène Dupont
Version
v2.3 (last reviewed 10/01/2026)

🎯 Purpose

Ensure all purchase orders above €5,000 follow the correct approval chain before commitment to the supplier. This process applies to all departments and covers both one-off purchases and recurring contracts above the threshold.

📝 Process steps

  1. Requester submits purchase request via the procurement portal with cost centre, budget code, and supplier quote attached.
  2. Line Manager reviews and approves within 48 hours. If rejected, returns to requester with comments.
  3. Decision point: Is the order above €25,000? If yes → proceed to Finance Director approval. If no → proceed to step 4.
  4. Procurement Team validates supplier terms, checks preferred supplier list, and issues the purchase order.
  5. Requester receives PO confirmation and forwards to supplier for fulfilment.

👥 Roles and handoffs

StepRoleSLA
1. Submit requestRequesterN/A
2. Manager approvalLine Manager48 hours
3. Finance approval (if >€25K)Finance Director72 hours
4. Issue POProcurement Team24 hours
This is an example. Create yours in Elium

The Process Flowchart Template helps you visualise and document how work actually flows through your organisation. Map out steps, decision points, and handoffs so everyone understands the process the same way. It's the blueprint that turns "that's just how we do things" into something you can actually improve.

Category

Operations

Try this template in Elium

What is it?

A process flowchart template is a structured format for documenting business processes step by step, showing the sequence of actions, decision points, roles involved, and expected outcomes. It translates how work actually gets done into a visual, shareable document that anyone in the organisation can follow.

Without a process documentation template, workflows exist only in people’s heads. When an experienced employee leaves, the process leaves with them. When a new team member joins, they learn by watching rather than reading. A structured template captures this knowledge once, in a format that is searchable, updatable, and accessible to everyone, turning tribal knowledge into organisational knowledge.

Who should use this template?

This process documentation template is for teams that need to map and standardise workflows:

  • Operations Managers: document end-to-end processes so execution is consistent across sites and shifts

  • Quality Leads: create auditable process records that meet ISO and regulatory requirements

  • Process Improvement Teams: map current-state workflows before identifying bottlenecks and redesigning

  • Knowledge Managers: ensure critical processes are captured and maintained as organisational assets

How to create this template in Elium

  1. Open the Template Builder: Go to your profile menu and select the Template Builder tab, or click “+ Create” and choose “Create a new template”.

  2. Set the scope: Choose an icon, enable the template, and decide whether it applies platform-wide or to specific spaces (e.g. your Operations or Quality space).

  3. Add structured fields: Click “Field” to add metadata: text fields for process name and reference number, a tag field for department, a user field for process owner, a number field for version, a date field for last reviewed, a tag field for status (pre-populate with “Draft”, “Active”, “Under Review”), and a text field for linked SOP reference. Mark process name and owner as mandatory.

  4. Build the process structure: Use the “+” button to add content blocks: text blocks for purpose and scope, a numbered list block for process steps, a table block for roles and handoffs (columns: step, role, input, output), and a text block for exceptions and escalations.

  5. Preview and save: Review the template layout, then save. Process owners can now select it when documenting new workflows, and you can apply it to existing content in bulk.

How AI helps

Capture faster. Describe a process verbally or paste notes from a process-mapping workshop into Elium’s AI. It structures the steps into a numbered sequence with roles and decision points, so the process owner reviews rather than drafts from scratch.

Retrieve smarter. A team member unsure about a handoff asks Elium’s AI: “Who approves purchase orders over 10,000 EUR in the procurement process?” The AI returns the specific step and approval role from the documented process: the current procedure, not an outdated version.

Why teams use Elium for this

Process documentation is only useful when the people executing the process can find it at the moment they need it. If flowcharts live in Visio files on a shared drive, they are invisible to frontline teams. Elium makes processes accessible: structured templates keep every process in the same format, version control tracks changes, and search lets anyone find the right procedure from a natural question.

Bouygues Construction, a global construction group with 53,500 employees across 80 countries, uses Elium to centralise operational knowledge. Process documentation, procedures, and best practices live in a single searchable platform, accessible to every employee in their own language.

FAQ

Common questions about process flowchart templates

A process flowchart is a visual document that maps the sequence of steps, decision points, and roles involved in a business process. It makes workflows explicit rather than tribal, ensuring consistent execution and easier onboarding. Without documented processes, quality varies by individual and knowledge leaves when people do.

A complete process documentation template includes metadata (process name, owner, version, status, linked SOP) and a body covering purpose, scope, numbered process steps with roles and decision points, handoff descriptions, and exception handling. Version history ensures teams always follow the current procedure.

Documented processes reduce errors because teams follow the same steps every time. They accelerate onboarding because new members read rather than shadow. They support continuous improvement because you can analyse and optimise a mapped process. They satisfy audit requirements because procedures are versioned and traceable.

Start with the trigger: the event that initiates the process. Document each step in sequence with a named role and clear output. Mark decision points where the flow branches. Include exception paths so teams know what to do when the standard flow breaks. Keep descriptions concise and link to detailed SOPs where needed.

A process flowchart maps the overall workflow, showing the sequence of steps, decision points, and roles from start to finish. A standard operating procedure provides detailed instructions for executing a single step or task within that workflow. Flowcharts show the big picture; SOPs provide the detail.

Back to all templates

Try this template in Elium

See it on your own knowledge.

Customise it to fit your team's workflow. Get started for free.