TECHNIQUES OF FLOW-CHARTING

Louis A. Schultheiss

INTRODUCTION,

by

Edward

Heiliger

Automation of libraries

must

come

about _throughclose coopera-tion between librarians and

"machine

_people."

Each

must

understand something of the other's _specialty.

For

a starter, a good

common

language is _{provided by flow charts, which are simple}

work-

flow charts written in _yes-no terms.

_They

can be quickly understood by

the

"machine

people," and the _technique of

_{making them}

can be learned by a librarian in _{a very}short time.

Because

each

member

of the _library staff

knows

his

own work

better thandoes anyone else, he is, therefore, better qualified to do the flow charting ofhis work. In _{flow charting the library's work,} all of the stafftake part and contribute to the _process of_preparing for automation. Staff

members

lose

some

of their fears in the

proc-ess andtake pride intheir contribution _{to the joint} effort. _This grass-roots _{approach develops} interest in the whole

problem

and

makes

the next step easier.

The

staff

member

benefits _by learningto think of his

work

in

terms

of logical alternatives.

He

discovers that the old routines

were

illogical in

many

ways

and that

_many

_{changes are} needed, automation or no.

Reasons

for

work

conflict areuncovered and

outmoded

routines left over

from

previous changes are discovered.

One

by-product has been a

new

kindof staff _{manual, consisting} of flow charts.

An

uninitiated staff

member

seems

to beable to

under-stand the _workings of a

new

department

much more

quickly by reading

flow charts than _{by reading}text. It is also easier to see each

depart-ment's relation to the whole libraryby studyingthe whole library's charting.

Louis A. Schultheiss is Technical Services Librarian, University of Illinois Library, Chicago Undergraduate Division, and

Edward

Heil-iger, formerly Librarian, University of Illinois Library, Chicago Undergraduate Division, is Director of

The

Florida Atlantic

Univer-sity Library,

Boca

Raton, Florida.

It is evident that data_processingwill be

most

effective

when

all of the _library's

work

is tied into one

system

and

when

that

_system

is

planned before the _{implementation} of _any part ofthe

work

is begun.

Flow charting is an essential part of _{planning the}

_system

andis the first step that

must

be taken.

The

_{paper by Mr.} Schultheiss includes a description of the flow charting

method

and this can be a guide for those interested in _usingthis _approach.

A

_complete set of the charts

developed inthe _University of Illinois _study can be foundin the book

published on the project.1 _{E. H.}

"Flow

-charting* is a very broad

term

used to describe a

num-ber of _chartingand

_diagramming

_operations,

_many

of

them

not

pecu-liar to _{data processing.} Decision _{flow charting} and

work

flow charting and

diagramming

have been usedin other fields for

many

years, although the concept

seems

to _{be a relatively}

new

one

among

librarians.

Since this conference is

made

up primarilyof librarians, I

will _{concentrate on decision flow charting, with a} few

examples

of other types, and will

_{show samples}

of _{both early} and recent

work

at the University ofIllinois _{Undergraduate} Division _Library at

_Navy

Pier, Chicago, during thepast three years.

All librarians

know

about _{procedure manuals,} instruction sheets,

and other

means

of _{maintaining uniformity} of _{procedures and}of in-structing

new

personnel.

The primary

difficulty with these (other than the fact that _{they always}

seem

to beoutof date) isthat _{they give} only broad steps, on anaction basis, and cannot

show

HOW

to

make

the value _{judgments and}decisions that

must

be

made

ifthe procedure

is tobe carried out _{intelligently.}

Flow

charts, on theother hand,

combine

both physical actions

and decision

_making

in one logical flow.

The

type of operation (action, decision _requirement, hold, etc.) is indicated bythe shape ofthe box surrounding the written inscription.

The

choice of_{box shapes and} sizes

_may

become

very elaborate and representational, and

may

be

transcribed in avariety of formats; the

Head

of _{our Data Processing}

Department

has often _jokingly

remarked

that _byusing flow charts and

magnetictape reels

we

have rediscovered the pictogram and the scroll and are calling this progress.

For

work

at

_Navy

_{Pier, however,} choices

were

limited to a small

number

ofthe shapes provided by the

IBM

_Diagramming

Template:

1. Circles areused to indicate the startor the end of a

2.

Diamonds

are used to indicate the entranceof material

from

another flow sequence, or its exit to _{another sequence.}

3. _{Rectangles are used}to indicate

some

sort of action.

4.

Hexagons

are

used

to _{indicate holding operations} of all kinds.

5.

Round-ended

boxes are used to _{indicate questions} and de-cision _{requirements.}

The

size chosen at _anyparticular time depends entirely on the length of the inscription to be contained, and the aesthetic

whim

ofthe

person doing the

diagramming.

Decision flow charts are so constructed thatall_questions are answerable by a 'yes* or a "no," and there

must

be both a "yes* and

a "no"

answer

to each _question. Ifthere _{is not,} there is no question

becausethere is no choice.

And

there can be no

_{"maybe* answers}

in flow _charting. Ifthere are several choices _possible at a particular

point, the

most

likely choice is _{posed as} the first_question; ifthe

an-swer

to that question is "no," the next

most

likely choice is posed,

andso on

down

the line until a _"yes"

answer

is reached oruntil _only

one choice

remains

and is no longer a matter of_question.

Before _going on to the actual techniques ofdecision flow chart-ingorto an examination of

_samples

ofactual

working

charts, here

are afew basic rules:

1. Flows cannot

come

to a dead end. It is _important that no

procedure be left dangling; material

must

either exit to

another flow or

come

to _{a complete and} indicated stop with-out further requirement for action.

2.

There must

be twoalternatives ateach decision point.

As

alreadyindicated, one

must

be a "yes" andthe other a "no."

Two

of one kind or a total of

more

than two are_logical

impossibilities.

3.

_{Wording must}

be sufficiently precise for both questions and

actions to _{be clearly understood.} It is entirelypossible that the

_wording

of_inscriptions will be

more

difficult in

some

cases than the delineation ofthe procedural flow itself.

4.

The

flow _chart, to _{be valuable,}

must

be an accurate picture ofthe

_way

the

work

is _{really done, rather than} ofthe

_way

the _{supervisor would} like to have it done:

(1) Decisions

must

be

made

at the points indicatedon the charts.

(2) Actions

must

be charted in the sequence in whichthey

are actually performed.

(3) Actions and decisions

must

be indicated as being

per-formed

_bythe _persons actually doing them.

There

are

many

ways

of _{constructingpreliminary} flow charts.

Perhaps one of the easiestis to indicate each action, decision, or other operation on a _separate slip ofpaper andthen to arrange the slips on a corkboard or to tape

them

onto a large surface. This will eliminate a great deal of _{tearingup and starting over, as} few people are able to visualize a flow chart inthe beginningor to estimate properly the

amount

of_space it will take.

The

staff at

_Navy

Pier began with small slips of paper, grease pencils, cellophane tape, and a poster typewriter; the slips

were

taped to large sheets of jute board, and grease pencil lines

were

eventually

drawn

onto the boards to connectthevarious steps (see

Example

1). For purposes of

crowding as

much

as possible ontoone

8-l/2"x

11" sheet, the slips

usedin this

_example

are

much

smaller than those

we

_{actually used.}

"P"

slips are about right, with boards of about 30"

x

36" inches.

After steps in _{a givenprocess have been}written on slips, boxed,

and arranged on the _{backingboard, flows are traced through} to be sure that_{they are mechanically correct;} i.e., have no dead ends, have theproper

number

andvariety of choices, etc.

When

this has been accomplished, itis usually well toreview the

work

thus far with

another staff

member

who

has

some

_knowledge ofthe _{procedure under} examination. This

_may

not lead to _{continuing friendships, but} itdoes

increase the chances of _accuracy. Then, after errors have been

cor-rected _{and missing} steps inserted, the entire chart is _ready for transfer to

some more

_permanent

and

manageable

form.

Do

not be

too upset ifthe first fewcharts cannotbe corrected at _all,

or

if

another

member

of the staffwalks

up

and immediately sees the

an-swer

to the

problem

that has

been

_{stumping you} for the _past half-hour; this is _somethingof a

new

technique to

most

librarians, and it

also requires the ability tostand offand see a familiar routine as if

it

were

_beingobserved for the firsttime.

There

are at least two

common

_ways

of _{transcribing flow charts} to paper:

from

top to _bottom, and

from

left to _right. In_{the beginning,} the staff at

_Navy

Pier

were

_taught to chart

from

top to bottom. This

technique is the one

used

by

IBM

and

works very

well on short flows.

The

other

method

of _{transcribing,}

from

left_{to right,} isused by the

Burroughs

Company

and is the

method

now

used for

new work

within the Technical Services Division at

_Navy

_{Pier, though}

we

continue to

use the

IBM

template.

The primary

reason for the _change

was

_simply one of convenience; these charts are used _{a great deal} for _training

and instructional purposes, andit is easier to _{connect distant portions} of the

same

routine _by lines rather than _by exit _symbols. Such entrance and exit

_symbols

seem

to bedifficult for the clerical

mind

to understand, and they always

seem

to feel that _something else is

going on betweenthe _{point of exit} andthe point of re-appearance. So

accordion-foldthe whole _thing

when

we

are finished; by doing this,

we

can keep both the flow chart and the

accompanying

procedures

write-up inthe

same

notebook and both canbe consulted without havingto turnthe notebookat a 90 _angle.

_Examples

2 and 3 are illustrations of _{transcription.}

_Example

2 is an elaboration of

_Example

1, reading

from

top-to-bottom; and

Example

3 is the

same

as

_Example

2, but is

transcribed

from

left to _right.

Examples

4, 5, and 6 indicate three generations in the flow

charting of the

same

_procedure.

The

first operation

was

done for the

Information

Systems

Section of General Electric in _{the spring}of 1960,

and

was

laid out invery broad steps

(Example

4).

Example

5 is a portion of the

same

procedure, as revisedin_{July of} 1961.

Examples

6-

A

and

6-B

are a revision ofthe

same

procedure as it is carried

out at the present time.

Example

7 is a bit different. In this case

we

have a

diagram

of

proposed

system

flow for a circulation_system. If the

_system

outlined in

_Example

7 is _putinto _{operation, the "people flow"} or decisionflow, will _{go something}like what is

shown

in

_Examples

8-A

and 8-B.

Example

9 is an illustration of the

_{Burroughs Company's}

flow charting, and

shows

some

differences in

symbols

andtechnique.

Example

10 is

somewhat

more

pictorial thanthe ones

we

have seen sofar, and is _{a very sweeping}descriptionofthe conversionof catalog data contained on punched cards to _magnetictape and toa book catalog.

The

final _example,

_Example

_11, is of a completely different sort. This one is an

example

of a block _{diagram, and} contains one block for each

computer

operation. After completion,

diagrams

of this typeare coded into the language ofthe _{computer, punched} into _cards,

and areput into the

_computer

itself.

REFERENCES

1. _Schultheiss, Louis A., et. al.

Advanced

Data Processing in the University Library.

New

York,

Scarecrow

Press, 1962.

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