Visio Process Map Software: How to Use it

Visio is Windows software for creating process maps, Lean 6 Sigma diagrams, and other documentation and mapping tools. Visio is not available for Mac IOS, but Mac users can access it through Office 365 online.

Example of a process map created in Visio.

Creating a Process Map with Visio

1. Open the Visio app.
2. Select Basic Diagram.
   
3. Click Create.
   
4. Formatting
   1. Select Design.
   2. Click the Down arrow to move to the next row of designs.
   3. We use Modern – Bubble as it is easy to read.
      
5. Border & Title
   1. Select Design.
   2. We use the Alphabet border and title.
      
   3. You will see VBackground-1 as a separate tab.
      
   4. Enter your title (if you will have more than one page, delete the title and put it on each separate page).
6. Switch tabs to Page-1.
7. Pick your shapes
   1. Basic Shapes
   2. More Shapes → Business → Business Process → Six Sigma Flowchart Shapes
      
8. Start at the very beginning
   1. Start shape
   2. Process Steps
   3. Drag in your shape
      
9. Connectors
   1. On Home Tab, you will see
      1. Pointer Tool
      2. Connector
      3. Text
         
   2. Pointer Tab is what you want to use when you are adding/moving shapes – Ctrl+1
   3. Connector is how you add arrows – Ctrl+3
   4. Text allows you to add text inside boxes or anywhere on the page – Ctrl+2
10. Spacing – magic green guidelines show spacing between shapes. Important to be consistent.
11. Text—Click on the shape to add text. The default font is Franklin Gothic, but we use Arial per the UTHSC Branding guidelines.
    1. Click outside shape to add text
    2. Insert Text Box
12. Be sure to save your work!!
    1. File > Save As

Remember: The more detail, the better!

Let’s try an exercise:

How to bake a cake - think of all the steps needed to bake a cake and create a process map of those steps in Visio.