How to describe a process so AI draws the right flowchart

The template

Copy and fill this in:

• Trigger: "The process starts when …"
• Steps: "[Who] [does what]." One sentence per step.
• Decisions: "If [condition], [what happens]. Otherwise, [what happens]."
• Exceptions: "If [something goes wrong], [what happens]."
• End: "The process ends when …"

Five rules that make the difference

1. Name the owner in every sentence. "Finance approves the invoice", not "the invoice is approved". Owners become lanes, and a missing owner forces the AI to guess.
2. One action per sentence. "Sales reviews the application and sends it to the back office" is two steps; write two sentences.
3. Make conditions explicit. "If the amount is above €5,000, the manager approves it. Otherwise it is paid directly." Both branches matter.
4. Close every loop. "If information is missing, the application goes back to the customer. After 14 days without an answer, it is closed."
5. Say how it ends. Each outcome ("account created", "request rejected") becomes an end point.

Example: before and after

Vague: "Handle refund requests, check them and pay if OK."

Precise: "A customer submits a refund request. Support checks the order date. If the order is older than 30 days, support refuses the request and informs the customer. Otherwise, support checks the product condition. If the product is damaged by the customer, the request is refused. Otherwise, finance pays the refund and support confirms it to the customer."

The second version produces three lanes, two decisions and clear endings. The first produces a guess.

Attach what you have

If the process involves software, attach the API specification (OpenAPI, Swagger or WSDL). Steps performed by the system can then be linked to real endpoints; see OpenAPI to flowchart. If you start from an existing procedure, clean it first by removing references to other documents and table of contents text, as explained in SOP to flowchart.

Length and language

Five to fifteen sentences cover most business processes. For larger ones, describe the main path first, then generate separate charts for sub-processes. Write in the language you want the labels in; the chart follows the language of the description, and you can ask for a translation later.

Then refine instead of rewriting

If the result is close but not right, do not start over. Ask for the change: "Move the credit check before the sales review." See editing a flowchart by chat, and the method behind the template in how to make a flowchart.

Try the template on your process.