What Is It Good For?
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A process chart is a good
brainstorming tool to decide what issues affect other issues.
While flow charts show one path through a process, process charts
show all of the factors involved in a process and how these factors
are interrelated. By focusing on relationships between issues,
the chart can unveil significant aspects that might otherwise
be overlooked.
A process chart depicts influences and processes as groups
of circles, arrows, squares, etc. These diagrams can take on many
different forms, depending on the relationships you want to depict.
Charts can be highly stylized--spatial accuracy is not required
for this overview.
Charts that show processes such as water cycles, linked relationships
such as dam operations to fish survival rates, etc., help give
the reader the overall view necessary to understand the components
of the study. These charts can be laid on an actual map to show
how elements affect each other or can take the form of a flow
chart to depict the steps involved in a process.
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How Do I Use It?
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- List the steps in the process or links in the relationship
that you want to depict.
- Create a key to show whether something is a cause, result,
issue, decision point, or other pertinent factor.
- Either superimpose these steps or links onto an existing
map of the area, draw a stylized map that highlights these steps
or links, or create a flow chart that shows a process.
- Clearly label these steps or links.
- Draw influence arrows between these steps or links. (Different
types of influences may require different types of arrows.)
You may want to highlight a central decision, result, or resource
by placing this main parameter in the middle of the page.
Keep the relationships as simple as possible. For reciprocal
relationships, depict only the stronger influence. For example,
if ocean harvest of salmon is a stronger influence on ocean survival
than ocean survival is on ocean harvest, draw the arrow in one
direction, pointing towards ocean survival.
Use one process chart for each main resource or parameter.
Use the same symbols throughout a document or study to avoid
confusing the reader. (If a decision is shown as a red diamond
in one chart, then it should be shown as a red diamond in all
charts.)
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