CEN 210 – COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN ENGINEERING Engr.

Ayesha Zaveri
DESIGN

LAB 05
INTRODUCTION TO MICROSOFT VISIO

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 WHAT IS MICROSOFT VISIO AND WHAT DOES IT
DO?

Microsoft Visio can be used to create simple or complicated diagrams. It offers a wide variety of
built-in shapes, objects and stencils to work with. You can also make your own shapes and
import them. The driving ideal behind Visio is to make diagramming as easy as possible for the
user.
 HOW TO GET STARTED?
Dozen of templates including:
Block Diagrams
Network Diagrams
Flowchart
Cross functional flowcharts
Organization charts
Basic Diagrams
WHY TO USE VISIO?
Enterprise users at corporate level
Due to sending it to the entire department
USING VISIO
 Visio comes packing a lot of
built-in shapes you can add to
your creation.
FLOWCHARTS
Diagrammatic representation that illustrates the sequence of operations to be
performed to arrive at a solution
Serve the following purpose:
◦ Easier to understand
◦ Effective program documentation
◦ Explaining a program or discussing a solution is made easy

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SYMBOLS USED IN A FLOWCHART
Start or end of the program

Computational steps

Input or output instructions

Decision making and branching

Connectors of two parts of a program

n n

Flow of the program

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CREATE A SIMPLE FLOWCHART
Step 1: Choose and open a template
Start Visio.
Under Template Categories, click Flowchart.
In the Flowchart window, double-click Basic
Flowchart.
CREATE A SIMPLE FLOWCHART
Templates include related shapes in collections
called stencils. For example, one of the stencils
that opens with the Basic Flowchart template
is Basic Flowchart Shapes.
CREATE A SIMPLE FLOWCHART
Step 2: Drag and connect shapes
To create your diagram, drag shapes from the
stencil onto the blank page and connect them
to one another. There are several ways to
connect shapes, but for now use AutoConnect.
Drag the Start/End shape from the Basic
Flowchart Shapes stencil onto the drawing
page, and then release the mouse button.
CREATE A SIMPLE FLOWCHART
Hold the pointer over the shape so that the blue arrows show.

Move your pointer on top of the blue arrow that points toward where you want to place the second shape
A mini toolbar appears that contains shapes from the top of the stencil.
CREATE A SIMPLE FLOWCHART
Click the square Process shape.
The Process shape is added to the diagram, automatically connected to the Start/End shape.
If the shape you want to add isn’t on the mini toolbar, you can drag the shape you want from
the Shapes window and drop it on a blue arrow. The new shape is connected to the first shape
as if you had clicked it on the mini toolbar.
CREATE A SIMPLE FLOWCHART
Step 3: Add text to shapes
1. Click the shape and start typing.

2.When you finish typing, click on a blank area of the drawing page or press ESC.
FLOWCHARTS (EXAMPLE)
TO FIND THE SUM OF TWO NUMBERS

Start

Read two numbers

Add them up

Display the sum

Stop
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BRANCHING
Process of following one of two or more alternate
paths of program logic

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BRANCHING (EXAMPLE 1)
TO FIND IF A NUMBER IS ODD OR EVEN

Start

Read a number

Divide it by 2

No Yes
remainder=0?

Display Odd Display Even

Stop 16
BRANCHING (EXAMPLE 2)
TO FIND THE GREATEST OF THE THREE NUMBERS
Start

Read a, b, c
Yes No
Is a>b

Yes No Yes No
Is a>c Is c>b

Display a Display c Display b

Stop 17
GENERAL FORM OF FLOWCHARTS
INVOLVED IN BRANCHING

? ?

Compute Compute Compute

(i) (ii)
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LOOPING
Refers to the repeated use of one or more steps

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BASIC FLOWCHART FOR A LOOP

Yes
Condition

No

Compute

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LOOPING
GIVEN THE INFORMATION SUCH AS NAME AND AGE AND TO MAINTAIN A LIST OF PEOPLE AGED ABOVE 50

Start

Read name, age

Is age above 50? No

Yes
Add details of the person to list

Is he the last No
person?
Yes
Stop
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CONNECTORS
In preparing flowcharts for complex problems
◦ The flowchart may not fit in a single page
◦ It may be difficult to interconnect all boxes directly

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CONNECTORS (EXAMPLE)
 To find the largest of three numbers a, b and c

Start 1 2

Read a, b, c
Yes No Yes No
Is a>c Is c>b

Yes No Display a Display c Display b

Is a>b

1 2 Stop

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 TIPS FOR DRAWING A FLOWCHART
First see the logic of the problem and draw the main-path of the flowchart
 Add all the branches and loops
A flowchart can have only one Start point and one Stop point
Every step should be represented
Use descriptive terms that aptly represent the logic of a problem
Should be easily understandable

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Workflow
A Workflow is a sequence of tasks that processes a set of data. Workflows occur across every
kind of business and industry. Anytime data is passed between humans and/or systems, a
workflow is created. Workflows are the paths that describe how something goes from being
undone to done, or raw to processed.

Workflows are the way people get work done, and can be illustrated as series of steps that need
to be completed sequentially in a diagram
EXAMPLE
EXAMPLE