How to set up a telephone flowchart

[Hospital_IT_Guy]

I need to put our business telephone auto-answer flow into a matrix for easy
reading. The flow goes like this.....To talk to A, push one, to talk to b,
push two, to hear hours of operation, push 3, etc. Then if you push 1, the
flow continues, e.g., if you want this, push 1, this push 2, etc. The flow
continues down to several levels.
I have Visio 2007 and would like to know if there is some kind of a template
that could help me put the wording on each level so that it would be easier
to read for some folks.

 

[AlEdlund]

Since (IMHExperience) most of these prompts are several seconds in duration.
I would put them into a Word document and book mark each of the individual
ones. I would then use visio's hyperlink to link to the individual
responses.
al

 

[John... Visio MVP]

I need to put our business telephone auto-answer flow into a matrix for
easy
reading. The flow goes like this.....To talk to A, push one, to talk to
b,
push two, to hear hours of operation, push 3, etc. Then if you push 1,
the
flow continues, e.g., if you want this, push 1, this push 2, etc. The
flow
continues down to several levels.
I have Visio 2007 and would like to know if there is some kind of a
template
that could help me put the wording on each level so that it would be
easier
to read for some folks.

What flavour of Visio 2007 are you using? (Std or Pro)

The business telephone auto-answer is also know as VRU (Voice response
Unit). Since the decision blocks are more than yes/no decisions, I have used
a shape similar to the "Single link list node" in the "memory Objects"
stencil. It is a single item block with a connection line. Stack a few
together and you you have a shape for the functionality you use.

If you want to start from stratch:
1) create a rectangle and place a connection point on the far right edge.
2) duplicate the shapes (about nine times) and create a stack of them.
3) Create another rectangle to place on top with a connection point in the
center ofthe top edge. Group the shapes together.

You know have a shape that you enter the prompt in the top rectangle and the
individual actions in the rectangles below. The actions resulting from a
choice are connected to the right side of the individual rectangles.

ie:

Who do you want to speak to?
1. Marketing -------------------------------->
2. Sales -------------------------------->
3. Support -------------------------------->



0. Operator -------------------------------->

You can get fancy with the shape by using custom properties to enter the
text and then checking if a rectangle is empty and setting the hieght ofthat
rectangle to zero. The reason for using the custom properties is that it
will give you an oppurtunity to restore a rectangle after it's height is
collapsed.

Also, in your flowchart, rather than using full text, abbreviate the
messages to keep the flowchart managable. You can use a Word document as a
script book to keep the full text. Use the message id to relate the
flowchart to the script. The other reason for using is a script book is that
the messages can be changed without altering the flow.

John...

John...

 

[John... Visio MVP]

If you are interested, I have created a shape that matches the description I
gave in the previous message. Just send an email to VisioMVP at Magma.ca and
I will send you the shape.

John... Visio MVP