Lucidchart
The Zero to Hero Guide_

Introduction

You’ve done a pretty good job of running your business so far.

You’ve put in the hours.

And now you’re ready to kick back and scale up.

One problem:

Now is not the time to jump into a growth strategy.

Why?

These are just a few of the causes of your inefficiency.

And when you’re ready to scale up your business, you’ll end up scaling up your problems, too.

There’s only one way to fix this:

Find out what’s holding your business back.

And how can you do that?

With something called process mapping.

It gives your team a chance to visually represent the inputs, outputs and individual steps that make up one of your business processes.

From there, you can see any inefficiency or bottlenecks.

It’s not as tedious or slow as it sounds.

(You don’t even need pen and paper!)

There are lots of online tools that can help you map out your processes with ease.

So, I decided to tell you about one of the most popular ones:

Lucidchart.

Contents

Chapter 1

What Is Lucidchart?

Let’s define what Lucidchart actually is.

Lucidchart is a visual productivity diagramming tool.

It helps businesses represent their task and data visualisation in a flowchart model.

Basically, it’s an online process mapping platform.

Lucidchart can show your team their workflows in depth…

And show you how to make them more efficient.

You can diagram all of the cogs turning in your enterprise:

Your employees. Your business processes. Your business’s systems.

It gives you clarity into your operations by exposing the individual steps in your business processes.

Then, you can shine a spotlight on each step and highlight any inefficiency.

From there, you can redraft the process.

Have a chance to brainstorm different ideas.

And then see how they might look in a workflow!

Aside from helping to map processes, it has two other purposes:

Optimising your organisation.

Visualising your technology systems.

The team behind Lucidchart’s goal is to “bring teams together to make better decisions and build the future”.

It’s all about the power of process mapping.

And we know one or two things about how that can benefit a business...

Lucidchart can be used for a number of different teams.

Remote teams, software engineers, and educators can use this mapping tool to their advantage.

Sounds good, right?

Chapter 2

What Do They Offer?

Lucidchart is a very straightforward tool to use.

In fact, no executive should be turning down the opportunity to map out their processes.

But they’ve made things really easy for you.

They’ve got a range of products and solutions to pick from.

You just need to match up your needs with what they have on offer!

So, I thought I’d jump start that process for you.

First, there are 4 different sides to their product.

There’s the online mapping tool.

There’s Lucidchart Cloud Insights - where you map out and organise your Cloud environment.

There’s Lucidchart Integrations - where you connect your apps to Lucidchart.

And there’s Lucidchart Security - this is the protections put in place to safeguard your data.

Lucidchart is an applicable product that almost anyone can use.

I’ve already mentioned that Lucidchart can work for different teams.

(They really do know how to make a unique product.)

It doesn’t just apply to executives that want to increase efficiency.

After all, a student needs something different than some building software!

So, what are the different teams that Lucidchart can serve?

And what can Lucidchart specifically do for them?

1. Remote teams

Lucidchart can help remote employees keep in touch.

It allows them to collaborate on maps in real time with comments and customisation access.

It helps your team position themselves within the business.

And it ensures everyone understands your systems even when you’re miles apart.

Why have an office when you can create a virtual workspace?

2. Software engineers

Developers have enough to deal with on a daily basis.

(Like brainstorming and programming complex new technologies.)

Finding an outlet to communicate and develop these ideas is key.

That’s why Lucidchart can help you visualise these new projects in real-time.

It reaffirms the links between your team members…

It aligns with the principles of DevOps and agile methodologies…

And gives you effective training materials by marking out processes clearly.

3. IT teams

Lucidchart doesn’t just streamline how teams work together.

It can also help IT leaders design their systems and infrastructure.

From there, they can optimise and document them.

Just like with software developers, Lucidchart can help with training and boosts team communication.

4. Product designers

Lucidchart doesn’t just help your team communicate.

It can help convey your message to your customers better, too.

You can map out the customer journey.

Your UX/UI designers can plan and build products exactly as you want.

You can build and share roadmaps for product launch.

And you can pool together product requirements and dependencies to keep the product on track.

Product design relies on constant back-and-forths between employees.

Lucidchart facilitates that.

5. Sales teams

Scoring a sale isn’t easy, is it?

It’s complicated and it can be long-winded.

Lucidchart can align your sales team with the latest insights to meet sales targets.

It can apply your CRM data to uncover customer insights.

It can help your team coordinate sales strategies.

And it can help you standardise and scale your sales processes.

6. Educators and students

As a dynamic graphic organiser, Lucidchart is an effective learning tool.

It can be used for timelines and mind maps…

Any type of visual diagram.

It can also be used for real-time communication and explanation.

Complex processes don’t need to be so complex, anymore.

Lucidchart opens up vast opportunities to businesses.

Any kind of business.

If you’re still not sure which solution is for you, they also assign them based on need.

1. Improve and scale business processes

If you want to boost profitability, Lucidchart can help.

It can help communicate processes with teams and stakeholders to define expectations.

It can identify gaps or inefficiencies holding back productivity.

And it can standardise and scale processes to boost efficiency and cut costs.

2. Optimise how your team works

By drawing out the individual steps to a completed process, you can see what your team does day-in, day-out.

You can streamline the organisation of your structure to enhance employee efficiency.

You can gather data together for a single source of accurate insights.

And you can leverage its flexibility to model future organisational strategies.

3. Visualise your complex systems

Technology is complex, isn’t it?

Understanding what each component of your existing IT does and whether you need it?

It’s a challenge.

Especially if you aren’t as digitally-knowledgeable as us.

Lucidchart allows your team to visualise your entire IT structure.

It helps generate an in-depth view into your future innovation.

And it can even help you communicate with your stakeholders as you can share the useful diagrams.

4. Replace Visio

Visio is a popular diagramming graphics application from Microsoft.

Lucidcharts diagramming tools can simplify the creation of complex diagrams alongside its vast functionality.

And with Visio import and export, making the switch is not a difficult feat.

Lucidchart knows how to make a unique - and useful - user experience.

Chapter 3

How Much Does Lucidchart Cost?

They don’t just provide specific solutions.

They also provide different price plans.

Which one will work best for you?

The low cost plans carry the fundamental functions of Lucidchart.

But as it gets pricier, its capabilities increase.

The free plan allows for 3 editable documents, 100 templates and includes basic functionality.

The enterprise plan gives your team full, advanced functionality including advanced admin controls, advanced data, automation and SSO.

(You’ll need to contact them for a quote.)

By now you should know if Lucidchart can provide a solution that suits your team…

And a price that suits your budget.

But does your business really need an online diagramming tool?

Chapter 4

Do I Need To Use Lucidchart?

You already know that Lucidchart is the ultimate process mapping tool.

And you already know that I think every business needs to get mapping.

Like, right now.

It can uncover so many benefits for your business.

Want higher efficiency?

Need lower labour costs?

Looking to expand your business in the future?

Then your business should look into it.

Not convinced?

If any of these ring true with you, you should consider process mapping.

And where better to do that than with Lucidchart?

As it caters to so many different teams and budgets, it can fit any purpose.

Chapter 5

What Are The Benefits Of Lucidchart?

I’ve already told you how important process mapping is.

After all…

The benefits of documentation are the benefits of using Lucidchart!

But this online tool comes with its own positives.

Lucidchart has resource hubs.

Accurate documentation is awesome.

But having somewhere to put all of your links and resources?

The ones that help strategise and plan the project?

Even better.

It allows your team access to the right info.

You don’t need to have hundreds of tabs open.

You don’t need to worry about losing track of key information.

You have all the tools right in front of you!

You can see how your process has changed for the better.

Lucidchart has a very handy function in its arsenal:

The ‘before and after’ template.

It does what it says on the tin:

You can see what your process looked before and after optimisation.

It can also help convey complex information to a customer or stakeholder with an easy visual.

It uses automation to speed up documentation.

Making workflows is really useful.

However - it can be time consuming.

Especially if you have a lot of processes to document.

Luckily, you can import a lot of the relevant data via CSV file into Lucidchart.

These are just a few examples of the way Lucidchart can speed up a process.

(Boosting your efficiency even more!)

It comes with really helpful templates.

You bought Lucidchart to speed up your business processes, right?

Trying to unleash your inner artist is sure to be a waste of time.

Lucidcharts comes loaded with diagram templates.

All you need to do is fill in the blanks and follow its lead.

Chapter 6

The Quickstart Guide To Using Lucidchart

Here’s the great thing about Lucidchart:

It’s super easy to use.

Need a helping hand to guide you?

I’ve drawn up a quick set of steps to navigate making your first Lucidchart diagram.

Let’s go!

1.Create a new document

This is pretty easy.

Just go to ‘My Documents’.

Click ‘+ Document’.

And then you’ll be shown an array of different flowcharts.

Want to try your hand at a SIPOC?

Fancy showing off how your API works?

Or maybe you just want a fresh palette with a blank diagram?

Choose what kind of flowchart you want.

2.Start the diagram

Let’s say you wanted to start with a blank template:

Find the ‘start’ terminator.

Drag it from the toolbar to the canvas.

Then, start laying out your process by dragging in other shapes that correspond to process mapping symbols.

Use the arrows to connect them.

3.Add some colour

Create a more comprehensive diagram with specific colours.

There are colours in process mapping that align with certain outcomes.

E.g. red if the process ends there or yellow if a decision is made.

4.Title and author the document

Go to ‘insert’ to change the document and author name.

This will physically add it to the document, making it easier for all stakeholders to understand.

Don’t forget to add the last modified date and time (also in ‘insert’).

That means you’ll know if the documentation is up to date.

5.Download the finished workflow

Go to ‘file’ and click ‘download as’.

Want to share it?

Click the orange ‘share’ button in the right top corner to send it via email or copy a shareable link.

You can also add collaborators.

Simply click the ‘share’ button and then click on ‘advanced’.

Then click ‘collaborate’ to add collaborators who can see and edit the document.

Ready to publish the workflow?

Click ‘publish’ to download an image or pdf or generate a link to the document.

You can also share it on social media from here.

If you want to put it on your website, simply click ‘embed’ and it’ll give you some easy HTML code your web designer can put in place.

Done!

Chapter 7

5 Process Mapping Tips

Lucidchart might be easy to use.

But there’s always a way to make things that much more effective.

And considering we’re the process mapping experts…

I thought it was only right that I included my top process mapping tips.

That way you can be sure you’re getting the most out of Lucidchart.

(And who doesn’t want to get their money’s worth?)

#1 - Define why you’re mapping this specific process.

You should always start with a unique process.

But knowing why you want to document and improve this process is also key.

Don’t use Lucidchart for the sake of it.

Think of what it can provide for your business, first.

Then, the changes you make will be waaaay more effective.

#2 - Bring in the entire team.

And by the entire team, I mean a range of different employees.

You want to see the process from different angles.

You want to hear how lag here could create delay there.

There’s a lot of perspectives in a business.

You need all of ‘em.

#3 - Get to grips with the symbols.

There’s nothing worse than trying something new and taking ages to get started.

You need a headstart on process mapping.

That way, you aren’t wasting time trying to figure out what that shape means.

It’s a standardised activity so you just need to learn them once.

#4 - Exhaust all your ideas.

Brainstorming the elements of a process is essential to process mapping.

But getting started can be tricky.

Encourage your team to think of everything they do.

Everything.

Even the smallest step can be streamlined, shaving minutes off a process.

If you can save a couple seconds an hour, save them.

#5 - Regularly update your process maps.

So, you’ve done some process mapping?

Well done.

(So proud.)

But all that time you spent colour coding those shapes might end up being redundant if you don’t map your processes frequently.

Operations change.

Strategies evolve.

New problems arise.

Inefficiency might just start to set in without you noticing.

As the process mapping experts, we can let you in on the latest optimisation tricks.

Conclusion

If you’re still not convinced, why not get in touch?

Our efficiency experts can give you the lowdown on unlocking your potential.