How to Show a Decision With 3 Outcomes in a Visio Flowchart
Not every decision is yes or no. Learn how to draw a flowchart decision with three outcomes in Visio, label every path and bring them back to one end, with an IT support ticket triage process.
Step by step
- way decision. Most flowchart decisions have 2 answers, yes or no. Some have 3, like a priority of high, medium or low. This example is an IT support ticket.
- Basic Flowchart Shapes. Use the Basic Flowchart Shapes stencil in the Shapes pane.
- Start. Drag a Start/End shape onto the page and type Ticket logged. This is where the process starts.
- The decision. Drop a Decision shape below it and type Priority?. The diamond asks one question, and each answer is clear. Connect Ticket logged to the Priority? diamond.
- One path per answer. Drop a Process shape to the left of the diamond and type Call user now. This is the high-priority path.
- Label every path. Connect the diamond to Call user now and label the line High.
- One path per answer. Drop a second Process shape straight below the diamond and type Fix within 1 day. This is the medium path.
- Label every path. Connect the diamond to Fix within 1 day and label the line Medium.
- One path per answer. Drop a third Process shape to the right of the diamond and type Add to backlog. This is the low path.
- Label every path. Connect the diamond to Add to backlog and label the line Low.
- One end. All 3 paths finish in the same place, so add one Start/End shape at the bottom and type Ticket closed. Connect Call user now to Ticket closed. Connect Fix within 1 day to Ticket closed. Connect Add to backlog to Ticket closed.
- Done. Click an empty part of the page to deselect everything and check the finished flow.
- The rule. The rule: one question in the diamond, one path for every possible answer, and a label on every line that leaves it. If the answers overlap, split it into 2 decisions.
Common mistakes
- Lines with no labels. With 3 lines leaving the diamond, the reader can't tell which path is which. Select each connector and type High, Medium or Low on it.
- Answers that overlap. If a ticket could be both High and Medium, the flow has no single path for it. Rewrite the answers so each case fits only one, or split the question into 2 decisions.
- An answer with no path. Check that every possible answer has its own line. A ticket logged with no priority set still needs somewhere to go, so add a path for it or make the question rule it out.
- Lines crossing over the diamond. Bring the incoming line into the top of the diamond and send the 3 answers out of the left, bottom and right points. Put each Process shape on the side its line leaves from.
When a business analyst uses this
In a process mapping workshop for incident handling, the team agrees that tickets are routed by priority. You map it as one Priority? diamond with labelled High, Medium and Low paths, so each response rule (call now, fix within 1 day, backlog) can be checked and signed off on its own.
Questions people ask
Can a flowchart decision have more than 2 outcomes?
Yes. A decision diamond can have 3 or more lines leaving it, as long as it asks one question and each line is labelled with a different answer that doesn't overlap the others.
How do you label a connector line in Visio?
Select the connector and start typing. The text shows on the line, so you can label each path High, Medium or Low.
Do all flowchart paths need to end in the same shape?
No, but if every path finishes the same way, as with Ticket closed here, one shared end shape makes the flow cleaner and easier to read.
