Spreadsheet to process map: the audit-ready, deterministic conversion

The CSV that produces this diagram

One row per step. The numbers in Line to are row numbers — that is what draws the connectors, and it is the column most files are missing.

#,Shape,Box text,Line to,Line text,Horizontal lane,Vertical lane
1,Start,Receive the tender invitation,2,,Qualify,Sales
2,Process,Score the opportunity against the bid criteria,3,,Qualify,Sales
3,Decision,Bid or no bid?,"5, 4","Bid, No bid",Qualify,Executive sponsor
4,Reject,No-bid recorded with its reason,,,Qualify,Sales
5,Process,Break the tender into owned requirement rows,6,,Plan,Bid manager
6,Decision,Do all internal dates land before the deadline?,"8, 7","Yes, No",Plan,Bid manager
7,Decision,Does the buyer grant an extension?,"5, 13","Granted, Refused",Plan,Sales
8,Process,Draft the technical answers with evidence,9,,Draft,Technical reviewer
9,Process,Build the pricing and commercial response,10,,Draft,Sales
10,Decision,Is the technical response complete and evidenced?,"11, 8","Complete, Gaps remain",Review,Technical reviewer
11,Decision,Are the customer's contract terms acceptable?,"14, 12, 13","Acceptable, Needs clarification, Unacceptable risk",Review,Legal
12,Process,Raise a clarification question with the buyer,11,Answer received,Review,Sales
13,Reject,Bid withdrawn and the buyer notified,,,Review,Bid manager
14,Collate,Assemble and sign off the final response pack,15,,Submit,Bid manager
15,Decision,Uploaded and receipted before the deadline?,"16, 14, 17","Yes, Upload failed, time remains, Deadline passed",Submit,Bid manager
16,Success,Response submitted before the deadline,,,Submit,Sales
17,Reject,Submission missed the deadline,,,Submit,Bid manager

The diagram those rows produce

Rendered from the rows above, unchanged. Edit a cell and the diagram follows; move a box and the rows follow.

How it works

1. Pick the spreadsheet that holds your process

   Most operations teams already have one: a RACI matrix, a control matrix, a SOP step list, or a swimlane assignment table.

2. Paste or import into QueryChart

   Prepare one row per step, then paste the rows or import a CSV or Excel file. Add explicit connection and lane columns before import; QueryChart cannot infer the process order from a task list alone.

3. Resolve ownership and approvals

   Check each lane and review gate in the drawn chart. If your source is a RACI matrix, translate its R and A cells into owner lanes and named approval steps; review ambiguous ownership with the team.

4. Publish as audit-ready

   Once approved, the process map is checkpointed with version, timestamp, reviewer signature, and immutable audit trail.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best way to turn a spreadsheet into a process map?

Start with one row per step and explicit connection columns. The worked tender-response chart on this page shows how owner, date and review information can be mapped into lanes and decisions. Import the prepared rows and check the result before approval.

Why is determinism important for process documentation?

Audit-ready process documentation must be reproducible. If the same source data can produce different diagrams on different runs (as with AI flowchart generators), the diagram cannot be trusted as evidence.

How is QueryChart different from Visio Data Visualizer?

Web-native (no Visio Plan 2), supports Google Sheets and CSV as well as Excel, native approval workflow, immutable audit trail.

How is QueryChart different from process mining tools?

Process mining tells you what actually happened by reading event logs. QueryChart documents what should happen, with approvals — the controlled to-be process map, not the discovered as-is.