Data flow diagram examples

A data flow diagram example you can copy, edit, and make your own. The diagram below shows a web analytics pipeline built from one spoken description. Copy the Mermaid code, or describe your own pipeline and let Wavelength draw it. See more data flow diagram examples in the gallery.

Wavelength is a voice to diagram tool that turns a spoken process or a call transcript into an editable data flow diagram.

The demo needs no account. The free plan needs no card.

What is a data flow diagram?

A data flow diagram shows how data moves through a system, from source to destination, passing through processes, stores, and transformations. A data flow diagram uses four kinds of things: external entities (the sources and destinations of data), processes (the transformations that change or move data), data stores (where data is saved), and data flows (the arrows that show data moving from one thing to another).

Use a data flow diagram when you are designing or documenting a data pipeline, when you need to show how information moves between systems, or when you are explaining an architecture to a stakeholder. A data flow diagram is the right tool for data engineering, system integration, and analytics work. A process map is a better fit when the focus is on who does the work rather than how the data moves.

Common mistakes: drawing the data stores as processes (use a different shape for stores), not labeling the data flows (write what data is moving on each arrow), and mixing up the physical and logical views (a data flow diagram shows what data moves, not which technology carries it). Keep the diagram at one level of detail. If you need more detail, create a separate diagram for that sub-process.

What was said

The website sends events to an event collector API. The collector writes the events to a data warehouse. The warehouse feeds a BI dashboard for reporting and an alert engine that triggers real-time alerts when metrics cross a threshold.

The diagram

What is in this flow

• Systems: Website, Event Collector API, BI Dashboard, Alert Engine.
• Data stores: Data Warehouse.
• Parallel paths: The warehouse feeds the dashboard and the alert engine at the same time.
• Size: 5 nodes and 4 connections.

Mermaid code

flowchart TD
  n1{{"Website"}}
  n2{{"Event Collector API"}}
  n3[("Data Warehouse")]
  n4{{"BI Dashboard"}}
  n5{{"Alert Engine"}}
  n1 -->|sends events| n2
  n2 -->|writes| n3
  n3 -->|queries| n4
  n3 -->|triggers| n5

Make this by talking

Open the live demo, hold the mic, and describe your data pipeline the way you would explain it to a new engineer. Name the sources, the collectors, the stores, and the destinations, and Wavelength draws the data flow diagram from your words. You can also paste a transcript from an architecture review or a pipeline design meeting.

Once the diagram is on the canvas, drag any node to move it, click a box to edit the text, and click a connection to reverse or reshape it. Export to PNG, PDF, Mermaid, or draw.io with a free account.

Step by step: build a data flow diagram

Start by listing the external entities, the sources and destinations of data. A customer, a vendor, and a reporting dashboard are all external entities. Draw them as rectangles on the left and right edges of the diagram. The left edge is where data enters, and the right edge is where data leaves.

Next, list the processes, the transformations that change or move data. A validation step, a transformation step, and a loading step are all processes. Draw them as circles or rounded rectangles in the middle of the diagram. Connect them with arrows that show the direction the data moves.

Then, list the data stores, the places where data is saved. A database, a queue, and a file are all data stores. Draw them as cylinders or open rectangles. Connect them to the processes that read from or write to them.

Label every arrow with the data that moves along it. An unlabeled arrow is a common mistake, because the reader does not know what data flows between two steps. Write "customer records" or "order events" on each arrow, not just "data." A data flow diagram with labeled arrows is a map. One without them is a sketch.

More worked examples

• Salesforce to Snowflake with Fivetran and dbt: Fivetran extracts data from Salesforce, loads it into Snowflake, dbt transforms the raw data into clean models, and Tableau reads the models for reporting. See the full flow at Salesforce to Snowflake with Fivetran and dbt.
• Shopify to BigQuery: A Shopify store sends order data to BigQuery, dbt transforms it, and a dashboard reads the results. See the full flow at Shopify to BigQuery.
• Stripe billing to warehouse: Stripe sends billing events to a data warehouse, dbt models the revenue, and a dashboard shows monthly recurring revenue. See the full flow at Stripe billing to warehouse.

When Wavelength is the wrong tool

Wavelength is the wrong tool when you need a formal system architecture diagram with network topology, firewalls, and load balancers. draw.io and Visio are better for that kind of infrastructure diagram. It is also the wrong tool when you need to generate code from the diagram, because diagram-as-code tools like Mermaid and PlantUML are built for that. And if you just need to describe a data flow in text, a plain paragraph is faster than a diagram. See our comparison of Wavelength and Lucidchart for where each tool is the better fit.

Related

• Resource center: process mapping resources by team
• Free flowchart maker: talk or type, get a flowchart
• Flowchart template: copy, edit, and make your own
• Process map template: copy, edit, and make your own
• Swimlane process map: worked example with roles
• SOP template: talk a task, get a written SOP
• Transcript to flowchart: turn a call recording into a diagram
• Salesforce to Snowflake with Fivetran and dbt: a data pipeline example
• Wavelength vs diagram as code: Mermaid, PlantUML, and D2 compared
• Live demo: watch a diagram build itself, no account needed

Common questions

What is a data flow diagram?

A data flow diagram shows how data moves through a system, from source to destination, passing through processes, stores, and transformations. The example on this page shows a web analytics pipeline: a website sends events to a collector API, which writes to a data warehouse, which feeds a BI dashboard and an alert engine.

Where can I find more data flow diagram examples?

The Wavelength examples page has 37 worked process and data flow diagrams, including HubSpot to Snowflake, Salesforce to Snowflake with Fivetran and dbt, Postgres to Snowflake with Airbyte, Shopify to BigQuery, Stripe billing to warehouse, Kafka streaming, and a RAG chatbot architecture.

Can I make a data flow diagram by talking?

Yes. Open the live demo and describe your data pipeline the way you would explain it to a new engineer. Wavelength draws the diagram from your words, picking shapes for systems, data stores, and transformations. You can also paste a transcript from an architecture review.

Can I export the data flow diagram?

Yes. A free account exports to PNG, PDF, Mermaid, and draw.io. The Mermaid export is plain text, so it works in any Markdown file, GitHub README, or wiki page.

Does Wavelength handle data flow diagram examples with branches and parallel paths?

Yes. The example on this page has a data warehouse feeding two destinations in parallel: a BI dashboard and an alert engine. Wavelength draws parallel branches from your description, so you do not need to add them by hand.

Related examples

See all flow diagram examples or the solution architect role guide.

Every new account starts with 7 days of Pro. No card needed.