Business Analyst: What is a cumulative flow diagram?

CFD — shows work distribution over time.

Axes:

• X-axis: Time.
• Y-axis: Number of items.

Bands:

• To Do (top).
• In Progress (middle).
• Done (bottom).

Example:

Interpretation:

• Band width = time in state.
• Growing gap = bottleneck.
• Parallel lines = stable flow.

Benefits:

• Bottleneck identification.
• Flow analysis.
• Capacity planning.