A swimlane (as in swimlane diagram) is used in

process flow diagram A process flow diagram (PFD) is a diagram commonly used in chemical and process engineering to indicate the general flow of plant processes and equipment. The PFD displays the relationship between ''major'' equipment of a plant facility and does ...

s, or flowcharts, that visually distinguishes

job sharing Job sharing or work sharing is an employment arrangement where two people, or sometimes more, are retained on a part-time or reduced-time basis to perform a job normally fulfilled by one person working full-time. This leads to a net reduction in ...

and responsibilities for sub-processes of a

business process A business process, business method, or business function is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks performed by people or equipment in which a specific sequence produces a service or product (that serves a particular business g ...

. Swimlanes may be arranged either horizontally or vertically. Approvals

Attributes

The swimlane flowchart differs from other flowcharts in that processes and decisions are grouped visually by placing them in ''lanes''. Parallel lines divide the chart into lanes, with one lane for each person, group or sub process. Lanes are labelled to show how the chart is organized. In the accompanying example, the vertical direction represents the sequence of events in the overall process, while the horizontal divisions depict what sub-process is performing that step. Arrows between the lanes represent how information or material is passed between the sub processes. Alternately, the flow can be rotated so that the sequence reads horizontally from left to right, with the roles involved being shown at the left edge. This can be easier to read and design, since computer screens are typically wider than they are tall, which gives an improved view of the flow. Use of standard symbols enables clear linkage to be shown between related flow charts when charting flows with complex relationships.

Usage

When used to diagram a business process that involves more than one department, swimlanes often serve to clarify not only the steps and who is responsible for each one, but also how delays, mistakes or cheating are most likely to occur. Many process modeling methodologies utilize the concept of swimlanes, as a mechanism to organize activities into separate visual categories in order to illustrate different functional capabilities or responsibilities (organisational

role A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavior and may have a given indi ...

s). Swimlanes are used in

Business Process Modeling Notation Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is a graphical representation for specifying business processes in a business process model. Originally developed by the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI), BPMN has been maintained by the ...

(BPMN) and

Unified Modeling Language The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose visual modeling language that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. UML provides a standard notation for many types of diagrams which can be roughly ...

(UML)

activity diagram Activity diagrams are graphical representations of workflows of stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration, and concurrency. In the Unified Modeling Language, activity diagrams are intended to model both computational an ...

modeling methodologies.

Origin

Swimlane diagrams first appeared in the 1940s as a variation of the flow process chart called multi-column charts. They were called Swim Lane diagrams by Geary Rummler and Alan Brache in their book ''Improving Performance'' (1990). They were first introduced to computer-based diagramming by iGrafx. Swimlanes are also known as "Rummler-Brache Diagrams". Another possible origin of the term swimlane is as part of the JBoss jBPM jPDL (Process Definition Language) graphical process designer a part of the JBoss jBPM framework for process languages.Chapter 18. jBPM Process Definition Language – Swimlane
/ref> The Swimlane presentation was developed in the early 1980s by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Binner as part of his doctoral thesis on the requirements of the IT and CIM concept at the Institute for Factory Facilities at Prof. Wiendahl at TU-Har. A process model was developed in which the role-based process analysis and modeling was the starting point for the IT-based IT solution or, in the case, the CIM solution with which the development of an IT-CIM concept was possible.

Alternative terms

A Swimlane was first introduced to computer-based Process Modeling by IGrafx in 1993 and trademarked in 1996. It may also be referred to as a functional band (as it is in

Microsoft Visio Microsoft Visio (, ), formerly Microsoft Office Visio, is a diagramming and vector graphics application and is part of the Microsoft 365 Business. The product was first introduced in 1992 by former American software company Visio Corporation, an ...

2007) and is used in the same way, to create a cross functional flowchart to map a process within the functional units of a business.Create a cross-functional flowchart, Microsoft Office Visio Help
/ref> The term functional band came after the use of swimlane and is seemingly in decline as the acceptable term as BPMN has been more widely accepted as a modeling standard. Another term used is "Functional Flowchart" useful for productivity improvement and systems design projects. After establishing the 'as is' workflow and systems interfaces, work steps are simplified to automate processes whenever practical and transfer steps to subsequent work processes. A 'to be' model is then created for human processes and a related systems design document developed for those that are automated. Typically over 30% productivity gains are accomplished even for processes that remain manual.

References

External links

Swimlane Guidelines

Agile Modeling Agile modeling (AM) is a methodology for Software development process models, modeling and documentation, documenting software systems based on best practices. It is a collection of values and principles that can be applied on an (agile) software d ...