What Is A Swimlane Diagram

A swim lane diagram is a process flowchart that allows you to visually distinguish duties and responsibilities as well as sub processes within these business processes. It is often used for administrative processes as for example order processing part development marketing etc.

Swimlane Diagram

A swimlane diagram is a type of flowchart that delineates who does what in a process.

What is a swimlane diagram. Swimlane diagrams are used whenever you need to show activities tasks or process steps which are being performed by different actorsroles. Swim lane diagrams can be created manually in other applications such as word or excel but lack the templates and automation of visio. Swim lane diagrams are used for information flows and to a lesser degree also material flows that involve different separate entities that are not necessarily working in a linear sequence.

The swim lane diagram first surfaced in the 60s. These lanes are columns that keep actions visually separated from others. Another possible origin of the term swim lane is as part of the jboss jbpm jpdl process definition language graphical process designer a part of the jboss jbpm framework for process languages.

Like any other flowchart it visualizes a process from beginning to end using the metaphorical lanes of an actual swimming pool to place the steps of mapping the lanes. By role by system by department etc. Swim lanes are also known as rummler brache diagrams.

Swim lane example in this example of a swim lane diagram this workflow details the process for medical pre authorization. Like a flowchart it diagrams a process from start to finish but it also divides these steps into categories to help distinguish which departments or employees are responsible for each set of actions. Using the metaphor of lanes in a pool a swimlane diagram provides clarity and accountability by placing process steps within the horizontal or vertical swimlanes of a particular employee work group or department.

A swim lane also known as swimlane diagram is a type of flowchart. You can use swimlanes to group activities in an activity diagram or process flow by any category what you need.

Visualize Use Case Text As A Swimlane Diagram