Swimlanes are a useful tool for visualizing roles, responsibilities, and processes in a workflow. They provide a clear overview of who does what in a process by dividing activities into lanes, with each lane representing a specific role or department. Swimlanes make processes easy to understand at a glance. They can be used for mapping out both As-Is and To-Be processes.
How to Create a Swimlane Diagram
To make a swimlane diagram, begin by identifying the key roles or departments involved in the process. Common swimlanes represent departments like Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance, IT, etc. Each role gets its own horizontal lane. The activities in the process are then mapped out sequentially across the lanes to show the handoffs between roles. Symbols like rectangles, diamonds, and ovals represent activities, decisions, documents, etc. Arrows connect the steps and show the flow.
Using Swimlane Diagrams Effectively
Here are some tips for using swimlane diagrams effectively:
- Identify 4-8 key roles in the process. Too many lanes creates complex diagrams.
- Write role names or departments as column headings.
- Map out activities sequentially from left to right. Place activities in the appropriate swimlane based on who performs them.
- Use consistent symbols and notation. Rectangles for activities, diamonds for decisions, ovals for documents.
- Label the start and end points clearly.
- Show decisions, branches or forks in the process flow with diamond shapes.
- Use horizontal arrows to show the flow and handoffs between lanes.
- Analyze the As-Is process first before mapping the To-Be.
- Look for handoff gaps, bottlenecks and redundancies between the lanes.
- Consider cross-functional activities that span more than one lane.
- Review the draft diagram with process participants to validate accuracy.
- Iterate the diagrams as processes evolve.
Swimlane diagrams help identify inefficiencies and waste between department handoffs. For example, a purchasing approval process could reveal repetitive checks slowing down procurement. Swimlanes make it easy to pinpoint steps to eliminate. They also aid communication between departments that rely on each other’s work. The cross-functional view promotes mutual understanding.
The Key Benefits of Swimlane Diagrams
Swimlane process maps are an indispensable tool for process excellence programs like Lean, Six Sigma and Business Process Management.
Using swimlanes in your organization to map roles and responsibilities has many benefits. These include:
- Improves understanding of end-to-end process flow and handoffs
- Highlights inefficient handoffs, delays, and bottlenecks
- Clarifies roles and responsibilities for each activity
- Encourages collaboration between departments
- Identifies opportunities for process improvement
- Simplifies documentation of processes
- Provides training on workflows for new employees
- Establishes standards for consistent execution
- Enables analysis of cycle times and costs
- Allows modeling and optimization of future state processes
Swimlane diagrams are a versatile tool to optimize cross-functional business processes. They provide process transparency, improve alignment, and help organizations identify waste and inefficiency. Swimlanes contribute to a culture of continuous improvement when adopted as a standard workflow mapping technique. If you haven’t already started using swimlane diagrams in your organization, now is a good time to get started. You will soon realize the benefits of this essential tool.
