Delivering a project is a process, and organizing the activities in that process is how projects are successfully delivered. A swimlane diagram is one of the tools to visually show the multiple participants’ workflows and make them easier to understand.

Before getting into how a swimlane flowchart works, we’ll first define it and explain when to use it. Then we’ll list some of the professionals who can benefit from the swim land process map, what should be included in one, and, finally, provide a free download of a swimlane chart.

What Is a Swimlane Diagram?

A swimlane diagram, also known as a swimlane flowchart or swimlane chart, is a type of process flowchart that organizes activities or tasks into lanes to visually distinguish who or what is responsible for each step in a process. The diagram divides the process into horizontal or vertical lanes, where each lane represents a different actor, department or role involved in the process.

This visual tool provides clear accountability. Each lane represents a specific department, team or individual, so it’s easy to see who is responsible for each step. This improves communication by organizing process steps by role or department. This makes it easier for teams to understand their responsibilities and how they interact with others. Swimlane diagrams are excellent for showing how complex processes or workflows move across different areas of a business or organization. By visualizing the process, inefficiencies, bottlenecks or redundant steps can be identified and improved.

Project managers can use the information gathered by creating a swimlane flowchart to create detailed schedules, but the gold standard for creating dynamic schedules is project management software. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software with robust Gantt charts that do more than organize tasks, add milestones and assign tasks to teams.

Our Gantt chart links all four types of task dependencies to avoid cost overruns and delays. Filter for the critical path to identify essential tasks that must be completed to deliver the project successfully. Then set a baseline and capture the project plan to compare it to the actual progress and spending in real time to keep the project on schedule and budget. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

When Should a Swimlane Diagram Be Utilized?

A swim lane process map can be used in situations where users need to represent a complex process involving multiple participants, departments or roles and where it’s important to show how tasks or activities flow between those different entities. When used, they provide clarity and help to track the flow of tasks across different responsible parties in a visual, organized manner.

For example, cross-functional processes, where multiple departments or teams are involved, benefit by having the swimlane chart differentiate the roles of each participant and show how tasks move between them. It also helps with complex workflows by having sequential steps in a process according to the responsible party. This helps ensure that tasks are assigned correctly and tracked through the process.

All of this improves and optimizes a business or organization’s processes. Use a swimlane diagram when analyzing a process to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks or areas for improvement by clearly visualizing the flow of tasks between different departments or roles. This also clarifies accountability by defining who is responsible for each step, which prevents confusion.

Other uses include business process mapping for training, compliance or standardization purposes. Also, when designing or reviewing a workflow that is being automated, especially if multiple systems or teams are involved in the process, a swimlane diagram helps identify the handoff points and clarify which parts of the process can be automated and which require human intervention.

This visual tool is especially helpful with project management when coordinating tasks across multiple teams or stakeholders for a project with various phases and dependencies. It shows the sequential steps of a project and how different teams or individuals are involved at each stage, which ensures alignment and accountability.

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Swimlane Diagram Template

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Who Should Use a Swimlane Diagram?

There is a wide range of professionals across different industries and roles who can use a swimlane flowchart. Here are just a handful of examples.

Project Managers Overseeing Processes

Project managers oversee processes that involve multiple teams or departments. A swimlane diagram helps them visualize workflows, allocate tasks and track progress across different stakeholders.

Business Analysts When Process Mapping

Business analysts are responsible for gathering and analyzing business requirements, and they often document and improve business processes. Swimlane diagrams help visualize the flow of work across different departments and identify areas for improvement.

Operations Managers in Manufacturing

Operations managers often oversee cross-functional workflows that involve multiple teams or departments. Swimlane charts help them visualize and optimize these processes, ensuring that tasks are carried out efficiently and responsibilities are clear.

General Contractors Managing Construction Tasks

General contractors use swimlane diagrams to outline and manage the sequences of tasks and responsibilities in a construction project, ensuring that all teams are aligned and that tasks are completed in the correct order. It can also help architects, designers, subcontractors and regulatory authorities.

Professional Services Firms for Client Engagement

Professional services use swimlane diagrams for client engagement and onboarding to ensure all parties understand their responsibilities and timelines. It also helps with project management and delivery, the internal approval and review process as well as billing and invoicing workflows, client project or service life cycle management, internal process standardization and workflow automation.

What Should Be Included in a Swimlane Diagram?

This type of flowchart organizes the elements of a process into lanes, which represent different categories, roles, teams or departments. It visually distinguishes responsibilities for different participants in a process, clarifying who is responsible for each task at each stage through columns and symbols.

Swimlane Columns or Rows

The primary feature of a swimlane diagram is its lanes, which divide the diagram into horizontal or vertical sections. Each lane represents a specific actor, department, role or participant in the process.

Swimlane Diagram Symbols

In a swimlane diagram, several key symbols represent different types of actions, decisions and processes. These symbols help clarify the flow of activities and responsibilities, making the diagram easier to understand.

• Oval or rounded rectangle (terminator), makes the start or end of a process
• Rectangle represents a task or activity in the process
• Diamond indicates a decision point where a question is asked, leading to different paths based on the answer
• Parallelogram, represents data input into or output from the process, such as documents or reports
• Rectangle with a wavy bottom edge denotes a document created or used within a process
• Cylinder signifies data storage or a database where information is stored and accessed
• Circle, connects parts of the diagram that are separated, either on the same page or across pages, often with letters or numbers for reference
• Arrow, indicates the direction or sequence of steps in the process
• Double-line arrow or fork/join nodes represent simultaneous processes or tasks that can occur in parallel
• Half-circle symbolizes a delay or waiting period in the process

Swimlane Diagram Example

Let’s look at a real-life scenario to illustrate how a swimlane flowchart can help clearly show a complicated process. In this case, it’s the home buyer closing process for new construction. This swimlane has been created by the construction firm, which handles all the processes, as it has mortgage, title and insurance divisions.

There are six swimlanes: sales, escrow/title, quality control, mortgage, title services, insurance services and customer relations. The various processes include a purchase agreement and escrow opening, home inspection and quality assurance, mortgage underwriting and loan approval, title search and insurance, home warranty and insurance, final walkthrough and quality verification, closing day and ownership transfer.

The swimlane diagram illustrates how these processes move forward. It clearly shows the documentation needed, which is ample in an example of this sort. This makes a somewhat complex interaction between the construction firm and the property owner easier to understand.

Swimlane Diagram Template

A swimlane flowchart can be difficult to build without a chart-making tool. Though it can be created by hand, using this free swimlane diagram template for PowerPoint makes the process simple and quick. Just follow the steps listed below.

• To better understand how to use this swimlane diagram template, please review the example in the next slide.
• It shows the process of purchasing a new home from the perspective of the seller, which in this case is a construction firm that manages the entire process thanks to its various functional departments that play a role in the process.
• The horizontal swimlanes indicate which of those functional departments is responsible for executing the activities and producing the documentation that’s represented by the swimlane diagram symbols.
• Then, copy the swimlane diagram symbols and adjust their size so they fit into the horizontal or vertical swimlane diagram matrix to make your swimlane diagram.

More Free Related Templates

There are over 100 free project management templates for Excel and Word that cover all aspects of managing a project across multiple industries and they can be downloaded from our site. Here are a few that can help with process mapping.

Project Flowchart Template

A swimlane diagram is a flowchart. To use a more basic example, download this free project flowchart template for Word. It’s reusable and customizable and creates the structure on which one can build a process.

Kanban Board Template

Another way to illustrate the process is with the free kanban board template for Excel. It consists of a kanban board divided into columns that represent the phases of a process. On these columns are kanban cards that represent the tasks, which move through the process to visualize the workflow.

RACI Chart Template

RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. This free Excel RACI chart template helps identify and define team members’ roles and responsibilities in relation to project or process tasks.

ProjectManager Helps Manage Tasks, Projects and Workflows

Templates are static documents that can only go so far in managing a dynamic project. They must be manually updated and aren’t collaborative. While a swimlane diagram is useful for illustrating processes, once that has been defined users will want to switch to project management software. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that can create project schedules with online Gantt charts. But that’s only the start of how it can help manage tasks, workflows and projects.

Manage Workflows With Kanban Boards

Kanban boards and cards are a visual way to manage work by organizing it with drag-and-drop kanban cards, crafting kanban workflows and collaborating online. Teams can manage their backlog and collaborate when planning sprints. Meanwhile, managers get visibility into the whole process to identify and resolve bottlenecks before they delay progress or lead to cost overruns. Workflows can also be automated to streamline repetitive tasks, with task approvals to ensure quality control.

Monitor Project Progress, Timelines and Budgets With Real-time Dashboards

Once processes are in progress, project managers have to monitor them to ensure that they’re moving forward as planned. To get a high-level overview of the project’s progress and performance toggle over to the real-time project or portfolio dashboard. Live data is automatically collected and displayed on easy-to-read graphs and charts that show metrics such as time, cost, workload and more. Customizable project or portfolio status reports or reports on variance, timesheets, workload and more get into the weeds for project managers and their teams. They can also provide a general progress report to share with stakeholders and keep them informed. Secure timesheets also provide a window into labor costs to help stay on budget.

Related Content

There’s a lot more to read about business process management, mapping and methodologies. Just follow the half-a-dozen links below and read some of the more recent pieces on the topic.

• Ultimate Guide to Business Process Management (BPM)
• A Quick Guide to Business Process Mapping
• How to Make a Process Improvement Plan (Free Template)
• Business Process Improvement: Steps & Methodologies
• Process Implementation: A Quick Guide
• Business Process Management Software

ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office or out in the field. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.