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Swim Lane Diagrams

Swim Lane Diagrams are the kind of process flow diagrams and effective tool for documenting the business processes required for any business company for its productive work, for easy defining the weak points, reasons of defects, or delays during the process. Swim Lane Diagram is based on the IDEF3 standard and was developed primarily for using in projecting. Its name derives from the use of horizontal or vertical lanes. The blocks that denote the parts of the processes are arranged within definite lanes according to the belonging to responsible worker. So the process of any complexity is visually divided into the parts and represented with indication the responsibility for execution of each part. This significantly facilitates the comprehension of its work. Use the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software and predesigned vector objects from the Swim Lanes library of Business Process Mapping Solution included to ConceptDraw Solution Park to easy develop Swim Lanes Flowcharts and Diagrams, for modeling and documenting the business processes in a simple and visual graphic form.

Cross-Functional Flowchart (Swim Lanes)

Cross-Functional Flowchart is a type of chart which shows the series of process steps connected by the arrows to depict their order and applies the swim lanes to provide an extra dimension with means of assigning each process step to certain category. Often the category or the functional unit is a stakeholder (department, person, role), resource, project, phase, or any other attribute. Cross-Functional Flowcharts visually illustrate relationships between the business processes and the functional units responsible for this processes. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM is a powerful diagramming and vector drawing software for professional design Cross-Functional Flowcharts using the common notation of shapes and swim lanes. Cross-Functional Flowcharts solution included to the Business Processes area of ConceptDraw Solution Park provides numerous well-designed vector objects and connector tools for quick, easy and effective organizing information, representing process flows and relationships, and drawing Cross-Functional Flowcharts for business, science, education, technology, etc.

Swim Lanes Flowchart. Flowchart Examples

This sample was created in ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and vector drawing software using the Cross-Functional Flowcharts solution from the Business Processes area of ConceptDraw Solution Park. This sample shows the Swim Lanes Flowchart of Identification and logging.
Create Swim Lanes Flowchart
Create Swim Lanes Flowchart

Business Process Elements: Swimlanes

ConceptDraw has 142 vector stencils in the 8 libraries that helps you to start using software for designing own Business Process Diagrams. Use Swimlanes library with 20 objects from BPMN.
The vector stencils library "Swimlanes" contains 20 swimlane shapes for drawing business process diagrams (BPMN 2.0) using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software.
"Swim lanes are a visual mechanism of organising and categorising activities, based on cross functional flowcharting, and in BPMN consist of two types: (1) Pool. Represents major participants in a process, typically separating different organisations. A pool contains one or more lanes (like a real swimming pool). A pool can be open (i.e., showing internal detail) when it is depicted as a large rectangle showing one or more lanes, or collapsed (i.e., hiding internal detail) when it is depicted as an empty rectangle stretching the width or height of the diagram. (2) Lane. Used to organise and categorise activities within a pool according to function or role, and depicted as a rectangle stretching the width or height of the pool. A lane contains the flow objects, connecting objects and artifacts." [Business Process Model and Notation. Wikipedia]
The example "Design elements - Swimlanes BPMN 2.0" is included in the Business Process Diagram solution from the Business Processes area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
BPMN 2.0 swimlanes
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"A swim lane (or swimlane) is a visual element used in process flow diagrams, or flowcharts, that visually distinguishes responsibilities for sub-processes of a business process. Swim lanes may be arranged either horizontally or vertically. In the accompanying example, the swimlanes are named Customer, Sales, Contracts, Legal, and Fulfillment, and are arranged vertically. ...
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 roles). Swimlanes are used in Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) and Unified Modeling Language activity diagram modeling methodologies." [Swim lane. Wikipedia]
The template "UML activity diagram (swimlanes)" for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Rapid UML solution from the Software Development area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ software-uml
UML activity diagram (swimlanes)
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