Swimlanes (also written as “swim lanes”) represent a valuable element in process flow diagrams (PFDs), as well as in what’s called the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and its software design counterpart – Unified Modeling Language (UML). The two built on the already existing multi-column process charts (a variation of the early flow process charts that appeared in the 1940s) to spell out processes which involve more than one unit or department.
In 1990, Geary Rummler and Alan Brache documented the concept of swimlane diagrams in their work “Improved Processes”. This kind of flowchart is also known as a cross-functional diagram (with swimlanes being called “functional bands”) or a Rummler-Brache diagram, after the authors who developed the first model. Highlighting connections and communications between these lanes, it can serve as an indicator of waste, redundancy and inefficiency in a process. Based on the analogy of lanes in a pool, a swimlane diagram places process steps within the horizontal or vertical “swimlanes” of a particular department, work group or employee, thus ensuring clarity and accountability. A swimlane diagram is a type of flowchart that outlines who does what in a given process.
