Special note: For an involved process being documented with Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), Business Process Model Notation 2.0 (BPMN 2.0) or other diagram types, a team with expertise in these methods might perform this research, and use swimlanes as an element of them.For a new process being modeled, spell out the process steps that would increase efficiency and quality and/or reduce delays and cost.You might take notes, and do a hand-drawn diagram or Post-It Notes, that you can later refine with diagramming software. Take note that sometimes redundancy is purposely built into a process for safety or quality purposes. Document the process as it is, but you might be on the lookout for process gaps, redundancy or outright duplication, bottlenecks and other inefficiencies. Spell out the interconnections, communications and handoffs between the lanes. For an existing process, research the process steps, both the “who” and “what,” so they can be divided into their respective swimlanes.The different types are broken down as follows: Behavioral UML Diagram. Identify the swimlanes, which may be employees, work groups or departments. As the name suggests, some UML diagrams try to analyze and depict the structure of a system or process, whereas other describe the behavior of the system, its actors, and its building components.Clearly identify the boundaries of the process to be studied. Break the work down into manageable pieces, but make sure that you’re studying a complete process so that you can effectively see it and potentially improve it.Think about what level of detail is needed to have sufficient understanding to be effective. Determine your goal and what process or processes should be studied to achieve that goal.Swimlane Diagrams can be formalized as a way to integrate processes between teams or departments, resulting in cleaner processes on an ongoing basis.Like other diagrams, Swimlane Diagrams can communicate in clearer terms than a narrative description would.You can use a second Swimlane Diagram to model a better way to structure the process or to account for changing circumstances, such as staffing changes or technology changes.This can increase performance and quality and reduce unnecessary work and costs. It also can highlight process delays or capacity constraints within a particular swimlane so that they can be addressed and resolved. This sometimes reveals duplicative or unnecessary steps in a process, such as different departments performing the same task. By spelling this out in a diagram, you can highlight redundancies between different lanes and identify bottlenecks, waste and other inefficiencies.Swimlane Diagrams, and swimlanes used in other diagram types, highlight which process steps or sub-processes are assigned to a particular actor in the organization.

It can help to ensure that the right hand knows what the left is doing in an organization.In today’s organizations with multiple work groups or departments, this diagramming can help in various ways:

Activity diagram definition in uml