Manouk Nijhof A swimlane is a process mapping tool which diagrams a process from start to finish. It distinguishes different process steps that are executed by different actors. Swimlane

A swimlane is essentially a form of process mapping. An advantage of a swimlane is that it clearly shows the interaction between different actors in a process. Furthermore, with a swimlane you have the opportunity to show alternative routes or loops in the process.

Before you start with any mapping tool, you describe the main problem and goal, and you decide that a swimlane helps you to solve the problem. The first step is to understand the current situation of the process. Which activities belong to the process? Which bottlenecks or waste do you see in the process and which one affects your main problem? You can map these by using a swimlane. Below you see a figure that explains the different shapes that can be used.

Eventually, you could also use a swimlane to describe the target situation, or your future state. In this case, you can determine which obstacles you have to work on.

Swimlane contains 3 phases:

1. What is the current state?

2. What is the future state?

3. What steps have to be taken to reach this future state?

A swimlane consists of different lanes. Each lane represents an actor. You see these on the left side in the figure below. Process steps that are carried out by the actor are put into the related lanes.

With arrows you can connect the process steps with each other. Diamonds are used to create alternative routes and post its indicate waste in the process. Beneath the swim lane is a timeline . With this timeline you can indicate the processing and waiting times. On the right side of the timeline, the total process and lead time is shown.