Swim Lanes

A basic flow diagram can be enhanced by the use of 'Swim Lanes' to indicate who has responsibility for carrying out a particular action. The diagram below shows the start of a process map for recruiting staff within an institution. At the simplest level a flow diagram can give you a feel for how complex a process is merely by the number of steps involved. The swim lanes add an extra dimension as they indicate where data is flowing backwards and forwards between departments.

This diagram shows only the first few steps in a process but it is evident even from this that there are a lot of steps and a lot of movement back and forth. Already we can see one department checking another's work and two different departments involved in placing recruitment adverts.

A more rigorous analysis of the earlier tea-making scenario could arrive at a process map, using UML and swim lanes, that looks something like shown in the example. The horizontal lines mark the start and end of two parallel but independent lines of activity. The temptation is to say right at the start 'Why not ask who wants milk and sugar at the same time as asking who wants tea?' But at this stage you must be non-judgemental. Resist the urge to ask 'Why' or 'Why not just...' because the questions imply criticism and if you are critical then people will just give you the procedure manual and tell you what SHOULD happen instead of what DOES.

Another example of a process map using swim lanes deals with the process of creating a new employee record when a member of staff joins the organisation. The example is from an organisation where the HR and payroll systems use different software.

N.B. This example was drawn using Visio graphics software and uses the flow chart symbols standard in that package rather than UML. In this example the obvious conclusion is that the process is heavily reliant on paper, there is excessive data transfer and checking and a lot of duplication. A possible solution, given that the example comes from a large organisation, is to implement an integrated HR/Payroll system. An alternative is to revise the process to involve a greater level of trust between departments and cut out much of the cross-checking.