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The guide outlines the background and purpose of swimlane diagrams, highlights how they reveal bottlenecks, waste, handovers, and duplication, and supports troubleshooting through clear communication points. It also provides practical steps for building diagrams and applies them to a hospital blood test patient journey example.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":30,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/technology/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/swimlane-diagrams-toolkit-guide/657218/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/swimlane-diagrams-toolkit-guide/657218.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Dipper","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-26",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the purpose of a swimlane diagram?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"A swimlane diagram visualizes roles and responsibilities within a process and shows connections and communications between stakeholders. It can also highlight waste and inefficiencies.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"When should you use a swimlane diagram?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Use swimlane diagrams for complex processes involving multiple stakeholders, such as patient journeys in outpatient or inpatient settings. They also help analyze workflows for diagnostic testing and treatments.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What steps are involved in creating a swimlane diagram?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"First identify the stakeholders, then define the lanes for each job group or department. Next, set the start and end points and map the process steps using standard process mapping symbols.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},657218,1793073209,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":29,"category_name":30,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},1374404997633,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","Improvement Cymru Academy  \nToolkit Guide  \nSwimlane Diagrams  \nDate: January 2024  \nReview Date: January 2025  \nIntroduction  \nSwimlane diagrams are a type of process map that displays roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders within a process. It is a visualisation of who does what within a process. It uses the metaphor of lanes within a swimming pool with each lane representing a particular job role, work group, or department. ASwimlane diagram can be displayed using horizontal or vertical lines. It displays connections and communications between different lanes and can highlight waste and inefficiencies within processes. Swimlane diagrams are sometimes referred to as cross-function diagrams, deployment charts or Rummler-Branche diagrams.  \nBackground  \nEarly variations of multicolumn flowcharts started appearing in the 1940s, however it wasn’t until 1990 when Geary Rummler and Alan Brache in a book called ‘Improving Processes’ where they highlighted Swimlane diagrams and the benefits of using them to make improvements. Swimlane diagrams are widely used in process improvement, business process modelling and in software engineering.  \nRationale  \nSwimlane diagrams are useful for mapping out processes that involve multiple stakeholders. This will help you to identify bottlenecks, waste, and other inefficiencies. This sometimes reveals duplicative or unnecessary steps in a process.  \nThere are many benefits to using Swimlane diagrams:  \n1. Provides clarity on the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.  \n2. Shows accountability for each step in the process.  \n3. Identifies the communication and handover points between different stakeholders.  \n4. Facilitates collaboration between stakeholders by having a shared understanding and visual representation of the process.  \n5. Identifies waste within processes.  \n6. Helps to troubleshoot and it may help you identify the root cause of challenges within processes. However, to identify the root cause you may need to use other problem solving techniques such as fishbone analysis, 5  \nwhys, pareto charts etc   (For more information see our toolkits guide in the Resource Library on out Improvement Cymru Academy Webpage here) .  \nWhen to use  \nSwimlane diagrams are useful for mapping out and improving complex processes [involving multiple stakeholders e.g. jobs](involving multiple stakeholders e.g. jobs) roles, work groups or departments. You could use a Swimlane diagram to visualise the patient journey (as an outpatient orinpatient) and show the different interactions the patient will have during their time at hospital and the handovers between each job role, work group or department. You could use it to analyse the workflow of diagnostic testing or treatments. For example, you could use it to map out an ultrasound scan showing the different stakeholders involved in the different steps of the process starting from the time the referral is written by the clinician, to the patient being booked in by the admin staff, to the ultrasound technician performing a scan, and then the results being sent.  \nHow to use  \nThere are several steps involved when creating a Swimlane diagram which are shown below, along with an example of the patient journey when attending hospital for a routine blood test.  \nStep 1  \nIdentify the stakeholders within the process to involve them in the creation of the Swimlane diagram. See our Process Mapping toolkit guide here for more information on holding a process mapping session. In the example of the patient journey when attending the hospital for a routine blood test the stakeholders identified are the receptionist, the nurse, the phlebotomist, the lab technician, the lab manger, the doctor, and the patient. See our Involving Others Toolkit Guide here for more information.  \nStep 2  \nIdentify the lanes on the Swimlane diagram. Each lane represents a job group, work group or department. The lanes can be vertical or horizontal.  \n\n| Patient | Receptionis","cbCaiqTSkzFfmImr","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqTSkzFfmImr","pdf",257612,"English","# Introduction\n# Background\n# Rationale\n# When to use\n# How to use\n## Step 1\n## Step 2\n## Step 3","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of a swimlane diagram?\",\"answer\":\"A swimlane diagram visualizes roles and responsibilities within a process and shows connections and communications between stakeholders. It can also highlight waste and inefficiencies.\"},{\"question\":\"When should you use a swimlane diagram?\",\"answer\":\"Use swimlane diagrams for complex processes involving multiple stakeholders, such as patient journeys in outpatient or inpatient settings. They also help analyze workflows for diagnostic testing and treatments.\"},{\"question\":\"What steps are involved in creating a swimlane diagram?\",\"answer\":\"First identify the stakeholders, then define the lanes for each job group or department. Next, set the start and end points and map the process steps using standard process mapping symbols.\"}]","Swimlane Diagrams - Toolkit Guide | PDF",1792975867,18]