Creating Swimlanes in BPMN: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Tutorial

Swimlanes in BPMN help you show who is responsible for each activity in a business process. They are divided into:

• Pools: Separate participants, organizations, systems, or independent processes.

• Lanes: Divide a pool by roles, departments, teams, or systems.

A useful rule is: pool = participant; lane = responsibility within that participant.

Example Process: Processing an Online Order

We’ll model this simple process:

1. A customer places an order.

2. Customer Service checks the order.

3. Finance confirms payment.

4. Warehouse ships the order.

5. Customer receives a shipping notification.

Step 1: Define the process scope

Before drawing anything, decide what process you are modeling.

For this tutorial, the process scope is:

Process online customer order

The main participant is the company handling the order. The customer is external to the company, so you may represent the customer as a separate pool.

Step 2: Identify the participants

List the people, departments, or systems involved.

Participant	BPMN element
Customer	Separate pool
Online Store Company	Main pool
Customer Service	Lane
Finance	Lane
Warehouse	Lane
Order Management System	Optional lane

Pools represent participants, while lanes organize activities within a participant.

Step 3: Create the main pool

Draw a large rectangle and label it:

Online Order Process

This is the main pool containing the process you want to analyze.

A pool may show the internal process in detail, or it may be collapsed when you only need to show that a participant exists. A collapsed pool is often useful for external participants whose internal actions are outside your process scope.

Step 4: Add lanes to the pool

Divide the main pool into horizontal or vertical sections.

For this example, add these lanes:

1. Customer Service

2. Finance

3. Warehouse

A horizontal layout might look like this:

Horizontal and vertical swimlanes have the same meaning; choose the direction that makes the process easiest to read.

Step 5: Add the start event

Place a start event in the lane responsible for receiving the first request.

If the order is received by Customer Service, place a start event in that lane:

Customer Service:   (Start)

A BPMN start event is usually drawn as a thin circle.

Label it clearly, for example:

Order received

Step 6: Add the activities

Add tasks to the lane of the person, department, or system performing them.

For this example:

Lane	Task
Customer Service	Review order
Finance	Confirm payment
Warehouse	Pick and pack order
Warehouse	Ship order

Tasks are usually shown as rounded rectangles.

The position of a task in a lane indicates responsibility. A task placed in the Finance lane means Finance performs or owns that task.

Step 7: Connect activities with sequence flows

Connect tasks within the same pool using sequence flows, represented by solid arrows:

The arrows show the order in which activities occur. Sequence flows stay within the same pool.

When the flow moves from one lane to another within the same pool, continue using a sequence flow. Changing lanes does not mean that you need a message flow.

Step 8: Add gateways when decisions are needed

Suppose Finance must decide whether payment was approved.

Add an exclusive gateway after the payment check:

The diamond represents a gateway. Label each outgoing path so the decision is clear.

A possible layout is:

Step 9: Add the end event

Place an end event after the final activity.

For a successful order:

[Ship order] → (Order completed)

For a declined payment:

[Notify customer] → (Order cancelled)

If the process has multiple possible outcomes, use separate end events with meaningful labels.

Step 10: Add the customer as a separate pool

If you want to show communication with the customer, create a second pool:

+-----------------------------+
| Customer                    |
|                             |
+-----------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------+
| Online Order Process                                 |
| Customer Service | Finance | Warehouse              |
+------------------------------------------------------+

Connect the pools with message flows, shown as dashed arrows. Use message flows for communication between separate participants, not for the internal order of activities.

Example:

Customer
  [Submit order]
       - - - - - - - - - - - >
Company
  (Order received)

Later:

Company
  [Send shipping notification]
       - - - - - - - - - - - >
Customer
  (Receive notification)

Completed simplified model

A text version of the completed process looks like this:

Common beginner mistakes

Using lanes for external participants

If the customer is an independent participant, use a separate pool rather than placing the customer in a company lane. Communication between separate participants is represented with message flows.

Using sequence flows between pools

Do not connect tasks in different pools with sequence flows. Use message flows instead. Sequence flows are for the internal progression of a process within a pool.

Naming lanes after individuals

Prefer role or department names such as:

• Customer Service Representative

• Finance Department

• Warehouse Staff

• Order Management System

Avoid names such as “Alex” or “Jordan,” because the diagram may become inaccurate when responsibilities change.

Creating too many lanes

Create a lane only when the distinction adds useful information. Combining every individual, application, and department into separate lanes can make the diagram difficult to read.

Confusing responsibility with sequence

A lane tells you who performs an activity. The arrows tell you when it happens. A lane itself does not indicate order.

Drawing message flows inside one pool

Message flows are intended for communication between separate pools. For handoffs between lanes inside one pool, use sequence flows.

A quick checklist

Before finalizing your diagram, check that:

• The process scope is clear.

• Pools represent separate participants.

• Lanes represent roles, departments, or systems.

• Every task is placed in the lane responsible for it.

• Sequence flows connect activities within a pool.

• Message flows connect separate pools.

• Gateways have clearly labeled paths.

• Start and end events are included.

• Lane names describe roles rather than individual employees.

• The diagram can be understood from left to right or top to bottom.