In the past I have used Office 2007 for example flowcharts that I have posted on here like this swimlane flowchart example. And frankly I think it looks pretty good. Pretty easy to make them, but not super easy. And of course Office isn’t cheap.

So it was with great interest this morning that I read New flowchart shapes and multi-line text in drawings from the official Google Docs blog. I didn’t realize that Google docs had any flowcharting at all!

Well, indeed it does and it is very, very easy to create a simple swimlane flowchart in a matter of minutes. Here is what it looks like when you are in edit mode:

And here is what it looks like when inserted into a document:

To make the swimlanes you simply add a large rectangle for each lane you would like to draw. Remember that in a swimlane flowchart each lane represents a different person, group, team, etc. There are a wide variety of different flowchart shapes to choose from and there are connectors like arrows as you would expect. Regarding the arrows I was a little disappointed that they are not smart arrows than can be snapped to each shape effectively, they don’t seem to have any relation to the shapes which I think could use some improvement.

However, remember that Google Docs are free! And these can be easily shared with members of your team for business process collaboration, which is what I think, other than cost, is the biggest benefit to using Google Docs.

Looking for a cheap business process mapping tool to create your own swimlane flowcharts? Give Google Docs a try!

Making Swimlane Flowcharts with Google Docs is a post from: Swimlane Flowcharts

Post from: Swimlane Flowcharts

Making Swimlane Flowcharts with Google Docs

If you have spent any time on a business process mapping project then I am sure you have come across swimlane flowcharts. Swimlanes are brilliant for a number of applications but where they really shine is in business process improvement. This is because the nature of the swimlanes is that they clearly show when a process is mired down in the bowels of an organization and they present this in such an easy to understand flowchart that it can be readily presented to executives who appreciate things being easy to understand.

I really like to see swimlane flowcharts side by side where it is very clear how your business process improvements have made a difference. There is nothing better than seeing a swim lane flow chart with 4, 5 or even more bars (each representing a different person or group) as an original and then seeing the improvement business process with only 1 or 2 bars. Or maybe you still have the same number of bands, but less back and forth within each band. However you have improved the process, the swimlane flowchart will make it very obvious.

I first ran into these flowcharts 7 or 8 years ago on a business process improvement project. Since then I have used them successfully in a number of projects. My goal for this website is to educate people on what swimlane flowcharts are and how they can be used in an arsenal of business process mapping tools for the purpose of helping you improve your business.

My goal with this website is to point out interesting examples of swimlane flowcharts that people have written about, to educate on the available books or software tools available for creating flowcharts, and to cover a number of different areas within the business process mapping space.

My personal goal is that by doing all of this that I will get even more knowledge about swimlane flowcharts, so there is certainly an element of personal growth here as well.

I hope you find the site of value.

All About Swimlane Flowcharts . Com is a post from: Swimlane Flowcharts

Post from: Swimlane Flowcharts

All About Swimlane Flowcharts . Com