BPMN Pools and Lanes: Show Who Does Each Step
Show who does what in a BPMN model. Add a pool for the organisation and lanes for each team in the free bpmn.io modeler, then place every task in its lane, using an online shop's returns process.
Step by step
Who does what
- Pools and lanes. A process model has to show who does each step. Pools and lanes do that. The example is the returns process of an online shop.
- New diagram. Start a new diagram in bpmn.io and name the start event Return requested.
Pool
- Pool. Drag the pool from the bottom of the palette onto the canvas. A pool is one organisation, here the online shop, and it takes in the start event. Make it bigger, then name it Online Shop. Drag the start event a little up and to the right. This leaves room on the left for the lane names.
Lanes
- Lanes. Click the pool and choose divide into two lanes. A lane is a team or a role inside the pool. Name the lanes Customer Service and Warehouse.
- Steps in lanes. Customer Service approves the return, so add a task from the start event in their lane and name it Approve return. The warehouse checks the item. Drag a task from the palette into the Warehouse lane and name it Inspect item. To connect them, click Approve return, take the arrow tool from its menu and drop it on Inspect item. The arrow crosses from one lane to the other, which shows the hand-over.
- Decision. Add a gateway after Inspect item and name it Item OK? If yes, Customer Service pays the money back. Drag a task from the gateway's menu up into the Customer Service lane, name it Refund customer and label the arrow Yes.
- Ends. End that path with an end event named Refund paid. If no, the return is refused in the Warehouse lane. Drag an end event below the gateway, name it Return refused and label the arrow No.
- Lanes. Now anyone can see who does what: everything in the Warehouse lane is the warehouse's job.
- The finished model. Click an empty part of the canvas to see the whole returns process: 1 pool, 2 lanes, and every step in its lane.
Recap
- The rules. The rules: 1 pool per organisation, 1 lane per team or role, every task fully inside its lane, and arrows that cross lanes for hand-overs.
Common mistakes
- A separate pool for each team. Customer Service and Warehouse both work for the same online shop, so they are lanes in one pool. Use a second pool only for a separate organisation, such as the customer or a courier company.
- A task sitting across 2 lanes. If a task overlaps the line between lanes, nobody can tell who owns it. Move it so it sits fully inside one lane. If 2 teams really share it, split it into 2 tasks with a hand-over arrow.
- Lanes named after people. A lane named after one person goes out of date when that person leaves or changes role. Name lanes after the team or role, like Warehouse, so the model stays correct.
- No room left for the lane names. If the start event sits right against the left edge of the pool, the lanes get crowded once you add them. Move the start event up and to the right first, as in the lesson.
When a business analyst uses this
In a process workshop, a BA draws the current returns process with one lane per team while the teams watch. Every arrow that crosses a lane is a hand-over, so the group can see where work waits or gets lost and agree who owns each step before the process is signed off.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a pool and a lane in BPMN?
A pool is a whole organisation, like an online shop. A lane is a team or role inside that pool, like Customer Service or Warehouse, and each task sits in the lane of whoever does it.
What is a pool in BPMN?
A pool is the large box that holds one organisation's part of the process. In the example, the Online Shop pool holds the start event, all the tasks, the gateway and the end events.
Is a swimlane the same as a pool in BPMN?
Not exactly. Swimlane is the general name for both pools and lanes. A pool is the outer box for an organisation, and lanes are the rows inside it for each team or role.
