Flow form — Editing in Process Modeler Swimlane shapes

For example, an insurance claim application has one assignment instructing operators to collect customer information, another to verify the information and calculate payments, and a third to issue payments and update financial records. You want each to have its own work group and workbasket. You create three swimlanes named CSR, Back Office, and Fulfillment, in a pool named Insurance Claim Process. Each lane has a router activity associated with the assignments within it. During flow processing, the router assigns the work item to the appropriate workbasket inside the lane.

Swimlanes are not available for screen flows.

Adding a Swimlane

On the flow diagram, you can add a Swimlane to a flow in one of three ways. Validation of the added shapes occurs when you save the flow.

Use the canvas context menu:

1. Right-click a blank area of the canvas where you would like the Swimlane to appear.
2. Hover over Add on the submenu to display a list of shapes you can add to the flow.
3. Click the Swimlane shape to add it to the canvas.
4. If your orientation is portrait, the Swimlane is positioned on the right side of the Router Pool. If orientation is landscape, the Swimlane is positioned on the bottom of the Router Pool. Default flow orientation is defined as a user setting, but you can change the Swimlane orientation using icons on the toolbar.
5. You can click and drag (by the pool name) to reposition the Router Pool. Click the individual Swimlanes (by their name) to select and reposition the Swimlanes within the Router Pool.

Use the toolbar Flow Shape palette:

1. Click the Flow Shape palette on the toolbar to display a drop-down shapes menu that will remain open until you close it, facilitating the process of rapidly adding multiple shapes. Click the window title bar and drag the submenu to another area of the screen, as needed.
   • Click and drag the Swimlane shape to the canvas. After the first Swimlane is added to the canvas, subsequent lanes will place according to the lane orientation
   • You can also double-click the shape on the submenu, position your pointer where you would like the shape to appear in the flow, then click to place the shape.
2. Close the Flow Shape palette at any time.
3. If your orientation is portrait, the Swimlane is positioned on the right side of the Router Pool. If orientation is landscape, the Swimlane is positioned on the bottom of the Router Pool. Default flow orientation is defined as a user setting, but you can change the Swimlane orientation using icons on the toolbar. You cannot change orientation after a swimlane is created.
4. You can click and drag (by the pool name) to reposition the Router Pool. Click the individual Swimlanes (by their name) to reposition the Swimlanes within the Router Pool.

Use the Flow Shape palette drop-down menu:

1. Click the down arrow on the toolbar Flow Shape palette to display a drop-down shapes menu.
2. Click and drag the Swimlane shape from the drop-down menu.
3. If your orientation is portrait, the Swimlane is positioned on the right side of the Router Pool. If orientation is landscape, the Swimlane is positioned on the bottom of the Router Pool. Default flow orientation is defined as a user setting, but you can change the Swimlane orientation using icons on the toolbar.
4. You can click and drag (by the pool name) to reposition the Router Pool. Click the individual Swimlanes (by their name) to reposition the Swimlanes within the Router Pool.

Editing Swimlane properties

1. On the flow Diagram tab, open the properties panel using one of the following:
   • Double-click the shape.
   • Right-click the shape and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
2. When the Swimlane properties panel appears, enter a name for this shape to the Swimlane:[Swimlane] heading. The shape name is only descriptive; it does not affect runtime execution. This name also appears inside the Swimlane shape on the diagram. If a name is not specified, the Swimlane will take the name of the optionally-assigned router activity.
3. Complete the fields in the Swimlane section described below.
4. Click OK to close the panel when you have completed your edits.

Editing the Router Pool

Double-click the pool to display the Pool Properties panel. Enter a title for the shape in the Name field.

Completing the Swimlane section

Complete the following fields.

Working with swimlanes and router pools

• Dragging and dropping a swimlane — A swimlane may be dragged to a new position within the pool by selecting then dragging the lane. Any shapes within the lane move with it.
• Deleting a swimlane — Select the swimlane frame and delete it. Be careful not to select the router pool frame. If the first or last lane is deleted, the other lanes remain in position. If an interior lane is deleted, the lanes move to close the gap.
  Deleting a router pool — If you delete a router pool, all of its lanes are deleted. Shapes in the flow are not deleted.
  Caution: Deleting a swimlane or router pool does not delete the shapes within it. The shapes remain on the canvas.
• Changing the width of a swimlane — Grab the resize handle in the lower right corner of the swimlane to widen or narrow it.  The pool will widen or narrow to accommodate the added or removed space.  Shapes within repositioned lanes move along with the lane. You cannot change the height of an individual swimlane.
• Resizing a router pool — When you change the width of a router pool shape, all swimlanes change proportionately.  The shapes within a lane do not change size. You can adjust the pool's height with corresponding changes to lane heights.

Cut, copy, and paste Swimlanes

Cut or copy shapes from a flow and paste them within the same flow or in other flows within your user session. When you select a swimlane to copy, do not include the router pool, as there is a limit of one router pool per flow. The shapes in the swimlane must be selected and copied in a subsequent step.

• Click to cut a selected shape(s) and connector(s). Cut differs from Delete in that cut shapes appear faded on the canvas until you paste them elsewhere. You can also cut selected shapes using the right-click canvas menu, the shape drop-down menu, or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-x.
• Cick to place selected shape(s) and connector(s) in the copy buffer. You can also copy selected shapes using the right-click canvas menu, the shape drop-down menu, or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-c.
• Click to paste selected shape(s) and connector(s) elsewhere in the flow or in other flows within your user session. You can also paste selected shapes using the right-click canvas menu, the shape drop-down menu, or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-v.

Swimlane Orientation and Positioning

• Swimlane orientation is derived from an operator preference. For example, if the orientation is set to Landscape, the Landscape orientation icon on the tool bar will be selected.
• You can change the orientation using the toolbar icons and, before you create a swimlane. When a pool and lane are created, the swimlane orientations are disabled.
• You can place the first swimlane anywhere on the canvas. Subsequently added swimlanes will place to the right of pools with portrait orientation, and to the lower end of pools with landscape orientation.
• Reposition the pool by clicking and dragging the pool name.
• Reposition lanes within the pool by clicking and dragging the swimlane name.
• An assignment shape assigned to a swimlane will inherit the router assigned to the swimlane.
• When you move an assignment out of the pool, the router is removed from the assignment.

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