Process mapping examples
A gallery of process mapping examples organised two ways: by layout (no-swimlane, swimlane, and pools-and-swimlanes) and by industry (sales, change management, and client onboarding). Pick the one that matches your process shape and customise it in BA Copilot.
Examples by layout
Three layouts cover almost every BPMN 2.0 process you will ever draw. Each example below is a real, editable BPMN template — click Customise in BA Copilot on any diagram to open it in the editor pre-loaded with the exact shape you see here, then adapt the steps and roles to your own process.
No-swimlane example: claim handling with gateways
The simplest layout. One owner drives the whole flow, with exclusive and parallel gateways routing the work. No pools or lanes — reach for this shape when a single team handles every step.
BPMN gateways — exclusive and parallel, side by side
A small BPMN 2.0 flow that shows two gateway types in the same diagram: an exclusive gateway (diamond with an "×") that routes the process down one of two paths, and a parallel gateway (diamond with a "+") that splits the flow into two simultaneous paths and then joins them back together.
- A claim arrives at the start event.
- Assess the claim to collect the facts needed to route it.
- An exclusive gateway asks "Is the claim high-value?" — exactly one outgoing path is taken.
- If high-value, a parallel gateway fans out: Fraud check and Manager review run at the same time.
- A second parallel gateway waits for both checks to finish before carrying on.
- If not high-value, the claim is auto-approved instead.
- Either path converges on the Pay out task, then the process ends.
Swimlane example: 5-lane order approval
Five lanes — Customer Service, Credit Check, Management, Fulfilment, Shipping — make it obvious who owns each step and where the hand-offs sit. Use this when multiple roles inside one organisation pass work back and forth.
Approving a customer order
A five-lane BPMN 2.0 process map showing how an incoming customer order is reviewed, credit-checked, approved, fulfilled and shipped — with two distinct end events (Order Shipped on the approved path, Order Declined on the rejected path).
- Customer Service receives the order at the Order Received start event and records the order details.
- Credit Check runs a credit check on the customer account.
- Management reviews the credit-check result at the Approved? exclusive gateway: if No, the process ends at the Order Declined end event; if Yes, fulfilment continues.
- Fulfilment picks and packs the order stock.
- Shipping dispatches the package and the process ends at the Order Shipped end event.
Pools-and-swimlanes example: bank payment collaboration
Two pools — Customer and Bank Teller — connected by message flows. Reach for this shape when two parties at arm's length exchange messages, rather than sharing a single sequence flow.
Making a payment at a bank
A two-pool BPMN 2.0 collaboration for making a payment at a bank. The Customer pool submits a payment and later receives a receipt; the Bank Teller pool receives the request, verifies the details, and routes through an exclusive gateway ("Are payment details valid?") — processing the transaction and providing a receipt on the yes path, or returning funds on the no path. Two message flows connect the pools: the customer sends the payment request to the bank, and the bank sends the receipt back.
- Customer submits the payment — the Payment Initiated start event fires the Submit Payment task.
- A message flow carries the request to the Bank Teller pool, triggering the Payment Request Received start event.
- Bank Teller verifies the payment details, then the "Are payment details valid?" exclusive gateway decides the path.
- On the no path, Bank Teller returns the funds and the Bank Teller process ends at Payment Rejected.
- On the yes path, Bank Teller processes the payment transaction and provides a receipt, ending at Payment Processed.
- A second message flow delivers the receipt back to the Customer pool, where the Receive Receipt task runs and the Customer process ends at Payment Completed.
Examples by industry
Three prompt starters for the use cases we see most often. Click Customise & generate on any card to open the generator with the prompt already pre-filled — tweak the wording or just press send to draft your first diagram.
Sales process flowchart
A sales process flowchart maps the path from lead to closed deal: qualify, discover, demo, proposal, negotiate, close. Drop in lanes for SDR, AE, and sales engineer so every hand-off is visible at a glance.
Change management process template
A change management process template covers the lifecycle of an organisational change: raise, impact-assess, approve, communicate, roll out, and review. Lanes for sponsor, change lead, and affected team keep accountability clear.
Client onboarding process template
A client onboarding process template maps kick-off, data collection, account set-up, first milestone, and handover to the ongoing account team. Swimlanes for account manager, delivery lead, and client give everyone a shared playbook.
Frequently asked questions
What's a process map?
A process map is a diagram that shows the steps, decisions, and roles involved in getting a piece of work done from start to finish. It makes hand-offs visible and gives a team a single picture they can all point at when they discuss the work.
Swimlane vs no-swimlane — which should I use?
If the whole process sits with one person or one team, skip lanes — a straight sequence of tasks is easier to read. If two or more roles own different parts of the work, add a lane per role so the hand-offs jump off the page.
When should I reach for pools-and-swimlanes?
Pools-and-swimlanes is the right layout when two separate organisations exchange messages — a buyer and a supplier, a customer and a platform, a clinic and a lab. Each organisation gets its own pool, and lanes inside the pool break the work down by role.
Is a process map the same as a flowchart?
They overlap heavily but are not identical. A flowchart is the generic term for any step-by-step diagram. A process map is any diagram of a business process — it usually adds role-based lanes and decision branching. BPMN 2.0 is one widely used notation for process maps, but a process map does not have to be BPMN; many teams use simple flowchart shapes. The examples on this page use BPMN-style shapes so the diagram reads the same way in every BPMN-aware tool.
How do I pick which example to follow?
Start with the layout example that matches your process shape, then look at the industry template that matches what you actually do. Customise the steps and role names, and you have a first draft to share with your team.
Related reading
Process map generation
Three input methods — text, image, and document — turn real-world inputs into BPMN diagrams.
Free AI BPMN diagram generator
Generate your first BPMN diagram free — no sign-in required.
Process map template library
Browse BPMN templates for common business processes — expanding as the marketplace opens up.
AI SOP Diagram Generator
Turn a plain-English process description into a visual SOP — a BPMN 2.0 diagram, not a prose document.
Swimlane diagram
Definition + worked example — used in the 5-lane order approval example above.
BPMN pool & lane
When two organisations exchange messages — used in the bank payment collaboration example.
BPMN gateway
The diamond shapes that route the flow — appears in every example above.
Ready to draw your own?
Describe your own process in plain English and BA Copilot generates the diagram, lanes, and hand-offs for you. Want to start from one of the examples above? Copy its description, click 'Open the generator' on that example, and paste it in.