A flowchart shows the order of work; swimlanes add who is responsible for each step. This guide keeps a cross-functional drawing workflow and compares five tools, starting with Mockitt Diagram, for turning a process into a diagram people can review.
How to Draw a Flowchart Online
Microsoft’s cross-functional flowchart guide covers both Windows and web versions of Visio. Web editing of these diagrams requires Visio Plan 1 or Plan 2; it is not included in the basic Visio in Microsoft 365 experience.
1. Open the Visio web home page with an appropriately licensed account.
2. Find the Cross-Functional Flowchart template.
3. Create the diagram, then name the lanes for the responsible roles, such as Requester, Manager and Purchasing.
4. Choose the required orientation at the start. In Visio for the web, a created flowchart cannot automatically switch between horizontal and vertical orientations.
Ways to add swimlanes to your flowchart
Use a lane header’s context menu to insert a lane before or after it.
You can also add a lane from the Cross-functional Flowchart tab.
Give each lane a role name rather than the name of one temporary assignee.
Place an action in the lane of the role responsible for completing it. An arrow crossing a lane boundary should represent a meaningful handoff.
Change The Text In Flowchart
Replace placeholder text with actions and role names.
In the web version, select the lane-label text and use the Home text-alignment controls.
Use text alignment for lane labels in the web version; lane-label rotation is a desktop control.
Organize and Group Various Shapes
Use a separator when the process has a meaningful phase boundary. Label the phase so the reader knows what changes at that point.
Keep related steps together, but avoid grouping actions from different owners in a way that hides responsibility. Container controls vary by Visio version; the purpose is a readable process, not adding a border around every set of shapes.
Rearrange Swimlanes in several steps
Select the lane you need to move.
Drag it to the intended position and use the placement indicator.
Confirm that its steps belong to the lane and move with it.
After rearranging, inspect every cross-lane connector. In the purchase example, an approved request must reach Purchasing and a rejected request must return to the requester.
Trace a purchase request across the lanes
Start with the Requester submitting the item and reason. The Manager checks the budget and decides whether to approve. An approved request moves to Purchasing, which places the order; after delivery, the Requester confirms receipt. A request needing revision returns to the Requester before another review. Mark each of those transitions explicitly.
Ask one person from each role to follow the path. Confirm what information must accompany a handoff and where a declined request ends. If two roles both appear to own the same action, resolve that responsibility before making the chart look polished. This is a suggested process-mapping exercise, not an automated approval system.
Five online flowchart drawing tools
1. Mockitt
Mockitt Diagram supports shapes, connectors, templates and alignment in a browser workspace. Map the actions first, then use clearly labeled areas or an appropriate template to distinguish the responsible roles.
For a purchase request, show the Manager’s approval decision, the return-for-revision route and the handoff to Purchasing. Review the diagram with those roles before sharing it. The chart documents the agreement; it does not automatically route or approve a request.
2. Boardmix
Boardmix provides flowchart tools on a collaborative whiteboard with comments and real-time editing. It suits a workshop in which the participants need to agree on ownership and sequence together.
Keep questions beside the swimlane flow, then resolve them into explicit actions or decisions. Check board access and plan limits before a group session, and keep the agreed process separate from brainstorming notes.
3. Creately
Creately offers templates and a shared visual workspace for process diagrams. Evaluate a cross-functional example with your real roles and exception paths; its free-plan size and export limits need to match the intended deliverable.
4. Gliffy
Gliffy fits a flowchart maintained in Confluence documentation. Its shapes and connectors can keep the process beside the written procedure. Confirm hosting and user-tier licensing rather than treating a trial as unlimited free use.
5. Cacoo
Cacoo provides templates, standard shapes, collaborative editing, comments and version history. It is useful when reviewers need to discuss the same chart. Check the document, export and access requirements for everyone who will maintain the flow.