Splitting Swimlanes for Version 7.0

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Overview

Swimlanes are initially grouped by OnePager automatically based on imported Microsoft Project or Excel source plan data determined by settings made in either the Template or in the Chart Properties form’s Rows/Swimlanes tab. Swimlanes with more than one row can be manually divided into two swimlanes after the chart is created by using the Split swimlane command found in the text column right-click context menu shown here:

P70-12 16 1-(2A)-07282020.png

There are two options available for splitting swimlanes at the row level: (1) At top of row and (2) At bottom of row. Accordingly, the Split swimlane command has two sub-commands as shown here where a text column cell is selected with a right-click:

P70-12 17 1-(1)-07282020.png

Splitting a swimlane is not possible if swimlane levels are not originally established for the chart. Swimlanes can be split if swimlanes are grouped but not shown in the chart. If a row is selected that is the only member of the associated lowest level swimlane, the Split swimlane command is disabled.

A swimlane can only be split at the lowest swimlane level:

  • When there are two or more rows in the lowest swimlane level that the selected row is a member, as shown in the above chart, the result of splitting the swimlane applies only to the lowest level swimlane.
  • If this lowest level swimlane has membership in higher level swimlanes, these higher level swimlanes are not altered by the action taken to split the lowest level swimlane.
  • When these conditions are not met, the Split swimlane command is disabled in the text column right-click context menu.

However, you should be aware that adding another swimlane level as the new lowest swimlane level after splitting the previous lowest level swimlane negates the previous lowest level swimlane split action.

An example is provided in the sub-section at this link: Caution When Adding New Swimlane Levels

Multiple rows can be selected in the chart and the Split swimlane command is enabled when all selected rows meet the conditions stated above.

Splitting a Swimlane

Splitting a Single Swimlane - Example

As a simple example, we’ll use a portion of the chart shown below which has four rows in the top most set of swimlanes and one row in the swimlane just below as shown here:

P70-12 17 1-(2)-07282020.png

To illustrate the constraint that there must be two or more rows in a swimlane, we’ll right-click the single text column cell to access the text column right-click context menu where the Split swimlane command is disabled as shown below:

P70-12 17 1-(3)-07282020.png

Splitting a Swimlane At Top of Row

The following sequence illustrated how to split the Prime swimlane which is the top most set of swimlanes in the chart at the row containing the MERLIN Subcontractor Selection task bar and split the swimlane at the top of the row.

1) Right-click the text column cell for the row containing the MERLIN Subcontractor Selection task bar to access the text column right-click context menu as shown here:
P70-12 17 1-(4)-07282020.png
2) Next, move the mouse over to the Split swimlane command which automatically accesses the two sub-command as shown here:
P70-12 17 1-(5-1)-07302020.png
3) Select the At top of row sub-command by moving the mouse to the At top of row sub-command as shown below:
P70-12 17 1-(6)-07282020.png
4) When the Split swimlane/At top of row command/sub-command is clicked, OnePager creates a new Left#3 swimlane level cell for Prime containing the two rows above the selected row with their associated text column cells as shown here:
P70-12 17 1-(7)-07282020.png

The essential change made above is that a new Prime Left#3 swimlane level cell is created above the original Prime Left#3 swimlane level cell and the new Prime swimlane level cell contains the rows that are above the selected row. The rows involved in the split swimlane process remain at their original height. The Left#1 and Left#2 swimlane level cells have not changed height nor has the document’s height changed. However, the space once occupied by the single Prime Left#3 swimlane level cell is now split between the two Prime Left#3 swimlane level cells.

Splitting a Swimlane At Bottom of Row

If we go back to the original configuration of the chart we started with and use the Split swimlane At bottom of row command/sub-command, the resulting chart looks like this:

P70-12 17 1-(8)-07282020.png

The essential change made above is that a new Prime Left#3 swimlane level cell is created below the original Prime Left#3 swimlane level cell and the new Prime swimlane level cell contains one row that is below the selected row. The rows involved in the split swimlane process remain at their original height. The Left#1 and Left#2 swimlane level cells have not changed height nor has the document’s height changed. However, the space once occupied by the single Prime Left#3 swimlane level cell is now split between the two Prime Left#3 swimlane level cells.

Splitting a Multiple Swimlanes - Example

You can select multiple rows in the chart and create additional swimlanes by using the swimlane splitting process described above. In order to do so, the multiple rows selected must be members of lowest level swimlanes with two or more rows.

Splitting Multiple Swimlanes At Top of Row

The following sequence illustrated how to split the Prime and Team 2 swimlane which are near the top of the chart at the rows containing the MERLIN Subcontractor Selection task bar and the Resistance calibration task bar. The illustration sequence below split the swimlanes at the top of their respective rows.

1) Using the CTL+Left-Click method, left-click the two text column cells (rows) shown below then right-click the text column cell for the Resistance calibration task bar to access the text column right-click context menu shown below:
P70-12 17 1-(9)-07292020.png
2) Next, move the mouse over to the Split swimlane command which automatically accesses the two sub-command as shown here:
P70-12 17 1-(10-1)-07302020.png
3) Select the At top of row sub-command by moving the mouse to the At top of row sub-command as shown below:
P70-12 17 1-(11)-07292020.png
4) When the Split swimlane/At top of row command/sub-command is clicked, OnePager creates new Left#3 swimlane level cells for Prime and Team 2 containing the rows above the selected row with their associated text column cells as shown here:
P70-12 17 1-(12)-07292020.png

The essential changes made above are that a new Prime and Team 2 Left#3 swimlane level cells are created above the original Prime and Team 2 Left#3 swimlane level cells and the new Prime and Team 2 swimlane level cells contains the rows that are above the selected rows. The rows involved in the split swimlane process remain at their original height. The Left#1 and Left#2 swimlane level cells have not changed height nor has the document’s height changed. However, the space once occupied by the single Prime and Team 2 Left#3 swimlane level cells are now split between the two Prime and Team 2 Left#3 swimlane level cells.

Splitting Multiple Swimlanes At Bottom of Row

If we go back to the original configuration of the chart we started with and use the Split swimlane At bottom of row command/sub-command, the resulting chart looks like this:

P70-12 17 1-(13)-07282020.png

In the above illustration, a different row in the Team 2 Left#3 swimlane is selected as the second of the multiple rows to participate in the Split swimlane operation. This is because the row for Resistance calibration is the bottom row in the swimlane and, therefore, a split in the swimlane cannot be made at the bottom where there is no additional row. When this situation is selected in the chart, the sub-command for At bottom of row is disabled in the text column right-click context menu.

In a similar way selecting, the top row in a swimlane and attempting to split the swimlane At top of row is not possible and the At top of row sub-command is disabled in this case. The essential changes made above are that a new Prime and Team 2 Left#3 swimlane level cells are created below the original Prime and Team 2 Left#3 swimlane level cells and the new Prime and Team 2 swimlane level cells contain rows that are below the selected rows. The rows involved in the split swimlane process remain at their original height. The Left#1 and Left#2 swimlane level cells have not changed height nor has the document’s height changed. However, the space once occupied by the Prime and Team 2 Left#3 swimlane level cells are now split between the Prime and Team 2 Left#3 swimlane level cells.

More on Split Swimlanes

Maverick Swimlane Level Cells

Split swimlane level cells are considered to be mavericks until the splitting is revered as discussed below.

Hidden Swimlanes

Some care should be taken when splitting swimlanes if one or more swimlane levels that are hidden. Hidden swimlanes are different from swimlane levels that don’t exist because they were never grouped by OnePager.

For example, if the all three swimlane levels are grouped and shown in the chart, hiding the Left#3 swimlane level, selecting a row in a Left#3 swimlane level, and using the Split swimlanes command, splits the swimlane but since the Left#3 swimlane level cells are hidden, the result is not apparent in the chart. If you go to the Chart Properties form’s Rows/Swimlanes tab’s Swimlanes control group and use the controls to unhide the Left#3 swimlane level cells, the split swimlanes are shown in the chart.

For more information on hiding and unhiding swimlane levels, please see the article at: Manually Hiding and Unhiding Swimlane Levels

Reversing Split Swimlanes

If you decide that the results of splitting one or more swimlanes are not acceptable, there are several ways to reverse the process.

Using the UNDO Button

First, you can immediately use the UNDO command found above the OnePager ribbon tool bar to put the split swimlane or swimlanes back in their original configuration.

Using the Merge Swimlanes Command

If the UNDO command is not appropriate, use the Merge swimlanes command found in the swimlane level right-click context menu after you’ve selected the two swimlane level cells involved. It is not recommend that the Merge swimlanes command be used to merge multiple swimlanes. This may not produce the desired results when split swimlane sets belong to different parent levels in the Microsoft Project source plan. It is preferable to merge swimlanes that were previously split in the order and in same combinations that were previously used to split these swimlanes.

For more information on merging swimlanes, please see the article at: Merging Swimlanes

Re-Grouping the Lowest Level Swimlane

A third method for reversing split swimlanes is to re-group the Left#3 swimlane level temporarily using the Chart Properties form’s Rows/Swimlanes tab’s Swimlanes control group controls as illustrated in the sequence below:

1) To demonstrate this method, let’s start with the illustration used above to demonstrate the Split swimlanes At top of row shown below:
P70-12 17 1-(12)-07292020.png
2) The next step is to access the Chart Properties form at the Rows/Swimlanes tab and the Left#3 sub-tab and change the Group by setting to Text30 which is going to be the temporary re-grouping setting as shown here:
P70-12 17 1-(14)-07292020.png
3) When this action is take the chart looks like this:
P70-12 17 1-(15)-07292020.png
4) The last step is to again access the Chart Properties form at the Rows/Swimlanes tab’s Swimlanes control group and change the Left#3 Group by setting back to Resource Names as shown here:
P70-12 17 1-(16)-07292020.png

When the Left#3 swimlane level’s Group by setting is changed back to Resource Names, the chart looks like this:

P70-12 17 1-(17)-07292020.png

The result above, is that the previously split swimlanes are revered and the chart is restored to its original configuration.

Labels for Split Swimlanes

As shown in the multiple example illustrations use in this article, OnePager duplicates the lowest level swimlane cell’s label in the new swimlane level cell’s label location. The new swimlane level cell label is treated like any other swimlane level cell label by OnePager when swimlanes are edited using the Chart Properties form’s Rows/Swimlanes tab. New swimlane level cell labels can be manually selected and edited like any other swimlane level cell label at any level.

For more information on editing swimlane levels and swimlane level cells, please see the article at: Editing Swimlane Properties

Caution When Adding New Swimlane Levels

In previous sections the discussion and examples showed that splitting swimlanes is reserved for the lowest swimlane level. However, after splitting a swimlane in the chart at the lowest swimlane level you are not prohibited from adding a swimlane level as a new lowest swimlane level to the chart. Doing so negates the previous splitting of the lowest swimlane level and returns that previous lowest level swimlane cell to its previous condition as shown in the following sequence.

Suppose we start with a chart configuration where the a Left#3 swimlane level cell is split into individual swimlanes as shown below:

P70-12 17 1-(18)-08132020.png

If we access the Chart Properties form at the Rows/Swimlanes tab and add the Left#3 swimlane level to the chart, the chart is reconfigured to look like this:

P70-12 17 1-(19)-08132020.png

The result from taking the above action is:

1) The new lowest swimlane level - Left#3 is added to the chart.
2) Since there was at least one previously lowest swimlane level with a split swimlane level cell, that cell is re-consolidated into a single Left#2 swimlane level cell.
3) The previously split swimlane level cell at the Left#2 swimlane level is no longer considered a maverick swimlane level cell with respect to possessing split swimlanes.

If there were previously multiple Left#2 swimlane level cells split into individual swimlanes, the action taken above to add the Left#3 swimlane level re-consolidates all previously split Left#2 swimlane level cells.

Related Links

Manual Editing Task/Milestone Shapes and Text Labels (Portal)

Creating and Editing Rows and Swimlanes (Portal)

About OnePager's Rows and Swimlanes

Collecting, Formatting, and Sorting Task/Milestones into Rows

Creating, Formatting, and Sorting Swimlanes Levels

Creating and Formatting Text Columns

Row and Swimlane Borders

Editing Text Columns or Swimlane Labels

Manually Hiding and Unhiding Swimlane Levels

Resizing the Width of Text Columns and Swimlanes

Resizing the Height of Rows

Hiding and Unhiding Rows and Swimlanes

Adding a Row or Swimlane

Merging Swimlanes

Editing Row Properties

Editing Swimlane Properties

Zebra Striping for Rows and Swimlanes for OnePager Pro

Zebra Striping for Rows and Swimlanes for OnePager Express

Editing with the Chart Properties form (Portal)

Managing Templates (Portal)

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