Microsoft Visio – Useful Resources ”; Previous Next The following resources contain additional information on Microsoft Visio. Please use them to get more in-depth knowledge on this topic. Useful Links on Microsoft Visio Microsoft Visio Wikipedia – Wikipedia reference for Microsoft Visio. Useful Books on Microsoft Visio To enlist your site on this page, please drop an email to [email protected] Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Microsoft Visio – Using the Org Chart Wizard ”; Previous Next Although you can manually create the org chart using different shapes in the Shapes pane, Visio also provides an automated way of importing information about your organization from an external source. In this chapter, we will look into importing data from information in an Excel spreadsheet. Creating Information in an Excel Spreadsheet Create an Excel spreadsheet or use an existing one containing some of the important information in the header row that goes into creating an org chart. Important information includes Employee, Title, Manager and Department. The Employee and Manager fields are mandatory and the others are optional. Additionally, you can also include a field called the Master_Shape, which indicates the exact shape to be used for a particular employee. Note that the name, Master_Shape field needs to be used as is for Visio to designate a specific shape to the employee. Starting the Organization Chart Wizard There are two ways of starting the Organization Chart wizard. The first method involves using the Organization Chart Wizard from the Templates section in the New menu. The other method is to use the Import command in the Organization Data section from the Org Chart tab in the Ribbon, if you have already created an org chart. The second method is recommended if you need the background formatting to carry over onto all the pages in the org chart. The first method creates all the pages required, but you need to individually format each page, which can get tedious if your organization is large. Either ways, the Organization Chart Wizard appears in which you can specify the features of your org chart. Using the Organization Chart Wizard The first screen of the Organization Chart Wizard gives the option of either selecting the existing information from a file or manually entering information. For this example, we will choose the first option. Click Next to proceed to the next screen in the wizard. In the following screen, you can choose the source in which the organizational information is stored. It could be a location on a Microsoft Exchange Server, a local text, CSV or Excel file, or an ODBC-compliant data source. Select the second option and click Next. Now, enter the location or path to the Excel file and click Next. In this screen, in the Name field dropdown, select the field in the Excel spreadsheet that contains the name of the employee. In the Reports to field dropdown, select the field in the Excel spreadsheet that denotes the reporting manager. If the name and first names are in different fields, specify the field containing the first name of the employee in the First name dropdown. Visio will combine the name and first name fields to generate the full name of the employee. Click Next to continue. The Data File Columns box lists all the data fields that are present in the header of the Excel file. You can select the fields that you need to be displayed in the Displayed Fields section by selecting the required fields and then click Add. Click Next, once the desired fields are added. In the next screen, you can choose the fields the shape data should be based on. The shape data fields will be similar to the fields selected in the previous step so in most cases, you can leave it as such. You can also add any additional fields if needed. In the following screen, you can choose to include pictures of the employees. If you have labelled pictures in the same format as the employee names, you can point to the location of the folder containing pictures of all the employees. Or you can simply choose not to include any pictures. In this screen, you can choose how much of organization info can be displayed on one page, if there are many employees spanning many pages. You can also choose to allow Visio to automatically break the org chart across pages. Make sure that Hyperlink employee shapes across pages and Synchronize employee shapes across pages are selected. Click Finish to finally create the org chart. After clicking Finish, Visio will start processing information from the Excel spreadsheet and create the org chart based on the parameters specified in the wizard. You will see a progress indicator showing the status of the creation. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Microsoft Visio – Adding Executive Pictures ”; Previous Next You can add pictures to different levels in your org chart to make it more visually appealing. To add executive pictures, double-click the shape to zoom into it and then click the picture field within the shape. Then click the Insert button to select a picture for adding into a shape. To prevent an image from showing up in a shape, click the Show/Hide button. After adding an image, you can use the usual picture formatting tools to adjust the brightness and contrast or crop the image. If you want to automatically import executive pictures into their respective hierarchies, simply make sure the file names of the executive pictures match that of the names in the shapes. Then import the entire folder and Visio will automatically place the executive in his/her corresponding hierarchy. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Breaking Down Structures Using Sync Copies ”; Previous Next It might be required to break down the org chart so that each executive gets his/her own page to avoid congesting the chart. Synchronization allows any change made to the executives in other pages to remain in sync with the main page. To synchronize a shape, click the shape and then the Synchronize button in the Org Chart tab. This opens the Create Synchronized Copy dialog box, which allows to create a copy of the shape and its subordinates on a new or an existing page. Click the Hide subordinates on original page checkbox, if you want to collapse the shape on the main page. Any changes made on the synchronized shape pages will be seen on the main page as well. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Microsoft Visio – Creating Calendars ”; Previous Next You can create calendars in Visio to help you better organize and deliver information. To create a calendar, go to the New menu in the File tab and click Templates, then Schedule. In the Schedule category, click Multi week Task Calendar and then Create to create the calendar workspace. Depending on your version of Visio, you might just notice the template as Calendar. You will see that there is a default calendar created. You can however, create your own calendar by dragging the Month shape onto an empty canvas. This opens the Configure dialog box, where you can specify the calendar month. Days of the month are automatically filled and the weekends are differentiated from the weekdays. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Microsoft Visio – Formatting Timelines ”; Previous Next You can apply the usual formatting techniques, such as themes and variants to a timeline. You can also select a background so that all successive timelines are created using the background template. For example, in the Design tab, click Borders & Titles to set a professional looking border that includes a title header so that all pages in this timeline have the same background and header information. It creates a Background page that is overlaid on all other pages in the document. You can also change the timeline and other shapes to make it look like a block, cylinder, or a bracket by right-clicking the shape and selecting the corresponding type from the menu. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Adding Titles and Other Information ”; Previous Next You can add titles and other text information to a floor plan to convey information, such as the scale of the diagram, title of the designing company, etc. Adding Text to the Floor Plan To add text information to the floor plan, select the Text Box from the Insert tab in the Ribbon and draw a text box in an empty area in the diagram. The text box can be used to then enter information, such as the scale of the diagram, so that the reader gets a perspective of the real object size. The scale information can be derived from the Drawing Scale tab of the Page Setup dialog box in the Design tab. Adding Page Titles and Backgrounds You can also add page titles and backgrounds as a background page so that it is reflected across all pages of the diagram. In the following example, we will add a background title information. Go to the Design tab and in the Backgrounds section, click Borders & Titles. In the dropdown list of designs, select one that matches your theme. It creates a background layer that applies to all pages of the document. Double-click the text area to zoom in and type the title of the document. You can also change the date, if needed and even apply themes and variants to the floor plan for a more sophisticated look. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Adding Team Frames to a Diagram ”; Previous Next A team frame helps to denote members of different teams who work on a common project. To add a team frame, drag the team frame shape from the Shapes pane onto the teams that you want to include. The team frame can be adjusted along its handles to accommodate as many members as needed. The team frame border line and the label can be formatted as needed. To format the team frame border, click the team frame and go to the Home tab and in the Shape Styles section, select the shape formatting needed. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Exporting to Web Pages Using HTML ”; Previous Next You can also export drawings to web pages which can be hosted on a web site. Visio allows customizing what goes into the web page. Go to the Save As dialog box from the File menu and select Web Page in the Save As type field. Then, in the same dialog box, click Publish… to open the HTML publishing options. You can select which of the components of the diagram that you want to publish and the number of pages to publish. You can also provide a page title. The HTML file is created in the chosen location along with a folder containing the supporting files. Both the HTML file and the folder are linked together. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;
Microsoft Visio – Subordinate Layouts ”; Previous Next We can continue building on the org chart previously created. Based on the organizational hierarchy, corresponding shapes can be added to the existing shapes. Visio will then automatically create the connection and align the new shape in the diagram. Adding a Position Belt A position belt is used to indicate a position under an executive. In the following example, several position belts have been added to each of the three manager sub-shapes. To add a position shape, simply drag the Position Belt shape from the Shapes pane over any of the manager sub-shape. Visio automatically creates the Position Belt shape and connects it to the manager shape above. Adding a Vacancy Belt In an organization, not all positions will be always full. There will be a few vacant positions that need to be filled. You can indicate a vacancy by dragging the Vacancy Belt shape onto any of the managerial shapes. A vacancy shape is different from the other shapes and can be easily identified. Adding Consultant and Secretary Shapes Similarly, you can also add the consultant and assistant shapes to the org chart. In the following example, a consultant has been added to the CTO and an assistant to the CEO. Drag the Consultant Shape on top of the CTO shape and the Assistant shape on top of the CEO. Visio will automatically adjust the spacing and connections between the shapes. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;