Organisational Chart

Hi there,

I'm currently new to Visio and have been asked to create an
organisation chart for my work.

I have had a quick look around the program and sussed the basics -
however I can see in other examples that there is a lot of really good
stuff that I'm missing out on. Basically - I'm wanting the chart to
'total' a number of pieces of data in a seperate box in the corner of
the chart.

An example would be :

Executive (1)
v
Manager (1)
v
Assistant (.8)
v
Part-Time Assitant (.4)

The number in brackets denotes % of a Full Time Employee. Therefore the
total workforce of the above 4 people amounts to 3.2 FTE.

I can't seem to find anyway of including this within my chart - I can
obviously add the figure as Text alongside the Name/Title of the person
in question, but this then leaves the tedious task of counting through
with a calculator. As I said, I can see from various examples that this
must be possible, I just can't fathom it at the moment.

If anyone could step in and answer me this question - I may have some
others in future!

Many thanks,

Chris


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You could create a pivot table in your spreadsheet or database to calculate
these, save it as a named range, and then link that data to a shape on your
drawing. I did this using the same spreadsheet as the employee records and
it works OK.


"ChrisC" wrote in message
...

Hi there,

I'm currently new to Visio and have been asked to create an
organisation chart for my work.

I have had a quick look around the program and sussed the basics -
however I can see in other examples that there is a lot of really good
stuff that I'm missing out on. Basically - I'm wanting the chart to
'total' a number of pieces of data in a seperate box in the corner of
the chart.

An example would be :

Executive (1)
v
Manager (1)
v
Assistant (.8)
v
Part-Time Assitant (.4)

The number in brackets denotes % of a Full Time Employee. Therefore the
total workforce of the above 4 people amounts to 3.2 FTE.

I can't seem to find anyway of including this within my chart - I can
obviously add the figure as Text alongside the Name/Title of the person
in question, but this then leaves the tedious task of counting through
with a calculator. As I said, I can see from various examples that this
must be possible, I just can't fathom it at the moment.

If anyone could step in and answer me this question - I may have some
others in future!

Many thanks,

Chris


--
ChrisC
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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View this thread:
http://www.thecodecage.com/forumz/sh...d.php?t=112025

Great idea, it keeps the processing in the tools designed for it and is an
obvious use for datagraphics.
al


"Steve" wrote in message
...
You could create a pivot table in your spreadsheet or database to
calculate these, save it as a named range, and then link that data to a
shape on your drawing. I did this using the same spreadsheet as the
employee records and it works OK.


"ChrisC" wrote in message
...

Hi there,

I'm currently new to Visio and have been asked to create an
organisation chart for my work.

I have had a quick look around the program and sussed the basics -
however I can see in other examples that there is a lot of really good
stuff that I'm missing out on. Basically - I'm wanting the chart to
'total' a number of pieces of data in a seperate box in the corner of
the chart.

An example would be :

Executive (1)
v
Manager (1)
v
Assistant (.8)
v
Part-Time Assitant (.4)

The number in brackets denotes % of a Full Time Employee. Therefore the
total workforce of the above 4 people amounts to 3.2 FTE.

I can't seem to find anyway of including this within my chart - I can
obviously add the figure as Text alongside the Name/Title of the person
in question, but this then leaves the tedious task of counting through
with a calculator. As I said, I can see from various examples that this
must be possible, I just can't fathom it at the moment.

If anyone could step in and answer me this question - I may have some
others in future!

Many thanks,

Chris


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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Thanks, Steve. Great Idea.

So here's question 2.

When I make my organisational chart, as I said, I'm using the info from
my spreadsheet. If a new member of staff starts/someone's pay band
changes/ moves departments etc, I obviously make the relevant changes in
the spreadsheet. I then have to re-import the data into the chart for
the changes to be reflected. In doing this, any formatting that I've
done to the chart is lost - i.e, colour coding, adding team groups etc.


Is there anyway just to tell the chart to look at the spreadsheet for
updated data and not have to reformat eveything each time? For the 10-15
odd charts I'm going to have make, it's simply not viable to have to
reformat everything every time I make a change.

Appreciate your help, guys.

Chris


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Chris,

What you describe is, unfortunately, how it works. Every time you change the
source data, you have to regenerate the chart and lose the formatting in the
process. The wizard isn't robust enough to use the existing chart, so
genrates a new one every time.

The only way around this is to link the data to each shape individually.
This is a more tedious operation, but will allow you to refresh data
changes on existing records/shapes. Any additions or deletions will still
need to be done manually.

If you generate your Org Chart the first time using the wizard, you can use
those shapes to link to external data. Use Data - Link Data to Shapes to
bring your spreadsheet into the drawing. Then just drag a record onto the
correct shape to link them. If you have an Org Chart with hundreds of
people, you'll see what I mean about it being a tedious process!

Once they are linked, you can use Data - Refresh Data to update them and
the formatting is retained.

HTH


"ChrisC" wrote in message
...

Thanks, Steve. Great Idea.

So here's question 2.

When I make my organisational chart, as I said, I'm using the info from
my spreadsheet. If a new member of staff starts/someone's pay band
changes/ moves departments etc, I obviously make the relevant changes in
the spreadsheet. I then have to re-import the data into the chart for
the changes to be reflected. In doing this, any formatting that I've
done to the chart is lost - i.e, colour coding, adding team groups etc.


Is there anyway just to tell the chart to look at the spreadsheet for
updated data and not have to reformat eveything each time? For the 10-15
odd charts I'm going to have make, it's simply not viable to have to
reformat everything every time I make a change.

Appreciate your help, guys.

Chris


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Steve,

Thanks for that - very unfortunate that. There will be literally
hundreds of entries by the end of the project, so unfortunately that
won't be the best.

Does anyone know of any other program that could serve the same purpose
but is easier to manipulate?

Regards,

Chris


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Unfortunately, I don't have any recent experience with any. You might check
out SmartDraw (http://www.smartdraw.com) or OrgPlus
(http://www.orgplus.com/)

HTH

"ChrisC" wrote in message
...

Steve,

Thanks for that - very unfortunate that. There will be literally
hundreds of entries by the end of the project, so unfortunately that
won't be the best.

Does anyone know of any other program that could serve the same purpose
but is easier to manipulate?

Regards,

Chris


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Steve;402912 Wrote:
Chris,

What you describe is, unfortunately, how it works. Every time you
change the
source data, you have to regenerate the chart and lose the formatting
in the
process. The wizard isn't robust enough to use the existing chart, so
genrates a new one every time.

The only way around this is to link the data to each shape
individually.
This is a more tedious operation, but will allow you to refresh data
changes on existing records/shapes. Any additions or deletions will
still
need to be done manually.

If you generate your Org Chart the first time using the wizard, you can
use
those shapes to link to external data. Use Data - Link Data to Shapes
to
bring your spreadsheet into the drawing. Then just drag a record onto
the
correct shape to link them. If you have an Org Chart with hundreds of
people, you'll see what I mean about it being a tedious process!

Once they are linked, you can use Data - Refresh Data to update them
and
the formatting is retained.

HTH


Steve;402912

Steve,

I've checked the websites that you offered and whilst they are both
very helpful, I'm intregued to learn a bit more above the workaround
that you mention above.

Im using the wizard to create my plan - and get my chart perfectly
created. However I can see no way to bring the spreadsheet into the
diagram. Perhaps I'm just missing something, but I can see no 'Data'
Menu in Visio - only in Excel but even then I don't have the sub-option
to 'Link Data to Shapes'.

I have Visio 2002 SR-1, and Full MS Office 2003. Could there be an
incompatability between the different versions?

All help much appreciated,

Regards,

Chris


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Chris,

I'm not sure, but I suspect that your Visio version is too old. I'm using
2007 at home and 2003 at work. I can't remember what the 2002 version did.
For that matter, I can't remember 2002. ;-)


"ChrisC" wrote in message
...

Steve;402912 Wrote:
Chris,

What you describe is, unfortunately, how it works. Every time you
change the
source data, you have to regenerate the chart and lose the formatting
in the
process. The wizard isn't robust enough to use the existing chart, so
genrates a new one every time.

The only way around this is to link the data to each shape
individually.
This is a more tedious operation, but will allow you to refresh data
changes on existing records/shapes. Any additions or deletions will
still
need to be done manually.

If you generate your Org Chart the first time using the wizard, you can
use
those shapes to link to external data. Use Data - Link Data to Shapes
to
bring your spreadsheet into the drawing. Then just drag a record onto
the
correct shape to link them. If you have an Org Chart with hundreds of
people, you'll see what I mean about it being a tedious process!

Once they are linked, you can use Data - Refresh Data to update them
and
the formatting is retained.

HTH


Steve;402912

Steve,

I've checked the websites that you offered and whilst they are both
very helpful, I'm intregued to learn a bit more above the workaround
that you mention above.

Im using the wizard to create my plan - and get my chart perfectly
created. However I can see no way to bring the spreadsheet into the
diagram. Perhaps I'm just missing something, but I can see no 'Data'
Menu in Visio - only in Excel but even then I don't have the sub-option
to 'Link Data to Shapes'.

I have Visio 2002 SR-1, and Full MS Office 2003. Could there be an
incompatability between the different versions?

All help much appreciated,

Regards,

Chris


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ChrisC's Profile: http://www.thecodecage.com/forumz/member.php?userid=464
View this thread:
http://www.thecodecage.com/forumz/sh...d.php?t=112025