Org Chart Layout

cpsriskanalyst · July 24, 2008, 03:39:47 PM

Hey all, I have an Excel Spreadsheet that I am importing into Visio, and everything is all well and good in that everyone is correctly linked to their subordinate/superior. However the heights are not what I would like them to be.

In other words, I have 5 levels of employees, Senior VP, VP, Manager, Supervisor, and Staff. The problem is I have some staff level people who directly report to managers, VP's and SVP's. In the org chart, it displays these people at the same height as the VP, Manager, or supervisor, depending on who they report to. Is there anyway I can add a field to the spreadsheet that will allow me to force staff level people to be at the bottom of the chart with a really long line connecting them to their direct superior?

Thanks for any help!

wapperdude · July 26, 2008, 04:25:20 AM

I'm not aware of doing this with the Excel file. But, there is a way with the shapesheet. It does require a little bit of Org Chart layout pre-planning, though. Assume for the moment, that the position shape should never be higher than say, 3 inches relative to the bottom of the sheet. Open the shapesheet for the position shape, and modify the entry for PinY in the Shape Transform section. Do not change the existing entry, which we'll call, yadayada. Add the following, such that the entry now looks like: MAX(3 in, yadayada), where "3 in" is whatever maximum level you desire. The position shapes should now be constrained to this max height or lower.

wapperdude · July 26, 2008, 04:36:51 AM

Ah. One other caution (disclaimer???), if you choose to select an arrangement of the subordinates other than the default, the PinY entry can get clobbered. Even guarding the formula won't help.

cpsriskanalyst · July 28, 2008, 06:14:33 PM

Ok great, so is there some way i can save this shapesheet definition and have future people be imported with that shape, so they dont go any higher than 3 in either?

wapperdude · July 28, 2008, 07:04:53 PM

Save your shapes to a custom stencil and / or template. The template could define all of the necessary stencils and standardize how everyone begins a Visio session.

cpsriskanalyst · July 28, 2008, 08:40:18 PM

Awesome, sorry to be so incessant but this is my first time with visio, I assume to get a person imported into visio using one of my new custom shapes, i would need a shape data field on my spreadsheet in addition to the data that's already there, what would I label that field and what would I put for each person to get the shape I just named, "CA-Staff".

If that didnt make sense, let me rephrase. I saved a shape with your pinY function and a color for the foreground in the shapesheet. I then saved that shape to a new stencil naming it "CA-Staff". Now every time I import the spreadsheet from before, I would like staff members from california to all be placed on the page using the "CA-Staff" shape. How would I go about doing that?

Thanks again you have been a great help!

wapperdude · July 29, 2008, 01:03:54 AM

Probably the most straight forward way would be to make a simple Org chart, say with 3 or 4 shapes, including your new CA shape. Then, use the Org Chart Wizard to export and create an Excel file. This file can then serve as a template. It should have all of the requred info. Once your actual file is correctly setup, then you ought to be able to use the wizard to import the file back into Visio.