Storing and Displaying Employee Information in Organization Charts

You can store shape data with shapes in any Visio diagram. In organization charts, you can use shape data for reports, reference, or as shape text in charts to store more descriptive detail about an employee. The default shape data for organization chart shapes are Department, Telephone, Name, Title, and E-mail. By default, the Name and Title properties are shown in the shapes in a chart.

The other default shape data is stored with the shapes but not shown in the chart. You can display that data in your chart by clicking the Options command on the Organization Chart menu and then clicking the Fields tab in the Options dialog box. In Visio, you can view hidden shape data for any shape you select on the drawing page through the Shape Data window. Or, you can view the shape data for an individual shape by right-clicking the shape, pointing to Data, and then clicking Shape Data on the shortcut menu.

Tip

Visio Professional 2007 includes new data visualization features, which give you even more options for displaying data in your Visio diagrams. These features apply to any Visio diagram and are discussed in Chapter 9, "Visualizing Data in Diagrams."

You can also change shape data in the Shape Data window by selecting the data you want to change and typing new data. You can format the text in all the shapes at once by clicking the Options command on the Organization Chart menu and then clicking the Text tab in the Options dialog box. You can also format individual shapes by selecting the shape text and formatting it as you would any other text.

In this exercise, you open an organization chart. You view the shape data of a couple of shapes and change the data for one of them. You display e-mail alias data in all the shapes, and then format the text that appears in all the shapes.

OPEN the OrgChart file in DocumentsMicrosoft PressVisio 2007 SBS6_OrgCharts.

1.	On the View menu, click Shape Data Window. The Shape Data window appears with no data displayed because a shape isn't selected.   Tip You can also open the Shape Data window by clicking the Shape Data Window button on the View toolbar. To display the View toolbar, right-click the toolbar area, and click View on the shortcut menu. Shape Data Window
2.	Click the Cesar Garcia shape. The Shape Data window displays the telephone, name, title, and e-mail alias shape data for Cesar Garcia.   Troubleshooting Zoom in to the drawing page to see the shapes and text more clearly. You can also move the Organization Chart toolbar if it obstructs your view of a shape. To move the toolbar, position the pointer over the toolbar's title, and then drag it to a different location.
3.	Position the pointer over the left side of the Shape Data window, and when the pointer changes to a two-headed arrow, drag to the left to widen the window.
4.	Click the Maria Hammond shape. The Shape Data window displays the telephone, name, title, and e-mail alias shape data for Maria Hammond.
5.	In the Shape Data window, click the Telephone box, type 5057, and press the key. The Telephone box displays the new number.   Tip You can also view, change, and create new shape data fields in the Shape Data dialog box. To view this dialog box, right-click a shape, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu. Or point to Data, and then click Shape Data on the shortcut menu. To create new shape data fields, in the Shape Data dialog box, click the Define button.
6.	Click the Paula Bento shape. The Shape Data window displays the name and title shape data for Paula Bento.
7.	In the Shape Data window, click the Telephone box, type 6025, and then press the key. The Telephone box displays the number.
8.	In the Shape Data window, click the E-Mail Alias box, type c_paulab, and then press the key. The E-Mail Alias box displays the e-mail alias.
9.	On the Organization Chart menu, click Options to open the Options dialog box.
10.	In the Options dialog box, click the Fields tab.
11.	In the Block 1 area, select E-Mail Alias to add a checkmark next to it. Notice that the preview area on the right side of the dialog box shows you where the e-mail alias data will appear in the shape.   Tip To add information to the other text blocks in the shapes in an organization chart, click the down arrow next to the block you want to use, and then click the shape data you want to display.
12.	Click OK.
13.	When a message box appears asking if you want the shape's height adjusted to accommodate the additional information and your drawing automatically arranged, click Yes. The shapes in the chart enlarge to display the name, title, and e-mail alias for each position.   Tip If the information in your organization chart shapes looks cramped, you can easily resize all the shapes at once using the Options dialog box. On the Organization Chart menu, click Options. On the Options tab, in the Shape display area, change shape dimensions.
14.	On the Organization Chart menu, click Options to open the Options dialog box.
15.	Click the Text tab.
16.	In the Fields box, click Name, and then in the Style area, select the Bold check box to add that formatting to the names in the organization chart shapes.
17.	In the Fields box, click E-Mail Alias, and in the Style area, select the Italic check box to italicize the e-mail aliases in the organization chart shapes.
18.	Click OK. Visio formats the names and e-mail aliases in the shapes.   Tip You can add employee pictures to shapes in your organization chart. To insert a picture into a shape, right-click the shape, and then click Insert Picture on the shortcut menu.
19.	Select the Cesar Garcia shape.
20.	Right-click the shape, and then click Show Divider Line on the shortcut menu. Visio inserts a divider line under the owner's name.
21.	Right-click the shape, and then click Hide Divider Line on the shortcut menu to hide the line.
22.	For an unobstructed view of the organization chart, click the Close button on the Shape Data window to close the window.   Close
23.	On the File menu, click Close, and then No so Visio doesn't save the chart. Visio and the chart close.