What do you do with Visio?

[wisemax]

It may sound like a silly question: What do you guys do with Viso. I
thought that companies may use it for flow chart or org chart. But that
is kind of one-time work. It is not like Word or Excel that you should
use on daily basis. Can you give me some concrete real-life examples
that help companies improve their business process or increase
productivity?

If people use Visio to create a flow chart and then never use Visio
again, why bother learning this new program? What is something Viso can
do and other MS products cannot do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[David Parker]

!A picture paints a thousand words...
Visio, to me, is about smart drawings that help you understand the problem.

Personnally, I :
1. automate the creation of business diagrams from data
2. link data shapes to databses, then auto-refresh them
3. create data by drawing

Just look at the list of categories to see all it's uses, but mainly
"Business Intelligence" is it's unique selling point.
It is uniquely programmable, and just as useful for measured as schematic
drawings.

Anyone else?

 

[Al Edlund]

I guess the key that was handed to me by one of the other mvp's was a quote
from Graham Wideman when he straightened me out by saying that "Visio is not
a drawing tool it is a diagramming tool" and it's strength is in it's
ability to show relationships (org chart = managers to staff, flowcharts =
tasks to decisions, networks = components to links, etc.) The ability to
visualize how things interact. Of course Peter and the rest make a living at
it.
Al
ps thanks John, Graham, Senaj, Chris, Peter and have a great set of holidays

 

[David Parker]

Al, if you are referring to me as Peter again, then I must remind you that
I've given up my Spiderman outfit!
Happy Yuletide to one et al!

 

[Al Edlund]

I don't know why I keep doing that. Please excuse an old guys memory....
al

 

[Jay]

If people use Visio to create a flow chart and then never use Visio

again, why bother learning this new program? ...

Because someday somebody might need another flow chart?

Because there might be a different org chart some time some place?

 

[VKY]

It may sound like a silly question: What do you guys do with Viso. I
thought that companies may use it for flow chart or org chart. But that
is kind of one-time work. It is not like Word or Excel that you should
use on daily basis. Can you give me some concrete real-life examples
that help companies improve their business process or increase
productivity?

If people use Visio to create a flow chart and then never use Visio
again, why bother learning this new program? What is something Viso can
do and other MS products cannot do?

Thanks in advance.

Visio is more than a diagramming program, where shapes have
intelligence, data and can have multiple forms (parametric). Imagine
making a flange ,right click on it, set the diameter and the shape will
automatically place 4 screw holes (if diameter < 20cm) and 6 screw holes
if the diameter > 20cm.

To get an idea of how useful Visio is, try www.radicasoftware.com. They
uses Visio as a platform that enables electrical and control engineers
to work more than 300% faster, day in, day out. Electrical engineers
draw circuit diagrams in a certain way, and they uses automation to help
to automatically generate a bill of materials, renumber symbols, and
generate cross references. Visio's pricing and ease of use enable a
package like this to be extremely attractive and competitive, compared
to high end CAD solutions.

Visio is also used by many engineers to map networks and draw network
diagrams where automation will automatically query PCs in the network
for ID and other relevant data, without the engineer keying it in
himself/herself and constantly updating it.

Hopes it helps.

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

< If you don't want to read about shameless self-promotion then skip this
post >

On the product team, we use Visio to help make Visio. The product is an
excellent tool for visual communication of information. Here are two
examples:

We use the Windows User Interface template to build realistic mock-ups of
new features in the application. We create a "storyboard" like you might
see from comic books or animated movies. Each page of the Visio document is
a snapshot of the user interface. We put Visio into full-screen mode and
walk through the storyboard from beginning to end.

We use the Timeline template to create high-level schedules. The purpose of
this drawing is to communicate critical project milestones and point out the
different development phases. These diagrams are often posted on people's
walls to give them a quick snapsnot of the project schedule.

As with any other business, there are occasions for creating flowcharts and
organization charts, but UI mock-ups and project timelines are some of the
more frequent uses for Visio.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Chris D'Amato]

I use visio to make figures for my HS physics students. I use pictures
all the time in handouts, homework, and tests. Visio lets me make them
a lot easier and better than Powerpoint, which I used to use. It's a
great program.

I had to delve into the development kit to make a simple smart shape
that I use all the time -- just an arrow with a dot at the end. I still
need a few more, like a simple stick figure, but one of these days I
will find the time to continue.

Thanks MS for a great program.

 

[studioserf]

i am an information architect and user experience designer for screen-based
products and services. i use visio quite extensively in the creation of:

1-wireframes that illustrate user interface solutions
2-process flows that illustrate a given user and/or data flow
3-high-level architecture diagrams that show the relationships between
content, features and functionality
4-conceptual diagrams that illustrate the integration of key client business
objectives with user goals and objectives
5-user task modeling
6-info-graphics and diagrams

in the past, i used adobe illustrator for these kinds of documents but
that's serious over-kill--kinda like hiring a brain surgeon to cut your lawn.
plus illustrator isn't all that great for multi-page documents.

visio is the perfect blend of simplicity and versatility. anyone who thinks
it's just an "org chart" program probably works in a field that only requires
the creation of org charts. for those of us who do interface design,
interactive product development and visualize complex concepts and
relationships, visio is the de-facto standard tool.

some of the work i've done with this program borders on "art" so visio also
has the ability to output a reasonably high production value assuming you
understand how to get the most out of it. drive it like a yugo, and it'll be
a yugo. drive it like a sports car and it'll haul some ASCII.

happy trails,

~jasonW
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Doug.S]

- quick n easy simple 2D CAD
- workflow diagrams
- architectural floorplans; export dxf to 3D app
- lawn sprinkler layout
- more odds and ends