Overview

In today’s workplace, visual diagrams are an essential part of communication, from road maps to sales flows to process charts. Microsoft® Visio® provides you with an intuitive, customizable tool to easily create a professional-looking visual product by using its extensive gallery of shapes. By following the exercises in this course, you will create visually engaging diagrams, maps, and drawings, using graphical elements to make information easier to comprehend. This course is designed for persons who are new to Visio and who will be using Visio to create basic workflows and perform end-to-end flowcharting. In this course, you will: identify the basic elements of Visio and their use, create a workflow diagram, build organization charts, design a floor plan, build a cross-functional flowchart, design a network diagram, and style a diagram. This course requires that you have Microsoft Visio installed on a Windows PC. The course setup instructions provided in the first module of the course go into more detail about the hardware and software requirements.

Syllabus

Getting Started with Visio

Suppose you have just received an assignment to plan the network for your company's new office space, or that your employer's sales team needs detailed directions to a convention center. Whatever the task, you have decided that a visual representation is the best way to convey the information. You know that Microsoft® Visio® is the ideal choice to create a professional diagram quickly and efficiently, but there's one problem: You have never used it.

Working with Workflow Diagram Tools

Now that you have navigated the drawing interface and the Backstage view, customized the interface to suit your preferences, and observed the components of a drawing, it's time to create a drawing. Here, you will create a workflow diagram by using Microsoft® Visio's features to work with shapes, text, and connectors.

Building Organization Charts

Now that you have created and modified a flow chart, you are ready to apply your Microsoft® Visio® skills to another popular diagram: the organization chart. If your business has more than one employee, you probably have a chart of the hierarchy, or will need to make one. Visio allows you to seamlessly create a professional organization chart, which can easily be modified as your organization evolves.

Designing a Floor Plan

Modeling layouts in Microsoft® Visio® can be easier than with paper layouts, especially when exact measurements are involved. And moving objects on the computer screen requires far less effort than moving real tables, chairs, and machinery around to find the perfect layout. Visio can serve as a capable modeling tool, enabling you to experiment with different layouts, share them with others, and revise them with minimal effort.

Building a Cross-Functional Flowchart

You created simple flowcharts to represent a process. Even in these simple examples, the processes involved interactions between various departments in the organization. Now you will create a more sophisticated type of flowchart to map these interactions. In this lesson, you will build a cross-functional flowchart.

Designing a Network Diagram

Now that you have created both simple and more sophisticated flowcharts, you can progress to another type of diagram in which Microsoft® Visio® excels: the network diagram. Visio is so popular for this application that network equipment manufacturers supply downloadable Visio network drawings on their websites.

Styling a Diagram

You have concentrated on the content of your diagrams and know how to create flowcharts, cross-functional flowcharts, organizational charts, floor plans, and network diagrams in Microsoft® Visio®. To give your work a professional appearance and to conform to the branding choices of your organization, you also need to consider the visual style. This lesson will introduce Visio's design options, which are covered in greater detail in the next course in the series.