Book Image

Visualize Complex Processes with Microsoft Visio

By : David J Parker, Šenaj Lelić
Book Image

Visualize Complex Processes with Microsoft Visio

By: David J Parker, Šenaj Lelić

Overview of this book

Every business has process flows, but not all of them are fully described to or verified for accuracy with each stakeholder. This not only presents a risk for business continuity but also removes the ability to make insightful improvements. To make these complex interactions easy to grasp, it’s important to describe these processes visually using symbology that everybody understands. Different parts of these flows should be collaboratively developed and stored securely as commercial collateral. Visualize Complex Processes with Microsoft Visio helps you understand why it is crucial to use a common, systematic approach to document the steps needed to meet each business requirement. This book explores the various process flow templates available in each edition of Microsoft Visio, including BPMN. It also shows you how to use them effectively with the help of tips and techniques and examples to reduce the time required for creating them, as well as how you can improve their integration and presentation. By the end of this book, you’ll have mastered the skills needed to create data-integrated business flowcharts with Microsoft Visio, learned how to effectively use these diagrams collaboratively, but securely, and understood how to integrate them with other M365 apps, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Power Automate.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)

Improving the Provided Flowchart Shapes

In the previous chapter, we learned how Visio shapes get their smartness from the formulas entered in the ShapeSheet, and how we can customize master shapes to provide more functionality. In this chapter, we will continue with more customizations that can improve productivity and accessibility too.

We will learn how to display both the function and phase of shapes within cross-functional flowcharts and the label of the built-in container shapes. We will see how to utilize one of the desktop Visio add-ons to enhance callout shapes. Finally, we will look at ensuring that our diagrams are accessible to all.

In this chapter, we will cover these key topics:

  • Adding the phase of swimlane to process shapes
  • Inheriting the labels of built-in containers
  • Automatically highlighting unglued connectors
  • Adding configure options to callouts
  • Maintaining callout associations on hidden layers
  • Providing meaningful alternate text
  • ...