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)

Creating process diagrams automatically in Excel

A free add-in for Microsoft Excel, called Microsoft Visio Data Visualizer, is available from the Office Store via the Insert | Add-Ins | Get Add-ins button:

Figure 5.1 – Getting the Microsoft Visio Data Visualizer add-in for Excel

Figure 5.1 – Getting the Microsoft Visio Data Visualizer add-in for Excel

Important note

The Shape Report Converter add-in, listed third in the preceding screenshot list, is a handy free tool from bVisual, to quickly convert a Visio Shape Report that has been exported to Excel into a modern formatted table that can be used as a data source for PowerQuery and Visio.

The Microsoft Visio Data Visualizer add-in will be available with its own icon on the ribbon when it is installed. When the icon is clicked, a Data Visualizer object is inserted in the worksheet, as shown in the following screenshot, presenting a choice of different diagram types:

Figure 5.2 – Choices for the Microsoft Visio Data Visualizer add-in for Excel

Figure 5.2 – Choices for the Microsoft Visio Data Visualizer add...