By Dale Farris, Reviews Coordinator
Golden Triangle PC Club
January 2007

General Overview

OrgChart Pro 4 is a feature-rich, highly specialized organizational charting program that has been around for many years. In this newest version, OrgChart Pro 4 continues to excel in its simplicity of use and built-in control over the specialized process of creating charts of organizational structure. With this software program, the user does not have to draw anything, but instead, uses the already built-in controlled drawing features that define OrgChart Pro 4. This allows the user to focus on entering the necessary information about the people and their titles in the particular company. In effect, you are using a highly specialized program designed for the specialized output of an organizational chart.

Compared to other specialized organizational chart programs, as well as broader focused drawing programs that also allow you to create organizational charts, OrgChart 4 Professional offers tons of super features at a very reasonable price. This latest version is packed with all the organizational charting features you could ever need, including a soon to be released feature that will allow you to create organizational charts that show co-managers, or persons who have more than one supervisor. This clever new tool recognizes this reality that exists in most organizations and should be available in the expected 4.1 update (available by early February 2007) that will further establish the value of this program.

With such a highly specialized targeted use, one would surmise that the need to draw organizational charts must be a very important concern in business and other organizations, which is true. While other drawing programs (e.g., Microsoft's Visio) will allow a user to perform this function along with other drawing tasks, OrgChart Pro 4 is singularly focused to support this task. Because of this specialized effort, OrgChart Pro 4 makes completing this task much easier to learn and complete than in these other programs.

OrgChart 4 Pro will save you tremendous amounts of time and reduce keystrokes with the Import/Export/Linking features. By combining professional precision design capabilities with the power of the program's full-featured database technologies, OrgChart 4 Pro automatically produces and manages high-impact organizational charts. These charts are ready for immediate publication and distribution to Microsoft Office documents and programs, offline, or on the Web.

You can create dynamic organization charts using existing data from Excel, Outlook, and most database sources. Use your current data to generate a professional organizational chart, or you can create the chart using the drag-and-drop tools. Insert names, titles, contact information, and any other desired information in each box. Boxes will automatically shrink or expand to fit the text.

Integrated Data Management

Import data from the most popular database sources, including Excel, Outlook, XML, LDAP, and many more. Quickly produce phone lists, salary tables, head count rollups, directories, and profiles for your company or team. Perform addition and roll-up functions for salary, budget, headcount, and any other numeric values. Show or hide sensitive data at any time. With OrgChart 4 Pro you can perform scenario planning to assess the impact of organizational alternatives. Analyze costs and skill sets necessary to staff the organization. Easily add links to other files that contain employee-related information, including budgets, employee resumes, or mission statements. Search and sort data within charts to locate information fast. The rich integration of graphics and data allow endless custom variation, to enter and track such information as names, title, and phone, roles and responsibilities, computer, furniture, and employee assets, employee appraisals, geographic locations, and skills.

Automate Your Workforce Management (Create Professional Charts)

Create a visual representation of your company and use it to manage your strategic goals, employee documents, budgets and employee directories. OrgChart enables roll up calculations for head counts, salary budgets, and various data reporting. Photos, employee documents, and critical employee contact information can be attached to each employee. In addition, the program supports various publishing options, including password protection for confidential information, and it will allow you to share your charts with the entire company.

OrgChart 4 Versions

OrgChart 4 Professional
Chart up to 1,000 people. Import data from Excel or any ODBC compliant database to create your chart in minutes and then publish to PowerPoint, PDF, Flash and the web. Perform roll-up calculations for head-count and salary budgets, and easily generate employee directories and reports on any data you collect. Custom backgrounds, colors, photos, document attachments, email addresses, and critical employee information can be attached to each employee. Includes tutorials to help you get started.

Price - $149.99

OrgChart 4 Corporate
Chart up to 15,000 people. Import data from Excel or any ODBC compliant database to create your chart in minutes and then publish to PowerPoint, PDF, Flash and the web. Perform roll-up calculations for head-count and salary budgets, and easily generate employee directories and reports on any data you collect. Custom backgrounds, colors, photos, document attachments, email addresses, and critical employee information can be attached to each employee. Includes tutorials to help you get started.

Price - $699.99

OrgChart 4 Standard
Chart up to 50 people. Import data from Excel or any ODBC compliant database to create your chart in minutes and then publish to PowerPoint, PDF, Flash and the web. Perform roll-up calculations for head-count and salary budgets, and easily generate employee directories and reports on any data you collect. Custom backgrounds, colors, photos, document attachments, email addresses, and critical employee information can be attached to each employee. Includes tutorials to help you get started.

Price - $59.95

OrgChart 4 Sales Manager
All the functionality of OrgChart Professional, plus specific tools and features to support Sales Managers. Includes features to help you manage your sales account teams, achieve strategic sales goals, identify the purchase decision makers at your customer companies, and templates that support ‘spin’ selling. Charts up to 2,000 people. Import data from Excel or any ODBC compliant database to create your chart in minutes and then publish to PowerPoint, PDF and the web. Plus capture key attributes about any prospect that you are selling to. Interactive tutorials are included.

Price - $149.95

OrgChart 4 Template Pack

Save time and get a head start on building your organization’s chart. OrgChart Template Pack includes 20 custom templates and 15 rich color custom backgrounds designed to help you with special projects. Includes templates designed to fit the needs of businesses, sales teams, schools, sports teams and more.

Price - $19.95

New Features in OrgChart 4 Pro

Publish to Flash and make your chart easy to share and zoom around in

Automatically update your OrgChart by simply updating your data source (database, Excel spread sheet, etc.) Click once and your chart will instantly reflect changes you made to your data source

Copy visual attributes of one chart box - such as its shape, color and font - and instantly transfer to other boxes in your chart

Assign a unique appearance to all boxes that meet your chosen criteria. (Ex: set a bold red frame around any vacant position in a 300 person org chart with one click.)

Apply titles, graphics, logos and other universal elements to the Master Page and they will appear on every sheet of your chart

Display the entire chart and the enlarged view of the area you are in. Navigate through large, complex organization charts, without getting lost

One click saves your chart, launches your email and inserts the chart as an attachment

Find, modify and place graphics onto a chart without attaching them directly into a chart’s hierarchy

Set the range and locations of the changes in your chart then change everything from the data in an individual component to the look and feel of an entire chart with just one click

Auto fill in information supplied by your computer’s operating system (such as Current Time and Current Date)

Make your wide charts attractive and easily legible with formats such as Horizontal Four Columns, Horizontal Six Columns and Vertical Four Columns

Enhance your visual presentation with newly included clipart library. Search by topic or import your own image libraries to create appealing charts and presentations

Move and resize your entire chart as a whole. Drag and drop anywhere on your page, or expand and contract to suit your needs

Manage data and graphic arrangement in one menu

Display photos of the personnel whose files you are working on

Features and Capabilities of OrgChart 4 Pro

OrgChart 4 Pro is the standard in organizational software. Combining easy-to-learn tools with powerful database functionality, OrgChart 4 Professional is a top choice for anyone responsible for management of employees, employee communications and employee data. Enter your data once, or import from your existing database, and easily share with everyone in your company.

Automatically create charts using existing data from Excel, Outlook, XML, LDAP & most database sources

Display a clear picture of matrix relationships, vacant positions, and partner relationships

Quickly produce phone directories, salary tables, head count rollups, and profiles

Chart up to 1000 people, in various divisions and teams

Attach files such as employee resumes, appraisals, job descriptions and more

Perform scenario planning to assess the impact of organizational changes

Take advantage of tracking and data mining tools

Divide large charts into smaller sub-charts or divisions, for ease of use

Analyze costs and skill sets necessary to staff your organization

Share charts and reports by publishing directly to the web or corporate intranet

Save charts directly to PDF, Flash, Microsoft Word, or PowerPoint

Hide sensitive information as needed with password protection

Search and sort data within charts to locate information fast

Choose from dozens of professionally designed templates or create your own

Edit line colors, shading effects, border styles, backgrounds and more

Add corporate logos, images, and photos to enhance visual impact

Use in Organizational Change Management

Organizational charts are a rich and concise manner in which to visualize and communicate organizational structure and other employee and enterprise information. Organizational Change Management software provides an essential tool for the dynamic organization to plan for and communicate changes.

OrgChart Pro 4 is a specialized tool for creating, visualizing, communicating and manipulating hierarchical information found in the structures of any organization. With OrgChart Pro 4, you have the software you need to create and manage your ongoing changes to your particular organizational charts.

Human resource groups or information technology teams can use OrgChart Pro 4 to create charts automatically from HR databases, or other organizational data sources, and distribute these charts to management. This process is totally automated using OrgChart Pro 4.

Target Customers

OrgChart Pro 4 is targeted for any organization that needs to develop and distribute professional charts of organizational structure. The most likely targeted group that would work with the program is the Human Resource department, where the updates to the comings and goings of staff in the organization are usually always first known.

Recommendation

I highly recommend OrgChart Pro 4 for these uses, as well as in organizations already committed to other drawing programs, such as Visio, for support of their organizational charting needs.

Price

$149.99 OrgChart 4 Pro
$699.99 OrgChart 4 Corporate
$  59.95 OrgChart 4 Standard
$149.95 OrgChart 4 Sales
$  19.95 OrgChart Template Pack

Note: The different versions of OrgChart 4 are due to the number of employee boxes the programs support. The box limitations/number of employees supported in these programs include the following:

OrgChart 4 Pro - 1,000 employee boxes
OrgChart 4 Corporate - 15,000 employee boxes
OrgChart 4 Standard - 50 employee boxes

In addition, both OrgChart 4 Corporate and OrgChart 4 Pro support Image File (High Resolution) and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic).

Note: The OrgChart Template Pack provides the following additional features:

Strategic Sales Templates
25 Photo Backgrounds
20 Business-Ready Templates
5 Sports Team Templates

Multiple user license pricing is also available.

System Configuration Requirements

Pentium III processor
Windows 98SE, ME, NT4 (SP6), 2000, XP Home, XP Pro
5MB RAM
40MB free hard drive space
8x CD-ROM
VGA video card with 32MB VRAM
1024 x 768 display

About OfficeWork Software, LLC

OfficeWork Software is the developer and subject matter expert behind each of many software solutions. From project time tracking software to workflow software solutions and more, their products deliver technical innovations and quality processes designed to help you and your company succeed. They also offer free trials of their program to enable you to try out their programs before you buy them.

Contact

Joe Kolinger
Chair and Chief Technology Officer
OfficeWork Software, LLC
69 Sandy Creek Way
Novato, California 94947
415-246-7264
joe@officeworksoftware.com
info@officeworksoftware.com
www.officesworksoftware.com