Suggest Org Chart Software

I'm searching for recommendations on a scalable Org Chart application that has either a SQL backend or a LDAP backend...

Yes...I know I can google "org chart" and find 100's of options...I was hoping to garner recommendations here...

Your recommendations would be greatly appreciated...

Visio

visio got shot down before I was brought in on the project...although I'm not sure what was the killer...I'll have to find out what they didn't like...thanks for the thought ATNO!!!

That's a shame. Would be perfect for what you want. Probably someone didn't want to pay for it lol.

I found and fell in love with OrgPlus! So much so that I downloaded the trial...it had everything we were looking for. All's well right...not so fast my friend... Their pricing nipped it in the bud.

So, I'm back on the hunt for the perfect solution.

Your suggestions are certainly appreciated!

Good lord, how cheap are they? *lol

Try this approach. Download and install Open office RC2
http://www.openoffice.org/

The Draw application has Org Chart and Flow charting capabilities. And it's open source so they can't gripe about the price.


Here's what their Draw application looks like
http://why.openoffice.org/images/draw-big.png

thanks ATNO...as usual...you're the best!

The open office solution you propose doesn't meet the criteria of importing data from the Active Directory or SQL

I just downloaded http://www.officeworksoftware.com/productfamily2.php I'll let you know...how that pans out...

That was why I initially suggested Visio. We had an outsourced programmer create a highly advanced application and she populated the entire SQL table structure from her Visio flow chart in less than minutes.

I don't think you're going to find a decent free app that's going to do it as effectively. I mean it's only $600 for the professional version of Viseo. Geez lol.

Visio wasn't too expensive. My boss wasn't pleased with the actual drawing it output or the "limited functionality" when compared to OrgPlus.

I still haven't given the officeworksoftware option the full run through yet.

Breaking news on OrgPlus...there's a 20% discount available if you attend their weekly webinar (held every Tuesday). So, I think OrgPlus is back on the table price-wise. But, I'm still going to review officeworks for the viewers at home.

Thanks again ATNO!

I was thoroughly unimpressed with officeworksoftware's "Org Chart Professional"

If I can get AP to approve the expense...OrgPlus is going to be the winner!

Thanks ATNO for your posts!

ITKA - Can you please let me know why you did not like with officework software's orgchart program? what was the problem?

That was 7 months ago. It's hard to remember specifics. During that 2 week period I must have tried dozens of offerings. Visio came highly recommended from ATNO a MOD I personally have a lot of respect for...so if you're in the market his input should be duely noted.

I didn't try Visio myself...so i can't speak to it's efficacy, but I can tell you that in my trials OrgPlus had absolutely everything I was looking for. I especially liked the scalability, the flexibility in terms of customizations and the overall ease of use.

If i had to guess what my reservations were 7 months ago...I'd say that officeworksoftware's "Org Chart Professional" didn't stack up to OrgPlus in terms of scalability, flexibility, and ease of use.

If you can say a little more about 'scalability, flexibility, and ease-of-use' I would appreciate it. I'm the author and always looking for ways to improve the program.
OrgChart v5 (you probably tried v4) is currently used by the web team at the US Patent and Trade Office, so we know it's a viable solution. It also publishes to visio as well as Flash. Thank you.

Joek: I admire that you seek feedback, even if it's not what you want to hear. Kudos!

We especially fell in love with the intuitive nature of the OrgPlus user experience (UX). Their design made it easy to bind to a datasource. Map a couple of predefined fields. Create our own custom fields. We had the ability to choose from several templates for the display of our Org Chart. Customizing that visual representation was very easy. Navigating the Org Chart was very easy. Modifying data in-line on the Org Chart was very easy. Exporting Data was very easy. We could print. We could cut the data any which way. I could go on...

All that to say OrgPlus had everything we were looking for, and produced an aesthetically pleasing and accurate representation of our organizational chart with minimal effort/training.

Of all the products we tested and rejected most of the rejections came for one of two reasons they either, did not produce accurate aesthetic representation of our Org Chart or the UX to create the Org Chart was not intuitive enough.

Itka -
Thanks for the details. Sounds like you have been doing a lot of work with org charts. Do you have any samples of your work that you can share?
I have not seen a chart that my product could not produce. Maybe you have some unique reporting relationships in your company?
Also do you mind sharing what company you are working in?
Thanks,
Joe