Review: OrgPlus 6

OrgPlus 6 Professional, $295 (Standard Edition $189.95)
HumanConcepts
Sausalito, California
(415) 332-3030
http://www.humanconcepts.com/

OK, if you're reading Larkware you're most likely a developer, and as such you probably don't need to turn out organization charts on a regular basis. But if you did, then OrgPlus would be just the ticket. Yeah, Microsoft has built some level of organization chart support into various Office applications, but it's pretty pathetic compared to this polished offering from HumanConcepts. They've thought of a lot more useful additions to the charting process than I could have come up with, and put it into a shell that conforms to Office-like standards so that it's easy for most any experienced user to work with.

To get started, you pick a template, which gives you a basic look and feel. Then you just start typing in names and job titles, and use a palette of tools to add new boxes for managers, assistants, subordinates, and co-workers. Alternatively, you can import a list of your employees from Excel, XML, or text files with the right structure (basically, they need to identify the hierarchy) and OrgPlus will come up with the initial layout for you. Data can also be synchronized with sources like relational databases or LDAP, so if your Active Directory has the right attributes you can convert it automatically into a spiffy organizational chart.

From there, it's easy to format things, break the chart up into multiple subcharts, add photos, spell check, and so on. You can create rules that do things like automatically format vacant positions so that they stand out, or that show the average salary of all employees reporting to a particular manager. When you're happy with the finished product, you can export it to their own browser plugin, e-mail it, or send it to a PowerPoint slide. You'll find a reporting engine, integration with Microsoft Office (so you can embed these charts instead of the default ones from Microsoft), and generation of company directories as well. There's also a built-in scheduler to automate periodic publication of updated charts.

You can download a 30-day evaluation version from the company's Web site.

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