Build Org Charts From Data Automatically

SmartDraw's Org Chart Extension lets you build an organizational chart automatically by importing a data file of your organization's employee list or connecting to your Azure Active Directory. You will be able to import and display photos and hyperlinks, skip data you don't want included, and show some data in a tool tip without cluttering up the visual.

It's a powerful way to create an org chart without any drawing at all.

Format Your Data

There are two ways to generate an org chart: one involves importing a local file that you can get from a third party HR software and the other is connecting to your Azure Active Directory.

If you're going to import a file, make sure your data is formatted correctly. The list must be formatted with the fields you want to show for each employee as columns and the values for an employee as rows.

One of the columns must identify the supervisor of the employee in the row. All of the rows must have a supervisor except for the top position in the org chart.

You can match employees with supervisors using numerical IDs or just names.

The table can be in CSV, XLS, or XLSX format.

Launch the Org Chart Extension

In the Extension category of the SmartDraw template dialog, click on the Org Chart icon labeled "Build Org Charts from Data" to launch the extension.

You can choose between connecting to your Azure Active Directory or importing a local CSV or XLSX file.

Choose import or connect to Azure Active Directory

Loading a Local File

Select local file and find your exported file. Click on Load File.

This loads and parses your file.

Preview Data

The parser identifies the matching columns and labels. The extension will give you a preview of how we see your data so you can make some changes if necessary.

Each row in the table will add a shape to the org chart.

Specify Special Column Types

SmartDraw styles and builds your org chart using rules given to each data type. Data identified as Name will be shown centered inside a single org chart shape, while anything identified as a Hyperlink will trigger a hyperlink icon with a link to be added to the shape, and so forth.

The data type is displayed in the first menu above each column. You can change this type by selecting another option from the drop-down menu.

The Rules for Data Types

Name - Data from this column is set to Show in Shape as the first row of text.

Title - This will show up as the second row of text inside the shape.

Hyperlink - This will add a hyperlink to the specified URL inside the shape. You use this to add links to employee records for example.

Photo - Use this column to add a URL to an image for the person. If a photo column exists, SmartDraw will split the org chart shape so that the left side of the shape will display the photo.

Other - These columns are set to appear in the data layer (Show in Data) by default and not inside the shape itself. You can change this using the display menu. Once the org chart is built, you can find this information by hovering over the blue "i" icon in the lower right corner of an org chart shape. Other columns are added to the shape after the Name and Title in left to right order.

Choose Display Options

For each column in your data, you have three choices presented in the display menu at the top of each column (this is the second drop-down menu):

You can show the value in the shape by choosing "Show in Shape". This might be appropriate for someone's name, title, or telephone number.
Move the value to a data layer shown only on hover by choosing "Show in Data". This might be appropriate for data like a hire date or employee id.
Hide this value completely by choosing "Don't show".

Build the Chart

When you're ready, click the "Build Diagram" button to generate your org chart.

If you just leave the defaults as they are, two rows, one for Name and one for Title, will show in each shape. All other data in columns will be moved to the data layer and shown as shape data.

However, you can easily customize this using the display options in the Extension. Display as many columns of data as you wish. SmartDraw's Org Chart Extension is both powerful and easy to use.

Get Data from Azure Active Directory

You can also build your organizational chart by importing data from your Azure Active Directory account.

Like before, launch the Org Chart Extension, by clicking on Build Org Chart from Data under Extensions on the template dialog.

Click on Azure Active Directory and login to your Azure Active Directory with your credentials.

Choose the Supervisor or Manager

Once SmartDraw can see your directory, you will be prompted to select which part of the organization to make the org chart for by selecting the manager or supervisor from a drop-down list.

Set Data Visibility

Once a manager is selected, you'll be shown some sample data to give you a preview of how SmartDraw sees your organization.

For each data type, you choose its visibility in the resulting organizational chart.

When you're ready, click "Build Diagram" to generate your organizational chart.

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