SMARTDRAW IN FLOOR PLANNING:

Design a Floor Plan for Satellite Office in Sakhalin, Russia

Sandra Edwards is a technical assistant for BP Oil's "Exploration & Production" division. E&P's activities include oil and natural gas exploration, field development and production, management of current oil and natural gas pipelines, as well as processing and export ter-minals.

BP currently has Exploration & Production interests in 25 countries, including the USA, UK, Russia, Norway, Canada, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Sandra's group is focused on Integration & Transition - bringing new employees into the group, and transitioning them to Russian culture. Her office supports approximately 200 people scattered among four locations: Houston, London, Moscow, and Sakhalin - a large island off Russia just north of Japan, in the Sea of Okhotsk.

So what brought you to SmartDraw?
"I needed to produce a floor plan for our office in Sakhalin, Russia. While I've created org charts before, this was going to be my first floor plan." After doing some Inter-net searches involving "software that produces business graphics and floor plans with ease", Sandra stumbled upon SmartDraw.

"Immediately I was struck by how comprehensive SmartDraw's feature set was," said Sandra. "But if I had to choose one that stands out, it would be the "Export" function. It is self-explanatory and allows me to convert any SmartDraw diagram into something others can view and print.

While acknowledging that SmartDraw isn't the first business graphics software package she has used, Sandra admits "even without the prior training I still feel the same about SmartDraw. I think your software is absolutely fabulous - it produces professional quality documents while remaining user-friendly. Over the years I have used Visio^®, CorelDraw and Harvard Graphics.

SmartDraw is much easier to use and doesn't require the graphics experience the others do."

Aside from the functionality and ease-of-use, what really impresses Sandra are the upgrades.

"Judging by its upgrades, SmartDraw is always looking for substantial ways to enhance its features and benefits, while keeping it accessible for beginners."

While becoming more conversant with the program, Sandra has pledged to tap the flowchart, timeline and forms features "real soon" in her current position.

How did everything turn out?
"The floor plans were exactly what Management was looking for, and I also received positive feedback from my coworkers. I am now using the org chart feature and have been asked by my coworkers where they can obtain additional copies of SmartDraw. We are currently in discussions with our IT person to get additional licenses for everyone in the department."

For more information on SmartDraw, and to download a free trial, visit www.smartdraw.com