Create organizational charts without needing to download and install software. This means instant access on any computer or mobile device. ll you need is an internet connection. It doesn't matter what type of machine or operating system you're using, because SmartDraw is web-based. It also means that you don't have to worry about device or compatibility issues when sharing your org chart with anyone else.
As the number of positions in your organization grows beyond fifty or so, it becomes difficult to print your org chart on a single page and still be able to read the text, no matter how tightly you format it. You can print the chart on a larger sheet of paper, or on multiple sheets, but this becomes cumbersome.
The size of your online org chart is not a problem. You can view it at any magnification. Zoom out to view the entire chart. Zoom in to read the details. You can scroll different parts of the chart into view.
Organizational charts are often used as a company reference or directory. If you want to know who the assistant to the VP of Finance is, you can find out from the org chart. But an online org chart makes contacting her much easier. With a printed chart, you can locate her name, but then have to look up her email address. With an online chart, her name can be linked directly to her email address, so that clicking on it in initiates an email to her automatically. Positions can also be hyperlinked to other documents stored on your internal portal or other locations on the web, and show job descriptions or records in the employee database.
People come and go, and organizations change frequently. Using a paper chart means you have to print and distribute new copies with each change. It's much easier to keep an online organization chart up to date. Just update the one copy and it is immediately viewable by everyone in the organization.
A very large chart is cumbersome to view, even online. An org chart showing every employee of a large company is impossibly big and too complex to be useful. A more manageable approach is to break the organization up into smaller organizations, each with a reasonably-sized chart, and then link them together.
If you keep a list of employees in Excel® or you can get one from where you manage employees—whether that's Workday®, BambooHR® or some other HR software—you can generate an organizational chart without any drawing at all.
Being online means you can also connect to Entra ID to generate an organizational chart automatically from your Azure directory.
Unlike printed charts, you can easily go beyond what's visible at a glance in your organizational chart. You can associate data with shapes. You can create conditional formatting based on data points. For example, you can highlight top earners on your sales team or show anyone falling behind on their quotas.
SmartDraw is easy to work with no matter what other apps you use. You can add organizational charts to:
SmartDraw works hand in glove with most file storage systems. You can save your organizational charts directly to:
There is no need to create a parallel set of common folders and permissions, SmartDraw can just save files directly into your existing set up.
Share your organizational chart with anyone, even if they don't own a copy of SmartDraw, with a link. You can also easily export any diagram as a PDF or common image formats like PNG or SVG.
Have a question? Chat or email us. SmartDraw support is in-house and free!
Get feedback on your organizational chart online from your team.
You can work on the same org chart in real time or have your team leave comments and suggestions.
SmartDraw also works where you already communicate with your team. You can collaborate on org charts in Microsoft Teams®, Slack or Confluence.
Traditionally, organizational charts have been printed and distributed on paper. However, creating and distributing org charts online can be much more efficient and useful. A paper chart lets you see the structure of an organization and read the names and titles of the people that work in it, but online org charts are quickly gaining popularity. It's easy to see why.
Online organizational charts offer five major advantages over paper charts:
Just click on any of these org charts to edit them online in your browser right now. Customize them by adding your own information and more.
Discover why the Fortune 500 relies on SmartDraw to create org charts online.
