First published on MSDN on Apr, 13 2018
Business analysts have the unique challenge of accurately depicting complex business processes which can assist an organization in becoming more effective. Business process mapping begins with requirement capturing from multiple stakeholders and goes through several iteration cycles before the final process diagram is documented. Two powerful tools that help a business analyst to accomplish this task are Microsoft Visio and Excel.
With Visio Data Visualizer, we bring together the best of both Visio and Excel to facilitate bi-directional process modeling. Use the Data Visualizer templates to automatically create a detailed, polished Visio flowchart from an Excel workbook. Visio now supports two-way synchronization between the Visio diagram and the Excel workbook. Not only can you create the flowchart, by editing data in Excel and refreshing the diagram from Visio, but you can also make changes to the Visio Diagram and then update the Excel data from the diagram.
Availability
If you are an Office 365 subscriber with Visio Plan 2, you can use the Data Visualizer feature. The ability to make changes to the Visio diagram and update source Excel is available from build 16.0.9126.2116 or later. To check your build in Visio, click on File > Account. If you are on the Semi-Annual Channel, you can move to a Monthly Channel to get updates faster. To switch your channel, refer to this article.
One-Click Create
To help you get started quickly, we have introduced a single-click diagram creation experience from Excel.
Customize Diagram Creation
If you wish to customize your diagram creation, that is, use custom column names in Excel, change relationship settings from Next Step to Previous Step or use other flowchart stencils in Visio for diagram creation, please refer to this article.
Synchronizing the data and the diagram
After you create a diagram with Data Visualizer, you may want to make changes to it. Visio supports bi-directional synchronization between the linked Excel workbook and the Visio diagram.
To modify the data in Excel and then refresh the Visio diagram:
To modify the content in the Visio diagram and then update the data in Excel:
Tip: Keep both files synchronized and up-to-date after you finish working with them. When you change the Excel data, refresh the diagram; when you change the diagram content, update the Excel data.
Other Relevant Articles
You can refer to the following articles for more information regarding this feature: Create a Data Visualizer Diagram, Data Visualizer Frequently Asked Questions.
Feedback
We’re constantly looking for ways to improve Visio and invite you to send us your ideas through our UserVoice site. For questions about Visio Data Visualizer templates and other features, please email us at dv-feedback@microsoft.com. You can follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest updates on Visio.
Shashank Gandhi, Program Manager, Microsoft Visio
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