Automatically create process diagrams in Visio from Excel data

Community Manager

Today, we’re excited to announce Data Visualizer, a new Visio feature that automatically converts process map data in Excel into data-driven Visio diagrams. This update, which is available to Visio Pro for Office 365 users, helps reduce manual steps while giving business analysts even more ways to create process diagrams in Visio.

 

Diagrams don’t always start in Visio. They often begin as hand-drawn sketches or—in today’s data-driven age—in Excel. Using Data Visualizer, business analysts can represent process steps and associated metadata in a structured Excel table and quickly convert that information into a visualized Visio diagram. You can do this by either using a premade Excel template or an existing spreadsheet of your own design. The premade templates—there’s one for basic and one for cross-functional flowcharts—provide a sample mapping table to populate with diagram metadata. The table includes predefined columns for process step number, description, dependencies, owner, function, phase and more. You can also customize the table with your own columns to meet specific business requirements.

 

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Read about it on the Office Blogs.

13 Replies

Hi.  I am able to export the data visualizer Excel workbook.  I've populated the Process Map tab.  I save file as .Excel xlsx.  When I go back into Visio, I click on Import.  However, I am unable to change the file type.  As a result, I don't see my excel file that I originally exported from Visio.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Hi,

Can you share a screenshot of the exact step where you are stuck? You can write to us at dv-feedback[at-the-rate]Microsoft.com

 

 

I am confused @Eric Starker about the software requirements to make this work.  I have O365.

Do I need Visio Professional?  Or is Visio Online Plan 2 a requirement?

Thanks for your help.

@mlwest1  Visio Online Plan 2 is a requirement to use the Data Visualizer feature.

Hai,
How can i add TAT in my flow chart whats is the Excel template that i have to follow

@Vky2073 You can just add another column in your Excel table and then use data graphics in Visio to overlay TAT on your flowchart steps. You can find more details in this article: 

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/create-a-data-visualizer-diagram-17211b46-d144-4ca2-9ea7-b0...

I have created another column for TAT is there any article available for shape type that we r using in excel

Hai @Eric Starker

  In visio flow chart creation some shapes have inbuilt shapes (ex in shapes UML Deployment -> package it has Package name and another text box and it is grouped)

How i can use this shapes while creating flow chart using Excel 

If i want to give the process description and process ID in same shape means how i can use these grouped shapes

 

 

 

@Vky2073 Hello! I'm a community manager here and was sharing some news for the Visio team, but I'm not a product expert. Hopefully some other experts here in the community can answer your question!

@Vky2073 This is currently not possible, you can use any shape to create your flowchart steps from Excel data, however you can only map one field from data to the shape text. That is you can either map the shape text field to process description or to process ID but not both (even with a group shape).