The power of data graphics in Microsoft Visio

0:07 Welcome to another Visio Insights presentation.

0:09 Have you ever had the case that you had some data in your Visio diagrams,

0:14 but that was just stored in your Visio shapes in the form of shape data.

0:20 Wouldn't it be nice if you could somehow visualize or interpret

0:24 this data and make your shapes react to data changes?

0:28 Well, this is exactly what data graphics are made for.

0:33 So in this case, in this example, I have a simple Visio shape,

0:38 a computer shape, where I filled in some shape data.

0:42 You see some IP address, some subnet mask, some product description,

0:47 the building, the location, and of course the asset number.

0:50 Now, how do you visualize it?

0:53 Well, one way of course would be to write

0:55 a text below the shape and add the data.

0:58 However, there is a more efficient way.

1:00 In Visio Plan 2, you will see that there is a data tab.

1:06 And on this data tab,

1:07 you will have many options among them is also to show and hide

1:12 the shape data window so this is where you will usually see the metadata.

1:17 But there is also another category which is called advanced data linking.

1:21 And in this case, we just go to Advanced Data Graphics.

1:25 And the data graphic is the trick to do the magic.

1:30 Now we'll go and hit Create New Data Graphic.

1:33 And the first thing the tool will ask me is,

1:37 well, which data would you want to evaluate?

1:40 So we'll hit New Item and then choose a field,

1:43 which could be any of the shape data entries of the corresponding shape.

1:47 So in this case, let's use the IP address.

1:51 So the IP address, I could visualize as a text somewhere next to the shape.

1:57 And there is a huge amount of options like

2:01 font size and whether the value should be shown,

2:04 is it left or right, the label, et cetera, et cetera.

2:07 In this case, I will just use the standard settings and hit OK and hit OK again.

2:14 Then the system will ask me,

2:16 do you want to apply this data graphic to the selected shapes?

2:19 I hit yes and there goes the IP address.

2:22 Now, if you want to move it, you see this little yellow control handle,

2:26 which will allow you to move the shape

2:28 in any sorry the text in any direction you desire.

2:33 Now that's not all because that frankly speaking

2:36 could also be done with a simple label.

2:39 However, keep in mind that the data

2:41 graphic is a package of data evaluation rules.

2:44 So one data graphic could in fact host a bunch

2:48 of different rules on how to visualize certain shape data elements.

2:53 So let's go again to Edit Data Graphic and add a new item.

2:58 So the trick is not to have two data graphics on one shape,

3:02 but to add several items into one data graphic pack.

3:05 And now, we will for example, select the hard drive capacity.

3:12 Now the hard drive capacity, I do not want to visualize just simply as a text.

3:19 I want to have it evaluated.

3:21 So let's use an icon set.

3:24 And, for example, say if the hard drive capacity is smaller

3:29 than so less than or equal to, let's say 10 gigabyte, then show the red icon.

3:37 If it is between, and this is literally one category, between 10 and 100.

3:45 Well, it's not super, but it's okay.

3:48 And if we say well, if it's greater than 101,

3:53 because 100 is in the medium category, please show the green icon.

3:58 There is just one thing to pay attention to, make sure that literally

4:03 there is not two categories or two icons having the same value,

4:06 so that these two should be really distinct.

4:09 And the other thing is make sure you didn't exclude anything.

4:12 So if you say here less than 100 and the other

4:15 one is greater than 100 then you're missing the 100.

4:18 So make sure that every number and even the border values are covered.

4:23 So let's hit OK.

4:25 Let's hit apply.

4:26 Let's hit OK.

4:27 And there you go.

4:29 Here is an additional data graphic.

4:32 We don't, well, I don't like it, especially here in this region.

4:37 So let's go back again to the data graphic.

4:39 Edit the data graphic, go to the Hard Drive Capacity, hit Edit Item.

4:44 And then instead of saying just on the right side,

4:47 let's put it on the Far Right on top of, hit OK,

4:51 hit Apply, hit OK and there goes the symbol.

4:55 There is literally no technical limit on how many

4:59 data graphics you can put on one specific shape.

5:03 Personally, I wouldn't recommend to use like more than five

5:07 or six because you need to explain what the different logos,

5:11 what the different icons, what the different color changes mean.

5:14 Let's do another one, however, which is very, very helpful,

5:18 which means that you could also, for example, evaluate the department.

5:25 Now, how would you evaluate that?

5:26 We won't use another icon.

5:28 We don't want necessarily to have it as a text

5:31 because we don't have so many different departments.

5:33 Now, the data graphics has also a solution for that.

5:36 So let's edit it again.

5:38 Let's add the Department, also, but instead of using an icon set or the text,

5:46 there is Color by Value, which means that the data graphic will

5:51 color the different shapes based on a value.

5:54 Now, for understandable reasons,

5:56 this type of data graphic element only makes sense if

5:59 you have like at max four or five different colors.

6:02 This is just my personal recommendation.

6:04 Technically, there is no limit,

6:05 but I wouldn't do that with like 30 different possible values,

6:08 because it will just get a little bit overcrowded.

6:11 However, you could also have shapes colored in this specific type,

6:15 or you could even have shapes change their color based on a specific value.

6:21 Now, let's go back here and show you that the data

6:25 graphics really also do work in a live, in a living system.

6:29 So let's go ahead and say, okay, we've upgraded this computer to, let's say 250,

6:36 and immediately the data graphic changes its color and, in this case, the icon.

6:42 The same thing would happen if we add the department,

6:45 if let's say Marketing is red and Sales is green,

6:49 the whole shape would also change its color.

6:52 So data graphics are extremely powerful and if you save

6:56 your Visio diagram in one of the web-based environments of Visio,

7:01 Visio Plan 1 for example, the data graphics will change even in the web-based

7:06 environment when you change the values in the specific shape.

7:09 Keep in mind to edit shape data,

7:11 you need Visio Plan 1, the web environment, or Visio Plan 2,

7:15 the web environment because there you have access to the shape data,

7:19 which you can manipulate also in the web-based environment.

7:22 Now let's take another example.

7:23 I have here some Azure shapes.

7:26 Now, what you need to keep in mind is

7:29 that when you click on one of those shapes, these shapes have no shape data yet.

7:34 However, you're free to add shape data here, so let's do that.

7:38 I will just right click on the Shape Data window and select Define Shape Data.

7:43 And in this case, I won't do too much.

7:47 It's just for a matter of a demo.

7:49 So we'll use the first one that will be just Capacity.

7:54 And keep in mind to use the label and the name.

7:57 Now the difference is the label is what

7:59 you will see here in the Shape Data window.

8:02 The name is the internal name for the specific shape data entry.

8:07 Unless you have a good reason to do so, use the same.

8:11 However, in the label you can also use, for example, spaces.

8:14 In the name, you can't use spaces.

8:17 It has to be one specific string.

8:19 Now, this will be Capacity so it will, in this case, be a number.

8:24 And you can pre-set it with a pre-defined value or you can leave it as it is.

8:30 And then let's just hit OK.

8:32 So now we have the capacity here.

8:35 And again, let's use it and say, well, this is a 50 gigabyte database.

8:41 You could also change this so it says, in the label,

8:46 capacity in GB and the internal name is just capacity.

8:49 That's up to you.

8:51 And now, let's do the same.

8:53 Advanced Data Graphics, Create New Data Graphic, New Item, Choose.

8:59 In this case, there is only one field: Capacity.

9:03 And Displayed as, and in this case, we want a data bar.

9:07 So here we can say, well, the min value is zero,

9:10 the max value, because we don't have bigger databases is 100.

9:14 And this is the huge amount of various options for data bars.

9:19 Keep in mind, apart from the color changing,

9:22 also for the other like icon set et cetera,

9:24 there's a huge amount of icon sets, which are pre-configured in Visio for use.

9:28 You just have to pick one.

9:29 I just picked the one which was suggested to me,

9:32 but again, there is many, many more.

9:33 And then in this case, let's use the standard data bar one.

9:37 Just keep in mind to set the max value to a meaningful value.

9:43 Hit OK.

9:44 Hit OK.

9:45 Yes, we want it applied.

9:47 And there it is.

9:49 And you will see the capacity shown here.

9:52 So data graphics are simple to create, easy to use,

9:56 but very powerful in terms of what they visualize,

10:00 in terms of what kind of information they can

10:03 give you about the object and their advanced metadata.

10:07 However, if I look on at this Visio diagram, half a year later,

10:13 I might not remember what the different icons and the different elements mean.

10:19 So the easiest way to do so is to create a legend.

10:22 Now, Visio does the job for you.

10:24 You just need to select, also on the Data tab,

10:27 the Insert Legend, and you can take Horizontal or Vertical.

10:31 I click once and it will immediately add a legend

10:35 to the drawing page telling you what do the icons,

10:39 the colors, the data bars mean.

10:41 So what is it referring to?

10:43 And again, this you can easily store in your SharePoint

10:47 environment and have it visualized also in a browser based environment.

10:51 I hope you found this interesting.

10:52 I hope this gave you a few new ideas on how to use

10:55 Visio and the power and the capacity of the Visio drawing environment.

10:59 Thank you very much and have a nice day.