Businesses make use of a lot of graphs aside from the usual bar and pie charts that are generated from tables and spreadsheets. More than just fancy visual aids, these graphs and diagrams make ideas easier to digest and understand, compared to reading paragraphs and pages of explanations.
A flowchart, as the name implies, is a diagram that describes a flow or process. While commonly used in programming or computer-related environments, a flowchart can also be used to map out how a product is supposed to be made from start to finish, for example. It might also detail how certain protocols or processes should be followed.
An organizational chart is probably familiar to almost any business. This shows the structure and layout of an organization, detailing the relationship and relative ranks of different positions within the organization. “Org charts” may vary from simple boxes and lines to more complicated systems where different types of relationships are indicated by different kinds of lines.
Gantt charts are used to illustrate the schedule and flow of a project. Most commonly used in project management, these charts point out the start and target finish dates, breakdown of different tasks in the project, as well as dependencies and relationships of those different tasks. Project management charts such as these are employed in order to more effectively achieve the project goals within certain constraints such as time and budget.
There are many tools available to users for creating these diagrams. Probably the most popular ones come from the Microsoft Office’s productivity suite. Microsoft Excel, as well as Word, can be used to generate bar, line, or pie charts. Visio is tailored to the creation of more complex charts and diagrams, and even wireframe or prototypes for demonstrations. And finally, Microsoft Project is a popular choice for project management and producing Gantt charts.
