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Introduction to the Organizing Chart
Organizing (Org) Charts come in many shapes and sizes and according to Wikipedia, they date back to as early as 1854!
The same Wikipedia article defines an org chart as:
A diagram that shows the structure of an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of its parts and roles.
There are many different types of org charts, each with their own design and names. That's why we've designed the org chart feature in MetaPulse to be fully customizable and allow for all types of org charts.
Terminology
Here's several key terms that will help you create and maintain your org chart:
Org Area
We use the term "Org Area" to represent a division, department, section, etc. In fact, with MetaPulse you can create any type of Org Area and call it what you want!
Child
A child in the Org Chart is a type of area that will be nested inside another area. It's used to create hierarchy. For example, a child could be a department inside a division, or section inside a department and so on.
Hat
A hat is a particular role or occupation (Oxford Dictionary). In MetaPulse it a description of what the person does—their function, purpose, and result they are meant to achieve. See Understanding Hats and Posts
Post
A post is a position of paid employment, a job. (Oxford Dictionary) In MetaPulse it means a specific location on the org chart. See Understanding Hats and Posts.
In Charge Post
An "In charge" is the person in control or with overall responsibility of an area (Oxford Dictionary). This feature is used to identify managers and the organizational hierarchy.
Held from Above (HFA)
When a post on the org chart has no dedicated person assigned to it, it will automatically assign the manager of that org area (division, department, section, etc). This is indicated by the term "Held from Above."
Understanding Hats and Posts
A hat is a particular role or occupation. (Oxford Dictionary)
A post is a position of paid employment, a job. (Oxford Dictionary) In MetaPulse it means a specific location on the org chart.
An org chart is defined as: A diagram that shows the structure of an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of its parts and roles. (Wikipedia)
A post consists of 3 parts:
A Hat - a description of what the person does—their function, purpose, and result they are meant to achieve.
A Post - the specific location on the org chart.
A Member - the person assigned to the Post who carries out the duties and functions described in the hat.
Keep in mind that a Hat can be used across multiple Posts. For example, a Sales Person Hat might be worn by many people in your organisation, as shown below.
On the Org Chart this appears as follows:
View an Org Chart Horizontally or Vertically
Toggle Horizontally & Vertically
The org chart will default to a vertical view so that it easily fits on your screen. You can expand each section horizontally as shown below.
Toggle the Section between horizontal or vertical
Toggle the Division between horizontal or vertical
Collapse the Section
Expand Levels
Click Down Arrow to expand a specific level vertically
Click Expand All to expand all levels vertically
See also
View Post Details
Click Org Chart
Click View details on the desired post
Here you can see all the details related to the post and the member assigned to it, such as email address, away periods, graphs, who is reporting to this member, objectives, etc.
View Away Periods
Click Org Chart
The Away Period is displayed
Information
To see detailed information of a specific Org Area:
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu
Click on Information
Here you can see all the details related to the Org Area, such as Org Area name, any Knowledge items linked to this area, member assigned to it, the position he/she is holding, who reports to whom and the results of this Org Area.
Zoom
Zoom allows you to view an Org Area in a fully expanded mode in a new browser tab.
NOTE: If Zoom is selected on the top-most level on the Org Chart, it will expand the whole Organization.
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu
Click on Zoom
The Org Area is fully expanded
To print an Org Area or the whole Org Chart:
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on Print
NOTE: To print the whole Org Chart, click Print All
Select the desired settings and click Print
Check the preview and click Print
View Trends
View Trends allows you to see the graph trends of a specific Org Area:
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on View Trends
Click on the desired graph
It will display the trend
See also
Create an Org Chart
Click Org Chart
NOTE: If this is the first time you are creating your Org Chart, one Org Area will already be automatically created. See above image. This is by default.
To continue adding additional divisions, departments or sections, click Settings.
Expand your Organization
Click on Org chart
Click on Org Areas
Since one Org Area already exists, the other Org Areas will need to be nested under this one. See steps 14 - 23 in Create an Org Chart to create the other Org Areas.
Edit Org Area
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on Edit Org Area
See steps 5 - 14 in Create an Org Area for more info on each setting
Manage Children
Manage Children allows you to:
Sort Org Areas
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on Manage Children
You can change the order of the Org Areas by dragging them up or down into the desired position. The change will automatically take place.
NOTE: The same steps will work on any other Org Areas, regardless if they are nested or not.
Create an Org Area
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on Manage Children
Click on New Child
Enter a Name for the area
Enter the Results that this area is going to achieve. See also TIPS & TRICKS: Results on Org Chart Not Showing.
Fill in additional information, if needed. To format the text, see TIPS & TRICKS: Markdown.
You can assign a specific Knowledge item for this Org Area. In this example, you can assign all Knowledge items related to Sales / Marketing to this Org Area and these items will be automatically assigned to all members belonging to this Org Area.
Choose a type of area: Division, Department, Sector, Section, Unit, etc.
Org Chart - If the current Org Chart is selected, the Org Area will remain in that Org Chart.
NOTE: If you have more than one Org Chart and select another Org Chart, this Org Area will be moved to the other Org Chart.
Parent Org Area - Choosing a parent will nest this area within another, choosing None will create a new top level area.
Appear elevated on Org Chart will elevate this area, making it senior or more important than other areas.
You can choose a Custom Color for the area
Click Create Org Area
NOTE: The same steps will work on any other Org Areas, regardless if they are nested or not.
Create a New Org Area Alias
Org Area Alias is used when a company has branch offices in different locations. Even though these branch offices are part of the main Org Chart, they can be "duplicated" and made to appear on the branch office Org Chart for convenience. They are not a copy of the Org Area but a link to it.
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on Manage Children
Click on New Alias
Select the Source Organization
Select the Source Org Chart
Choose the desired Source Org Area you would like to create an Alias for.
You can create a Name for the Alias. Leaving it blank will inherit the name from the Source Org Area.
Select the destination Org Chart
Select the Parent Org Area of the destination Org Chart. Select None if it doesn't need to be nested under any Org Area.
This is the primary alias - This adds a link from the Source Org Area to the Alias when viewing the Source Org Area.
Include children from source org area - This will include anything inside the Source Org Area, e.g. other departments, members, posts and hats.
Click Create
The Source Org Area will have an arrow symbol, designating it has an Alias. When clicked, it will take you to the Alias.
The Alias also has an arrow which will take you back to the source Org Area when clicked
Archive an Org Area
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on Edit Org Area
Click Archive. Click OK. The Org Area will be removed from the Org Chart.
NOTE: If the Archive button is missing, it means that there are other Org Areas or Org Area Aliases under this Org Area that need to be archived or deleted first.
Manage Posts
Manage Posts allows you to:
Edit Post
Click Org Chart
Click View details on the desired post
Click Edit Post
Follow the steps in Create a New Post for more info on each setting
How to Assign a Graph to a Post Instead of a Member
If you don't want a graph assigned to a Member, you will need to remove the Responsible Member from the graph.
The benefit of having graphs assigned to a post is that when a member changes a post, all graphs related to this post will remain on that post and will be taken over by the next person who will be assigned to this post, whereas if the graphs were assigned to a Responsible Member, the Responsible Member would need to be removed from each graph and then assigned to another member.
Click Org Chart
Click View details on the desired post
Click Edit Post
Scroll all the way down and expand the Assigned Graphs section. Click Graphs for Post and select the Graph you want to assign to this post.
You can also assign Graph Groups for Post
Click Update
Sort Posts
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on Manage Posts
You can change the order of the Posts by dragging them up or down into the desired position. The change will automatically take place.
Create a New Post
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the specific Org Area
Click on Manage Posts
Click on New Post
The settings for the new post will open
Choose an existing Hat or create New Hat. See also Understanding the difference between Hats and Posts
You can collapse the Hat settings
Enter Hat Name if a new hat
Hat Display Name is optional - If left blank, it will use the Hat Name.
Purpose - purpose of the post, e.g. Increase Organization Income.
Function - main functions of the post, e.g. Follow up leads, provide correct product or service.
Results - The results produced or expected of the post. e.g. a Sales person's results could be "Closed deals."
You can select a specific Knowledge item that represents the Hat. This will be visible on the Org Chart when you view the details of the post.
Toggle In Charge / Not In Charge
Toggle Assistant / Not an Assistant
Assign the desired Graph Permissions
Add Attachments to the hat (such as a checklist)
Assign a Member to the Post (this person must have an MetaPulse login) or leave as Held From Above (HFA)
If it's a Temporary assignment, you can mark it as such. This can be used for temporary staff or permanent staff who also perform a secondary post that will some day be reassigned to a full time employee.
You can collapse the Member settings
Update the Name and Number settings as required
Update the Location settings as required
Upload Avatar. NOTE: Adding an Avatar on this step is the same as adding it from the Company Profile settings. You can also add an Avatar in the Personal Profile Settings, however the Avatar in Company Profile takes priority and this is the one that will get displayed on the Org Chart. If there is no Avatar added in the Company Profile settings, then the Org Chart will use the Avatar from the Personal Profile settings. See also TIPS & TRICKS - Ideal Avatar Dimensions.
Update Employee Settings as required. For more info on the Status option, see Organization Settings - Member Status Options
Adjust the Notifications as required. You can also customize individual notifications. They are set as "Default" and any change to any of them will take priority over the main notification setting.
These Custom Attributes lets you add additional info for the member. For more info, see Example - Create a Custom Attribute for a Member.
The "Restrict user to Organization" option restricts a member to a specific organization. It removes the ability for the member to create their own account using the same email.
Post Name - defaults to hat name but can be changed.
Org Area - location of the post on the org chart.
These Custom Attributes lets you add additional info for the post. For more info, see Example - Create a Custom Attribute for a Post.
Use member's or custom location - These options relate to the location of the individual and will be displayed under the Post Details on the org chart. This is useful information for large businesses who have employees spread through a multi-level building or for those with remote employees who work from different locations.
Graphs assigned to the member - Will display graphs assigned to user.
Graphs for Post - Add more graphs specific to the post.
Add Graph Groups for Post - Used for easily finding and viewing a collection of graphs.
Click Create
Create a New Post Alias
Some org chart designs require the same post to be duplicated in different parts of the organization, often to show hierarchy.
Creating a duplicate post to solve this problem can generate confusion when assigning graphs and objectives and is not really a true reflection of the actual organizational structure.
To solve this problem we have created the "Post Alias" feature. It's the same post displayed in another location.
Here's how you create a Post Alias:
Click Org Chart
Click on the 3-dot menu on the destination Org Area
Click on Manage Posts
Click on New Alias
Select the Source Org Chart. This is if you have more than one Org Chart.
Select the Source Org Area. This is the Org Area where the actual post resides.
Select the Source Post. This is the actual post for which you will be creating an alias.
Click Create
The new Post Alias will appear
To see which one of the two is a Post Alias, click View details.
The Post Alias will have an Edit Alias button
Archive a Post
Click Org Chart
Click View details on the desired post
Scroll down and click Edit Post
Scroll down and click Archive
It will list every Graph, Alert, Objective and Post Alias associated with the Post. Click Archive. The Post will be removed from the Org Chart.
NOTE: The graphs and post aliases assigned to the post will be archived as well.