Creating an Interactive Org Chart

If you’ve read a few articles here, you will get the impression that we love our org charts. You’d be right.

Getting the structure, reporting lines and responsibilities down clearly for all to see, is important for an organization in its first few months and years. It’s even more important when it grows.

We’ve noticed that organizations start to ‘break’ when they grow beyond 25 or 30 staff. It can happen when people are siloed away in departments, reporting through layers of management, and made to sit through tedious meetings.

People are working harder than ever, but productivity starts to wane, as visibility reduces, things get missed and efforts are duplicated.

It really does not have to be this way. We’re on a mission to 'make work better', and in so doing make the world a better place.

Happier people at work mean happier workmates and workplaces, happier friends, partners, parents, children and human beings all over the planet.

Static Org Charts Don’t Work!

The tools that get you to a certain size won’t take you to the next level, so you need a new tool.

Given this is the 2020's, no one should be using an old-fashioned static org chart anymore. One that sits on a PowerPoint slide, or a Visio diagram, or (worse) a Word document.

These charts tend to be stuck away somewhere in a file or folder, never to be seen again, until a staff member leaves. They only get pulled out and examined when someone new needs to be hired.

By this time, these static org charts bear little resemblance to the actual organization of the company, who does what and how. Position descriptions are also inaccurate.

This is why your org chart has to be interactive, always on, always accessible, shareable and live. You should be able to test various scenarios and arrangements, see their impact, see who should go where, and why, rather than blindly experiment in this manner in the real world.

So let us show you how to make it so.

Seeing is believing: Go ahead, play around with this interactive chart template.

You Need an Interactive Org Chart

At Functionly, we have built some purpose-made, modern tools that allow you to quickly and easily build an interactive org chart that connects all your people and teams together.

You will be able to see your organization in a new way, and build custom, flexible frameworks that evolve with you as your organization grows.

In this way you’ll be able to see any gaps and overlaps, and where the misstructure is hurting you most. Crucially, you’ll be able to keep your teams accountable, and aligned to the mission.

Easy to integrate

Before you worry about how you can upload your staff details to get started, we have made that easy too.

Functionly’s integration feature allows you to import your people via a number of HR systems and collaboration tools.

Here are a few of the tools we integrate with, and there many more also:

A full list of active integrations, and 'coming soon' ones, can be found here. If you don’t see one you need, you can ask for it using the ‘Request integration’ button.

Functionly offers you one intelligent place to create your own functional org chart in minutes. Here's a 2-minute overview of what Functionly offers:

There is a free trial offer, and a free forever version, to get you started.

Powerful Features of Interactive Org Charting

Here are some of the features, that make it so easy - yet powerful - to use Functionly:

• Drag and drop mapping: pick up people, move them, create departments, add roles and responsibilities
• Team accountabilities: allocate the right accountabilities to the right leaders and teams
• Scenario builder: design future states in a collaborative and safe environment and drive powerful internal presentations
• Function mapping: map everything that gets done and see functional gaps and overlaps at a glance
• One source of truth: create a record of your current state org chart for export and sharing
• Align responsibilities: strategically assign responsibilities and roles for complete internal alignment
• Job description export: create responsibility-based job descriptions in 30 seconds
• Invite & collaborate: invite additional users with edit access to collaborate across one, or all charts
• Live link: create unlimited, view-only, live access for any of your charts
• Chart export: one click to print or share your people and accountability-based charts
• HRIS and Slack integration: quickly and easily import your people and keep your information in sync
• Real-time reporting: see live head count totals, open positions, vacancies, teams stats and chart anomaly alerts
• Color groups: enhance your org chart with color, choosing from six palettes or custom hex codes
• Vacancy planning: see vacancies at a glance. Plan current or upcoming openings and create needs-based position accountabilities
• Multiple roles: understand unique workloads by displaying people or positions that cover multiple internal roles

As you can see, there's lot included, yet we've also kept it simple and straightforward to use.

: Free Trial Offer

You can get started, for free, with Functionly, by following the links on this page. There’s also a 'free forever' version.

Getting the right people in the right seats, and then driving the business forward with everyone aligned, is crucially important.

We wish you all the best with your organization. We are always here to help. Learn more about the best org chart software.