For years small businesses have created accounting systems with FileMaker Pro database software. With the addition of relational capabilities in FileMaker Pro 3.0, business owners have gained an entirely new suite of tools to track growth and trends of their companies. Working with layouts, individuals at all levels can combine information from multiple related databases to create quick, accurate reports.
Yet sometimes, even accurate data is not enough to get your point across. For example, a table of fiscal results is not as powerful as an easy-to-read graph, and a list of employees is not as descriptive as an organization chart. That is where ClarisImpact 2.0 software with its DataDraw feature becomes the charting companion for FileMaker Pro 3.0.
ClarisImpact 2.0 expands on the data manipulation capabilities of FileMaker Pro 3.0 by turning simple rows and columns of information into professional-looking business graphics in only a few steps. What's more, you can set DataDraw to keep the business graphics up-to-date every time you open them. Instead of performing time-consuming changes to your graphics whenever your data changes, you can have DataDraw make the changes for you.
Defining your needs
To help you understand the power and simplicity behind ClarisImpact 2.0, lets take a look at Mary Gold, owner of Gold Blooms Flower Shop, and how she uses ClarisImpact 2.0 to handle her business needs. Mary's business has two stores, and she plans to open another one within the next month. With plans for the extra staff, Mary's personnel work has increased dramatically. She needs a simple organization chart to keep track of which employees work at each store.
Mary maintains a personnel database in FileMaker Pro 3.0. The database is very useful and keeps tabs on everyone, their location, title, and phone numbers. However, what the employees of Gold Blooms need is a visual representation of the staff at each store along with their titles and phone numbers. This information is already in the personnel database, ready to be made into an organization chart, but Mary does not want to create a new chart from scratch every time a change takes place in one of her stores.
Working with FileMaker Pro 3.0
In planning her organization chart, Mary knows that she needs seven types of information: employee ID, first name, last name, title, phone number, status, and manager name. All of this information is already in fields in the FileMaker Pro 3.0 database, except for manager name. When the shop was small, there was no need to list this personnel information. Mary oversaw everything. Now, she needs the manager information to create the organization chart she envisions. Mary adds a field called Manager to her personnel file in FileMaker Pro 3.0, and uses the new ability of FileMaker Pro 3.0 to create a value list based on a field in a file. With this setup, she can click on a pop-up menu in the personnel record and see a list of all employee IDs and last names. Assigning manager names is a snap.
TIP: Since Mary Gold is the boss, she leaves her Manager field blank. DataDraw places her position at the top of the organization chart and builds the chart from there.
Once she has correctly formatted her fields the way she wants them, Mary does two more things in FileMaker Pro 3.0 to prepare for the automation process discussed later. First, she performs a Find on the Status field to find only currently active employees. She then Exports the following fields to a tab-separated text file: EmployeeID, FirstName, LastName, Title, PhoneNumber, and ManagerName. She names this file OrgChart.tab.
Preparing your chart
ClarisImpact 2.0 ships with a wide variety of organization chart styles, but sometimes you want to personalize a business graphic to reflect the individual character of your company. With ClarisImpact 2.0, you can create both custom position styles and custom organization chart styles. Once you have experimented and designed a style that meets your needs, you can save the style for use with future organization charts. Here are some basic steps that you can take to customize your chart style.
1. Begin by creating a new organization chart with one employee at each level. For Mary, that means having an owner, a manager, and a floral designer.
2. Choose Position Styles from the OrgChart menu to display the Position Styles palette (Figure 1). To create a new position style family, click the pop-up menu at the top of the Position Style palette, choose New Style, and give your new family a name in the New Style dialog box. Mary calls her style Flowers. Click OK.
3. In the lower-right corner of the palette, click the triangle to see the options for creating or customizing position styles. ClarisImpact 2.0 adds styles to the currently-selected style family. Click the New button to enter the Position Editor.
4. Use the Position Editor to create completely new position styles. In the Position Editor, you can change the shape and color of the position, customize the text style for each field, add additional fields to the position (such as phone number), move the connection points for the position, and place pictures from the ClarisArt libraries or other graphics files. Once you have made all the changes, click OK to save and return to the Position Styles palette. Now you can name the position style by entering the desired name in the Name box and click Rename. You can customize position styles for every level of your organization. Mary Gold creates three new position styles (owner, manager, and floral designer) by combining the text and graphic elements she wants with images from the ClarisArt libraries.
5. In the original organization chart, click the first level to select it. In the Position Styles palette highlight the position name that matches this level. Click Apply and the new position style is applied to the selected position on your organization chart. (You can also apply any other settings from the OrgChart menu that you want. These include changing the organization chart orientation, defining level settings so all additional positions at the same level use your new position styles, or selecting another worker layout.) Select the remaining positions and apply the appropriate style. Close the Position Styles palette and save your changes.
6. Choose OrgChart Styles from the OrgChart menu to display the Org Chart Styles dialog box (Figure 2). If your style is not already showing, click the Style pop-up menu and select it. Mary uses her Flowers style. Next, click New. You can now name and save your new style variation to the style group previously selected. Mary saved her style called Gold Blooms to the Flowers style group that she set up earlier. Click OK to exit your setup. This ensures that you will be able to reapply your style settings to any new documents.
Implementing DataDraw
Once you have designed your custom style in ClarisImpact 2.0 and set up your information in FileMaker Pro 3.0, it is time to bring together all of the pieces you have created.
Create a new ClarisImpact 2.0 organization chart using DataDraw. DataDraw steps you through the process by asking you to do the following three things:
1. Select the data file to import. This is the OrgChart.tab file we exported from FileMaker Pro 3.0 earlier.
2. Choose an Org Chart style such as the one created above.
3. Align the fields in the data file with the fields on your organization chart.
DataDraw creates the organization chart for you. Once the document is created, you can set the graphic to update whenever you open the file. This keeps the organization chart current and ready for use. To do this, choose Auto-Update Settings from the DataDraw item of the File menu. The Auto-Update Settings dialog box appears and gives you options for updating data and graphics in your chart (Figure 3). Once your preferences are set, click OK. Finally, save your file to keep from losing all your hard work.
Mary does the same. Once Mary Gold finishes her design work, she imports into ClarisImpact 2.0 the data file OrgChart.tab that she exported from FileMaker Pro 3.0 and chooses the Gold Blooms style that she created earlier. After aligning her fields, Mary sees the results of her work instantly as her organization comes to life on her screen. All that remains for her to do is change her Auto Update Settings and save her document as GoldBlm.CID.
Automating the process
Once you have done all of the preliminary setup, you can create a script in FileMaker Pro 3.0 to automate the process. On both Mac OS and Windows, the script can Find the active employees, Export the data to a tab-separated text file, and Open the organization chart in ClarisImpact 2.0 so that the graphic updates.
If you have performed a Find or Export since you exported data to your OrgChart.tab above, do your desired Find and Export again, to be sure the correct Find and Export criteria are saved with your script.
Create the following script called Export to ClarisImpact:
Mac OS
Perform Find [Restore]
Export Records [Restore, No dialog, "OrgChart.tab"]
Send Apple Event ["GoldBlm.CID", "ClarisImpact - Mac OS", "aevt", "odoc"]
open application, open document, Bring target application to foreground
Windows
Perform Find [Restore]
Export Records [Restore, No dialog, "OrgChart.tab"]
Send Message ["GoldBlm.CID", "aevt", "odoc"]
open document/application, Bring target application to foreground
Now whenever you need to see an updated organization chart, all you have to do is run the Export to ClarisImpact script in FileMaker Pro 3.0.
It keeps growing and growing
In only a short time, Gold Blooms has gone from a single shop to a growing enterprise. Not even Mary knows the shape her company will take in a few years. She does know that she can count on ClarisImpact 2.0 and FileMaker Pro 3.0 to meet the changing needs of her small business, no matter how the business climate changes.
Yet sometimes, even accurate data is not enough to get your point across. For example, a table of fiscal results is not as powerful as an easy-to-read graph, and a list of employees is not as descriptive as an organization chart. That is where ClarisImpact 2.0 software with its DataDraw feature becomes the charting companion for FileMaker Pro 3.0.
ClarisImpact 2.0 expands on the data manipulation capabilities of FileMaker Pro 3.0 by turning simple rows and columns of information into professional-looking business graphics in only a few steps. What's more, you can set DataDraw to keep the business graphics up-to-date every time you open them. Instead of performing time-consuming changes to your graphics whenever your data changes, you can have DataDraw make the changes for you.
Defining your needs
To help you understand the power and simplicity behind ClarisImpact 2.0, lets take a look at Mary Gold, owner of Gold Blooms Flower Shop, and how she uses ClarisImpact 2.0 to handle her business needs. Mary's business has two stores, and she plans to open another one within the next month. With plans for the extra staff, Mary's personnel work has increased dramatically. She needs a simple organization chart to keep track of which employees work at each store.
Mary maintains a personnel database in FileMaker Pro 3.0. The database is very useful and keeps tabs on everyone, their location, title, and phone numbers. However, what the employees of Gold Blooms need is a visual representation of the staff at each store along with their titles and phone numbers. This information is already in the personnel database, ready to be made into an organization chart, but Mary does not want to create a new chart from scratch every time a change takes place in one of her stores.
Working with FileMaker Pro 3.0
In planning her organization chart, Mary knows that she needs seven types of information: employee ID, first name, last name, title, phone number, status, and manager name. All of this information is already in fields in the FileMaker Pro 3.0 database, except for manager name. When the shop was small, there was no need to list this personnel information. Mary oversaw everything. Now, she needs the manager information to create the organization chart she envisions. Mary adds a field called Manager to her personnel file in FileMaker Pro 3.0, and uses the new ability of FileMaker Pro 3.0 to create a value list based on a field in a file. With this setup, she can click on a pop-up menu in the personnel record and see a list of all employee IDs and last names. Assigning manager names is a snap.
TIP: Since Mary Gold is the boss, she leaves her Manager field blank. DataDraw places her position at the top of the organization chart and builds the chart from there.
Once she has correctly formatted her fields the way she wants them, Mary does two more things in FileMaker Pro 3.0 to prepare for the automation process discussed later. First, she performs a Find on the Status field to find only currently active employees. She then Exports the following fields to a tab-separated text file: EmployeeID, FirstName, LastName, Title, PhoneNumber, and ManagerName. She names this file OrgChart.tab.
Preparing your chart
ClarisImpact 2.0 ships with a wide variety of organization chart styles, but sometimes you want to personalize a business graphic to reflect the individual character of your company. With ClarisImpact 2.0, you can create both custom position styles and custom organization chart styles. Once you have experimented and designed a style that meets your needs, you can save the style for use with future organization charts. Here are some basic steps that you can take to customize your chart style.
1. Begin by creating a new organization chart with one employee at each level. For Mary, that means having an owner, a manager, and a floral designer.
2. Choose Position Styles from the OrgChart menu to display the Position Styles palette (Figure 1). To create a new position style family, click the pop-up menu at the top of the Position Style palette, choose New Style, and give your new family a name in the New Style dialog box. Mary calls her style Flowers. Click OK.
3. In the lower-right corner of the palette, click the triangle to see the options for creating or customizing position styles. ClarisImpact 2.0 adds styles to the currently-selected style family. Click the New button to enter the Position Editor.
4. Use the Position Editor to create completely new position styles. In the Position Editor, you can change the shape and color of the position, customize the text style for each field, add additional fields to the position (such as phone number), move the connection points for the position, and place pictures from the ClarisArt libraries or other graphics files. Once you have made all the changes, click OK to save and return to the Position Styles palette. Now you can name the position style by entering the desired name in the Name box and click Rename. You can customize position styles for every level of your organization. Mary Gold creates three new position styles (owner, manager, and floral designer) by combining the text and graphic elements she wants with images from the ClarisArt libraries.
5. In the original organization chart, click the first level to select it. In the Position Styles palette highlight the position name that matches this level. Click Apply and the new position style is applied to the selected position on your organization chart. (You can also apply any other settings from the OrgChart menu that you want. These include changing the organization chart orientation, defining level settings so all additional positions at the same level use your new position styles, or selecting another worker layout.) Select the remaining positions and apply the appropriate style. Close the Position Styles palette and save your changes.
6. Choose OrgChart Styles from the OrgChart menu to display the Org Chart Styles dialog box (Figure 2). If your style is not already showing, click the Style pop-up menu and select it. Mary uses her Flowers style. Next, click New. You can now name and save your new style variation to the style group previously selected. Mary saved her style called Gold Blooms to the Flowers style group that she set up earlier. Click OK to exit your setup. This ensures that you will be able to reapply your style settings to any new documents.
Implementing DataDraw
Once you have designed your custom style in ClarisImpact 2.0 and set up your information in FileMaker Pro 3.0, it is time to bring together all of the pieces you have created.
Create a new ClarisImpact 2.0 organization chart using DataDraw. DataDraw steps you through the process by asking you to do the following three things:
1. Select the data file to import. This is the OrgChart.tab file we exported from FileMaker Pro 3.0 earlier.
2. Choose an Org Chart style such as the one created above.
3. Align the fields in the data file with the fields on your organization chart.
DataDraw creates the organization chart for you. Once the document is created, you can set the graphic to update whenever you open the file. This keeps the organization chart current and ready for use. To do this, choose Auto-Update Settings from the DataDraw item of the File menu. The Auto-Update Settings dialog box appears and gives you options for updating data and graphics in your chart (Figure 3). Once your preferences are set, click OK. Finally, save your file to keep from losing all your hard work.
Mary does the same. Once Mary Gold finishes her design work, she imports into ClarisImpact 2.0 the data file OrgChart.tab that she exported from FileMaker Pro 3.0 and chooses the Gold Blooms style that she created earlier. After aligning her fields, Mary sees the results of her work instantly as her organization comes to life on her screen. All that remains for her to do is change her Auto Update Settings and save her document as GoldBlm.CID.
Automating the process
Once you have done all of the preliminary setup, you can create a script in FileMaker Pro 3.0 to automate the process. On both Mac OS and Windows, the script can Find the active employees, Export the data to a tab-separated text file, and Open the organization chart in ClarisImpact 2.0 so that the graphic updates.
If you have performed a Find or Export since you exported data to your OrgChart.tab above, do your desired Find and Export again, to be sure the correct Find and Export criteria are saved with your script.
Create the following script called Export to ClarisImpact:
Mac OS
Perform Find [Restore]
Export Records [Restore, No dialog, "OrgChart.tab"]
Send Apple Event ["GoldBlm.CID", "ClarisImpact - Mac OS", "aevt", "odoc"]
open application, open document, Bring target application to foreground
Windows
Perform Find [Restore]
Export Records [Restore, No dialog, "OrgChart.tab"]
Send Message ["GoldBlm.CID", "aevt", "odoc"]
open document/application, Bring target application to foreground
Now whenever you need to see an updated organization chart, all you have to do is run the Export to ClarisImpact script in FileMaker Pro 3.0.
It keeps growing and growing
In only a short time, Gold Blooms has gone from a single shop to a growing enterprise. Not even Mary knows the shape her company will take in a few years. She does know that she can count on ClarisImpact 2.0 and FileMaker Pro 3.0 to meet the changing needs of her small business, no matter how the business climate changes.