What is org charts? An org chart is a kind of chart, made for describing the structure of an organization. They are used in workplaces to show the detail of the hierarchy. Org chart also shows the basic information about an organization like its name, address, phone number, etc. The basic purpose of using org charts is to make the administration tasks effective and smooth. Org charts are one of the many diagrams that are used for organization. Org charts are commonly used by organizations that have multiple divisions, groups, projects, etc. It is a visual representation of the hierarchy structure of an organization.
An organization chart (also called an org chart and organigram) is a diagram that shows how employees and departments within an organization or corporation are organized and who they report to. It’s very useful for organizing and managing the structure of an organization, especially in large ones. Nobody likes reading overly complicated organizational charts. It’s not only hard but also very confusing. That’s why we decided to create a list of tools that will help you create simple and clean organizational charts for your team.
Types of Organizational Charts
Four types of structures in organizational charts are widely used. These include:
Hierarchical Organizational Charts
These are simple, pyramid-shaped charts. Hierarchical structures place people with the most decision-making power at the top with one or more management levels.
Most organizations that follow a hierarchical structure have a general manager, director, or CEO at the top, with department managers who answer to them. The department managers have teams that are deputized with projects and tasks.
Matrix Organizational Charts
In larger organizations, specialized projects often require cross-departmental collaboration. In such cases, a matrix-like organization chart is a better fit than a simple hierarchical one.
A matrix-type organizational chart allows for project managers to command teams that span entire departments. While traditional roles like marketing, finance, product development, and sales have their own managers, people from each department can collaborate on different projects and answer to a specific project manager here as well.
Divisional Organizational Charts
Larger companies that span entire countries or even continents usually require divisions that specialize in creating value for specific geographies, tastes, or requirements. These divisions may have entirely different organizational structures and management styles.
Flat Organizational Charts
Flat structures do away with, or minimize, hierarchies for want of organizational fluidity. Flat organizational charts are becoming increasingly popular as modern enterprises often have to pivot on a dime to respond to a changeable marketplace.
Concepts such as Agile and DevOps are versions of flat structures that allow for employees to move between teams and corporate positions depending on where their skills are needed at the moment.
Components of an Organizational Chart
While the overall structure of an organizational chart may vary from company to company, it should have some fundamental elements so that it can get the idea across.
- Chain of command: The basic hierarchy that illustrates the line of authority within an organization.
- Span of control: The number of employees that report to a manager.
- Departmentation: The number of departments or job titles required to complete a function, task, or service within an organization.
- Delegation: An illustration of who reports to whom and what tasks a manager can deputize to an employee.
- Job design: Task descriptions that enable the fulfillment of a process or procedure.
In addition, modern organizational charts can also include pictures of employees and add personal details such as email addresses or phone numbers.
1. The Org
The Org is a platform where you can build your own org chart and share it with the world. With a free account, you can contribute to your company’s org chart and help to keep it up to date by maintaining your profile and adding other team members.
Because org charts on The Org are accessible to everyone, you can find inspiration by browsing the org charts of thousands of other organizations across the globe. This includes some of the biggest companies in the world, like Google, Tesla, and Amazon. Use The Org to see how they’ve structured their internal teams, use it to look for open positions, and better understand how teams work together.
Users like: It’s an easy way to show off your team and meet the people behind other innovative companies. Job candidates like it because they can see who they will be working with before joining.
Price: Free
2. Lucidchart
Lucidchart is a cloud-based visual workspace tool that enables much more than just creating your own org chart. It can help with everything from brainstorming to building flowcharts, wireframes, diagrams, and mindmaps. Users can start from scratch or use a range of predefined templates to begin building their org chart. Either way, the drag-and-drop functionality of the tool makes it easy to learn and adopt quickly.
Users like: How easy Lucidchart is to use. An intuitive and responsive platform, Lucidchart is printable and presentable, whether for complex org charts or simple ones.
Price: An individual plan starts at $7.95 a month (paid annually) with options to scale. A team account starts at $27 a month (paid annually), with each team member on the plan being $9. A free version is also available.
3. ChartHop
A newcomer to the org chart software market in 2020, ChartHop was created to solve the problem of rapid organizational change. The founder, Ian White, began building Charthop to give organizations a way to better communicate everyone’s role, show who was joining or leaving the company, and manage the ever-evolving org chart without using spreadsheets or PowerPoint slides.
Charthop also enables you to store changes so that in the future you can look back to see past versions of the org charts. Users can also use the platform to model future org charts based on projected growth, update their headcount, and make new hires.
Users like: ChartHop’s analytical information that takes on the work that comes with creating and utilizing org charts. The tool generates automatic visibility for departmental costs, employees by location, gender, diversity in management, and other areas of interest.
Price: Varies, but is based on employee headcount. The basic option, called Build, starts at $3.50 a month per employee (billed annually). Other price tiers add additional functionality and analytics beyond the ability to create an org chart with profiles. While there is a trial option, a live demo can be scheduled.
4. Creately
A general diagram tool with org chart capability, Creately operates in your browser as a shared workspace with collaboration and commenting functionality. Creately is good for creating org charts and professional-looking diagrams in minutes and allows you to share your work with clients or collaborators. While it’s cloud-based software, it can also be operated offline.
Users like: Creately’s free version is one of the best free org chart software platforms available. However, like many free versions, it withholds some functionality and is limited to just three collaborators and three public documents.
Price: $4.95 a month (billed annually) for a single user personal plan, or from $18 a month (billed annually) and up for their Teams pricing.
5. ClosePlan
Founded in 2017, ClosePlan is a software suite for sales-oriented companies. It’s ideal for all kinds of enterprise organizations looking to optimize their opportunity-to-closing performance. ClosePlan seamlessly integrates with Salesforce for added convenience.
The platform includes a dedicated org chart software solution, the Relationship Maps module. It makes creating org charts in SalesForce an effortless task. Deployment is entirely web-based, with the app featuring a simple drag-and-drop interface. Best of all, companies can access and use their SalesForce contacts, which speeds things up considerably.
ClosePlan org chart software features include the following:
- Native SalesForce org charts
- SalesForce contact record integration
- Drag-and-drop relationship lines
- Custom influence lines for key stakeholders
- Rich org charts with employee data
- Powerful collaboration tools
Adding to that, ClosePlan allows companies to reuse previous charts, implement sub-charts, and define custom types of stakeholder influence. It’s a powerful org chart software that can create dynamic relationship maps. It’s perfect for structuring your organization and keeping better track of your business contacts.
Unlike many competitors, ClosePlan doesn’t offer a free trial period for its org chart software platform. Nevertheless, users can try out the interface and features by requesting a demo. It’s a perfect tool for sales teams and companies that rely on SalesForce.
ClosePlan is fully web-based, requiring no local installation. It does have a few shortcomings, though. There are no chart templates, and there’s no version control tool.
6. Freshteam
Freshteam is Freshworks’ HR-focused package. As an org chart software, it has easy-to-use visual tools that neatly integrate into the larger Freshworks ecosystem. Charts are built using rich employee data, incorporating photos, contact details, and more. It’s a fast and intuitive interface that can create seamless org charts in just a few clicks.
Here are some pertinent features that Freshteam offers:
- Employee data integration
- Interactive org chart elements
- Helpful software integrations
- Simple chart creation process
- Automated HR system integration
- Mobile app platform
- Powerful reporting system
Freshteam is a web-based service, available on any modern browser. Customers can also use the mobile app available for Android devices. Freshteam is a robust HR management and org chart software tool. However, it’s best when combined with the entire Freshworks software suite. Its powerful integrations greatly amplify what you can do with the platform.
Customers can check out the full range of Freshteam’s capabilities over a 21-day free trial period. Afterward, they can downgrade to a free account or subscribe to one of the three tiers of paid plans. Beyond org diagramming, the Freshteam platform offers a host of HR solutions.
The org chart software side of Freshteam is a bit too simple. With no templates or drag-and-drop interface, it can be somewhat limited. However, powerful integrations make it convenient for companies already using the Freshworks platform.
7. Ingentis org.manager
The Ingentis org.manager suite is an impressively powerful org chart software tool. It allows users to leverage impressive visual features and deep insights based on real data. It offers on-premises org charts from multiple data sources as well as cloud-based org charts integrated with SAP SuccessFactors.
A few notable features you can find in Ingentis org.manager org chart software include:
- Highly customizable org charts
- Powerful design, layout, and content options
- Database integration
- Automated reorg simulations
- Key insights based on HR data
- Intuitive drag-and-drop interface
- Many professional templates
Ingentis org.manager is compatible with Windows platforms and also offered as a web-based application. It includes powerful software integrations, advanced reporting features, interactive elements, and version control. The software combines convenient real-time and asynchronous collaboration tools with user-specific functions and access levels.
Unlike many of its competitors, Ingentis org. manager is a dedicated tool for crafting org charts. The company offers a free trial for companies to test its platform. It has uniquely powerful features for org chart creation, such as Big Data integration and automated reorg modeling.
Overall, Ingentis org.manager offers a remarkably strong platform, with flexible visualization features and HR controlling. However, one of its few shortcomings is the lack of live customer support features.
8. Microsoft Visio
Part of the Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft Visio is all about creating org charts simply and easily. Used for a variety of different charts and diagrams, Microsoft Visio comes with dozens of organization chart templates, and other ready-made designs for flow diagrams, floor plans, and information charts.
Microsoft Visio is often compared to Lucidchart for how easy it is to use, though, as a Microsoft product, it can only be used on Apple products within a browser. This is another org chart software platform with easy drag-and-drop functionality and allows users to export documents as PDFs.
Users like: How easy Microsoft Visio is, even for first-time users. It has advanced features that are well laid out, especially for users familiar with other Microsoft products.
Price: A subscription for the Microsoft Visio web app starts at $5 a user, per month. An additional subscription option is $15 a month for the web and desktop apps, or single desktop licenses can be purchased of Visio Standard and Visio Professional for $280 and $530, respectively.
Conclusion
Understanding org charts will help employees to easily get information about the hierarchy of the company. The ability to draw org charts is useful for managers who want to understand where each team member sits, making it easier to make decisions and delegate tasks.