General purpose tools like Excel and PowerPoint are all very well, but for some tasks a more specialised application is better. So it is with organisational charts, for example, where OrgPlus 6 from HumanConcepts is both easier to use and offers greater functionality, including automated data import and publishing options.

OrgPlus 6 is totally dedicated to the production of organisational charts. You know the kind of thing: an upside-down tree containing linked boxes, to show how an organisation is structured, who reports to whom and so on.

A fairly standard, drawing board interface is used to create the charts, with the usual palettes of tools to draw and link the boxes, add labels, set backgrounds and so on. Photos and graphics can also be added and, because the software understands what charts are all about, it will automatically position and size the boxes to fit the text you enter. It also lets you rearrange the hierarchy very quickly and easily using drag and drop.

Charts can then be printed and saved as PDF files, published to an intranet site or exported to Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Additionally, charts can be distributed with a free OrgPlus reader, or users can be provided with a link to an OrgPlus Web plug-in to access, query, print and save charts via their browser.

It's all good stuff and not particularly difficult to use, with some 36 templates included in the package to help get you started. However, although a great tool for the manual creation of charts, it's the way in which it lets you connect charts to the data they contain that really makes the program stand out.

Most companies will have the data they want to use already, either in a simple document or spreadsheet or in a network directory, database or other application. Re-entering would be time consuming and error-prone so, with the Professional edition of OrgPlus 6, you can import chart data from a variety of sources. Supported file formats include everything from .CSV files through spreadsheets to SQL Server and Oracle databases, LDAP and Active Directory, even SAP systems.

You can also perform spreadsheet-like calculations on the data, and choose how it will be displayed using conditional formatting rules. For example, you might want to highlight jobs that are vacant by outlining the appropriate boxes in red. Furthermore, where the amount of information is too much to fit onto one chart, it's possible to break it down and create linked sub-charts, either manually or during the data import process, with the main chart and any sub-charts all stored together in one file.

And finally there are facilities to configure scheduled updates to refresh the data and publish charts automatically. All of which adds up to a hard-to-beat tool for creating professional looking organisational charts, internal phone and e-mail directories, financial planning tables and a range of other useful documents.

A must-have application for larger organisations. OrgPlus 6 provides all the tools needed to create professional looking organisational charts, with the added bonus of being able to import the base data from a variety of sources, perform scheduled updates and publish charts automatically.