Templates also set up the drawing page and formatting for you. The Basic Flowchart template, for instance, sets up a letter-sized page suitable for printing on a desktop printer, and the shapes are black and whitea style that is often used in flowcharts. In addition, some templates include special-purpose commands or toolbars. For example, the Organization Chart template includes the Organization Chart toolbar, which makes it easy to rearrange employee shapes in a chart that you created with that template. The Brainstorming Diagram template not only includes Brainstorming shapes, a Brainstorming menu, and a Brainstorming toolbar, but also an Outline window that tracks the shapes on the drawing page in outline form.

Visio makes it easy for you to find the appropriate template by organizing them into simple categories of related diagram types, as shown in the following table. Visio Professional 2007 includes all of the templates available in Visio Standard 2007, in addition to advanced features and special-purpose templates that you can use to create PivotDiagrams, detailed network diagrams, database and software models, engineering schematics, process engineering diagrams, Web diagrams, and extensive building plans.

The following list presents all of the categories and templates available in Visio Professional 2007.

Use cross-functional flowcharts to show the relationship between a business process and the functional units (such as departments) responsible for that process.

You can present any cross-functional process either vertically or horizontally.

1. Cross-Functional-Horizontal
   In a horizontal layout, bands representing functional units run horizontally across the drawing page, highlighting the process.
2. Cross-Functional-Vertical
   In a vertical layout, bands representing the functional units run vertically from the top to the bottom of the page, highlighting the functional units.

A process can be an enlightening yet shocking experience. Processes typically evolve over time as people and business conditions change. The result is unneeded layers of complexity and inspection. Your first reaction may be, “Is that really what we do?”

Your second reaction will be to fix the process. Here’s a list of what you should look for:

Non-value added steps. Challenge each process step. Ask yourself, “What value does this activity add? Does our customer care?” Combine, simplify or eliminate activities that do not contribute value.

Excessive control points. Inspections and supervisor approvals do not always add value. They evolve primarily due to a lack of confidence in the process. Eliminate control steps that are not critical for quality outcomes.

Excessive handoffs. Every time process activities move from one player to the next, there is potential for delay or miscommunication. Try to organize work so that each player becomes more of a generalist and less of a specialist. This will reduce the complexity of multiple handoffs.

Task specialization. Assembly line processing is giving way to cellular models for organizing work groups or teams, both on the plant floor and administrative offices. Information flows faster, with less distortion, improving both the quality and speed of work. Consolidate tasks where possible.

Download:
msofficetuneup – Visio Cross Functional Flowchart

In short, you need to build a prototype. In this post, you can download a Microsoft Visio web prototyping template.
In general, prototyping is useful in a wide variety of situations. Its main benefits are that it:

• Is fast and inexpensive
• Identifies problems before they’re coded
• Elicits more and better (i.e., less nitpicky) feedback from users
• Helps developers think creatively
• Gets users and other stakeholders involved early in the process
• Fosters teamwork and communication
• Avoids opinion wars

Prototyping will promote rapid iterative development. You will be able to experiment with many ideas rather than betting the farm on just one. It’s not necessary to be an HCI (human-computer interaction) guru to get started with prototyping. And it does not require any technical skills either. Thus, a multidiciplinary team can work together. It’s a common-sense technique which people in a variety of disciplines can benefit from it. Anyone who is involved in the design, implementation, or support of user interfaces can benefit from paper prototyping because it fosters development of products that are more useful, intuitive, efficient, and pleasing.

It’s important to have at least one person on the core team who has the technical perspective—knows the system architecture, the limits of the technology, what is easy, and what is hard. This will prevent the team from developing a prototype that is impossible to implement.

If you’re the technical type, realize that other people have good insights about what users want and need, and you really want to get those insights before development is in full swing. The ideas that come from nontechnical people aren’t always useful or workable, but the paper prototype will sort the wheat from the chaff. Be open to prototyping something even if you’re not sure how to make it work—maybe you’ll be able to use the idea in another form if it works well for users.

If you’re not technical, remember that interface design is a skill as well as an art. You have a lot to contribute, but not all of your ideas will be practical within the constraints of your development process. Sometimes you’ll have to defer to the techie types when they say, “The architecture doesn’t support it” or “That goes against our style guide.” But don’t be afraid to pick up a pen and scribble a screen if inspiration strikes.

You should include people in addition to those who are directly responsible for the interface design/development. In particular, seek out those who have direct contact with users: sales, marketing, tech support, trainers. These people often have valuable insights about what users want and what confuses them.

The following is a Microsoft Visio template and stencil you can use to make a prototype. Guided by some guidelines, you can adjust the design based on your desired screen resolution.

Download:
MS Visio Template for Web Paper Prototyping (.zip 315 kb)

In short, you need to build a prototype. In this post, you can download a Microsoft Visio web prototyping template.

Tune Up:
In general, prototyping is useful in a wide variety of situations. Its main benefits are that it:

• Is fast and inexpensive
• Identifies problems before they’re coded
• Elicits more and better (i.e., less nitpicky) feedback from users
• Helps developers think creatively
• Gets users and other stakeholders involved early in the process
• Fosters teamwork and communication
• Avoids opinion wars

Prototyping will promote rapid iterative development. You will be able to experiment with many ideas rather than betting the farm on just one. It’s not necessary to be an HCI (human-computer interaction) guru to get started with prototyping. And it does not require any technical skills either. Thus, a multidiciplinary team can work together. It’s a common-sense technique which people in a variety of disciplines can benefit from it. Anyone who is involved in the design, implementation, or support of user interfaces can benefit from paper prototyping because it fosters development of products that are more useful, intuitive, efficient, and pleasing.

It’s important to have at least one person on the core team who has the technical perspective—knows the system architecture, the limits of the technology, what is easy, and what is hard. This will prevent the team from developing a prototype that is impossible to implement.

• If you’re the technical type, realize that other people have good insights about what users want and need, and you really want to get those insights before development is in full swing. The ideas that come from nontechnical people aren’t always useful or workable, but the prototype will sort the wheat from the chaff. Be open to prototyping something even if you’re not sure how to make it work—maybe you’ll be able to use the idea in another form if it works well for users.
• If you’re not technical, remember that interface design is a skill as well as an art. You have a lot to contribute, but not all of your ideas will be practical within the constraints of your development process. Sometimes you’ll have to defer to the techie types when they say, “The architecture doesn’t support it” or “That goes against our style guide.” But don’t be afraid to pick up a pen and scribble a screen if inspiration strikes.

You should include people in addition to those who are directly responsible for the interface design/development. In particular, seek out those who have direct contact with users: sales, marketing, tech support, trainers. These people often have valuable insights about what users want and what confuses them.

The following is a Microsoft Visio template and stencil you can use to make a prototype. Guided by some guidelines, you can adjust the design based on your desired screen resolution.

Free Download:
visio-web-prototyping.zip – MS Visio (315kb)

The diagram looks like this:

Download:
MS Visio – Fishbone Diagram.vsd (286kb)

Hey, it’s the cheerful Dory from Finding Nemo! Hell yeah
She is supposed to help me you stay cheerful when attacking the problem. Of course you can modify the template anyway you want it. What matter the most is the basic concept.

So, how do we make use of it?

First, gather your troops and then:

1. Identify the challenge
Define the problem or opportunity in a brief statement that all can agree upon. Write it down in detail and summarize. Then fill the box in the template the problem summary/phrase on the left side.

2. Identify the major factors involved
There should be many factors that may contribute to the problem; man, method, policies, procedures, system, equipment, materials, external forces, etc. These are going to be your fishbone. Here are some guidance:

• The 6 M’s bone recommended for manufacturing industry:
  Machine, Method, Materials, Measurement, Man and Mother Nature (Environment)
• The 8 P’s bone recommended for administration and service industry:
  Price, Promotion, People, Processes, Place / Plant, Policies, Procedures & Product (or Service)
• The 4 S’s bone recommended for service industry
  Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, Skills

But just have it your way. Your problem will certainly be unique so you may generate your own bones.

3. Brainstorm the possible causes
Held an open brainstorming session. No discussion as to the quality of the idea and especially no negative comments are allowed. Have fun with it. The only discussion might concern under which brand to place the idea. Do it until you exhaust yourself and then move into discussion session.

4. Analyze and Finalize your Dory diagram
Now you can investigate the most likely causes further, depending on the complexity and importance of the problem. Don’t forget to keep things positive, and don’t drag it out. You and your friend are to select the three or five ideas you think have the most merit in defining the problem, causes, or opportunity. Rank them from most important to least important with numerical value of five, the next four, and so forth. The item with the highest total is the one your team has selected as having the most potential for defining or solving the problem or opportunity.

The Dory Fishbone Diagram is simple to do, involves everyone in the solution process, and goes a long ways toward assuring strong support for solution implementation. So please have some fun with it