In today's fast-paced, professional world, you need clear communication to get ahead. In this six-week course, you'll get the training you need to create professional-looking flowcharts and diagrams using one of the most popular flowcharting programs on the market, Microsoft Visio 2007.

A seasoned professional with experience in project management, software implementation, training, and consulting will show you how to create a variety of diagrams and flowcharts, as well as how to select the best diagram type to meet your needs. Through easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions, you'll discover the unique characteristics of several different diagram types, and then you'll find out how to use each one.

You'll see how to format your diagrams using industry standards and best practices that result in the highest quality output. You'll get familiar with the many features and functions within Visio that allow you to create your diagrams efficiently and make them pop. And once you've created your diagrams, you'll find out how you can use them to improve your business policies and processes.

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

A picture is worth a thousand words. But how do we make the right picture? Microsoft Visio offers a wide array of diagrams that you can develop to explain something you want to share with others. Maybe you want to teach employees a new process or help your son stay on top of his homeschooling schedule. By the end of our first lesson, you'll be able to identify smart ways to use Visio in your daily life.

Friday - Lesson 02

Before building a diagram, you need to do a little planning. First, you need to know the different types of diagrams available and how to choose the one that's right for you. Second, you need to be able to identify all of the pieces that you'll include in your diagram. We'll walk through these preliminary steps in this lesson. After that, we'll start building diagrams with confidence.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

One of the most basic Visio diagrams is the Block diagram. After we discuss the different varieties of Block diagrams, we'll create the first of many diagrams in this course. Get ready to apply standard formatting (like headers and footers) and present your diagrams more professionally using titles, borders, and backgrounds.

Friday - Lesson 04

Have you ever tried to map out a process only to find that it's horribly inefficient? In this lesson, we'll map out a business process, identify the steps involved, and pinpoint where inefficiencies or gaps exist. As a bonus, we'll explore some cool Visio features that will help us make these process diagrams a little more exciting. No more snoring in meetings!

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Visio is widely known as a flowcharting program, and though there's much more to it than that, today we'll discuss the versatility of flowcharting diagrams. If you're eager to build your own flowchart, this is just the lesson for it. After that, we'll take a step back and look at the overall diagram to analyze the information we've presented.

Friday - Lesson 06

There are a lot of great diagram types in Visio, but I have a favorite—it's the Cross-Functional flowchart. Similar to the Basic flowchart, the Cross-Functional flowchart offers a few nifty features that make it even more powerful. In this lesson, you'll see why the Cross-Functional flowchart is often referred to as the swim-lane diagram, and we won't even have to jump in the pool!

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

If you ever find yourself running the school bake sale or working on the holiday party planning committee at work, you'll love this lesson. Project management is all about organization, time management, and tracking, and Visio offers you several diagrams that track just this type of information. Today you'll learn how to develop a fun and functional calendar, what a Gantt chart is and why it's useful, and how to build timelines.

Friday - Lesson 08

Today, we'll explore Directional Map and Office Layout diagrams, two high impact Visio creations that wow audiences every time. Directional Map diagrams do just what you'd think—they help you find your way on the road. Much better than online mapping services, these diagrams really give readers a feel for the road. In a similar fashion, Office Layout diagrams allow you to map out your physical space to determine whether all your furniture will fit where you expect it to. This can save you a ton of time (and many back problems)!

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

When you're starting a new job, one of your most difficult tasks is learning the names of all your colleagues and how they're related to each other within the organization. That's where a Visio organization chart can come in handy. Along with lots of options for formatting and adding new information, Visio has a powerful organization chart tool, and you'll learn all about it in today's lesson. Since we're talking about the office, let's also take a moment to discover the great brainstorming diagrams that Visio offers.

Friday - Lesson 10

By this point in the course, you've created many different types of diagrams, so today we'll switch gears for a look at some Visio features that you can apply across the board. Layers, objects, and comments all enhance diagrams and add crucial information. You'll learn all the secrets today.

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

We all have preferences for how we like to use any software program, so I'm sure you'll be happy to know that Visio is just as easy to customize as any other Microsoft program. Today, we'll go over different ways that you can modify Visio to meet your needs, and we'll figure out smart ways to make the most of our time working with this powerhouse program.

Friday - Lesson 12

Most of us want to be able to view our diagrams, and in today's lesson, you'll learn how to do just that. We'll also talk about printing. After all, what good is a diagram that you don't show anybody? Finally, we'll investigate all the Visio Help features that will make life a lot easier now and after the course is over.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Amy Westlake.

As a project manager and senior consultant, Amy Westlake guides clients in implementing various enterprise-level integrated software systems. As a software solutions specialist, she is often required to explain complex ideas to many different audiences—from end users to executives—and Microsoft Visio is her go-to tool to successfully communicate complex information and ideas. She earned her Master's degree in Finance and holds certifications in project management, instructional design, and Microsoft Office. She teaches numerous online courses with varying levels of interactivity.

Requirements:

Microsoft Visio Standard 2007 or Microsoft Visio Professional 2007 are acceptable (software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins); Microsoft Windows Vista or XP; Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader). Note: This course is not suitable for Macintosh users.

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