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We are just now in the process of creating one comprehensive wall chart
showing our complete business flow, a combined data and activity
picture. We have been gathering the information according to individual
business processes/departments assigned in accordance with the ISO 9000
model, and by individual company-specific process lines (production
lines).
My next magic act is to piece together the comprehensive chart from
those flows and some new information, more of a hawk's-eye picture than
the sparrow's vision of the more specific charts. My weapon of choice
is iGraphx Flowcharter, which should do a fine job.
I plan to output as a pdf and print using http://www.postersw.com/
Poster-creator software. This is perhaps not the optimal solution, but
the complete price was certainly right (less than $200 for both
application programs).
My Company has engaged a nationally-known process evaluation consulting
firm to gather information and prepare the preliminary maps. The big
"final report" meeting is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon and I should
discover if they're handing the whole job over to them or if my
employment will continue and I'll be picking up the documentation end
from there.
I have previously created "satellite view" maps that drill down into
"hawks-eye views" and "sparrow views" and only a few people have
admitted having any trouble making connections between them. In 30
years of technical writing I have never before been charged with merging
all three views into one chart, maybe because nobody has previously
known about the technology that will allow such a chart to be printed
in-house and taped together into a 20-foot by ten-foot wall covering!
We can also send the pdf or jpg file to Kinko's and pay by the foot for
large printing, but it's very expensive. We have a big floor and
enthusiastic puzzle-piecers available.
We can also squeeze the final chart onto an 11x17 sheet but nobody would
be able to read the fine print. The CEO wants to see the whole picture
at one time, and we live to give our CEO what he wants. So legibility
is part of the package.
If I can pull this off, it's definitely going into my online portfolio.
Dori Green
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