Lucidchart Reviews

In this company, we are using Lucidchart as a mechanism for whiteboarding and creating flow diagrams, charts, and any other things that are required for my day-to-day work. I use Lucidchart in my company and I used it in my previous job, as well.

I work mostly as a business analyst, in a product owner role. I have to build up the requirements, convert them into charts, and explain everything to the business owners.

The Lucidchart platform is where I use graphics to create pictorial descriptions, which is better than using simple words. It is a very effective tool for documenting processes and using it has improved our efficiency significantly.

Lucidchart is effective when it comes to reducing the time required to complete projects. It has reduced our efforts and time spent on decision-making, including time spent at both the requirements and presentation stages. I estimate that our efficiency has increased by at least 30% to 40%.

This is a good product for creating visualizations of process flow and workflows. I mostly use it to create process flows.

Many team members are able to work on the same version of the document at once, which is a feature that has helped to improve efficiency. It provides the ability to compare versions of documents but since all of us normally work on the same version, we do not leverage this feature often.

Presenting people with a diagram, rather than have them read through pages of written documents, has helped to save us time. It definitely saves us in terms of hours, but it is difficult to estimate how much it saves us in terms of cost.

Another way that Lucidchart has helped to improve our organization is that it has become a whiteboarding tool that we use in meetings. It has improved our communication and people can more easily understand how the different components of a system connect to each other. It has definitely enriched the experience of the client for which the solution is being developed. This is one of the value-adds that we get from using it.

The most valuable feature is putting up sticky notes to share information with the team members, working with them jointly. We have a similar feature in Google Docs and it makes the project team members work more interactively and collaboratively. It even expedites the time to complete the project.

We have used Lucidchart to create database schemas and the functionality is very good. It is something that has existed in other SQL platforms, where you can create a schema diagram, but now, we don't have to download additional software to do it. We can develop the schemas right in Lucidchart.

Lucidchart is able to accommodate both Mac and PC users, which is something that is very important to us. Our team will sometimes sit in a large conference room, where we can project any member's laptop onto the big screen. For situations like this, all of the different laptops need to be compatible.

One of the major drawbacks is that we have to extract the work in Lucidchart as an image when we want to create a presentation. If there were some interoperability, where the blocks that you have created in Lucidchart can be directly copied and then edited in a PowerPoint presentation, it would definitely be a value-add. For small diagrams, we just rely on PowerPoint because if we want to make just a small change, it takes too long to go back to Lucidchart to make the change and then re-export it.

We have integrated Lucidchart with Microsoft Teams but it is not working properly. It means that we have to open it in a separate browser and log in, rather than directly with Teams.

The interface and process for managing documents could be improved. By comparison, the experience provided by Google for document management is very simple, and I think that Lucidchart can learn something from that. The interface that they provide in Google Drive makes it easy to scroll through documents, create documents, and create the folder structure. In Lucidchart, you have to create placeholders in the dashboard and it's very complex to view what you have done recently. I also face challenges when I'm scrolling a document, where sometimes it jumps back to the first document.

I would like to see some improvements made to the Mind Map feature. Having more functions to make it more collaborative would be helpful. It is there, but it's just a standard format. There are some new ways of working with Mind Maps, so these features should be included.

There should be quick and continuous revisions on the different templates that are trending. This would be a good improvement for Lucidchart.

It seems that the list structure in the UI is better than a sliding structure. The sliding structure looks great, but as part of the user experience, it becomes hazy.

I have been using Lucidchart for between three and four years.

This product is 100% stable for us and we have never faced challenges with it.

In terms of it being scalable, we have gigabytes in documents and it has always worked fine. Scalability isn't a problem.

I have a team that works under me. I am the lead business analyst and I have several team members that are continuously collaborating on different projects. My team has increased in size.

The business analysts, product team, and technical analysts all use it.

We have not needed to contact technical support beyond the assistance with our initial setup. We have not faced challenges since that time.

Prior to using Lucidchart, I was using the SmartArt features in Microsoft PowerPoint. The advantage is that you don't have to copy your work from Lucidchart or elsewhere before presenting it.

I also have experience using Microsoft Visio and Draw.io. Visio is too complex compared to using Lucidchart or Draw.io, which both make this type of work very simple. 

I found it very easy to switch over from Visio. The Lucidchart interface is more user-friendly and lightweight. Visio has a very heavy interface.

I was able to import all of my files from Visio into Lucidchart and the process was very easy. This was definitely important because we have some existing documents from other products that we needed to continue working on. In fact, the reason that Lucidchart supports so many different formats is one of the reasons that we chose it.

When comparing Lucidchart with Visio and Draw.io, one of the things to point out is that Lucidchart and Draw.io are both lightweight and easy to launch. They do not consume much in terms of resources. Visio, on the other hand, is important because it comes as part of a suite of products. Since the release of Office 365, we began searching for replacements to Visio. Lucidchart is also much cheaper than Visio.

One of the differences with Draw.io is that we can't collaborate. Our increase in efficiency using Lucidchart is partly because of our collaboration, so this is an important difference..

The initial setup is very straightforward. The folder structure is there, and we can create folders and manage them.

Somebody from Lucid helped us with the implementation.

Our ROI is in terms of improved efficiency, definitely. We are receiving good feedback from our senior management, as we are better able to explain the requirements for projects.

We have a corporate-level subscription but we are also using it at the individual level.

The pricing is very competitive. It is more cost-effective than some competing products, such as Visio.

Our company has explored Lucidchart's organizational chart capabilities but I have not worked with them majorly. It is the type of chart that is more often used by executives. I found that the functionality was similar to what Microsoft is offering in Word and what Google is offering in Docs.

My advice for anybody who is considering Lucidchart is that if they are used to working with Google Docs, this is the best way to work. It allows you to collaborate and you can put your thoughts into a diagram. There are one or two suggestions, such as having a more collaborative Mind Map, but overall, it is a good product. That said, there is always room for improvement.

I would rate Lucidchart an eight out of ten.

It is mainly for sales and business development. We use it for account mapping. If we have a target account, we want to know who the key players are. They include the decision-makers, individual contributors, etc. We map this information out on Lucidchart.

We are probably using the latest version. They're pretty good about that. In terms of deployment, it might be SaaS.

When we have target accounts, we really need to see and get a really clear overview of who's who, who does what, and who the champions are. Lucidchart has been in charge of that.

I have used Lucidchart's abilities to modify existing data structures. When I joined the company, they had existing account maps, and I was able to duplicate them and then tweak them to my needs. Lucidchart supports such processes very well. It is very user-friendly. It was easy for multiple users to collaborate on a single chart. Anyone can jump in and start adding and changing to an existing chart. All that activity is also trackable, which is helpful.

We have integrated it with Salesforce and G Suite. These integrations are important because when you make tweaks on Lucidchart, you want to make sure that those tweaks are also reflected on Salesforce and other solutions. You can update on one, and it gets updated automatically on the other and vice versa. These integrations are critical to what we do.

There is also integration with Slack, which is our main communication channel. It is definitely something we use more than email. Having this integration between Lucidchart and Slack really allows us to share documents for feedback. For example, I can share a Lucidchart via Slack with my boss, and then he would take a look at it and give me immediate feedback over Slack, which works in conjunction with the comments in Lucidchart. Basically, when I'm speaking with my manager, we communicate via Slack about the Lucidchart file, but when I'm speaking with my counterpart, who's working with me on the same account, then we would make the tweaks directly in Lucidchart. Slack just complements the collaboration that's within Lucidchart. It adds another layer for sharing with the wider organization.

Lucidchart provides real-time collaboration among users so that everyone is accessing and working on the same version of the document. This real-time collaboration is key because I would be on Zoom with one of my colleagues, and then we would jump into a Lucidchart file and start tweaking it as we go together.

It has definitely saved time. More efficiency gains are definitely there. It has cut our time. Previously, we used to create something in a PowerPoint or Keynote file, but they were just not as collaborative, dynamic, and adaptable as Lucidchart. In terms of numbers, it has saved us at least 20% of the time that would have been spent on other programs.

It has definitely helped us in realizing the efficiencies in the projects. It has made us more efficient as a team. The collaborative nature of it is something that's key to time-saving and being efficient in our workflows. Each of us manages multiple accounts, and it is just easier to keep track of things with Lucidchart.

The ability for people to look at a diagram rather than reading through written documents has saved time and, as a result, money, but I don't have specific metrics to show for that.

I really like the drag and drop feature. It makes it really easy. I also like the comment feature that enables various users to comment on the chart in real-time.

I like how all the contacts in my chart are linked to LinkedIn. That's what makes it really easy for outreach and for making sure we have all the contacts right there in front of us when we need to.

It is very user-friendly for documenting things such as processes, systems, new teams, etc.

Lucidchart's organizational charts are very good for visualizing and understanding team hierarchies and relationships. That's the reason we use it. It gives you a very clear overview of who does what within the company. I also like how adaptable it is. It is very easy to tweak if someone leaves the company or someone joins, or as we find out more information about the company that we're working with in terms of who the players are. It is almost like playing chess. We can just move the pieces around the board.

It is very good for visualizing and understanding process flows or workflows. When I first started using it, I didn't feel the need to read the whole manual. It is very intuitive in terms of what the steps are. It is integrated with Salesforce as well, which makes it very easy to import leads from Salesforce into Lucidchart to create those maps. The workflows and processes are very seamless.

It would be nice to be able to import not just contacts from Salesforce but also leads. In the beginning, when I was still learning the ropes and my way around it, I couldn't find such an option. There might be an option, but I just don't know about it.

I have been using it for only about a month, but my company has been using it longer.

It is really stable. I honestly haven't incurred any issues related to stability.

It is scalable. As our team grows and we hire more people, it can definitely accommodate all the users that we need. I do not have the numbers, but I just know we're hiring a lot of new people, myself included, recently.

We have more than 100 licenses, and its users include the Business Development people and Sales Account Executives. I'm on the Business Development team. There are also some Customer Success Managers who get involved once a deal is closed. They need to know who the players are at various accounts. We also have a team of Sales Engineers. They definitely get involved in it as well. So, Business Development, Sales Account Executives, Customer Success, and Sales Engineers are the four groups that are the main players.

I have never interacted with their technical support.

I was not there for that. There is a whole team that does that. They know how to handle Lucidchart. They handle other tools too.

For its maintenance, maybe one or two people are required on a regular basis. They just need to send out very quick and short surveys to see our experiences with the software. It is usually done when we are getting close to renewal, and then they see if it's worth extending the licenses.

I would definitely recommend it. It is a tool that I wish I had in my previous jobs and companies. I would advise others to start with an existing template from the company and then reverse engineer that. It is very easy and very intuitive to use, so I would say go for it.

Lucidchart really has a clear overview. Once you have your players charted out, it is bound to change at some point, and it is not going to be static. It is dynamic, and Lucidchart can definitely accommodate. It is adaptable enough to accommodate all those changes.

Our company only uses Mac. So, it's not important for us to be able to access it on PC. I have not used Lucidchart's ability to compare versions of documents.

I would rate Lucidchart a nine out of 10.

I am an engineering student at college and I was using Lucidchart for a research project. I was using it to create flow diagrams.

Lucidchart is a free application and it is very helpful for documenting processes and workflows. It is very easy to use and it can assist in every possible way.

It's important that Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC users because due to today's technology, not every person is going to be situated on a Windows, or Linux, or iOS platform. Lucid's accessibility on any type of platform allows more users and therefore more downloads. With more users, it leads to more reviews. With the additional coverage and scrutiny, it means that the product will be expanded and better maintained. 

My classmates and I were using real-time collaboration and it had a positive impact on our development process. It made things very easy for everybody to understand and it was super helpful. 

The real-time collaboration saved me time, considering other projects took much longer. Lucidchart allowed me to enter information and shape my project very effectively, probably shaving off more than 20 minutes per chart.

The most valuable feature is developing flowcharts and being able to collaborate on them.

Using the product to create charts is efficient. It meant that I didn't have to rely on Microsoft Word or another application to draw them from scratch.

Lucidchart is really good and very informative.

The interface is very user-friendly and it is not a hassle to use the site at all. They did a really good job in that regard.

When you start the software, it requests what type of diagram you would like. In one instance, I chose UML because I needed it for an assignment. The UML diagram that it gave me initially was a huge flow with a bunch of UML tables, and I wasn't going to need that many. If it was a more simple linkage between the tables then it would be easier to finish projects, instead of having to select unnecessary tables and delete them.

I have used Lucidchart a handful of times.

Lucidchart is a very stable application, and at the moment I see not too many bugs or errors, so it's running very effectively.

Scalability was not a problem. It did exactly what I needed to do and it didn't require that I spend several hours to figure it out.

I have not been in contact with technical support.

I tried some other applications and websites, such as Draw.io, and I found that Lucidchart was very efficient compared to the others.

Lucidchart and Draw.io are fairly similar applications and I have used them both for creating charts. I found that it was more difficult to draw and work with charts using Draw.io.

The initial setup is a straightforward process. It took me under a minute to complete it, and it explained every step, very well.

I was using the free version of Lucidchart, which was very helpful.

This is a well-rounded application and I have recommended it to my classmates.

If Lucid could make a deal with universities, where it was free for students to use for projects over the duration of their courses, then it would be very good because many more people would become familiar with the platform. It is user-friendly to the point where it is easy for anyone to understand and use the platform, and Lucid is a top company because of that. I also think that for business owners, Lucid should have a bulk package that is available for multiple workstations.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We use Lucidchart for the lateral flow charts.

I've used Lucidchart for a status report. I gave it a particular format and was able to set it up in minutes.

It's fairly intuitive. It has a fairly low learning curve. The only tricky part, and it's only because I have not spent time on it, is some of the formatting. They should enhance the help section on the formatting.

When it comes to documenting things like processes, systems, and new teams, I'd give it an eight or nine out of ten. It's very high because it's fairly intuitive, there's a low learning curve, and it's easy to get immediate output. You can get results very quickly without a lot of direct effort. You don't usually take a week-long series of training. You don't need to go through a lot of hoops to make it work.

I would also rate Lucidchart's capabilities for visualizing and understanding process flows or workflows a nine or ten out of ten. It's much easier to use than Visio.

I plan to use Lucidchart to create database schemas or modify existing data structures. That's the next step, but I'm still at the beginner's level.

We have used Lucidchart in real-time collaboration among users. The solid collaboration has saved us time.

I have received good feedback about its ability for people to look at the diagram rather than reading through written documents.

Lucidchart has helped us realize efficiencies in the projects we use it for. I did use it for a status report. It saved emails, but I can't quantify how many emails we would have sent.

The main improvement I would like to see is for them to improve the help section on the flow charts or on the formatting.

I've only been using Lucidchart for a few months. I use the web-based application.

It's highly available. Once you have all the users on the same licenses, it's very available.

All of us are in the project. There are multiple users.

I have not actually had to call up support yet, which is a good sign. I haven't really had any calls with them.

We used PowerPoint, Word, and templates. It seems like Lucidchart is the most intuitive out of the entire set. 

The intuitiveness is the main difference. The ability to get to see it very quickly seems to be the big advantage for Lucidchart.

The initial setup was very straightforward, except for the formatting. It took a little bit more to try to add bullets or anything to touch it up.

My advice would be to give it at least a good hour to try it before you make any decisions. It shouldn't take that long, but if you put in effort for an hour, I think that you will get immediate results to see the benefits.

A nice thing is that this platform's very forgiving, so I would say to learn to experiment.

Overall, I like it. I just need to find some dedicated time to learn some of the nuances of using the tool. 

I would rate Lucidchart an eight out of ten. 

I've been using Lucidchart for process mapping and creating organograms. Primarily surface researchers use it. We're setting up a new service and that's what we're using it for.

The process mapping has improved my organization. It would have looked very messy to do it on Google Docs. We wouldn't have been able to cover such a range of things in our process mapping. We've managed to get in rows for different organizations and how they fit into the process mapping. We just wouldn't have been able to have space for that using Google Docs and it would have taken so long with the formatting.

It saves us about two hours. It only took us about an hour doing it on Lucidchart, so it probably would have taken about two and a half hours on Google Docs.

We use it to collaborate among users in real-time so that everyone is accessing and working on the same version of a document. It has been great for our project development process. In a way that's similar to Google. It's not that new for us, because we use G Suite throughout our whole organization. So we expect things to be able to do that because we do that a lot where we're all working on the same document at once. But in the same way that it does G Suite, it's really useful. It would be a real big drawback if we couldn't do that because you have to get the Word document, then you save your changes, then you send it back. It saves a lot of time being able to do it at the same time as someone else.

It's not necessarily saving time, but more saving the admin from sending it back and forth and trying to make sure that we're working on it at separate times. It probably would have taken us the same amount of time. It's more the ease of doing it.

It's hard to say whether it's saved money. It's definitely saved time. If you tried to put a process map in writing, I don't think anyone would read it. I don't know if it would save time and money, because no one would even look at it.

I've been using Lucidchart for quite simple things, but it's definitely much easier making process maps using Lucidchart than it is using Google Docs for basically everything. It's much simpler in terms of how easy it is to use Lucidchart. The way that you can get the arrows on the flow charts, based on the process mapping, you can drag the arrows from one box to another and it automatically shows you where you can put it. It makes decisions for you in terms of if you have a decision diamond, then the line is automatically a yes or no. This just makes it so much easier.

I use Lucidchart to document process workflows. We're setting up a new service. So we needed to map how the old service worked, as the exact processes of the old service, and then map how we want the new service to look.

Its capabilities for visualizing and understanding these types of workflows are really good. It's been really easy in the way that when you do a Google Doc, it's all about if it will fit on the page if you're doing a process map or something like that. Whereas Lucidchart, you can make it as big as you want, but then still when you convert it to a PDF, it will all be on one page and then you can send that PDF to people. I found that really useful.

We integrate it with G Suite. Its ability to do so is definitely important. At the moment, that's been fine, because we link it when we're doing a Google Doc, for example, and we have it find the process map and then we would just link into the Lucidchart there. As long as we can do that, I don't think that would be a problem for us. But we'd want it so that when people open Lucidchart if we were sending a paper saying, "This is how our service is going to look. Please see here," and we've linked in the Lucidchart, we would want it so that when they open the Lucidchart, it's a final copy and it doesn't come up with where it says shapes and it has all the editing toolbars. We would want it to just link to a copy of the actual process map.

It's important to us that Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC because in our organization, since COVID, most people are using different types of computers. Our whole organization uses Chromebooks, but some people prefer to use their personal laptops for work. For example, my personal laptop now is a Macbook, so I would need to be able to access it when I'm at work, which is on a Chromebook, and also when I'm at home using my personal laptop for work.

Lucidchart has been pretty good. I've never used it before. I didn't read any instructions on how to use it, but I still just managed to pick it up. Anyone who's generally computer savvy would be able to just pick up to use it very quickly. Maybe it would be useful for people who don't process maps not that much to where it says containers and shapes. There is diamond, round and rectangle, maybe it could be explained in brackets that that's used for in-process mapping and flow charts.

One of the issues has been that, as far as I understand, even to view it, the other person needs a Lucidchart account unless you send them a PDF. That's been a bit of an issue because some people in our organization don't have Lucidchart accounts, only certain people have logins. If we just want to collect comments from people, that's been a bit complicated.

You can't put comments into a PDF that easily. We'd want them to be able to open it on Lucidchart without having to have an account themselves and then put comments for us and be able to tag us in comments and things.

That's not possible to do now, at least in a simple way that we've been able to tell. We've had people emailing back saying, "I need my Lucidchart login. I don't know what this is."

I have been using Lucidchart for around two months. 

Web-based is much better because I'm using my personal laptop for work and loads of people are during COVID. I would never want to be downloading lots of applications onto my laptop. The fact that I can just open it in Google Chrome makes it much more accessible to me.

The initial setup was really straightforward. I've never used it before and I didn't read any of the instructions. Someone just said, "We use Lucidchart for process mapping." So I clicked on it, made my account, and then it was just intuitive. I didn't need to do anything. I didn't need to learn or anything.

I can only comment on process mapping and organograms because that's the only thing I've used it for. But I would definitely recommend using Lucidchart for this.

I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

We use the data models. We create technical architecture and system architecture, usually for technical diagrams that we need processed.

On my team, there are business and technical people who all are using Lucidchart. It gives us really clean, professional-looking diagrams that we have tried to make in PowerPoint. Also, if you can leverage their templates, then you aren't starting from a blank canvas.

The templates are very useful. We get the templates for technical systems, which are helpful.

There is a connection to the system where you can directly pull the data model. There is a Salesforce Connector that you can use, which pulls out your diagram from the system. That is really cool. When we click on the data model, you can connect to your technical system, like Salesforce or AWS. This helps create a data model that you would otherwise have to do manually in a better looking format, like PowerPoint. It pulls the data model into a kind of presentation mode. You don't have to drag and drop lines and relationships between objects.

It is good for documenting processes. I see the salespeople organize ideas and brainstorm with it.

I use Lucidchart to create database schemas and modify existing data structures. Lucidchart is pretty good in its ability to support these processes. I would rate it as a four out of five.

We use Lucidchart's integration with Salesforce for getting the ER diagram and enterprise relationship architecture. We need it to connect to the database, which is very important.

It is important to me that the solution accommodates both Mac and PC users because the developers in our company use Mac, then the business people use Windows. The technical people create the technical architecture using Lucidchart. So, it is important that it is compatible with both the systems.

Lucidchart has helped us realize efficiencies in the projects that we use it for. The leveraging of templates has been a great help. Previously, I was creating an ER diagram in PowerPoint, which was very tedious to do. Now, I just connect to the Salesforce database and have to pull the data model. The Salesforce Connector pulls the relationship automatically, which is a very big help. It is a great feature.

I would like to have more text boxes to write more comments so I can write a small note below a picture. I would like some flexibility.

I started using it this month.

My team consists of five people. In my company, there are a lot of people who use it. We get our licenses on an as-needed basis, e.g., if we need to run a project, then we use it. Not everybody in the company uses Lucidchart. If we need it for a project, then your credentials are created and you are enabled access. 

Only people who are a little bit in the middle management level of leadership use it. Not even our leadership uses it because they have people working for them.

I have not contacted Lucidchart's tech support.

We previously used PowerPoint.

I need to tell my company's IT that I need access to Lucidchart. There is a single sign-on that gets enabled, then I just need to set my password. It is pretty self-explanatory. It doesn't take much time. I just had to explore and browse a little bit to see what templates were available. It is pretty easy to navigate and use.

The ability for people to look at a diagram, rather than reading through written documents, has saved us a lot of time, and as a result money. In our clients' requirements, they need to see what our deliverables are and we have to produce these pictures, which is also better now.

Go for it. Try it. The solution is good.

I do have plans to increase my usage. I just use it for deliverables and to generate a few diagrams and documents. I have not explored the full features of Lucidchart so much.

I would rate Lucidchart as an eight out of 10.

We primarily use it for process improvement in a factory setting. What I am primarily using it for is making process flow diagrams—with the rectangles, circles, diamonds, arrows, and whatever else you would build into a process flow. 

We've had discussions about using it to build engineering-type stuff, as well. For example, "Here's the room, here are the dimensions. Here's what it would look like if we moved this piece of equipment, what space it would open up. Here are other constraints or barriers that it might create." We've had discussions on that, but we haven't really delved into that yet. 

I have the web-based for my laptop, and I have the app downloaded on my iPad Air. I've been using it on both of them.

We're primarily using it for process mapping and it's much quicker than trying to do it in Excel. 

Doing things digitally means that if I'm on a Teams or a Zoom meeting, I can get input from people and they can see it as we go. I'm a pretty big user of whiteboards. I have two in my office and those are great. But what I hate sometimes is when it comes to, "All right, let's take this away. Let's run with it," I have to take a picture and send it out. Then, at nine o'clock at night, someone on the team will say, "Oh, I just thought of this step that we completely overlooked..." I can't do anything about it because it's on my whiteboard. But using Lucidchart, I've been able to say, "Okay, I've got my iPad, let me add that in really quickly." I like the convenience and the user interface.

It is so great for understanding process flows or workflows. With the prior training that I had, doing things on whiteboards and in Excel or Word to manually build stuff was clunky. Because it was clunky, it was slow. When it's slow and you have a meeting, you lose people's attention. Because this is fast and not clunky, people are able to say, "Oh, okay. This is the next step and the next step." I get better engagement and I get through mapping the processes quicker. Because it has the different shapes and the explanations of what things mean, I'm able to get more out of it. Visually it is the best application that I've used.

I'm also getting productive engagement and productive challenge from my teams. Someone will say, "Well, that step shouldn't really be represented by a diamond. It's more a case that somebody has to go and get things and that causes a delay, but it's not necessarily a decision because it's built into the process." 

Per week, I probably do two of these exercises, and each one would take three-plus hours to get through when dealing with some of our more complicated processes. Now, we can get them done in about an hour. That's a huge improvement because of the software itself, but it has also helped us to see, "Wow, we have a lot of excess steps and waste in our process." For example, we were working on it with a team over the last two days and we got two new maps up in the span of an hour and a half or two hours. We're getting much quicker at process mapping and understanding what we need to address.

Lucidchart has also helped with training and developing standard operating procedures. Before, we would just use a piece of paper, and maybe it would have a picture of what is going on. And on that piece of paper would be a list of sequential steps. We still have to do that for FDA regulations of having and maintaining SOPs. But having printed out flowcharts benefits us because you can just flip over the piece of paper and see, "All right, here are the four or five little steps I take before I get to a decision, and here are the two branches from that decision." That extra context helps us in building a development tool. And we can post the process flow map for, say, operating a hopper, right on the equipment. That way, people can see things. And if they need more context or deeper instruction, they can bring up the actual SOP with all the words. But a quick little chart that shows the flow: "This is what I do. This is what I do if this fails, et cetera," is something that we're getting a lot of immediate benefit from.

It is important that Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC users because if you support Mac, that means you also support the mobile applications on the iPad. Because of the kind of factory setting we're in, all of the office personnel and management have laptops, but they also have iPads. Some of the other employees have access to an iPad, but not all of them do. When we're trying to talk through a process with them on-the-fly, or at the point of occurrence, it's so much nicer if we can both have it up on the iPad. That's why I would say the Mac support is essential.

It's easy to click and drag and automatically insert shapes. And once you have selected an arrow to move to a new location, it auto-associates the shape with it and you can right-click and change. There's no copy, paste, make next steps, start typing. It's all seamlessly integrated.

Integrations with third-party software are pretty important. I do a lot of work out of Tableau for data analysis. One of the things that I find frustrating is that all of our Tableau information is on a server, so when I send that out people can't open it and use it. I then have to go back and do extra work to convert everything into an Excel format that everybody can use. It would be really important to me, if I send something out to somebody who doesn't have a Lucid account, that they can just click and see it, instead of having to log in and create an account. I can understand if they can't edit it; that makes sense, to restrict that behind the paywall. But in terms of actually being able to open up the data, it would help. With Tableau, for our data management systems, it's a big constraint. The user interface across other software is very important to me.

Something that would also be nice—and maybe it's just a feature I haven't explored yet—would be to be able to link the data from other sources, whether Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, or even straight from Excel. That way, if we build processes we could immediately assign data, whether its defective units, operational uptime or operational downtime, changeover time, et cetera. It would help to be able to put it in there so that we can have the data collected and then somehow integrate it to each step of the process. For example, if this step of the process fails, it causes X minutes of operational downtime and Y number of defective units coming out of the machine. I understand that it might be a little advanced, but right now I'm taking the charts and correlating them to existing data from Tableau and from Excel. If there were a way to make it seamless, so I could click on my flow chart and show, "This decision point, this diamond, is potentially responsible for X number of minutes operational downtime, and Y number of defective bottles," that would be the continuous improvement dream.

I have been using Lucidchart for close to a year.

I've only had one or two issues where the performance of it was delayed. I don't know if the cause was the internet connection or if it was because I was trying to fill out the charts on the iPad. But using the Apple Pencil, there were time delays between drawing lines between different process steps and getting things entered in. It was a little awkward on the timing. When you build something on the iPad, its performance might just not be as effective as building it on the computer.

Other than that, every time I build something there's no buffering or issues with it deleting my work or not saving things. It seems to be doing all the things that it needs to be doing. The iPad issue is the only little snafu I've had.

I can't speak too much abou its scalability. We could probably expand it and get multiple supervisors at my plant using it. But in terms of getting the information made and sharing it out, it's pretty quick and pretty easy. If we were to add a company server for it and 18 people working on it at the plant, I don't know if there would be scaling or server issues.

I hope we have plans to increase usage of Lucidchart. Our business is split up into four plants across the country. In the Continuous Improvement department there are four of us. We each have a license. There are plans to bring one more person onto the team. I'm hopeful that we would then be looking at getting it at least for our operations and production managers, which would potentially be an additional two licenses per site.

I have not needed to use the technical support yet. I've not had any major issues.

Before Lucidchart, we were building process diagrams in Excel.

The initial setup of Lucidchart is a pretty straightforward process. There is still stuff I'm learning as I go, when it comes to knowing what to look for with different templates. But if the most basic function you need is to make process maps, and to do it quickly, and then figure out what you've got to improve, it's very effective at that.

While it's not directly saving money, because it is a paid-for service, it saves us money in the sense that we have a better understanding of our processes, what can be changed, and what we need to attack. We then go out and attack it, do it, update the maps, and then we get the return on the investment.

I used Visio here and there when I worked for another company, but I was not the main user of that application. Still, between it and Lucidchart, I prefer Lucidchart. It is a lot simpler and a lot more accessible.

In my current company, we have not evaluated any other solutions. I think our engineers do have CAD for facility layout, but in terms of competitors to this, we have not looked at any directly.

Watch some of the tutorials, check the reviews, and definitely talk to folks who are using it. Figure out what they like, what they don't like, and what they would want changed. There's a lot that I like about it. I find it to be a pretty good service. Get involved and play around with it, especially if you're working on facility layouts. I have printouts for some of the areas where we're implementing 5S and changing processes in. It's nice having something that the engineers have printed out, like a schematic or a blueprint for us.

Also, if you're going to try it out, try to make a simple process that you already know all the steps for; one you've already done it in Excel or in something else. See how much faster you can do it on this. That would be the big selling point. Trying to make some of these process maps in Excel, because it's so clunky and so slow, could take me 35 minutes just to get a 15-step process properly built, connected with the decision points in the lines, and for us to really understand where the pain points are. Taking something as simple as a 15-step process, timing out how long it takes to build it in Excel or PowerPoint, and then comparing it to this may show you, "Wow, with Lucidchart it took, maybe, five minutes."

I've been discussing getting this implemented in other departments at my facility.

In terms of its integrations, we've used it with some of the Microsoft suite for sending things out. I haven't used it for Slack yet, although I do use Slack for a nonprofit that I'm in. That actually might be a good opportunity because then I could just make some process maps for some of the nonprofit stuff that I do. And could then just send it out that way.

Our primary use case is to document processes in the business organization.

One way we benefit from it is that multiple different people can be working on a single document and they can also make comments from different points of the process. My manager will comment that something needs to change or be moved. Then I can edit that really easily, see exactly what they're referring to, and understand the changes. It's really collaborative as well.

For me, the biggest thing is that it has a really good visual representation of what's happening. It also easily exports to things like PDF and Microsoft Word so that you can send them easily. The collaborative element and how good the visuals are the best parts for me. I am referring to real-time collaboration among users and also comparing versions of documents.

Real-time collaboration has definitely saved us time. I haven't had to call people back and forth and make changes like that. Whereas we're both just editing in a single document. It saves around an hour or two a day.

The version comparison features are very important. I'll often analyze what the initial process is, and then how it's going to be in a new business situation. It's important to be able to see those changes because they need to be mapped in a different way for the original process. It's very useful.

Lucidchart has helped us to realize inefficiencies. You can see what seems like taking too long or what step in the process doesn't need to be there. It has definitely helped me to identify those and remove steps from a process, make recommendations to the client, and what doesn't need to be done or different areas that can be automated.

The most valuable features are the different templates that they have already created, as well as all the different shapes you can use in the process charts because each shape stands for a different element or thing that's being done. It's easy to distinguish between different steps using the already set-out shapes.

Their ability to document things like processes and systems is a ten out of ten. It's very easy to use and very user-friendly. You don't need a lot of training. I didn't get any training and I could use it from the get-go because everything's very clear. They have the tools you need to make all the changes you need, which are very clear, and a lot of the things just automatically fix up for you. If you drop an arrow, it will automatically connect it to another box, make sure it's straight, and adjust all those sorts of things. It's a massive time saver.

It's great for process flows and workflows because they use swimlane diagrams, which is really helpful. You can see who's responsible for different tasks, and at what different stages in the process they need to do different things. Visually, it's a really good tool to provide to clients and customers. I can clearly see what is happening and it has good use of the different shapes and colors. It's a really good graphic representation.

It's definitely important that Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC users. I am a PC user, but occasionally I'll be on a Mac and it's really important to be able to do it on both as well, just because people have their own preferences.

In terms of improvement, they should make it very clear, whether it's a single A4 page or two A4 pages, it should be mapped out. Either I don't know how to use it, or it's not there, but having to stick to margins so I can see what's going to be on different pages when I print it or move it to a PDF has been my only challenge so far.

In the next release, I would like to have good roles and responsibilities-type diagrams, like a table that's as a template. Because they have really good templates, but nothing for something like that.

I have been using Lucidchart for a few months.

I've never had a problem accessing it and it always updates quickly and works well.

It could definitely grow. It has been used in lots of different industries and areas. It's a really fantastic platform that, until this company, I didn't know about. I'd definitely use it for other areas of roles at different points in my life, I'm sure.

At this point, Lucidchart is being used all day, every day. I'm probably the main person using it, but there's someone who's a transformation specialist who uses it as well, who's above me. And anyone else who is a team specialist would use it as well.

Lucidchart is easy to use so I haven't needed to contact technical support yet. 

The initial setup was super easy, it took me two minutes. I had a username and login, it was all there. My company shared the folders they needed to with me and I had instant access. They just have to give me permission. It really was a very quick process.

My company definitely thinks it's worthwhile. It's reasonably priced and they use it very easily and quickly. They recognize how much of a time-saver it is. Whereas, if we would have had to do this manually, in PowerPoint, or something like that, it would take around five times the time, or even more.

If you consider what you pay someone an hour, you've pretty much paid for the annual subscription probably within a week. 

I would definitely advise purchasing it straight away. You will not regret it.

I would rate Lucidchart a ten out of ten.