Visio Reviews

We primarily use Visio as a flow chart software solution.

The application makes plotting and flowcharting very easy and very user-friendly. It is intuitive and doesn't take any time to make a complete and sophisticated flow chat from end to end. We are considering shifting completely from iGraphics to Visio Pro for office 365. I'm good in Visio, but I'm not an expert in iGraphics, so more comparison is necessary to define which solution is better.

The main feature of Visio and Autodesk that makes it attractive is that using Visio for just a week or two, people found that it's easier and more user-friendly in terms of flowcharting. The shapes library is much easier, the integration between Visio and other Microsoft Office tools is instantaneous. 

The concerns were that Visio did not have all the necessary features. In iGraphics, for example, you may add a command in the flow charts and add a note for a specific activity. When exporting it into a PDF, these notes get mentioned with the chart number so it's very easy to refer back to each note. It is a bit more efficient for reference without any extra effort. This was one of the features that they were missing in Visio.

iGraphics has a compulsory function which creates a complete reference and a complete library of all the processes related to my enterprise, my organization, in certain shapes or hierarchies. It's very handy and very easy to reference.

This is not as straightforward in Visio. Visio can compensate for this and have these processes in the same hierarchy. It is just related to collaboration. I can check the changes in the processes and models using the tracking feature.

There are not a lot of things that need to be improved in Visio from the user's perspective, but maybe some functions are missing. For example, migrating flow charts from iGraphics should be easier. When checking on some forums, some users mention data converters — so that may be a possibility. But it is not an official Microsoft solution for migrating the igx or the iGraphics flow charts to a Visio flow chart. It's a drawback, and it's a very big drawback. If we are not going to use Visio, the lack of integration would be for this reason. It's a show stopper for us right now.

The function that isn't integrated in Visio is having a share point. If I'm going share with somebody who's more knowledgeable about a particular aspect of a workflow, they have to know how to use the share point. This is a drawback. iGraphics doesn't need that. It's much easier.

More centralized integration would be desirable, but I believe that's not the direction Microsoft is taking with the product. If everybody moved to a cloud-based environment, a more centralized solution that catered to users to cut extra processes and functions, Visio would be perfect. 

In short, integration and easier migration would be beneficial.

It's very stable and has been since we implemented it.

It's easy to scale. We have not implemented permissions so that may be more complicated. 

We didn't have to use it yet. We were considering a different support contact in order to find the solution to migration.

It's easy to set up. It's all straightforward, like any Microsoft installation.

I'm not involved in the financial decisions, so I can't calculate the actual value in return on investment. However, it saves time in training.

Pricing is related to the number of Microsoft licenses being served.

iGraphics was the solution which was in place, but the support contact with iGraphics ended. Because we needed to have a new contact and iGraphics is very expensive, we started to check other solutions for the flow charts. Many were also expensive. But Visio was the most cost-effective.

I rate Visio as an eight out of ten on a very conservative scale. It is an 8 for ease of use, efficiency, and flexibility. It's not 9 of 10 because it lacks integration functions.

If you have a team that is not sophisticated or oriented to flowcharts, or if you don't have a lot of time to train these people, I guess Visio comes in handy as a very easy solution. When I started to train people on Visio, it didn't take more than two or three days. 

Even people who use iGraphics for years don't know all the features or know that they exist. 

This solution is primarily used for architecture diagramming, process flow, and process mapping. We work on engineering projects, including software development projects, and this solution is used to create proposals for customers.

Prior to using this solution, we would draw a proposed architecture in PowerPoint and submit it to the client. With Visio, I can explain it to them in a step by step manner. For example, I will take one block and go into detail about it. I can explain how the architecture works inside a block, which might include how each tier in a multitier architecture functions.

Putting details into the process flow and being able to link other objects into the diagrams are very helpful features.

I would like to be able to present diagrams in multiple ways, such as a Swimlane diagram. Also, in other products such as TIBCO Nimbus, there are links that take you to a completely different diagram.

While I can use Visio for architectural diagrams and simple process mapping, there is room for improvement. The business process mapping capability would be really improved if we could link two completely different processes together. For example, in a company with multiple departments, I would like to have links between processes in the different departments.

I would also like to be able to embed objects into diagrams that can be opened by clicking on an icon. These are things like Excel or Word documents, or a PowerPoint presentation.

Eventually, the images or icons that we use in Visio will become obsolete, and we would like to have a way of suggesting new design options.

I have not worked with various versions of the solution, but from what I can see it is pretty stable.

Because I am the direct coordinator with the customer, I am the primary user of this software in my company.

This solution would be more scalable with this inclusion of additional features.

I don't normally use technical support. Rather, I check in Quora or in the forums.

We used to create PowerPoint presentations and submit them to the customer. They were not interactive, the way Visio is.

We used TIBCO Nimbus for our business consulting projects.

I was not involved in the installation because we do not have it installed on our company servers. Rather, the clients have it installed on their machines. I just access it remotely on the customers' servers.

We did not evaluate other solutions before implementing Visio.

If you know how to use Visio and you know what you want to get as an output, then it's very helpful and easy. But, for beginners, or for anyone who wants to prepare a more informative diagram, I'm not sure if Visio is a very helpful tool. Once you have hands-on experience then it is easy to figure out.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

The primary use case for Visio involves database modeling and designing software architecture patterns. We use it to create strategic layers, business architecture, and application and technology architectures.

The most valuable aspect of Visio is enabling comprehensive coverage of architectural elements.

The platform has limitations in managing aspects like repositories. Unlike dedicated tools such as Spark Enterprise Architecture, Visio may lack the ability to create an entire architecture factory or manage repositories effectively. Additionally, they could support specifications for designing strategic layers.

We have been using Visio for ten years.

It is a stable platform.

We have around 12 Visio users in our organization.

The initial setup process is straightforward.

We deploy the product with the help of our in-house team.

We use Visio’s mapping feature for tasks related to technology architecture, emphasizing higher-level architectural patterns. It strongly supports technological elements of design for providing an efficient security architecture network. However, it is difficult to streamline the business processes using the platform.

I advise others to consider the product cost and ensure the functionality meets the business requirements. I rate it a seven out of ten.

My primary use case for Visio is network diagrams to document our local and wide area networks. We also use it from time to time to document business processes and logical systematic processes. 

Visio has helped streamline our documentation.

The most valuable feature of this product is its versatility.

An area for improvement would be the product's footprint - it's a very large install that uses many gigabytes. There are also sometimes bugs when working with documents on a network drive.

I've been using Visio for about twenty years.

Visio is very stable, and very few staff are needed for maintenance.

I don't think scalability is particularly relevant to this product as I use it.

Microsoft's basic support is very difficult to work with. However, we have recently invested in the premier support package, which is a lot more money but is actually very good.

The initial setup was fairly straightforward.

I used an in-house team for implementation.

I would rate this solution as eight out of ten.

The primary use case of this solution is for process mapping, and to streamline simulations.

The most valuable features are process mapping and identifying responsibilities.

The design and the look and feel, need to be improved. Also, the pricing can be improved for organizations.

In the next release, I would like to see simulations capabilities and artificial intelligence included.

I have been using this solution for many years.

This solution is stable, we have not experienced any issues.

It's a scalable product.

Technical support is good.

The price is reasonable for individual use but for an organization, the costs is high.

There is an annual licensing fee.

It's a good product and I can recommend Visio to others.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Documenting the enterprise architecture.

Helps us to quickly visualize the architecture.

The ability to draw models quickly.

I would like to see traceability. It doesn't have it. You cannot find one object amongst several sheets of Visio diagrams.

The stability is good. It's stable.

I find that it's very scalable from a small organization to a large organization.

To determine what product or solution you're looking for, talk to many vendors and get their opinions.

The most important criterion, for me, when selecting a vendor, is customer service.

I would rate Visio at seven out of 10 but I would give it a 10 if it had traceability.

I use this solution as a graphic design tool for breaking down a flow or process. I'm a systems engineer and customer of Visio.

I like the fact that as you drag and move things around, everything keeps track of each of its connections. So you don't have to be bothered by mechanics of connecting things again in the right place. It just follows on. It's also a good diagramming tool.

I've had a variety of issues, usually related to the system architecture. It's almost like a general purpose tool but it's important to understand the interfaces and the components and how they're related to each other. It would be helpful if you could layer things easily for the diagrams so you can decompose a given object and see it both at the macro and at the breakout level and still have those kinds of connections would remain. 

I've been using this solution for 10 years. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

I would highlight BPMN 2.0 validation, as it eases the standardization of the Business Process Model within multi-disciplinary teams. Visio integrates seamlessly with the rest of the Office suite as any other Microsoft product, which is also worth mentioning.

Compared to other products we used in the past, modelling with Visio is faster and the final result in terms of appearance is more professional. Making changes to a diagram is also easier as the items and lines get re-arranged properly with few tweaks required.

It would be nice to have the possibility of exporting and importing XPDL, also considering that the Surface series are the MS flagship, there is much room for improvement when it comes to inking or drawing diagrams using pen input (which behaves like a mouse pointer).

XPDL stands for XML Process Definition Language, it is used to interchange business process model definitions between different workflow modelling tools. (e.g. Oracle Fusion Middleware)

Currently, MS Visio does not support import or export of XPDL files. Although some tools like Oracle Fusion have built in support for Visio files, I personally think this capability would be nice to have as would help companies using workflow tools modelling with Visio. As an example, the project I am working for right now uses Vitria Businessware which supports XPDL import, however as Visio does not have XPDL export capability workflows have to be created manually increasing the time to market.

WRT inking and pen input support; Microsoft Surface series lovely integrate with the MS Office suit with a functionality that allows the user to write on top of documents as if it were a printed copy just by using the pen on the screen. This functionality supports ink to shapes which transforms handwritten squares or circles into perfectly drawn shapes. This is not the case in Visio where pen support is non-existent and using it on the screen just emulates the mouse. This is just disappointing as the functionality is there for programs like Word but it is completely missing on Visio.

I’ve been using this tool for three years.

The product is pretty stable. We stumbled upon some bugs during these years of intense usage, but nothing major that couldn’t be solved by restarting the application.

This product is a desktop application, but coupled with SharePoint, it allows for concurrent editing of files without any issues.

We’ve never had to use the technical support for this product.

We started using Dia (free open source drawing editor) but we required a more fast and collaborative tool with better MS Word integration and better appearance.

The initial setup was as simple as installing any other MS office product.

Pricing and licensing depends on your needs and the time you expect to use the product. If you plan to use it for an extended period of time, Visio has two versions Standard and Professional where the Professional costs almost twice as the Standard edition with few more stencils and functionalities, but on the other hand Microsoft also offers the 365 option with one year commitment where you can use Visio Professional for almost three years before hitting the single license price.

We explored Lucidchart and Sparx Enterprise Architect as alternatives.

I would recommend anyone looking into purchasing this product to review thoroughly each version features as both are quite similar.