smartdraw 2010 reviewer’s guide - moonsoft · 2009-09-04 · smartdraw 2010 reviewer’s guide...

SmartDraw 2010 Reviewer’s Guide


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Obtaining a Review Copy To obtain a review copy of SmartDraw 2010, please send a request in writing on the publication’s letterhead to: SmartDraw.com Attn: Reviews 9909 Mira Mesa Blvd, Suite 300 San Diego, CA 92131, USA Phone: 858-225-3300 Or send an email to: [email protected] Please state the name of the publication in which the review will appear, and include your name, address, telephone number, and email address.

Executive Summary SmartDraw is software that allows businesses to reduce their communication problems by enabling their employees to communicate visually and therefore more effectively than with words alone. Studies show that communicating with both words and pictures is up to six times more effective than words alone. Yet less than 2% of business communication includes a visual. Why? Because, until now, creating a professional-quality visual has been just too hard, and too time-consuming. SmartDraw is the only software that solves this problem because it doesn’t require you to do the drawing. It’s automated and draws for you. SmartDraw 2010 adds to its unique capabilities to:

dramatically reduce the time it takes to get work done

manage time and resources much more efficiently

create killer presentations with less effort

enable collaboration between team members SmartDraw 2010 is $297 for a single license. Registered owners of previous versions of SmartDraw can upgrade for $99.

Why do Organizations use SmartDraw 2010?

To Fix Their Communication Problems

Anyone who has ever worked in an organization understands that many problems are caused by a breakdown in communication. Here are some of the most common:

Mistakes are made because the employee has not been properly trained to perform the task.

The project is late because the people involved did not properly identify all of the work that had to be done.

The project is late because the people working on it did not know what the others were doing.



Finger-pointing happens because responsibilities were not clearly established and communicated.

The business plan fails because most of the organization never understood the strategy and goals.

Errors occur because the specifications for a job were not clearly understood.

Sales are lost because the customer does not understand how the product being sold could solve their problem.

SmartDraw helps solve these problems by making it possible for a typical person to communicate up to six times more effectively. Everyone understands that "a picture is worth a thousand words," whether it's a flowchart to explain a business process, a Gantt chart to show a project schedule, an organizational chart, or a map to the emergency exit. Studies show that communicating with both words and pictures is up to six times more effective than words alone. Yet less than 2% of business communication includes a visual. Why? Because, until now, creating a professional-quality visual has been just too hard, and too time-consuming. SmartDraw is the only software that solves this problem. Before SmartDraw, the only option for adding visuals to business communication was to use manual drawing software like Adobe Illustrator® and Microsoft Visio®. For most people the painstaking effort of manually arranging shapes, lines and text on a page is just not worth the time, and for many computer users, these programs were just too hard to use. Only experts use manual drawing software. Illustrator® is used by graphics arts professionals and Visio® is used by less than 5% of Microsoft Office® users, mainly IT professionals. There was no solution for ordinary users, and this is why very little business communication takes advantage of the 6X power of visual communication. SmartDraw is the only software that makes it possible for the average business person to create his or her own presentation-quality visuals in minutes. It does this in three unique ways:

1. It's automated. Instead of forcing you to draw visuals manually, SmartDraw draws and formats the visual for you, ensuring a professional result every time. You can even use the keyboard to compose your visual.

2. It's comprehensive. SmartDraw is the only software that allows you to create every kind of visual—more than 70 different types—including flowcharts, timelines, org charts, mind maps, floor plans, marketing charts and more.

3. It's integrated. SmartDraw is the only software that works this seamlessly with Microsoft Office®.

One click is all it takes to transfer your visual to Word® or PowerPoint®. Easily import chart data from Excel®. Exchange project management data with Project® users. Even build an entire PowerPoint® presentation with a single click. It also supports SharePoint® and can import Visio® files.

Let’s look at each of the communication problems above and see how using visuals made with SmartDraw can correct the problem.



Mistakes are made because the employee has not been properly trained to perform the task.

Any routine task can be described as a series of repeatable steps, or a process. Defining a task as process brings the following benefits:

1. Everyone can perform the task the same way every time, ensuring consistent quality: the same outcome each time.

2. You can improve it. 3. You can train anyone to perform the task successfully by teaching them the steps.

The most effective way to define and communicate the steps in a process is with a flowchart. Using SmartDraw to create a process flowchart for a task not only makes it easy to communicate and train someone to do it, it makes it easy to define in the first place.

The project is late because the people involved did not properly identify all of the work that had to be done.

To estimate how much time a project will take to complete, you must break it into tasks and estimate the amount of time each task will take. Choosing broad, ill-defined tasks like “Update Website” makes it very difficult to accurately estimate how long the task will take. A broad task should be broken down into smaller sub tasks that are easier to estimate. The ideal tool for planning a project in this way is a mind map.



Using a mind map to break down tasks also makes it easier to identify them all upfront, instead of half way through the project which adds delays. The mind map is also an excellent format to communicate the task planning to others. Using SmartDraw anyone can plan a project using a mind map as easily as typing in a word processor. Then with one click SmartDraw will convert it into a project chart, so that each task can be assigned and time estimates added. This is a unique feature of SmartDraw.

Again SmartDraw is not only used to communicate the results of the planning process but actually to carry it out.



The project is late because the people working on it did not know what the others were doing.

SmartDraw’s project charts offer real project management, handling hundreds of tasks, dependency, percent completion and other sophisticated features. By providing a view into the status of each task and its progress, the entire team has a complete view of the project and their co-workers’ efforts.

SmartDraw is used to actively manage the project as well as communicate its status to the team.

Finger-pointing happens because responsibilities were not clearly established and communicated.

The time-honored way to establish and communicate the chain of command and assignment of responsibilities within an organization is with an organization chart.

Using SmartDraw anyone can create an organization chart in minutes. SmartDraw makes it so easy to modify the chart that you can use SmartDraw to actually work through and develop the organizational structure as well as to communicate it.



The business plan fails because most of the organization never understood the strategy and goals.

Developing a business plan is only the first part of the planning process. To succeed, its goals and tactics must be clearly communicated to those responsible for implementing the plan: the entire company. How many text-heavy business plans have been placed on a shelf and never read? Using visuals to clearly illustrate the goals and steps in a plan make it much easier to understand, as this example show.



SmartDraw also makes it easier to develop a plan by offering a wide range of strategic planning templates that help clarify thinking as well as improve communication.

Errors occur because the specifications for a job were not clearly understood.

Specification is perhaps the most common application of visuals in business. No house is built without a blueprint. The value of communicating visually is clear. Using SmartDraw, anyone (including clients, sales people and non-engineers) can create floor plans, software diagrams, network designs, engineering diagrams, and other specifications in minutes, and dramatically increase the effectiveness of communication between those that request a product and those who develop it. One simple example is to use SmartDraw to request some design changes to a web page.

Sales are lost because the customer did not understand how the product being sold could solve his or her problem.

Whether it’s to win new business or communicate effectively with co-workers, the best presentations engage an audience with visuals, not bore them with slide after slide of bullets. SmartDraw has an unmatched level of integration with PowerPoint® that makes it easy for anyone to create slides that incorporate visuals to tell their story, and to author compelling presentations. Perhaps the most common visual used in a presentation is a graph. Creating a graph in SmartDraw is not only easier than with Excel® or PowerPoint®, but it looks better and can be presented in a more understandable way. Simply displaying a graph in slide is not as effective as revealing its data in a series of steps. This is called sequencing and only SmartDraw does it.



Furthermore, SmartDraw’s storyboard feature makes it easy to build an entire visual-rich presentation and edit it by dragging slides around on the page. Once complete, the storyboard will build an entire PowerPoint® slide deck automatically with just one click.

This is best understood by watching a video demonstration. At http://www.smartdraw.com/videos/upgrade/presentations.htm

http://www.smartdraw.com/videos/upgrade/presentations.htm



SmartDraw and Microsoft Office® Microsoft Office® is the standard tool used by hundreds of millions of businesspeople for word processing, presentations, spreadsheets and email. Almost all of these activities are text-only. Even PowerPoint® is used primarily in text-only mode with slide after slide of bullets. While Office® includes some primitive drawing tools, they are not extensively used, because they are simplistic and require manual drawing, which most people find time-consuming and tedious. SmartDraw, with its comprehensive automatic drawing features, adds key functionality to every desktop—functionality that Office® lacks. In addition to the ability to easily incorporate visuals into Word®, PowerPoint® and Excel®, SmartDraw adds the Six P’s to Office®:

1. Project Management 2. Process Management 3. Presentation authoring 4. People Management 5. Planning and Strategy 6. sPecifications

Office Functionality

Project Management

Word Processing Word

Spreadsheet Excel

Presenting PowerPoint

Email Outlook

sPecification

Planning & Strategy

People Management

Presentation Authoring

Process Management

SmartDraw

MS Office



SmartDraw and Visio® (and Illustrator®) Many people, particularly IT specialists, see SmartDraw as a competitor to Visio®. This is not the case. Visio® is a specialized tool mainly used by experts. Visio® is not used to enhance the visual capabilities of Office®. Less than 5% of ordinary Office® users also use Visio®. 40% of Visio® users are IT specialists. Visio® is also increasingly focused on data visualization – presenting data from corporate databases in visual format. SmartDraw is focused at desktop visualization – making it possible for an average computer user to create his or her own presentation-quality visuals. Desktop visualization has not been Visio®’s development focus for the past decade or more. Consequently, Visio® makes a poor desktop visualization tool. In the same way, SmartDraw and Adobe Illustrator® are not competitors either. Illustrator® is a specialty application designed for graphics professionals. SmartDraw is aimed at average computer users who want to create visuals for business quickly and easily. SmartDraw 2010 is a complement to Office® and works alongside Visio®. It converts Visio® files into SmartDraw format providing non-Visio® users access to legacy Visio® files so that they can be viewed and modified.

How SmartDraw Makes It Possible For Anyone To Create Visuals As a first-time SmartDraw user, you can create a presentation-quality visual in minutes because SmartDraw draws and formats the visual for you. Creating your visual is as easy as 1,2,3.

1. Start by selecting the type of visual you want to create. Do this from the template browser.



Because SmartDraw knows what you want to create, it formats the visual for you. You don’t need to know the formatting rules like you do when using manual drawing software.

2. Enter your information by clicking customized task buttons in the SmartPanel, or by typing text into a pre-constructed visual. Each type of visual that SmartDraw supports (more than 70 of them) has a SmartPanel on the left-hand side of the screen that provides you with commands specific to the type of graphic you are creating. Many of these commands have keyboard shortcuts. You can often create your visual without taking your hands off the keyboard!

3. SmartDraw does the rest, building the visual automatically using built-in rules and professional design themes.

SmartDraw support more than 70 different kinds of business visual—each with its own rules built-in. An example of creating a flowchart makes this clear.

1. Select a flowchart from the template browser

The first step when SmartDraw starts is to pick the visual that you want to create. We pick a flowchart from the template browser.



2. Enter your Information.

We enter our information (the steps in the process we want to document) using the SmartPanel. We add the steps in the process by selecting a symbol and clicking an add button. You can add below, above, left and right. For each step we enter text by simply typing. There are also keyboard shortcuts to make creating the flowchart even faster. Use ctrl-arrow keys to enter new steps in the direction of the arrow.



3. SmartDraw Does the Rest.

As we add each shape, SmartDraw places it in exactly the right location on the page and automatically draws a line connecting it to the previous step. Shapes line up and are spaced perfectly. The colors, line weights and typefaces from a professionally-designed color theme are applied automatically. We can select a different theme from a gallery and the whole graphic changes instantly.

This takes just a few minutes. Once we have created the flowchart, we can print it, or copy it into an Office® document (or directly to PDF) with one click on the copy buttons at the top of the SmartDraw window.

This is repeated for more than 70 different types of graphic – each with their own specialized SmartPanel.

New and Updated Features in 2010 The changes made in 2010 are not just bells and whistles. They are based on user testing and will save users time, improve their performance and lower their costs.



SmartDraw 2010

dramatically reduces the time it takes to get work done

manages time and resources much more efficiently

creates killer presentations with less effort

enables collaboration between team members

Time Savers

The time savers begin with the new Template Browser. Our testing shows that users can get started five times faster than before.

All of the most common visuals are in the Basics layout. The complete list is under More. But it’s the new search function that really saves time. Like Google, SmartDraw 2010 offers suggestions as you type and takes you directly to your goal.



Other examples of time savers include: Expanded use of the keyboard to add shapes to dozens of different types of visual.

Replacing a shape by simply dragging a new shape on top.



Managing Time & Resources

SmartDraw 2010’s Project Management improved performance and new features can manage projects with hundreds of tasks. Hiding and showing columns allows for a clearer view of longer projects.

Collapsing and expanding tasks provide detail or summary views.



Progress can be tracked with the new percent complete feature.

Projects can be viewed in timeline format to more clearly see milestones.

SmartDraw projects can also be exported to Microsoft Project® and imported from Microsoft Project®.

Killer Presentations

Whether it’s to win new business or communicate effectively with co-workers, the best presentations engage an audience with visuals, not bore them with slide after slide of bullets. SmartDraw 2010 integrates with PowerPoint® to help create career-making presentations in two unprecedented ways.



1. SmartDraw can export any visual to a PowerPoint® slide with one click, including built-in sequencing. Sequencing uses PowerPoint® animation to reveal the visual in steps so that it is easier for audiences to follow. It’s the technique recommended by presentation experts and SmartDraw does it automatically.



2. SmartDraw 2010 can be used to create an entire PowerPoint® presentation using its new Storyboard feature.

It is easier to compose slides and move them around using a SmartDraw storyboard than with PowerPoint®. Sequenced SmartDraw visuals can be added to each slide. Slides can be added and removed from the presentation by simply dragging them on and off the storyboard line. One click builds an entire PowerPoint® deck.

All of the visuals used are stored in the storyboard file making it easy to share and update. Users can even make libraries of their frequently used slide to re-use in multiple presentations.

Collaboration

No one works in a vacuum. SmartDraw 2010 makes it even easier to collaborate with co-workers with the following new features: SmartDraw 2010 reads and edits Visio® files. Convert single Visio® files or whole folders of Visio® files at once with the batch convert feature.



SmartDraw 2010 integrates with SharePoint® just the way Word® and the other Office® applications do.

And the new markup feature lets users comment on their team’s work.

SmartDraw Trial and Licensing

SmartDraw Trial

SmartDraw offers a free, 7-day trial, allowing users to try SmartDraw with no obligation. Once the 7-day trial is over, users can purchase and activate or download a licensed copy from www.smartdraw.com and immediately continue using the software. Customers can purchase CD copies as well.



SmartDraw Single User Licensing

Install and use one copy of SmartDraw on a single computer. Single User Licenses are perpetual and include, free of charge, all maintenance releases for the version originally purchased. Upgrades releases are available for a fee.

SmartDraw Volume Licensing

SmartDraw offers volume licensing to enterprises.

About SmartDraw.com SmartDraw.com is the creator of SmartDraw, software that helps companies solve their communication problems. Everyone understands that "a picture is worth a thousand words," whether it's a flowchart to explain a business process, a Gantt chart to show a project schedule, an organizational chart, or a map to the emergency exit. Studies show that communicating with both words and pictures is up to six times more effective than words alone. Yet less than 2% of business communication includes a visual. Why? Because, until now, creating a professional-quality visual has been just too hard, and too time-consuming.



SmartDraw solves this problem, making it possible for everyone in an organization to communicate effectively resulting in fewer errors, increased productivity, and more sales. Each year more than three million people install and use SmartDraw. SmartDraw.com is privately-held and is headquartered in San Diego, CA. A pioneer of the direct-to-user Internet distribution model, SmartDraw.com has enjoyed sustained rapid growth since its inception in 1994 and has been awarded numerous industry accolades—including the Delloite & Touche Fast 50 Award, five years in a row—and now counts more than half the Fortune 500 as its customers.

Information on the Web

For more information on SmartDraw, please visit www.smartdraw.com. See the links below for specific areas of interest. Download—Free trial copy of SmartDraw.com http://www.smartdraw.com/downloads/ Purchase SmartDraw—Buy online or through other methods http://www.smartdraw.com/buy/ Volume Licensing—SmartDraw for work groups http://www.smartdraw.com/buyinfo/volume/index.htm Cool Examples—See examples of drawings from real users http://www.smartdraw.com/examples/ Learning Centers—Step-by-step tutorials for all kinds of graphics http://www.smartdraw.com/resources/how-to

SmartDraw Features—Learn about all of SmartDraw’s major features in minutes http://www.smartdraw.com/product/features/ SmartDraw Videos—See SmartDraw in action http://www.smartdraw.com/videos/ SmartDraw Support—Get your support questions answered in a timely fashion by our team http://www.smartdraw.com/support/ About SmartDraw.com—Read customer testimonials, press releases, and news letters http://www.smartdraw.com/about/

www.smartdraw.com

http://www.smartdraw.com/downloads/

http://www.smartdraw.com/buy/

http://www.smartdraw.com/buyinfo/volume/index.htm

http://www.smartdraw.com/examples/

http://www.smartdraw.com/resources/how-to

http://www.smartdraw.com/product/features/

http://www.smartdraw.com/videos/

http://www.smartdraw.com/support/

http://www.smartdraw.com/about/

smartdraw 2010 reviewer’s guide - moonsoft · 2009-09-04 · smartdraw 2010 reviewer’s guide...

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