How to Create Org Charts in SharePoint

Microsoft's SharePoint provides a number of business tools designed to help organize and manage business personnel. Using SharePoint to create an org chart, or organizational chart, diagrams your company's infrastructure and illustrates the connections between employees. One of the easiest ways to craft an org chart is to utilize SharePoint's list and Web part features.

Open SharePoint, then select "More Options" from the "Site Actions" menu. Choose "Custom List" and enter a name, for example "Project." Click the "Create" button.

Select "Create Column" from the "List" options. Add a column called "Name." Select "Single line of text" for the column type.

Add another column named "Manager." Select "LookUp" for the column type. Designate the "Project" column as "Get Information From" and the "Name" column as "In this column." Make certain the "Require that this column contains information" is set to "No."

Populate the list with information. Enter a job title, a name and a manager, if applicable, for each new entry.

Access the "Site Actions" menu and select "Add Pages." Create a new page called "ProjectOrgChart."

Click "Custom Categories." Select the "OrgChart" Web part. Add the Web part to the ProjectOrgChart page.

Click the link on the added Web part to bring up a configuration screen. Find the "Data Source" section and enter "Name" as the Primary Key, "Manager" as the Manager and "Project" as the URL to SharePoint List.

Press the "Apply" button to bring up the organization chart. Access the "Properties" menu. Find the "Look & Feel" section. Select the check box for "Show Primary Key Field" to finalize the org chart.