1. Activate

In the Setup tab → Activate panel, paste your license key and click Activate.

No license or only Basic? Turn on Demo Mode to explore every Professional feature on sample data.

2. Map your data

In the Setup tab → Map your data panel:

• Pick your worksheet.
• Set your header row.
• Map Employee ID, Name, Manager ID, and any other useful columns.
• Click Build Hierarchy.

3. Explore

• Pick a leader (or a department) in the scope bar.
• Switch the chart between Manager, Talent, Succession, Skills, and Department views.
• Click any metric card to drill down.
• Click Edit & Export to customize, save, or export your chart.

Set org-wide goals, analysis thresholds, and column mappings anytime in Settings — the Settings button in the Metrics header.

Activate panel

• License key — paste it and click Activate.
• Manage subscription — opens your customer portal to manage billing or change plans.
• Demo Mode — sample org with every Professional feature unlocked. Use it to evaluate Pro when you have Basic or no license.

Map your data panel

• Worksheet — the sheet that holds your employee data.
• Header row — the row number where your column names sit.
• Column mapping
  • Required — Employee ID, Employee Name, Manager ID. These build the reporting hierarchy.
  • Optional — six collapsible sections. Map only the ones you need; Job Details is open to start.
    • Job Details — Job Title and Compensation for the chart cards and the compensation metrics, plus an optional Job Level / Grade column that enables the Same-Level Reporting metric.
    • Matrix Reporting — dotted-line manager columns (up to 5 named relationships) for the Matrix overlay.
    • Organization Structure — a Department column and up to 12 Org Level columns. These unlock the Department view.
    • Succession Planning — My Successors, Critical Role, and Ready Now value. These drive the succession metrics and view.
    • Talent Planning — Performance, Potential, Retention Risk, Impact of Loss, Time in Role, Tenure, and one metric of your own. These drive the talent metrics, the 9-box, and the risk grid.
    • Skills & Competencies — up to 6 capability sets. Each set pairs Supply (what a person has) with Demand (what a role needs); map either side or both. These drive the Skills metrics and heat map.
  • Every other column in your data is usable in the chart (card content, color coding, icons, sorting, filtering) without mapping.
• Build Hierarchy — processes your data and opens Org Planning.
• Reset — clears the mapping and starts over.

Scope bar

What you pick here drives everything below.

• Leader — pick any employee. Everything below scopes to their subtree.
• Scenario — switch between Current and any saved scenarios.
• Refine — role-type filters, column filters, and a positions tree. Exclude specific people or departments from both the chart and the metrics.
• Compare — pin extra scenarios or leaders as side-by-side columns. Drag chips to reorder.
• Edit — Add Role or Edit Roles to model changes. Edits flow into the Scenario Changes drilldown, which lists every edit with before-and-after detail and exports as a change log.

Metrics

Six views of metric cards. Toggle the view in the section header; the Settings button opens goals, thresholds, and mappings.

• Manager — Total Employees, Avg Span, Total Comp, Mgmt Layers, Mgmt Ratio, Scenario Changes.
• Talent — High Performers, High Potential, At Retention Risk, High Impact of Loss, Overdue in Role, and one metric of your own.
• Succession — Bench Strength, Critical Coverage, Ready Now, No Successors, Readiness Mix, Single Points of Failure.
• Skills — Role Fit, Capability Gaps, Next-Role Fit, Critical Capability Risk, Distribution, Skill Finder.
• Department — Total Departments, Total Employees, Avg Department Size, Total Comp, Organization Layers, Org Alignment.
• Scenarios — every edit you have made, with before-and-after detail.
• Depth — limits metrics to N layers below the leader.
• Cards show your target and a vs-goal indicator once you set one. Click any card to open a drilldown with charts, filters, and the employee list — each has an Export button.

Org Chart

• View — Manager, Talent, Succession, Skills, or Department. Independent from the metrics view.
• Depth — how many layers to show.
• Matrix — overlay dotted-line reporting relationships (see the Matrix section).
• Card Fields — pick which columns appear on each card.
• Zoom — fit, +, −, reset.
• Edit & Export — opens the customization drawer (see below).

The department chart

• Boxes are departments (units), nested by your Org Level columns — not individual people.
• Pick a department in the scope bar to make it the top of the chart. Depth controls how many sub-department levels show.
• Boxes can show department size and cost. Customize, save, and export it just like a Manager chart.

Department metrics

The Metrics section's Department view has six cards: Total Departments, Total Employees, Avg Department Size, Total Compensation, Organization Layers, and Org Alignment. Click any card to drill in.

Org Alignment shows how well reporting lines match business units — the share of people whose manager sits in their own department or a parent of it. Drill in to see who reports across unit boundaries.

Editing departments

Department edits, like role edits, live inside a scenario — your source data is never touched.

• Department panel — click any department box to open it. Rename it, change its status, add a sub-department, or move and eliminate its sub-departments.
• Add / Edit Departments — in Department view, the Edit row's drawer switches to department mode. Add several departments at once, or bulk-edit names, parents, and statuses.
• Eliminating a department — its sub-departments and directly-assigned people collapse up to the surviving parent. The app shows exactly what will happen before you confirm.

It is a grid, not a chart

The Talent view crosses any two of your rated columns and drops each person into the matching cell. A 9-box is just Performance crossed with Potential — so the same grid gives you a risk grid, or any pairing you care about, from the same data.

• 9-Box — Performance × Potential.
• Risk Grid — Retention Risk × Impact of Loss. Who is likely to leave, crossed with what it would cost you if they did.
• Your own pairing — pick any two mapped talent columns.

Set it up

• Map your rating columns in Setup → Talent Planning (or Settings → Data Mapping).
• For each column, use Configure values to tell the app which bands count — which ratings mean "high performer", which mean "at risk of leaving", and so on.
• Time in Role and Tenure accept a number, a date, or a phrase like "2 year(s), 8 month(s)". You do not need to clean them up first.

Working in the grid

• Each axis can show your raw rating values or collapse them into bands, so a 5-point scale renders as a 5×5 grid or a 3×3 — same data, no transformation. The toggle is per axis.
• Click a person to open their card. Click a cell to drill into everyone in it.
• Drag someone to a different cell to change their rating. Ratings you can actually decide are draggable; measured facts like tenure are not.
• The leader, scenario, Refine filters, and depth all apply, so a VP's 9-box is just the grid with the leader set to that VP.
• People with no rating are kept separate rather than quietly dropped.
• Save and export it like any other view.

Talent metrics

The Metrics section's Talent view has six cards: High Performers, High Potential, At Retention Risk, High Impact of Loss, Overdue in Role, and one metric of your own. Click any card to drill in.

The custom card is for whatever your organization tracks that the preset cards do not — flight risk, mobility, engagement, readiness. It behaves exactly like the others, because it is one.

Set it up

• Map your capability columns in Setup → Skills & Competencies (up to six sets).
• Each set is a pair: Supply is what a person has, Demand is what a role needs. Map either side or both.
• List several skills per cell, and add a level with a colon — for example "Python:Expert; SQL:Intermediate".
• No column yet? Create an empty one and fill it in from the employee panel.

Skills metrics

The Metrics section's Skills view has six cards: Role Fit, Capability Gaps, Next-Role Fit, Critical Capability Risk, Distribution, and Skill Finder. Click any card to drill in.

Skill Finder is the "who has X?" search. Build a condition, get the list of people who match, and export it.

Matching on levels

When your demand lists a level, the Skills cards check it. Use Match on at the top of the Skills view to choose how strictly:

• Skills and level — someone meets a requirement when they hold the skill at or above the level the role asks for. Holding it below earns partial credit.
• Skills only — ignore levels entirely: do they hold the skill or not. This is the useful lens while you are still assessing people, when levelled matching has very little it can measure.

Your choice applies to every Skills card at once, so two cards never disagree about the same person, and it is saved with the workbook.

When no level is recorded

If someone holds a skill but nobody ever wrote down how good they are, and the role asks for a level, that requirement cannot be judged. It is left out of their score and reported on its own — never counted as a miss, and never counted as covered.

• Role Fit reports how many skills are affected, and shows a dash instead of a percentage for anyone with nothing left to score.
• Capability Gaps gives it its own column, next to Proficiency gap and Skill gap.
• Critical Capability Risk keeps those people out of the qualified bench rather than counting them either way, so a buffer is never propped up by someone who may not be able to cover the seat.

The fix here is to assess the person, not to train or hire. Use the Skill levels filter on Role Fit and Next-Role Fit to see exactly who is waiting on a level, including anyone showing 100% only because the unrated skills were left out.

The skills heat map

Switch the chart's View toggle to Skills to shade your org chart by who holds a skill.

• Click Search skills to pick the skill and level. The shading updates live as you choose.
• Each box is shaded by how many matching people sit in its whole team, not just that one person, and carries a count badge. A collapsed box still reflects everyone underneath it.
• Click a count to see exactly who those people are, with the skills each of them matched on. Click a name to open their card.
• Switch the basis between Manager and Department to shade the reporting tree or the business-unit tree.
• The legend spells out the exact criteria, including where conditions are ANDed and where they are ORed, so a wide search is never mistaken for a narrow one.

Saved skill groups

A search you will run again is worth naming. In Refine → Skills, click Save as group to store the whole filter under a name, then pick it from the saved groups list to load it back. Groups are saved with the workbook.

Set it up

• Map one or more Matrix Reporting columns in Setup (or Settings → Data Mapping). Each is a named relationship — give it a display name like "Cost Center" or "Project".
• In the Org Chart, click Matrix to open the menu.

The Matrix menu

• Relationships — check the ones to show. Each gets a colored dot, so the checklist doubles as the legend.
• Include in org chart — draw the dotted-line reports on the chart (turn off to count them in metrics only).
• Include in metrics — count dotted-line reports in the metrics. Expand it to choose per metric: Headcount, Avg span, Total comp, Mgmt ratio, Mgmt layers.
• Include their direct reports — pull each dotted-line person's own team in too.

The Department relationship

Once you've mapped a department structure, the Matrix menu gains a built-in Department relationship. Turn it on to surface the leader's department-mates who report elsewhere — the people in their business unit that the reporting chart hides. They appear in a labeled band below the chart, on screen and in exports.

Settings

The Settings button in the Metrics header opens three tabs:

• Data Mapping — adjust column mappings after your first build (add matrix relationships, department columns, succession columns, and more).
• Analysis Settings — the thresholds that flag outliers: span-of-control bands (narrow / optimal / wide), a compensation buffer, and department-size bands (small / large).
• Goals & Targets — org-wide targets for each metric, grouped by Manager, Succession, and Department. Leave a field blank to skip it.

Goals for one person or department

Org-wide goals are the default. To set a goal for a specific manager or department, open its panel (click its card in the chart) and use the Goals section:

• Enter targets for that scope. They override the org-wide goals; blank fields inherit the nearest one above (shown as "Inherits …").
• Cascade (on by default) applies the goal down the tree — to everyone below a manager, or to a department's sub-departments. Uncheck it to keep the goal to that scope only.
• The employee panel also sets per-manager span-of-control bands, and the department panel sets per-department size bands — so a routine-work team can carry different thresholds than the rest of the org.

View

The main panel shows curated employee details — manager, direct reports, and key fields. Expand the "All employee data" section to see every other column from your data file.

Edit

• Job title — change the position name
• Manager — reassign to a new reporting line
• Compensation — update salary
• Role type — classify the position (see below)
• Level — adjust the hierarchy level
• Successors — add or remove named successors for this role
• Goals — set metric targets and span-of-control bands for this manager's org, with optional cascade (see Goals & targets)
• Notes — free-text, scenario-specific. Use them for why changes were made, outstanding questions, development plans, anything you want to track.

All edits save to the active scenario. Your source worksheet is never modified.

Role types

• Existing — current employee, role isn't changing in this scenario
• Modified — the role itself has changed
• Future — new position to be created or filled
• Redundant — flagged as potentially redundant or duplicative
• Eliminated — removed from the structure

Role types power the role-type filter in the scope bar and drive Scenario Changes drilldown counts.

Header

• Preset — apply a saved configuration. Built-in presets ship with the app; your saved presets appear below them.
• Save as / ⋯ menu — save the current setup as a new preset, or update / rename / delete the active one.
• Save chart — saves the current view (Manager, Talent, Succession, Skills, or Department) to a new worksheet tab, named after the leader or department. Each save creates a new tab.
• Export to PowerPoint — opens the export dialog, where you choose scope, contents, and output (see PowerPoint export & batch).

Customization sections

• Card Content — control which fields appear on each card and where they sit. Up to 14 fields per card.
• Chart Options — show or hide reporting lines and the legend, choose a card layout style, add a description above the chart, and exclude the top levels from your customizations (handy when you want to keep executive boxes plain while color-coding everyone below).
• Color Coding — color the inside of each card (fill) and the outline (border) by any column in your data. Make borders thicker to draw attention to specific groups. Apply built-in color schemes or save your own.
• Icons & Indicators — control how individual values display:
  • Replace text with any of 75 icons
  • Group values into custom labels (e.g., performance 4-5 → "High Performer")
  • Apply different font colors to grouped values
  • Set numeric ranges (e.g., tenure > 3 years shows a caution icon)
  • Hide specific values
• Sort — choose the order direct reports appear under each manager. Sort by any field, ascending, descending, or in a custom order. Sort by multiple fields at once.

What to cover — one chart or many (batch)

• Selected leader / department — selected scenario — a single chart.
• Leader + direct reports (or department + sub-departments) — one chart per unit, generated in a batch.
• All scenarios — the same scope, one chart per saved scenario.

The dialog previews how many slides and units you'll get.

What to include

• Org chart and / or Metric summary (metric cards plus distribution charts) for each unit.
• Key takeaways — an optional standalone slide of the headline numbers.
• Include matrix — when the Matrix overlay is on, carry the dotted-line reports into the deck.
• Pick a saved preset per view as the template, or use the chart exactly as styled.

Output

• One combined deck — everything in a single .pptx.
• Separate deck per section — one file per unit or scenario, bundled in a .zip (available when the scope covers more than one unit).
• Every card is a separate, editable PowerPoint shape — rearrange, resize, or restyle individual cards without affecting the rest.

Build an org chart for a leader's team

1. Pick the leader in the scope bar.
2. Set the depth in the Org Chart section header.
3. Open Edit & Export and click Save chart. The chart writes to a new tab named after the leader.

Find span of control issues

1. In the Metrics section, click the Avg Span card.
2. The drilldown shows the span distribution. Click bars to filter the employee list to managers with high or low spans.
3. Click Export to save the filtered list to a tab.

Spot succession gaps

1. Switch the Metrics section to Succession view.
2. Click No Successors to see roles without a named successor, or Critical Coverage to see uncovered critical roles.
3. Click any employee name to open the panel and add successors directly.

Model a restructure scenario

1. In the Scenario dropdown, click New scenario (or pick an existing saved scenario) so your changes stay separate from Current.
2. Open the Edit row in the scope bar. Add Role to create new positions, or Edit Roles to modify existing ones.
3. Open the Scenario Changes metric to review your edits and export a change log.

Compare current state to a proposed scenario

1. Pick your baseline leader and scenario in the scope bar.
2. Open the Compare row and pin a second scenario or leader.
3. Metrics show side-by-side. Drill any card to see the diff.

Get a chart into PowerPoint

1. Set up the chart in Org Planning + Edit & Export.
2. Click Export to PowerPoint in the drawer header.
3. Pick your scope, contents, and output, then Generate. The file downloads — open it in PowerPoint to edit or paste into a deck.

Chart the org by department

1. Switch the Org Chart View toggle to Department.
2. Pick a department in the scope bar and set the depth.
3. Open Edit & Export to save it or send it to PowerPoint.

Set a goal and track it

1. Open the Settings button → Goals & Targets and set an org-wide target.
2. Or open a manager's or department's panel and set a goal just for that scope, with cascade on or off.
3. The metric card now shows your target and how far above or below you are.

See who's in a department but reports elsewhere

1. In Manager view, pick the department's leader.
2. Click Matrix and turn on the Department relationship.
3. Their department-mates who report outside the chain appear in a band below the chart.

Required columns

• Employee ID — unique for each person
• Employee Name — full name
• Manager ID — the Employee ID of their manager

Top-level employees

CEOs or top-level managers should have blank Manager ID fields.

Optional columns

Map any of these to unlock specific features:

• Job Title — shown on chart cards by default
• Compensation — Total Comp and Avg Comp metrics
• My Successors — Bench Strength, Ready Now, No Successors metrics, and the Succession view
• Critical Role — Critical Coverage metrics
• Ready Now value — Ready Now and Readiness Mix metrics
• Department & Org Level columns — the Department view, its metrics, and department editing
• Matrix Manager columns — dotted-line (matrix) reporting overlays
• Job Level / Grade — the Same-Level Reporting metric, which flags people reporting to a peer at their own level
• Talent columns — Performance, Potential, Retention Risk, Impact of Loss, Time in Role, and Tenure, plus one metric of your own. These drive the talent metrics, the 9-box, and the risk grid.
• Skill / capability columns — what a person has (supply) and what a role needs (demand). These drive the Skills metrics and the skills heat map.

All other columns in your data are usable in the org chart (color coding, sorting, filtering, card content) without mapping.

Data quality tips

• Employee IDs and Manager IDs must match exactly. Watch for case, spaces, and leading zeros.
• Strip leading and trailing spaces.
• Make sure every Employee ID is unique.
• Check for circular reporting (A reports to B, B reports to A). The build will warn you if found.

What this means

• Open the same file later and pick up where you left off.
• Send the file to a colleague and they see your mappings, presets, and scenarios. They'll need their own license to use Pro features.
• Each file is independent — switching to a different workbook loads its own settings.
• Deleting a preset or scenario only affects the current file.

Tip

Want a reusable starting point? Build a "template" file with your preferred presets, then use Save As to spin up new projects with the same setup ready to go.

Build Hierarchy fails or gives unexpected results

• Make sure Employee ID, Employee Name, and Manager ID columns are mapped.
• Confirm Employee IDs are unique — duplicates cause unpredictable results.
• Check the header row number is correct (if your data starts at row 3, your title rows are above).
• Watch for circular reporting (A reports to B, B reports to A). The build warns you.

Chart is missing people or showing the wrong group

• Verify the leader in the scope bar matches the org you want to see.
• Check Refine — role-type filters or position filters may be excluding people.
• Make sure no one's Manager ID points to a non-existent Employee ID.

Metrics are blank

• Each metric needs its corresponding column mapped (Compensation for comp metrics, My Successors for Bench Strength, etc.). See Data requirements.
• Confirm you have a Professional license — metrics are Pro-only.

Department view is empty or unavailable

• Map your Department column and your Org Level columns in Setup or Settings → Data Mapping, then rebuild.
• The Department view is Professional-only.

Matrix menu is missing or empty

• Map at least one Matrix Reporting column in Setup or Settings → Data Mapping.
• Matrix is available in Manager view only, and is Professional-only.

A goal isn't showing on a card

• Set it in Settings → Goals & Targets, or in a manager's or department's Goals panel.
• A blank field inherits the nearest goal above it — set a value to override.

Save chart or PowerPoint isn't working

• Make sure you've picked a leader before saving.
• If the .pptx doesn't download, check your browser's download permissions.

License won't activate

• Activation requires an internet connection.
• If the page doesn't refresh after activation, close and reopen the add-in.

When in doubt

Use Reset in the Map your data panel to clear your setup. You can re-map and rebuild from scratch — your source data isn't touched.