Add data-driven Web drawings to your dashboard with Visio Web Access

Shapes on Visio diagrams can be linked to data and made to change visually when the underlying data changes. For example, a shape can display the number of units currently at a specified stage in a process, or can change color when a number goes over or under a specified threshold. This kind of visual data display can make a status report in a dashboard easy to check at a glance.

If a diagram has been published as a Web drawing, you can add a Visio Web Access Web Part that displays the diagram to a dashboard. For information about how to publish a diagram to SharePoint as a Web diagram, see Publish Visio diagrams to a SharePoint library.

Create a data-connected Web diagram

You must use Visio 2010 Professional or Premium to create the diagram and link it to data, and then save it as a Web drawing. For information about how to connect a diagram to data, see Import data from Excel, SQL Server, SharePoint sites, and other external sources.

Most of the process of creating a diagram and connecting it to external data sources is the same for Web diagrams as for standard diagrams, but there are a few exceptions in supported data sources and diagram types.

Supported data sources

The following data sources can be used by default:

• Excel workbooks hosted on the SharePoint site

• SQL Server tables and views (SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008)

• SharePoint lists

• Data sources with OLEDB/ODBC

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access data source connections are not maintained when a diagram is published as a Web diagram.

Microsoft Excel

Excel workbooks are supported as data sources, but you must put the workbook on the SharePoint site that is hosting the Web diagram.

PivotDiagrams and Timeline diagrams

You can publish PivotDiagrams or Timeline diagrams as Web drawings, but they are disconnected from the data sources and so cannot be refreshed.

Troubleshooting

You must make sure that everyone who will use the diagram has the necessary access to the data source. For example, if a diagram uses a SharePoint list as a data source, everyone who views the diagram must also have permissions to view the data list, or the data will not be displayed.

If your data-connected diagram does not work as expected, your SharePoint administrator might need to change the configuration. Your administrator can find information about how to do this on Microsoft TechNet.

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