Org Publisher for Intranets v. 3.0- Review

Created: December, 1999

Review

It is impressive when a software program offers an application you never thought necessary and proves you completely wrong. Org Publisher for Intranets v3.0 by TimeVision is such a program.

For small businesses that are actual organizations, complete with organizational structures and real divisible job responsibilities, Org Publisher for Intranets could be an excellent tool for managing staff and aiding customers in understanding your company better.

A caveat: Org Publisher is a good program most suited for medium or large businesses. If your business has three employees, this might not be the program for you.

Org Publisher allows users to design company employee flowcharts, complete with every type of human resource you'd like detailed. If you want your employee flowchart to list just names, you can do it. You can list phone numbers, you can list e-mail addresses; you can even add in employee biographies, photographs and work production information. You name it, it can be added to the flowchart.

After you have designed the organizational structure, the program provides the mechanism to publish this information on company intranets. If you have any experience with print or publishing programs, the in-program wizards make everything easy to use. Novices would do well to read the extensive manual, page by page.

The results are good. In minutes, this reviewer designed an organizational structure for Widgets Incorporated that would lead any inquiring mind to the right person in moments. Never again would customers, partners, distributors or employees have to search through stacks of paper to find staff phone numbers or ask around to determine who deals with what. All of the information is now available online.

Smaller organizaetions who want to create charts from scratch should start with the Personal Edition. For larger organizations with a lot of information to import, Org Publisher provides an Enterprise Edition, which includes a data import mechanism compatible with most database sources (or at least those utilizing the Open Database Connectivity standard).

The program has worth. It adds a necessary corporate mapping function online, helping suppliers, partners and employees sort out who does what. It is ideal for medium to large businesses.

Org Publisher is priced toward this sector. At prices starting at $450 US for the Personal Edition, very small businesses, will probably take a pass.

Reviewer's rating: 3.5 / 5

Comments: Org Publisher for Intranets v3.0 is a great concept but it is expensive, a little complex and not meant for truly small businesses.

Price: $450 US for the Personal Edition. The Enterprise Edition costs $1,000 US for up to 100 persons charted from a database. $9,625 US to chart up to 1,000 employees. $43,500.00 for up to 20,000 person. More for licences beyond this.