Hierarchy without tree

[Sehboo]

Hi,

How would you show the hierarchy of employees (or locations or
roles...whatever) without using tree view on the web using asp.net. We
have thousands of records, and if we use tree then loading that tree
would take forever. I want to have something else which is simple and
intuitive.

Also, how would you have user add/remove people from that hierarchy?

Thanks

 

[Nick Malik [Microsoft]]

Hello Sehboo,

How would you show the hierarchy of employees (or locations or
roles...whatever) without using tree view on the web using asp.net. We
have thousands of records, and if we use tree then loading that tree
would take forever. I want to have something else which is simple and
intuitive.

Also, how would you have user add/remove people from that hierarchy?

You have an interesting problem. I started to give the "standard" answer
which is to fill in part of the heirarchy and the, as the user clicks
around, fill the rest. To do this well on a treeview control, you'd need to
use XMLHTTP to get more data in an async fashion. This would be pretty
difficult for me (but not for a really good javascript coder, I suppose). I
disliked my answer so much that I deleted it and started again.

On the other hand, perhaps the problem is not really what it seems. What
does the USER want to get out of the interaction? To know where they are in
the overall heirarchy? I would say that perhaps, a sufficient approach is
to show a single manager and the list of their employees as a diagram. Each
of the names can be clicked. Clicking on a name produces a post-back and
paints a new page, with that name in the manager's spot. Have a button for
"move up to manager" from the manager's spot on the diagram.

You could take this to a little bit more sophistication if you show a person
in the middle, all direct reports below them, all peers next to them, and
that person's maanger above them, and allow any of them to be clicked. If
one of those people are clicked, repaint the page with that person in the
middle.(as I type, this is the approach that I like the most).

If you dig around in one of the catalogs of controls, you may find that this
control has already been created and that you can buy it for a small sum. I
would not be surpised to find it there.

Good luck,
--
--- Nick Malik [Microsoft]
MCSD, CFPS, Certified Scrummaster
http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and not
representative of my employer.
I do not answer questions on behalf of my employer. I'm just a
programmer helping programmers.
--

 

[Masood]

Thanks for the quick reply. I was thinking the same thing. But...

How would user add/remove people in the hierarchy? So, if a user wants
to add a employee to a manager then I would have to show the list of all
the employees and user can choose the employee from that? We have
thousands of records...this list is going to be painful for user.

Also, if you want to move one employee from one manager to another, how
would you do that? I would have to build search capability?

Please give me some more ideas.

Thanks

remove NOSPAM from email address if you want to send me an email.

 

[Nick Malik [Microsoft]]

showing the heirarchy is not necessarily part of the same use case as
changing it.

I would say that you can search for a manager, and see links next to the
manager and each employee (add direct, depart, move, reorganize)

if the user clicks "add direct" then you open a search page, allow them to
find the "direct report" and you would change that person's manager to the
current manager. Make sure that they can add an open position as a direct.

if the user clicks "depart", then you would mark the position as open. All
of the direct reports for an open position remain where they are.

if the user clicks "move", then you would open a search for the new manager.
let the user select a new manager. Then, open a blank position for the
current spot, and move all direct reports to report to the blank position.
Move the employee to the new manager with no direct reports.

if the user clicks "reorganize", then you would open a search for the new
manager. let the user select the new manager. Then, move the person, and
all of their direct reports, to the new manager.

You can do this as part of the same page or on another page. Doesn't really
matter.

Note: you may want to make this change in the active directory. That way,
anyone can use Outlook to find someone and see their manager and their
direct reports. This is how it is set up inside Microsoft, and I find it
REALLY handy.

--
--- Nick Malik [Microsoft]
MCSD, CFPS, Certified Scrummaster
http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and not
representative of my employer.
I do not answer questions on behalf of my employer. I'm just a
programmer helping programmers.