Glossary
Here is a glossary of common Orgvue and organization design terminology
Where the term relates to an Orgvue function or feature a link is provided to the relevant section of this guide
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As-Is Organization
Current state of the organization prior to any changes
Band
A group of jobs that are similar in scope and complexity, organizational impact, degree of independent judgment and required knowledge and skills
Baseline
A dataset containing the current state of the organization. Often equivalent to the "As-is Organization". A Baseline may also represent any known set of data at a fixed point in time
Blender
Orgvue's automation tool. Commonly used for updating data in Orgvue (Transform and Load tasks and other bulk administrative tasks)
Box Grid Slide
A slide that allows data to be aggregated into a two by two grid. See Boxgrid Slide
Card
Name used to describe a data rich visual representation of a node in a tree. See Card Types for more detail
Change
Orgvue generated property: Flags when a node (record) has been changed since last save
Change Count
Orgvue generated property: Flags the number of properties changed for a given node (record) since last save
Changes Report
A summary of all the changes made to nodes. See Changes Reporting
Chart
A view of the data available in either horizontal or vertical Bar charts, funnel charts, line charts, scatter plots or pie charts. See Chart Slide for more detail
Chart Slide
A slide type that allows data to be aggregated across dimensions in multiple ways. See Chart Slide
Child
The immediate descendants of a node in a tree. This represents the direct reports of a manager when the data are Employee data
Data Tab
The tab in the Right-hand Panel which allows you to view and edit property values of the currently selected nodes. See Data Tab
Dataset
A file that contains data In a series of rows (known as nodes) and columns (known as properties) that can be opened and analyzed in Orgvue. See Dataset Types
Delete Node
The removal of the node from a dataset. See Delete Node
Depth
Orgvue generated property: the number of levels down from top (root) node of a hierarchy (tree). Visible Levels
Descendants
All nodes beneath a given node in a hierarchy. This represents all the direct and indirect reports of a manager when the data are Employee data
Descendants of
Descendants of list the ancestors of a node
Dimension
Any categorical property, used for grouping in aggregated reports
Draft
A record of the changes made to a dataset which can be saved, reused and imported into a dataset. See Drafts
Expression
A formula written in Gizmo which returns a result. See Expressions
Filter
A way of adding or removing nodes from the scope of a slide / report based on property values or buckets. See Filter Control
Focus
The nodes currently in focus and therefore the primary point of reference in the current slide. See Focus
Footer
The area at the bottom of the screen when you have opened a pack. It allows you to view the number of Nodes that are Filtered, Focused, Selected, New, Changed or Deleted. See Footer
FTE
Full Time Equivalent. A calculation based on the number of hours a person is scheduled (scheduled FTE) or number of hours they work (actual FTE). A full-time person is 1 FTE. If standard full-time working week is 40 hours an employee who works 20 hours would have a FTE of 0.5
Gizmo
The language (a dialect of JavaScript) used in Orgvue to write expressions. See Expressions
Headcount
The number of heads, which may include employees, contractors/ consultants or both
Height
The number of hierarchical layers below a node
Is Leaf
Orgvue generated property: returns "true" if a node has no children (aka direct reports)
Label
The property in a dataset that is used as the primary method of identifying (or naming) a node. See Label Property
Layers
A measurement of manager hierarchy depth. It provides an indication of the number of managerial layers for any given portion of an organization for a given manager. It sets the manager at the top layer and measures the depth of their hierarchy
Leaf
A node that has no children
Level n
The ancestor at that level in the hierarchy
Link
A method used to join two nodes by a value. See Links
Management Level
A concept from Stratified Systems Theory (Elliott Jaques). In this theory there are 7 levels of management complexity (with 7 being highest) within an organization. Not all organizations will require all 7 levels
Measure
A numerical property type that can be used for mathematical operations e.g. Salary
Menu Bar
The top menu visible in Orgvue that allows you to perform actions such as saving your data. See Menu Bar
Node
A row of data in an Orgvue dataset
Operating Model
Provides a high-level view of the business’ value chain, including (but not limited to) how structure, process and people are intended to interact
Organization Design
A step-by-step methodology focused on aligning strategy, processes, people, structure and metrics and rewards in order to help an organization effectively achieve its business objectives and strategy
Organization Health
An assessment of how the current organization structure and culture are operating to deliver the strategy
Orphan
A node that has no children or parents
Outgoing count
A count of the number of children of a node (ignores any filters applied to data)
Pack
A collection of slides (reports) which are grouped into a single document in Orgvue. See Pack Types
Pagination
A way of changing (slicing) the nodes which are viewed or analyzed on a slide. See Paging
Parent
A node with children
Pivot Slide
A slide that allows aggregates to be viewed in a grid using multiple measures and dimensions
Pivot Table
A table of statistics arranged by multiple nested dimensions See Pivot Slide
Property
A column of data in Orgvue
Record
Similar to a 'row' of data or one employee's information e.g. John Smith's record. Every node in an Orgvue Dataset has a records value of 1. Often used in reporting the total number of rows, grouped by one or more dimensions
Restore
The undeleting of any node that has been deleted in a session or via the import of a draft. See Reverting Node Changes
Revert
The reverting of any changes (edits) made to a node or nodes within a session or imported via a Draft. See Reverting Node Changes
Right-hand panel
The panel on the right-hand side of the screen when a pack is opened. See Right-hand Panel
Roll up
A calculation that aggregates a measure up through the hierarchy
Root
The node at the very top of a hierarchy e.g. the CEO
SaaS
Software as a Service. Orgvue is provided as "Software as a Service"
Scaled
A card type available in tree view that differs in size based on a measure. If a card is scaled by salary, then those nodes with a higher salary would be larger and smaller for those with a lower salary. See Scaled Card
Scenario Modelling
Manipulating the baseline to develop the desired ‘to-be’ organization based on design criteria
Search Tab
The tab in the Right-hand Panel which allows you to search for nodes. See Search
Selection
The nodes which have been selected by the user. See Selecting Nodes
Sibling
Nodes that share the same parent node
Slide
A single report within a pack See Add Slide
Slide Navigation Panel
The area on the left-hand side of the screen when a pack is opened. This lets you navigate between and re-order slides within your pack. See Slide Navigation Panel
Slide Tab
The tab in the Right-hand Panel which allows you to configure what is displayed on the slide. See Slide Tab
Span
The count of children a node has which are in the current filter. If a node is a leaf then Span is null
Structure
The placement of power and authority in the organization. Describes how hierarchy is organized
SubTree
The ancestors of a node and therefore the number of separate hierarchical structures that the node is connected to
Tags
Keywords added to a dataset or property to facilitate search
Tenant
A logically separated partition on the Orgvue server keeping your data private and secure under unique encryption keys
To-Be Organization
Desired state of the organization following the redesign process (cf As-is organization)
Tree Slide
A slide type that allows a hierarchy to be visualized and manipulated. See Tree Slide
Unique identifier
A required property for every node in Orgvue to identify it in isolation from every other node. Typically, for people data would be employee ID or payroll number
View
A secure way of sharing specific properties and nodes with other users. See Views
Worksheet Slide
A slide type which allows the arrangement of nodes into rows and columns. See Worksheet Slide