Tracking and Reporting on Network Equipment
To add detail to a high-level network diagram, you can add data to the equipment shapes. This means either typing or importing information such as manufacturer, product name, description, and model number, and storing it with the shapes in your diagram. Network shapes include built-in data fields called custom properties that you can use to track asset and equipment information with your network diagram, as Figure 14-16 shows.
Figure 14-16. Basic network equipment shapes include built-in custom properties that you can use to store more detailed information about the devices in a network diagram.
You can use the predefined custom properties that Visio 2007 includes with shapes or create your own properties. After you have added custom property data to a diagram, the information can be used to generate reports based on your diagram’s contents. You can also export the information to a spreadsheet or database and even set up a link between an existing spreadsheet or database of equipment information and the custom properties in your network diagram’s shapes.
Associating Serial Numbers and Other Data with Network Shapes
To enter and manage the data stored in network shapes, you work in the Shape Data window, which displays data for a selected shape. The easiest way to work with the Shape Data window is to dock it on the screen while you work in your diagram. To display it, choose View, Shape Data Window. When you select a shape in your diagram, its properties and values appear in the Shape Data window. To add data to shapes, select a shape, and then type the information you want in the appropriate fields of the Shape Data window. Right-click a shape, and then choose Data, Shape Data to display the shape’s data.
In a large network diagram, typing manufacturer names and model numbers would quickly become tedious. Visio 2007 can automate the process. In fact, you can link the custom property fields to records in a database and then share data between the two sources.
For details about linking a database to your diagram, see Chapter 24, “Connecting Diagrams and Databases.”
Generating Reports from Network Data
Visio 2007 now includes four useful reports that you can use with networks. They are the Inventory, Network Device, Network Equipment, and PC Reports. You can access them by selecting Data, Reports. These reports will be displayed if you are working on a network report. You can generate reports based on the shape data that’s stored with your network shapes. A report can include any set of shape data that you select. For example, you can use the Report tool to define a new report called Your Equipment that includes the manufacturer, model, product name, and description for each network equipment shape in your diagram.
To determine the properties to include in your report, you save a new report definition. Then you can select the report from the list and run it to produce an HTML or XML document, a table in Visio 2007, or an Excel spreadsheet. The Report tool scans the values of the custom properties that are specified by the report definition and then produces a report, as Figure 14-17 shows. Your report can include information from one page of a multiple-page network diagram or all shapes on all pages.
Figure 14-17. You can generate a report as an Excel spreadsheet or another format, including HTML or XML. The information in a report varies depending on the report definition, which you can customize.
For details about defining reports, see the section titled “Creating Reports” in Chapter 6, “Storing Data in Diagrams.”