Creating Organizational Charts in Power BI: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ever wished you could visualize your company’s hierarchy at a glance?

Seeing reporting lines, team structures, and department groupings in one clear view?

That’s exactly what an organizational chart in Power BI makes possible.

An organizational chart is a visual representation of reporting relationships.

They help HR teams, managers, and business leaders understand company structures and team dynamics.

While Power BI doesn’t have a built-in org chart visual, you can easily create one using custom visuals from AppSource.

Section 1: Setting Up Data

The foundation of any org chart is well-structured hierarchical data. A typical dataset should include:

• Employee ID / Name – Unique identifier for each person
• Manager ID / Name – Defines reporting lines
• Department – Groups staff into business units
• Role / Job Title – Adds context to positions

Section 2: Adding an Org Chart Visual

Since Power BI doesn’t have a native org chart, you’ll need to import a custom visual.

Steps:

1. Go to Visualizations Pane > Get More Visuals (AppSource).

2. You will see the AppSource interface, with loads of great recommended visuals.

For us, we want to search for “Org Chart” or “Organization Chart”.

3. Click “Add” and it will directly import the visual for you!

4. Click the visual, and start mapping your fields:

• Employee → Employee ID / Name
• Manager → Manager ID / Name
• Department / Role → Additional details

Formatting Tips:

• Use department-based colors for clarity.
• Expand / collapse features help when dealing with larger organizations.
• If you have one, use your companies custom font for the text!

Section 3: Use Cases

Organizational charts are more than just visuals; they drive practical business value:

1. Visualizing Company Structure – A clear chart helps leadership understand reporting lines across departments.

2. HR Dashboards – HR teams can filter charts by department, location, or role to support recruitment and workforce planning.

3. Project Teams & Contractors – Temporary project org charts make it easy to see who’s working together across departments.

Section 4: Limitations & Alternatives

While org chart visuals are powerful, they come with limitations:

• Row Limits – Some visuals only handle a few thousand employees.
• Performance Issues – Very large hierarchies can slow reports.
• Maintenance Overhead – Requires clean, up-to-date employee data.

Alternatives:

• Hierarchy Slicers + Tree Diagrams – Useful for exploring reporting lines without full org charts.
• Custom DAX Measures – Create filtered hierarchies for smaller, more focused team views.

Conclusion

Organizational charts in Power BI turn flat employee tables into interactive management tools.

They help HR, operations, and leadership teams quickly see reporting structures, spot imbalances, and plan effectively.

When applied in the right context, like workforce planning or project management dashboards, they provide far more than just a “nice-to-have” visual.

They give organizations clarity and visibility, helping leaders make faster, smarter decisions.