Free AddIn to create Strategy Maps / innovative data driven visualizations

Strategy Maps is a very vital, but often one of the more ignored component of a MIS Dashboard in a MS BI Solution Development methodology. Visio is one of the primary means in MS BI Solution stack to create data driven diagrams - which is also known as strategy maps when used and developed in the context of the dashboard requirements. Visio is ofcourse not a free tool, and it's not the best tool for business users to create visualizations for their data generally stored in MS Office document formats. Visio is not dedicated to creation of strategy maps, though it facilitates it. Visio is meant for a variety of purposes, but still a need is always felt to have a dedicated designer for creation of Strategy Maps. Such designer can/should facilitate to custom tailor innovative visualizations as per your business needs.

One of the partially FREE tools to create data driven visualization is BeGraphic. Tons of different types of charts can be created from your data stored in Excel and Powerpoint. The repository is so rich that one can even learn what kind of business charts / analytical data visualizations exists in the industry. Also it has very broad support for the data sources from where it can fetch data. It offers 10,000 interactive maps for free. I feel that using this tool, you can add a flavor of GeoSpatial support without depending upon the Bing Maps control. It also offers a variety of gauges, meters, sparklines, and other infographics for free. In summary, in my experience and knowledge, this is customization for data visualizations, provided at it's best. In my opinion, it's a must check-out tool. Click on the below image to watch the animated graphic.