Page 1 of 7 – ICO 155 – Introduction to Computers

ICO155

Lab 6 – Using MS Visio

Name: ______________________________________

Student Number: ______________________________________

Lab Rules:

If you run into any trouble, please post your questions on the Blackboard
discussions. Help your fellow students out too.

Lab is due on the due date shown on Blackboard. For more information, please
see details about the late policy on the addendum.

Every student must complete and submit their own work as outlined in the
Academic Integrity Policy.

Lab Objectives:

After completing this lab, you will be able to:

• Familiarize yourself with MS Visio

• Create a diagram of your dream workspace

• Create a diagram to express an idea without words

• Use Visio to create a flow chart

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Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology – School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology
Page 2 of 7 – ICO 155 – Introduction to Computers

WHILE CANADA PRIMARILY USES THE METRIC SYSTEM, WE STILL USE

IMPERIAL IN CONSTRUCTION AND FLOOR PLANS. WHEN YOU USE A
MEASURING TAPE, IT WILL BE IN FEET AND INCHES, NOT CENTIMETRES AND
METRES. LET’S DO SOME PRACTICE TO GET YOU ACQUAINTED WITH
IMPRERIAL MEASUREMENTS.

PART A – FEET AND INCHES

Foot = ‘ Inches = “

There are 12 inches to a foot.

There are 3 feet to a yard.

Each inch is broken down into 16ths.

When you convert inches to feet, you need to use a modulus operation (%) to get a
remainder.

For example:

You measured a desk to be 39 inches wide. Convert this to feet and inches.

39/3 = 3.25

39%12

12 goes into 39 3 whole times with a remainder of 3

12 x 3 = 36

39.5-36 = 3.5

Therefore, 39 inches = 3 feet 3 inches or 3’3”

Convert the following total inches to inches and feet:

45”: _____________________ 62”: _____________________

29”: _____________________ 114”: _____________________

83”: _____________________ 77”: _____________________

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Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology – School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology
Page 3 of 7 – ICO 155 – Introduction to Computers

MS VISIO IS A POWERFUL TOOL THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO CREATE CUSTOM

IMAGES AND DIAGRAMS FOR VARIOUS PROJECTS. USE THIS TOOL WHEN
YOU WANT TO CREATE DIAGRAMS THAT CAN HELP EXPLAIN AN IDEA OR
THOUGHT.

PART B – SCALE DIAGRAMS

1. Go to myApps and open Microsoft Visio. If you get an error message about
incompatibility with Office, please see the Software Installation file on
Blackboard for more information on how to resolve it.

2. Select the “Office Layout” preset template.

3. Click “Create”. (Use US measurement)

4. It now gives you a basic workspace. The ruler on the top and left of your canvas
shows 22 feet across and 17 feet high. This will be useful to note, as we will
create a diagram “to scale”.

5. Go to the “view” menu at the top of the page and check the box that says “grid”.

6. Then click “zoom” in the same toolbar and select “page width”.

7. You will be creating your dream office. Drag and drop appropriate furniture and
resize them so they are exactly what you would like to have.

8. Make sure you add furniture, technology, a person, and any extras you may like
to have in your room (like plants!)

9. For the table, you can right click > Properties to adjust the furniture size.

10. Other furniture will require you to adjust the size in View > Task Panes > Size
and Position.

11. Save the file as a Visio file (vsdx) AND a PNG.

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Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology – School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology
Page 4 of 7 – ICO 155 – Introduction to Computers

PART C: THE FUTURE OF COMPUTERS DIAGRAM

1. In Visio, click the file menu and select “new”.

2. We will now pick “Basic Diagram”. Then select “Create”.

3. On the left, we are now given more general shapes, but you can access more
items in the “more shapes” section. Look at the network sub-menu for computer-
related devices. Do not take images from the internet for this exercise.

4. You will now create a diagram to explain your idea of “The Future of
Computers”. Here is an example of “Cloud Computing”. The idea is that all
devices can access the cloud, so that is what the diagram shows. Your
diagram must be different than the example shown.

5. Use as many different images as possible and avoid using text. This is
intended to explain your concept without words.

6. Save your Visio document.

7. Now go to File-Export and select “Change file type”

8. Save the file as a Visio file (vsdx) AND a PNG.

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Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology – School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology
Page 5 of 7 – ICO 155 – Introduction to Computers

PART D: THE FUTURE OF COMPUTERS DIAGRAM

1. In Visio, click the file menu and select “new”.

2. We will now pick the “Flowchart” category. Double click on “Basic Flowchart”.

3. Create the following flowchart in Visio for a store checkout process. See steps
#4-7 for details on how to do so.

4. You can add text to the flowchart shapes by right clicking and selecting Edit
Text. Once the text is typed, click elsewhere.

5. To connect flowchart shapes with arrows, there are 2 methods.

a. To connect shapes that are already on the page, On the Home tab, in the
Tools group, click Connector or press Ctrl+3. Then click on a shape
and drag a connector to another shape.

Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology – School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology
Page 6 of 7 – ICO 155 – Introduction to Computers

b. You can also create a new shape which will be automatically connected
to another flowchart shape. Hold the mouse pointer over the first shape
until AutoConnect arrows appear around the shape. Next, hold the point
over the arrow in one of the directions and choose the shape you want to
add from the toolbar that appears.

6. Finally, change the appearance of your connectors. Make all the connectors
arrows have arrow shapes, and customize 2 other of the connectors to have
unique looks. You can choose a theme on the Design tab (just like Powerpoint
Themes). To change individual connectors, view the following video:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-format-connectors-a2fa0ca9-c160-
4f10-bfd1-c86e55690b80

7. Finally, do some alignment changes to make it look similar to the diagram

above. Visio has an auto-align features. More information here:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/auto-align-auto-space-and-re-layout-
shapes-in-a-diagram-a523b157-c8ff-47b0-9210-2f292de8ba20 to learn more.

8. Save the file as a Visio file (vsdx) AND a PNG.

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Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology – School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology
Page 7 of 7 – ICO 155 – Introduction to Computers

WRAPPING UP

You will be submitting 4 separate files:

1. This filled out PDF file.

2. A PNG file of your dream office. (NOT the vsdx file!)
3. A PNG file of your Future of Computers diagram. (NOT the vsdx file!)
4. A PNG file of the store check-out flowchart. (NOT the vsdx file!)

Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology – School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology