It will take me some time to review the content coming out at MSIgnite, but there is a re-occurring theme with the seemingly omni-presence of the Power Platform in all the user-facing applications that contain data. The Power Platform is PowerApps, Microsoft Flow, and Power BI ( view a session about this ) built on top of Azure. They work together, or separately, and they add an incredible amount of flexibility and democracy to applications. In the case of Visio, there is a tantalising view of what is coming shortly! Check out this video.
Visio is already one of the most used business process diagramming available, having surpassed its initial target of out-selling the then market leader, ABC Flowcharter, in the early 90’s within 2 years. Now, imagine being able to pass on those business process diagrams, created by analysts or employees closer to the problem, to the power-user who can markup the MSFlow connectors and settings for each of the tasks, gateways and events! Finally, the completed flow can be exported to become an actual MSFlow that can be run.
There is some very important points here:
Firstly, there is no disconnect between the business flow requirements and the technology employed to effect them. This will surely smooth out any communication issues between teams!
Secondly, the Visio document becomes a detailed flow template that can be re-used, or copied and modified to become other detailed flow templates.
Thirdly, the Visio interface, which will be in Visio Online Plan 2, is much more user-friendly than the standard MSFlow web interface, plus it can be annotated and even printed (yes, some people like to paper walls!). When they have added in the reverse-engineering of existing MSFlows then there should be a rush to add a Visio subscription.
My own presentation was about the possibilities when you use the Visio custom visual for Power BI, so now consider the flow marked-up business process diagrams in a dashboard with the realtime data from the running flow. The potential is blowing my mind!
As I said at the start, the Power Tools are omni-present, and Visio has the potential to become a first-class exponent!