Dynamic Diagrams’ Web site diagrams show complex hypertext systems in a single view, aiding strategic planning and communication. Knowing of our work, Volkswagen Credit, Inc. asked us to diagram their Dealer Extranet, a system that distributes corporate information and applications to Volkswagen and Audi dealers. The organization wanted a benchmark view of the system that would show its different components and help staff project future developments.

The Volkswagen Credit Dealer Extranet has different states for different types of dealers — Volkswagen and Audi — in different countries and, in some cases, different langages.

Thus, one of our main challenges was to show such different states in a way that allowed easy comparison. Another challenge was to determine the appropriate level of detail for our analysis. In preliminary discussions, leading to the creation of four prototype diagrams, we identified two main goals for our work. First we needed to show the extranet’s informational structure. Second, we needed to inventory all of the site’s pages, grouped by function or category.

Confirming with our client that the two main goals described above could be treated separately, we created two diagrams, one for structure and one for inventory. To show different states of the site, we developed each diagram as a set of transparent overlays. A baseline layer shows the entire structure for all states. A more specific layer "grays out" some of the structure, supersedes other areas as necessary, and allows common areas to show through.

In electronic format (Adobe Acrobat), the layers can be switched on and off at will. For large-format printing, any set of layers can be turned on and a specific state printed. These multiple views can be easily compared since they are based on the same organizing structure.