This page explains how OrgNice actually works day-to-day — useful if you’re deciding whether to adopt it, or explaining it to your own IT or ops team.
Projects
A project is the core unit in OrgNice. Each project maps to one Google Sheet. If that Sheet contains a reporting hierarchy, the project gives you both a directory and an org chart; without one, you still get a directory. See Google Sheets Structure and Template for what a reporting hierarchy needs to look like.
Live, not stored
Directory and org chart views are powered directly from your Google Sheet. Every time someone opens a view, OrgNice fetches the current state of the Sheet and renders it fresh — there’s no sync step, no cache, and no “last updated” data drifting out of sync with reality. For the full breakdown of what OrgNice does and doesn’t store, see For IT & Security.
Setup once, then get out of the way
OrgNice is designed so your existing workflow doesn’t change. You set up a project once — connect the Sheet, map the fields, adjust appearance — and after that, day-to-day use doesn’t touch OrgNice at all: people edit the Sheet, viewers see the latest result. Once a project is set up to your satisfaction, its configuration typically doesn’t need to change often.
Owner and viewers
Each project has one owner, who can edit the project’s configuration — the connected Sheet, field mapping, sharing settings, and appearance. Everyone else you share the project with is a viewer; OrgNice supports unlimited viewers. See Sharing for how to control who gets access.
This is separate from who can edit the underlying Google Sheet. The Sheet can have as many editors as your organization wants — that’s entirely between you and Google Sheets, unrestricted by OrgNice. Multiple people can edit the Sheet independently, exactly as they do today, and OrgNice reflects whatever the Sheet says the next time anyone views it.
Two kinds of updates
Most changes to your org don’t require touching OrgNice at all:
- Data changes (the common case) — someone joins, leaves, or the org restructures. Edit the Google Sheet as usual. The next time anyone views the directory or chart, they see the current state — no action needed in OrgNice itself.
- Structure changes (the uncommon case) — you add a new column to the Sheet, like age, location, or working hours, and want it to show up in the directory or chart. This does take a step in OrgNice: the project owner updates the mapping in Setup to bring the new field in.
The core idea
OrgNice builds on top of the Google Sheets workflow you already have — it doesn’t ask your organization to adopt a new system for maintaining org data. The Sheet stays the source of truth; OrgNice is a live view on top of it.
