Feature Specification: Organizational Chart Visualizer

1. Overview & Vision

The Org Chart Visualizer provides a clear, interactive representation of the company's reporting structure. It transforms flat employee data into a dynamic hierarchy, helping employees discover colleagues and understand departmental boundaries within the VENI-AI ecosystem.

2. Personas & Stakeholders

Persona	Goal
Employee	Understand the company hierarchy and find reporting lines.
HR Admin	Audit reporting structures and identify gaps in management.
Executive	Visualize the entire organization for strategic planning.

3. User Stories

• As an employee, I want to see who reports to the CTO so I can identify the right engineering manager to contact.
• As an HR Admin, I want to export the org chart to a PDF for our board meeting.
• As a user, I want to search for "Jane Doe" and have the chart automatically pan and zoom to her node.

4. Functional Requirements (FR)

• REQ-OC-001: Interactive top-down or left-to-right hierarchy tree.
• REQ-OC-002: Search within the chart with auto-focus/zoom.
• REQ-OC-003: Mini-profile cards on node click (Name, Title, Avatar).
• REQ-OC-004: Expand/Collapse branches for large organizations.
• REQ-OC-005: Drag-and-drop node repositioning — HR can reassign department membership and reporting lines directly on the chart canvas.

5. Non-Functional Requirements (NFR)

• Rendering: Smooth performance for up to 500 nodes (D3.js).
• Interactivity: Zoom and Pan MUST feel fluid (60fps).

6. Business Logic & Rules

• Data Transformation: The frontend builds a hierarchical JSON from a flat array using managerId references.
• Root Discovery: The system automatically identifies the root node (employee with managerId = null).
• Isolation: Only active employees are shown in the chart by default.
• Drag-and-Drop Persistence: Dropping an employee node onto a new manager triggers a PATCH /employees/:id call updating managerId and departmentId; the chart re-renders optimistically.

7. User Interface (UI/UX)

• Canvas: Full-screen SVG drawing area.
• Controls: Floating toolbar for Search, Zoom In/Out, and Recenter.
• Node Design: Rounded cards with color-coded borders by department.

8. Information Architecture

• "Org Chart" link in the primary HRM navigation.
• Mini-chart preview on the Organization Settings page.

9. Data Model & Persistence

• Uses the core employees and departments tables.
• No dedicated table for the chart (computed in real-time).

10. API & Service Layer

• GET /employees/org-chart
• EmployeeService.getOrgChart() performs a recursive database fetch or bulk fetch + frontend stratification.

11. Integration Patterns

• Library: Uses D3.js for the tree layout and force-directed positioning (optional).
• Navigation: Clicking "View Full Profile" on a node navigates to the Employee Profile feature.

12. Security & Permissions

• RBAC: employees:read required to view the chart.
• Privacy: Hidden employees (e.g., sensitive roles) are excluded from the JSON response.

13. Error Handling & Resilience

• Circular Check: Detects and alerts if circular reporting is found in the data.
• Empty State: Friendly message if no employees are registered.

14. Performance & Scalability

• Large charts use "Level of Detail" (LOD) to hide avatars when zoomed far out.
• Incremental loading for organizations with 1000+ employees (planned).

15. Globalization & i18n

• Localized search and UI controls.

16. Accessibility (a11y)

• Screen reader support for searching and selecting nodes.
• High-contrast mode for the SVG connections.

17. Observability & Analytics

• Tracking of "Most Visited Branches" to understand internal discovery patterns.

18. Testing & Quality

• Visual regression testing for node layouts.
• Performance profiling for large-tree rendering.

19. Constraints & Assumptions

• Assumes every employee (except the CEO) has a valid managerId.

20. Future Enhancements

• Export to PNG/PDF.
• Matrix management (dotted-line reporting).
• Historical "Time Travel" view (org structure as of Date X).