

SmartDraw scores high in the ranking system primarily due to its versatility, vibrant appearance with an unmatched themes of colors and styles, integration with PowerPoint and SharePoint, ability to Import or export MS Project files, share data with Autocad, and export diagrams to PDF, Visio, Word, Excel or PowerPoint. Its drag and drop functionality and the facility to create flowcharts including shapes and lines automatically by inputing simple commands allow users to create fishbone diagrams with ease as well. SmartDraw, a popular application used to draw 2D diagrams primarily is useful for drawing decision trees and other project diagramming purposes. Such applications overcome most limitations of using MS-Word or MS-Excel, and make drawing such diagrams a hassle-free experience. Applications such as SmartDraw, EDraw Max, RCA XPress, Blue Print, and XMind allow users to create a host of diagrams including fishbones.

For instance, in MS-Word users have to reposition and redraw boxes to insert additional causes or sub-causes, and face limitations of space. It is possible to draw fishbone diagrams, also known as Ishikawa Diagram or Cause and Effect Diagram using common applications such as MS-Word or MS-Excel, but the process is cumbersome.
