Web Standard: Organizational Charts
Definitions
On www.epa.gov and work.epa.gov (the agency’s internet and intranet content management systems) an organizational chart, or org chart, is a diagram that visually represents the structure of an organization, specifically the hierarchy and relationships between different offices, divisions, and branches. Org charts should provide a basic overview of the office hierarchy and should not provide specific information such as office mission and goals, senior leadership positions and titles, or staff names or staff pictures.
Content Requirements
Org charts will have an introductory sentence or two introducing and explaining the purpose of the org chart.
Introductory text should be between 100 words and 200 words.
Use best web practices like intro text styling or headers, etc.
Org charts cannot include specific information such as office goals, senior leadership positions and titles, or staff names and pictures.
Org charts must be built as basic pages. Org charts must not be built using wide pages or other page formats.
Org charts must be built using the grid functionality readily available in both the internet and intranet content management systems. Use multipurpose boxes to create org charts. Multipurpose boxes are identified by their gray title section and gray border.
Be sure to spell out the full name of the office in the box title and then use the office abbreviation in the multipurpose box content section.
Use good link text and include abbreviations for any information about the office in the multipurpose box content section.
Each regional and program office must maintain a single org chart in the www.epa.gov and work.epa.gov environments that contain top-level office information. Org charts in the intranet environment may further include divisions, sub-offices, and branches if desired (if it is on one page).
Regional and program offices that need an org chart containing senior leadership positions, staff names and staff titles can leverage other Microsoft tools as needed to produce such org charts. Developing and maintaining such an org chart does not eliminate the requirement of this standard to maintain org charts in the www.epa.gov and work.epa.gov environments.
About this Standard
All EPA public web content must adhere to all federal requirements including; the EPA Web Standards, the U.S. Web Design System guidelines, federal plain language guidelines, and the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act. Internal content, including Intranet and Microsoft 365, may differ from the public content. If not explicitly stated, content must adhere to all federal requirements.
Original effective date: 8/14/25
Last approved on: 8/14/25
Web Council review by: 8/14/28 (or earlier if deemed necessary by the Web Council)
Related Information
- EPA@Work training page on creating organizational charts.
- EPA@Work Organization Chart template page.
- EPA@Work training page on Grids (Columns).
- EPA@Work training page on Staff Directories.
- How to add an individual Staff Member to EPA@Work.
- WebCMS training page on Grids.
- Example of EPA Organization Charts on www.epa.gov.
- Example of the Administrator’s Office on work.epa.gov.
- Example of the Office of Chemical Safety & Pollution Prevention on work.epa.gov.
- US Web Design site’s section on Grid Layout includes explanatory information and code that you can copy into your page.
- If you need assistance with creating or updating an Org Chart, please contact the OMS-WISB Team for assistance.