PM Idea Management

(Please click on the hexagons for more information)

Idea management deals with the generation, capturing, evaluation, filtering, approval and execution of ideas related to projects and other areas. ]project-open[ provides support for almost all of these stages, allowing companies to implement the process in a single integrated system together with project execution.

Idea Generation

Idea generation is a purely human process with little opportunities for support by an IT system.

]project-open[ offers its generic CKM (Collaboration and Knowledge Management) functionality to support this step. In particular the XoWiki might be useful in this context in order to communicate the organization's challenges, strategic orientation, existing programs and rules for the selection and evaluation of new ideas.

Capture Ideas



]project-open[ includes an idea management package that facilitates the entry of idea (see screenshot below). The idea entry can be configured to anonymous or named entry. Every newly captured idea is represented as a ]po[ ticket which can be controlled by a workflow in order to pass the idea through the following stages of evaluation, filtering and approval.

The contacts package can be used to send out email invitations to a specific group of users to enter their ideas, similar to the CRM campaign management process

Evaluate Ideas

Depending on their scope, ideas need to be evaluated according to a number of dimensions. ]po[ offers a wide range of evaluation options:

  • "Thumbs Up" or "I Like" voting:
    According to configuration, anonymous or named users are granted a number of "Thumbs Up" or "I Like" votes that they may distribute to the list of existing ideas.
  • Value, Risk and other numeric parameters:
    ]po[ allows to define [customer specific dynamic fields] for ideas or even per type of idea. These custom fields can be numeric or may consist of a finite number of options and can control the idea workflow.
  • Business Plans or other Office Documents:
    Users may be required to upload office documents to ideas in order to allow the idea to advance to the next stage.

Filter Ideas (Stage-Gate or Stage-Phase Process)

A workflow controlling can be used to implement a stage-gate process where the each stage requires a number of inputs from a range of stake holders. A graphical workflow editor exists that allows to create customer specific workflows for the filtering process.

The workflow may define additional parameters (numeric, textual, etc.) that need to be entered during the filtering process.

Approve Ideas

Approval is also controlled by the workflow. Workflow notifications and a workflow inbox provides authorized users with the information about new approval requests and handle and protocol the actual approval action.

Execute Ideas

Ideas are stored in ]project-open[ using a specific type of tickets that are visible as part of the helpdesk. Approved ideas may change their ticket type in order to represent actual work requests, or tickets may be converted into projects for ideas with a considerable scope. The controlling workflow can automatically perform these conversions

Process Reporting

  • The]po[ data-warehouse includes a ticket cube for detailed reporting on type, status, evolution and custom fields of tickets.
  • The Idea Management Package provides structured display of currently open ideas together with their "Thumbs Up" or likes.
  • A workflow inbox is available for every authorized user with a list of ideas to approve.
  • Various helpdesk reports and indicators are available for reporting on ideas, as ideas are represented as helpdesk tickets.

References

 

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