smartcrowds makes it easy to progress and track Ideas using an 'out-of-the-box' Idea workflow. The workflow tracks ideas using 2 complementary statuses, as follows:
Idea Status
The Idea Status provides a very high level indication of the progress of an Idea.
Idea Submitted
-> Awaiting Moderation (if moderation is turned on)
-> Removed
-> Awaiting Assessment
-> In Progress
-> Completed
Each of the above states are set as follows:
Awaiting Moderation - An Idea enters this state immediately following submission ONLY IF the moderation option has been set to 'On' for the Crowd.
Removed - An Idea enters this state if a manual action is taken by a moderator to 'Remove' the Idea following submission.
Awaiting Assessment - An Idea enters this state following publication. Publication is automatic where moderation is turned off for the Crowd, and manual when moderation is turned on for the Crowd.
In Progress - An Idea enters this state as soon as 1 or more Assessment(s) have been recorded against it.
Complete - An idea enters this state when a manual action is taken to close the Idea.
Idea Sub Status
The Idea Sub Status provides a finer level of visibility over how an Idea is progressing, as follows:
Idea Submitted
-> Awaiting Decision
-> (Decision) Not Planned
-> (Decision) Duplicate
-> (Decision) Merged
-> (Decision) Planned / Shortlisted
-> Exploring
-> Complete: Selected
-> Complete: Not Selected
-> Implementing
-> Complete: Implemented
-> Complete: Not Implemented
Each of the above states are set as follows:
Awaiting Decision - this is the first step of the workflow following Idea contribution. Note that a Decision is only required if the Group option is set to 'Require a Decision' (see below).
(Decision) Not Planned - this is a manual action that indicates that at this point in time, there is no plan to take the Idea forward. This state can be changed at any time during the decision making process.
(Decision) Duplicate - this is a manual action that indicates that this Idea is a duplicate of another primary Idea, which means that this specific submission won't be taken forward. This state can be changed at any time during the decision making process.
(Decision) Merged - this is a manual action that indicates that elements of this idea have been merged with / incorporated into another primary idea, which means that this specific submission won't be taken forward. This state can be changed at any time during the decision making process.
(Decision) Planned - this is a manual action that indicates that the Idea will be taken forward to implementation, normally without the need for an exploration process to determine Idea viability. This state can be changed at any time during the decision making process.
(Decision) Shortlisted - this is a manual action that indicates that the Idea shows promise, and is likely to enter into a an exploration process to determine Idea viability. This state can be changed at any time during the decision making process.
Exploring - An Idea enters this state automatically as soon as an 'exploration' Plan or a Survey is created for the Idea. Note that an exploration Plan can only be added to Ideas that were previously set to 'Planned' or 'Shortlisted'.
Complete: Selected - An Idea which is being 'explored' enters this state manually when a decision is taken to close (i.e. complete) the Idea with a status of 'Selected'.
Complete: Not Selected - An Idea which is being 'explored' enters this state manually when a decision is taken to close (i.e. complete) the Idea with a status of 'Not Selected'.
Implementing - An idea enters this state as soon as an 'implementation' Plan is created. Note that an Idea can go straight to 'Implementing' from 'Planned' or 'Shortlisted' by adding an implementation Plan without first adding an exploration Plan.
Complete: Implemented - An Idea which is being 'implemented' enters this state manually when a decision is taken to close (i.e. complete) the Idea with a status of 'Implemented'.
Complete: Not Implemented - An Idea which is being 'implemented' enters this state manually when a decision is taken to close (i.e. complete) the Idea with a status of 'Not Implemented'.
Note that the Idea Status and Idea Sub Status recorded by each of the above steps will reverse back out as activities are removed from smartcrowds.
For example:
if the last remaining Assessment is removed for an Idea, the Idea Status will revert back from the current status of 'In Progress' to 'Awaiting Assessment'.
if a last remaining 'implementation' Plan is removed for an Idea, the Sub Status will revert back from the current Sub Status of 'Implementing' to either 'Exploring' or 'Awaiting Decision'.
If a last remaining 'exploration' Plan is removed for an Idea, the status will revert back from the current Sub Status of 'Exploring' to 'Awaiting Decision'.
Ideas that have been 'Set to Complete' can be reopened at any time, which will also revert the status back.
NOTE: The Idea Sub Status workflow can be set to 'On' or 'Off' which will determine whether a Decision needs to be made following submission.
When the option is turned on for a Group, the workflow will be enabled for all future Ideas that are added to that Group.
When the option is turned off, the requirement to record a decision for each new Idea is removed.