As well as providing an out-of-the-box workflow for ideas, smartcrowds also provides functionality that enables an organisation to create one or more custom workflows, such as the example below, to meet any specific business need.

Custom workflows are defined at the Crowd level, and are managed using screens and reports that have been designed specifically for custom workflows.

Custom Workflows take advantage of smartcrowds Assessment->Plan->Outcome process to provide granular control over how an Idea should progress through the key stages of Vetting, Exploration and Implementation.

In smartcrowds, 'Idea Vetting' workflows are created around the initial 'Assessment' process in which an expert (or a group of experts) are called upon to complete a relatively light-touch step, or series of steps, to determine whether an idea can be determined as being 'in-play' for potential further work.

Taking the example above, the Assessment Measures might be defined as follows to create a custom Vetting workflow for this Crowd:

Here, the Vetting process has been called 'Step 1 - IDEATE', and 4 options have been defined: Reject, Defer, Accept, and Progressed Elsewhere.

The next step ('Step 2 - PRIORITISE') has been configured to only begin for Ideas that are recorded as 'Accept'.

This can be expanded further, to provide some context around how the Ideas might create value for the organisation, for example:

In smartcrowds, Idea 'Exploration' and 'Implementation' workflows are created around the 'Plan->Outcome' process in which an expert (or a group of experts) are called upon to validate (with evidence) whether exploration or implementation work has provided a sufficient level of confidence to carry on to the next step.

The work that will be carried out is recorded in appropriate Exploration and Implementation Plans, and the results of that work (and the decisions around next steps) are recorded in Outcomes.

Taking the example above, the Outcome Measures might be defined as follows to create a custom Exploration workflow for this Crowd:

In this example, the workflow has been configured to only permit each of the exploration steps to progress to the next step where 'Accept' has been chosen when recording an Outcome.

At Step 5, the workflow ends because no further steps or actions have been defined.

Alternatively, 'Accept' at Step 5 could be defined to move into an Implementation phase

Custom workflows use connections between Assessment, Plan and Outcome 'Measures' to control the flow of an Idea.

Assessment and Outcome Measures are configured for a Crowd on the 'Assessment /Outcome Measures' page, which is accessed from the ellipses menu of any Crowd.

Plan Measures are configured for a Crowd on the 'Plan Measures' page, which is accessed from the ellipses menu of any Crowd.

A workflow will normally start with an Idea Vetting stage - which is managed via the recording of one (or more) Assessment(s). The Assessment can therefore normally be considered as the first 'Step' of the workflow.

Moving a workflow on from an Assessment (usually from an 'Accept' or 'Go' Assessment) requires a Plan, which is used to describe what activity or activities will be done next. A Plan can either be for further Idea 'Exploration' or to start 'Implementation' of the Idea. This Plan can be thought of a the 2nd Step of the workflow.

A Plan can move on to a subsequent Plan (i.e. the 3rd Step, 4th Step and so on) through the recording of an Outcome. The Outcome describes what was found as a result of carrying out the work that was laid out in the Plan. and sets out what next Plan (or Step) will be taken depending on the outcome (for example, 'Continue', 'Abort', 'Go back to step n' etc.

To develop a workflow in smartcrowds therefore, it needs to be considered in terms of the Assessments, Plans and Outcomes that make sense for your organisation (or more precisely, your Crowd in your organisation).

In the example above, the workflow has been developed as follows:

Managing Ideas through a custom workflow requires the use the recording of Assessment(s), Plan(s) and Outcome(s), and tracking of activities/steps that are due.

Read this article to learn more about Managing Ideas in a Custom Workflow.