Capture ideas

An idea is a lightweight predecessor of a demand that allows the organization to document, assess, and prioritize opportunities before committing to the full demand management process.

Add ideas to the repository

In the navigation panel, click Investment Portfolio > Ideas Portal.​ Per default, the data workbench displays only a set of basic attributes. You can add more columns to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench or you can navigate to an idea's content area and define it in more detail there. Click to learn about how to use data workbenches.

Create a new idea from scratch. Go to Investment Portfolio > Ideas Portal and click New > Idea. Specify the idea's attributes as well as the relationships that the idea has to other assets in the repository. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the idea and save it.

Edit the attributes and relationships for an idea. Click the Navigate   button next to a idea to open its content area. Specify the idea's attributes as well as the relationships that the idea has to other assets in the repository.

Specify the idea's attributes

Once an idea is in the repository, you can define more details about it in the Ideas Portal data workbench.

data workbench

A data workbench is a data table that allows you to capture, edit, and understand large amounts of data.

Or specify and analyze the idea in detail in its content area . In the data workbench, click the Navigate button for an idea to open its content area > Overview page.

Define the idea's basic data. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the idea and save it.

• Name: (Mandatory) Enter a unique name for the idea. The name should help others easily understand the purpose of the idea.
• Classification: Specify whether the idea is due to a business or process pain point, need for new functionality, or is required because a technology is reaching its end-of-life. It is possible to select multiple values.
• Status: Specify the current status of the idea from initiation to realization:
  • New: The idea has only mandatory data defined. A idea with this status can be deleted.
  • Under Assessment: The idea is being evaluated for implementation. A idea with this status cannot be deleted.
  • Accepted: The idea is accepted and can be promoted to a demand.
  • Rejected: The idea is no longer valid and can be deleted.
• Target Date: Specify when the idea should be realized. Click the calendar icon to select the date or enter the date in the date format Month/Day/Year. For example: 4/30/2023
• Priority: Specify how critical the requestor needs the idea.
• Benefits: Document the business benefits that the idea offers.
• Authorized Access tab: The user who creates the idea is the authorized user per default. This can be changed. Select one or more authorized user groups that shall have write permissions to the idea. All users in the authorized user group can edit the idea.

  authorized user

  An authorized user has primary responsibility to maintain the data for an object. Typically this is the user that has created the object. The authorized user as well as members of authorized user groups have write permissions to objects they are responsible for.

  authorized user group

  An authorized user group is a set of users that have been granted write permissions to an object. More than one authorized user group may be specified for an object.

Define the users and organizations that have a responsibility for the idea

A role represents a functional responsibility that a user or organization has for the idea. Assigning users and organizations to roles is critical to understanding responsibility for assets in the IT and is required to answer the business question Who is responsible for our assets?.

Responsibilities are based on preconfigured role types. Your company may also configure custom role types via the Portfolio Admin user profile. Depending on the role type, a specified user and/or a specified organization may fulfill the responsibility for the idea. A user assigned responsibility via a role has read-only permissions to the idea. To change data about the idea, they must also be specified as an authorized user or member of an authorized user group.

Roles can be assigned to an idea in the Ideas data workbench or the idea content area via Overview > Responsibilities. The following roles as well as custom roles added by your company can be defined for a idea:

• Demand Manager: A person who is responsible for the idea.
• Stakeholder: Multiple persons and organizations who have an interest in the idea and therefore require read-only access permissions.

To specify responsibilities for the idea:

1. Click in the relevant role field to open the selector.
2. Expand the ORGANIZATION or USER sections in the selector and select the person or organization fulfilling the role.
3. Click OK to save the role definition and close the selector.

Promote the idea to a demand

An idea that has been submitted to the ideas portal can be promoted to a demand, which can later be assigned to a project. When you create a demand based on the idea, the idea's status, target date, priority, classification roles, benefits, and roles will be assigned to the new demand. Alternatively, you can also assign the idea to an existing demand. An ideas can only be associated with one demand.

• To manually create a new demand for an idea, go to the idea content area and click Action > Promote Idea to Demand. In the editor that opens, update the fields as needed and click OK. The demand will be displayed in the idea's content area > Overview > Assigned to Demand
• Alternatively, you can also assign the idea to an existing demand. IN the content area of the idea, go the Assigned to Demand field and select the demand you want to assign the demand to.

All ideas assigned to a demand can be viewed in the Assigned Ideas view in the demand content area.