Getting Started with Brightidea Pipeline Management

 

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
  • Browser Requirements
  • Understanding User Roles
  • Accessing Pipeline Management
• Pipelines
• Creating a Pipeline
• Pipeline Manager (Left Panel)
• Right Slide-Out Menu
• Stages
• Steps and Tool Types
  • Configuring a Step and Sending Action Items
  • Managing Action Item Assignees
  • Managing Steps
  • Automating Steps with Rules Engine
• Additional Important Things to Know

Getting Started

No two innovation processes are the same- that's why Brightidea's Pipeline Management is designed for maximum flexibility and configurability. Whether you're deploying internally or externally, whether time-boxed or continuous, Brightidea can meet the diverse innovation needs of your business. We know it will have a meaningful impact on your teams' innovation program moving forward. 

With that said, let's get to some of the key information we need to review with you.

Browser Requirements

Brightidea's Pipeline Management is supported in the browsers listed below. While older browsers can still be used, we recommend the most up-to-date to ensure that our newest and greatest features will still look and work as intended- simply put, the older the browser, the less compatible it will be with new features.

• Google Chrome (latest version recommended)
• Mozilla Firefox (latest version recommended)
• Apple Safari (latest version recommended)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11

Understanding User Roles

Brightidea's Pipeline Management supports three different roles with varying privileges:

• System Administrator: All System Administrators have access to all parts of Pipeline Management. If a user is assigned as a System Admin, they're all set. They do not need to be assigned to any other role.

• Initiative/Pipeline Admin: This can be any user who is responsible for managing and maintaining an Initiative/Pipeline. Once a user is assigned to this role, they can conduct everything needed for their specific Pipeline(s).

• Subject Matter Expert / Action Item Assignee / Evaluator: An Evaluator is a user assigned to an Action Item from a Pipeline. They have access to review their assigned Action Items within their Action Items list.

Accessing Pipeline Management

The System or Pipeline Administrator can navigate to the Pipeline Management area through a few different options: Global Navigation, Admin Navigation, or Dynamic Navigation.

Using Global Navigation, Admins can select the Command Center link from the Global Navigation gear menu drop-down menu, then select any Pipeline from the left panel.

Using Admin Navigation, Admins can select the "Steps" or "List" link from the Initiative navigation bar:

 

Using Dynamic Navigation, Admins can select Admin > Manage Pipeline from the Navigation bar:

Pipelines

One of the things Brightidea understands in-depth is that innovation is always changing.  As a result, Brightidea has intentionally implemented state-of-the-art functionality to make sure all maintenance and organization of your team's Pipelines- as well as Ideas in those Pipelines- have a successful workflow. 

A Pipeline is the overall set of tools (including the front-end Initiative) that allows innovation managers to control and automate their Idea workflow from gathering Idea submissions to detailed evaluations, all the way to project implementation.

The Member Area & Pipeline Manager (left panel) in Brightidea allows the Pipeline Admin to view and edit existing Pipelines as well as create new Pipelines:

When creating a Pipeline, an Initiative is also created in Brightidea to crowd-source ideas.

Creating a Pipeline

To create a new Pipeline, select the + sign from the Pipeline Manager in the left sidebar:

 

 

Administrators can also select the Products link from the Global Navigation gear menu

 

Admins will be presented with a wizard allowing them to choose from one of Brightidea's Applications, create a custom Pipeline, or copy an existing Pipeline.

Creating a Custom Pipeline allows the Admin to create their own designated workflow leveraging all tools available.

Copying an Existing Pipeline will copy all stages and steps from a pre-existing Pipeline into a new Pipeline. 

Creating a Pipeline through one of Brightidea's Applications will set up a standard pre-configured Pipeline. 

First, you will need to choose a Sponsor and a Topic Title and fill out the Challenge Brief. 

 

Select Continue to proceed. On the next screen, the Admin has the option of using the Default Design or copying from an Existing Initiative.

• Using Default Design provides the standard out-of-the-box design of the selected App. 
• Copying from an Existing Initiative allows the Admin to clone the design of an existing Initiative, whether previous or current.

Lastly, Admin will need to fill in the fields for Participants and Roles. 

• Participants are the individual users and access group(s) that are permitted to view Initiative sites- For time-boxed Initiatives- which is simply configuring the Initiative to run for a set time frame rather than running indefinitely- you can grant Early Access to specified users/Groups.

• Roles are the users that supervise/manage varying aspects of your Pipeline. You can view the list of different User Roles and learn more here.

Once created, the new Pipeline will be visible in the left-hand menu. 

If your team needs to map an existing Initiative to a Pipeline, please contact your Brightidea Account Manager!

Pipeline Manager (Left Panel)

The Pipeline Manager (Left Panel) provides a list of all accessible Pipelines.  Within the panel, Admins have access to the following information and activity:

• Action Items: View & review their own open and completed action item
• Command Center: Users can navigate to the IPM Command Center

Sort and Filter Pipelines

The Pipeline Manager also allows Admins to Archive, Favorite or Delete Pipelines. The Admin can right-click on any Pipeline to access the following menu:

• Go to Site: Direct link to Initiative home page
• Add to Archive: Adds Pipeline to 'Archived' section
• Add / Remove from Favorites: Can favorite the Pipeline for easy access.
• Delete: Delete the Pipeline and all its content/components
  • Note: Deleting a Pipeline will delete all Site data for that Pipeline, including the Initiative and its Ideas, Comments, etc.
• Setup: Opens the Setup page for the selected Pipeline.

To search for Pipelines, type into the search field to filter.

Admins can also sort Pipelines by selecting one of the available sort options: 

• All: Displays all accessible Pipelines to the user / Admin.
• Recent: Displays and arranges all accessible Pipelines by Creation Date.
• Archived: Displays all accessible Pipelines that are marked 'Archived'
• Favorites: Lists all Initiatives that have been favorited- also marked with a Star icon.

Admins can also organize Pipelines into Folders. To create a new Pipeline Folder, select the folder icon, enter a title in the field, then select Create Folder. Once the Folder is created and appears in the list, Admins can drag and drop Pipelines into that Folder. 

Pipeline Admin Navigation (Right-side dropdown list)

The Pipeline Admin Navigation dropdown menu allows all Admins to access several key areas of that specific Pipeline.

The Pipeline Admin Navigation menu is broken down into several components:

• Site: This link will take you to the front-end Homepage for this Initiative
• Site Setup: This will open the Initiative's Setup screen. This is where you can make any Initiative configurations.
• Steps: This is the main view for each Pipeline. This view will display all Stages, Steps, and Submissions.
• List: Gives the Admin access to the List (Grid) view of the Pipeline to manage ideas.
• Dashboard: Allows Admin to review the selected Pipeline & Initiative's metrics/statistics.
• Knowledge Base: Takes the Admin to the Command Center Knowledge Base.
• Pipeline Setup: This option allows the Admin to access the Pipeline's Setup where they can configure the Pipeline's information, Rules Engine, and templates for Scorecards.
  • Note: Altering any information in Pipeline Setup will also update on the Site. (i.e. if an Admin updates the Pipeline name or description, it will update the Site name on the front end)

Stages

Stages are ways to organize Steps into larger groupings in your workflow. This workflow can include a process that begins with collecting Submissions from Participants, followed by triggering Action Items requiring review by Subject Matter Experts, and ends with handing off Submissions to respective business units.

Sometimes, an Innovation Team's Stages may require multiple Action Items or Evaluations.  As a result, Brightidea allows Admins to include as many Steps as needed* for each Stage in the innovation process.

* Brightidea recommends no more than 20 Steps max per Pipeline. If your workflow requires more, please consult with your Customer Success Manager.

When a new Pipeline is created, default Stages from the App will be automatically created. The Admin can rename these Stages by selecting the pencil icon in the Stages top bar above the steps.

To learn more about Stages, you can reference the corresponding Support article here.

Steps & Tools

Steps are areas where Admins can manage, evaluate, and advance Submissions through their Pipeline process. Steps are grouped within Stages to differentiate between different parts of the workflow.

To create a new Step, Admins can select the green + button at the bottom-right of their Pipeline Steps view. This will display a popup to add basic Step information:

• Step Name: Enter the name for the new Step
• Step Description: Describe the Step; this can help other administrators or moderators of the Pipeline understand the Step's purpose
• Select Tool Type: Select the tool type for the new step. This can also be set to "No Tool Selected" if there is no evaluation or development required for that Step
• Select Stage: Select the Stage where the new Step will be placed

Complete the process by selecting Create.

To learn more about Steps, you can reference the corresponding Support article here.

Configuring a Step and Sending Action Items

By default, Submissions for an Initiative will appear in the first Step of the Pipeline.

Each Step in the Pipeline can be configured to either use a specific tool type or use no tool type at all. If a tool type is selected and configured, action items will be sent to assignees whenever a submission is added to that Step.

• In this example, we will configure the Review Step as the first Step in our Pipeline:
  • Select the Step's Ellipses Menu > Configure Review, which will display the Review Action Item configuration popup
  • In this window, the Pipeline Admin searches and selects the user Jane Smith. When new submissions move into this step, she will be assigned Action Items automatically
  • The Pipeline Admin can then configure the action item due date, permissions for evaluators, settings, email notifications and reminders, and more.

• Once the Pipeline Admin finishes configuring the Step, selecting Activate will save the settings and activate the Step
• When new Submissions are added to the Step, assignees will be sent Action Items via email and in-app notifications to complete Review Action Items

The Review Action Item is just one out of many different tool types available in Brightidea. To learn more about the many different tool types available and how to configure each to fit your needs, you can refer to this deep-dive article!

Managing Action Item Assignees

Action Item assignees can also be removed or added from the Step Configuration popup. This can be accomplished while also preserving previously completed Action Item data. When assignees need to be updated, please consider the following:

• Action Items assigned to the original, removed user that are still Open will be canceled
• Action Items already completed by the original, removed user will remain saved and visible in Step Manage pages, evaluation scores, summaries, and exports
• The original, removed assignee will no longer receive new action items 
  • Assignees (along with their completed action items) may still be permanently deleted from the Action Items Progress page 
• The original, removed assignees may be re-added to the Step. However, this will not automatically re-assign any previously assigned action items to them
  
• The assignee must be removed from all Categories in order for the assignee to appear as Removed for Category Assignment

Action items can also be managed for individual Submissions- including removing or adding Evaluators- using the Update Assignees feature. Learn more about updating assignees here.

Managing Steps

After Submissions enter each Step and Action Items are triggered and completed, Admins will still have access to review their Pipeline's progress. When the Admin selects Manage Step, they will be brought to a high-level overview page to review all progress of the Step.

For each Step- and each tool type- Admins can review select data points:

• Number of Completed vs. Open Action items (within that Step)
• Evaluator Names and the total completed percentage of their assigned Action Items
• The average number of days Action Items are open (or take to be completed)

The Admin can export data, determine whether Ideas move forward or not to subsequent Steps, send a reminder to all Action Item assignees of that Step, as well as edit the Due Date. 

To learn more about managing Steps, refer to this deep-dive article!

Automating Pipeline Steps with Rules Engine

One of the most valuable features of Brightidea is the incorporation of our Rules Engine. This allows Innovation Program Managers and Admins to automate their Pipeline from start to finish.

• For example, an Admin can set up a Rule to change the status automatically when Ideas are moved into a specified Step:

 

To learn more about Brightidea's Rules Engine feature, refer to this deep-dive article!

Additional Important Things to Know:

• Pipeline Management does not support label editing as translation support is currently unavailable.
• An Initiative is created as part of any new Pipeline, and will always default to the first Step in the Pipeline
• Brightidea recommends no more than 20 Steps max per Pipeline. If your work-flow requires more, please consult with your Customer Success Manager.
• System Administrators have administrative access to all pipelines in the system.

 

Please see all the additional articles about Pipeline Management below!

Enhanced Idea List
Managing Steps
Steps, Tool Types, & Action Items
Leveraging Rules Engine