xRM1 Idea Management Idea Management“ intends to map and support customer processes including collecting, evaluating, deciding on, and implementing ideas (including a …

User Manual

xRM1 Idea Management

English


xRM1 Idea Management Rollup 13

Table of Contents

0 Before you start 4 0.1 Foreword 4 0.2 System requirements 4 1 Terminology 5 1.1 Idea 5 1.2 Title 5 1.3 Status reason 5 1.4 Man days 5 1.5 Idea type 5 1.6 Topic 5 1.7 Case 5 1.8 Used terminology for Advanced Find 5 2 xRM1 Idea Management 6 2.1 Process overview 6 2.2 Process steps 6

2.2.1 Submitting 6 2.2.2 Open discussion 6 2.2.3 Validation 6 2.2.4 Concept 6 2.2.5 Evaluation 7 2.2.6 Decision 7 2.2.7 Implementation 7 2.2.8 Reward 7 2.2.9 Review 7

2.3 System administration settings 7 2.3.1 Idea types with evaluation criteria 8 2.3.2 Rewards 8

3 Stages of idea management 9 3.1 Submitting 10

3.1.1 Main form 10 3.1.2 “Submitters“ form 11

3.2 Open Discussion 11 3.3 Idea Validation 12 3.4 Idea Concept 13 3.5 Idea Evaluation 14

3.5.1 Main form 14 3.5.2 Form “Idea Evaluation Criteria“ 15 3.5.3 Task “Idea Evaluation” 16

3.6 Decision 17 3.7 Implementation 17 3.8 Reward 18

3.8.1 Main form 18 3.8.2 Form “Idea Submitter“ 19

3.9 Review 19 4 Idea Management Controlling 21 4.1 Idea Portfolio Overview 21

4.1.1 Idea Portfolio Overview – Page 1 21 4.1.2 Idea Portfolio Overview – Page 2 22

4.2 Dashboards 23 4.2.1 Idea Management Executive Dashboard 23 4.2.2 Idea Management Business Unit Manager Dashboard 24 4.2.3 Idea Management Employee Dashboard 25 4.2.4 Idea Management Benefits and Costs Dashboard 26

5 Rights and roles concept 27 5.1 Default settings 27

5.1.1 Licensing 27 5.1.2 Global 28

5.2 Installation 28 5.3 Solution activation (Activation Wizard) 28

5.3.1 Activating a free trial 29 5.3.2 Activating temporary or purchased license(s) 32

5.4 Solution configuration (Configuration Wizard) 33 5.5 License administration 35 5.6 Roles concept 35 5.7 xRM1 Idea Management Security roles 36

5.7.1 xRM1 Idea Submitter 36 5.7.2 xRM1 Idea Discusser 36 5.7.3 xRM1 Idea Validator 36 5.7.4 xRM1 Idea Concept Developer 36 5.7.5 xRM1 Idea Evaluator 36 5.7.6 xRM1 Idea Evaluator restricted 36 5.7.7 xRM1 Idea Decision Maker 36 5.7.8 xRM1 Idea Implementer 36 5.7.9 xRM1 Idea Rewarder 36 5.7.10 xRM1 Idea Reviewer 36


xRM1 Idea Management Rollup 13

5.7.11 xRM1 Idea Manager 36 5.8 License types and license assignment 36

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© itara GmbH, Beethovenstrasse 5, 97080 Wuerzburg, Germany,

Tel: +49 (931) 66084-111; E-Mail: [email protected]

All rights reserved.

DIN A4, Version v23


xRM1 Idea Management Rollup 13 4 / 38

0 Before you start

0.1 Foreword Experience has shown that management teams who involve employees in the decision process do better on the world market. In many organizations, idea management is already well established and firmly fixed in organizational processes.

One can maximize their organization’s full potential and optimize internal processes by tapping into employee first-hand knowledge.

An important tool to unlocking this potential is through the management of employee ideas. This can be the basis for:

Improving efficiency and motivation Promoting an innovative culture Discovering cost saving potential improved work-flow-management Increasing team efficiency Improving communication Optimizing processes Increasing competitive advantages Involving all employees and Creating a win-win situation for the entire company.

“xRM1 Idea Management“ intends to map and support customer processes including collecting, evaluating, deciding on, and implementing ideas (including a project interface in “CRM-Project“) as well as recognizing rewards and reviewing implemented ideas.

The idea management process consists of the following phases:

Submitting Open Discussion Validation Concept Evaluation Decision Implementation Reward Review

0.2 System requirements In order to use “xRM1 Idea Management“, the following system requirements have to be met:

Microsoft CRM Rollup 8, 11 v2, 12, 13 (due to the solution import bugs in RU 10) with one of the following base languages: English, German, Dutch, Russian, French, Czech, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese or Spanish

Internet Explorer 9 (alternative browsers not supported) SQL Server 2008 R2



1 Terminology The following selected terms are found within”„xRM1 Idea Management“. Here you will find them explained in more depth, for further clarification.

1.1 Idea Thought which leads to improving the status quo and therefore contributes to problem solving.

1.2 Title Designation of the idea (name, origin).

1.3 Status reason By changing the status reason and saving the idea form, a submitted idea will be led to the next process step. This is always the last activity in every process step.

Note: When you update your solution, your ideas must be deactivated, re-activated and brought to the correct status reason manually or by mass data editing. Otherwise, previously entered data might get lost.

1.4 Man days Unit for necessary resources during idea implementation. One man day (MD) e.g. equates to eight hours.

1.5 Idea type User-definable criteria for classifying ideas, such as the following types:

Marketing idea Sales idea Consulting idea Training idea Production idea Office idea

Specific criteria, necessary for evaluating ideas, can be attached below an idea type.

1.6 Topic Keyword, from a list, which describes the theme applying best to the idea.

1.7 Case Fully integrated standard functionality of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. When there is a system malfunction, a user creates a support request. Selecting a case(e.g. product defect, import problem, license problem) allows you to classify the malfunction.

1.8 Used terminology for Advanced Find If you use the “Advanced Find”, the display names are shown as columns. As some of the fields have the same field name, their display names were made explicitly by adding the respective phase in which the field is situated. For narrow columns with much content, the complete phase name was added (e.g. “Implementation”). For wider columns with less content, an abbreviation of the phase name was added (e.g. “(“Imp”).



2 xRM1 Idea Management

2.1 Process overview The following diagram shows atypical idea management process, which steps are described hereinafter.

2.2 Process steps

2.2.1 Submitting The submitters of an idea creates a new idea by adding a new record. This is done with the CRM standard function “Idea New”. Here, the current situation and the idea itself are described. The submitters are able to add the origin of the idea (e.g. a “Campaign” or a “Project”) and give a first cost-benefit estimate. Furthermore, the idea can refer to a “Topic” or an “Idea Type” and a timeline, for the idea, can be set. The submitters can either be users or contacts.

2.2.2 Open discussion In this phase, ideas can be discussed e.g. with the help of activity feeds or yammer. Results of the open discussion are entered in the idea form. The idea can also be marked as a duplicate.

Note: To be able to use activity feeds, the user needs to have the security role “Activity Feeds”. A whitepaper concerning the installation and usage of activity feeds can be found on the xRM1 website.

2.2.3 Validation The validator is responsible for the initial idea assessment. He/she writes a statement, about the previous submitting process, in the “Comments” field, refers to an “Idea Type” or duplicate and classifies the idea. The validator also decides what should be the next step of the idea process: “Concept”, “Evaluation” or “Decision”. You can also decide to deactivate the idea, should you think it best not to proceed.

2.2.4 Concept After the “Validation”, a “Concept” phase is to be implemented (e.g. in order to set up a business plan for the idea). We recommend organizing the concept as a project within “CRM-Project”. Additionally, a more detailed



cost-benefit estimate is provided by the concept developer. He/she also selects the next step: If the idea needs further assessment, it will be taken to the “Evaluation” phase, if not to the “Decision” phase.

Note: A whitepaper concerning the concept phase can be found on the xRM1 website.

2.2.5 Evaluation The principle aim of this phase is to evaluate the idea by using weighted criteria. The overall evaluation score is the basis for the succeeding “Decision” process. Besides being able to connect the idea to “Duplicates” and “Cases”, reference to an “Idea Type” can also be important as each idea type can contain predefined evaluation criteria. Furthermore, an additional cost-benefit estimate is provided.

2.2.6 Decision The “Decision“ process dictates whether or not an idea will be implemented and with which priority (high, medium, low). If approved, the idea is then led to the “Implementation” stage. Alternatives also include not proceeding with the idea or storing it in an idea pool.

2.2.7 Implementation After a positive decision, this phase supports the implementation of the idea. We recommend organizing the idea concept as a project using “CRM-Project”. The implementation project’s budget is also added. After completing this phase, the implementer can decide whether the next step should be “Reward”, “Review” or the idea completion.

2.2.8 Reward Here you establish the value and type of reward to be given to the idea submitter. This step is completed once the idea has been implemented with the necessary resources. In addition, the rewarder summarizes the current idea benefits and costs.

2.2.9 Review You can decide to review an idea after a predefined period of time. The review will display if potential savings were reached and to which direction the idea implementation led.

2.3 System administration settings



In the main “Settings“ menu, the “Extensions“ section displays certain functions dedicated to “xRM1 Idea Management“.

2.3.1 Idea types with evaluation criteria

In the “Idea Types“ setting, ideas can be defined by subject (e.g. marketing idea or production idea). These idea types can then be assigned evaluation criteria with specific weighting. These criteria will be used for all future ideas with the same idea type (see chapter 2.2.5).

2.3.2 Rewards

Here, rewards (in terms of gifts) can be deposed from which the responsible person for rewarding idea submitters can choose. The monetary value of each gift can also be saved.



3 Stages of idea management

In this section, we offer a detailed description of all fields which are important to the respective process steps. Initially, the following fields are relevant:

“Title“: Name of the idea. The “Title“ is a mandatory field. Otherwise, the idea cannot be saved.

“Owner”: This field will automatically be filled with the person responsible for the idea.

“Currency“: Here, the currency for all “Money“ fields is determined. As default, the system’s base currency is filled in.

“Campaign“: If an idea originates from a campaign, it can be added here.

“Project“: If an idea originates from a project, it can be added or created here. This field is an interface to connect to the “CRM-Project“ module.

The “Navigate to next step“ field also belongs to the general fields. However, it is described separately (within the single process steps) for clarity.

Note: A campaign is only displayed in the look-up if you choose “Idea Campaign” within the campaign’s “Classification” field.

A project is only displayed in the look-up if you chose “Origin of Idea” within the project’s “Classification” field. However, after clicking on the “Project” lookup, you may select another view and then choose your applicable project.



3.1 Submitting

3.1.1 Main form

“Description of Idea“: The idea is explained in this field. For example: How could the current status quo be improved? This is a written description that estimates the possible improvements the idea could create.

“Description of current Situation“: Here, the submitter explains the current situation. Thus, the improvements suggested in the description above should be clear.

“Benefit estimate – Money”: The user provides an initial assessment of the idea, in terms of monetary benefit.

“Benefit estimate – Man Days“: Here, you are able to do a benefit assessment in man days saved.

“Benefit estimate – Safety “: Benefits, in terms of security, can be specified in this field.

“Cost estimate – Money“: In addition to benefits, a cost-estimate can also be calculated.

“Cost estimate – Man Days“: In this field, a cost-estimate (for implementing the idea) can also be done in man days.

“Topic“: Here, the submitter assigns the idea to a certain pre-defined topic.

“Idea Type“: The submitter may select an idea type which is defined (i.e. for the specific and weighted evaluation criteria). These are then automatically transferred to the “Evaluation Criteria” subgrid, located in the “Evaluation” phase.

“Projected Date“: Here, the user can select a date which he feels the idea should be implemented.

“Due by“: In the instance that the preferred implementation date for the idea is not attainable, the submitter can set an additional date in which the implementation must be done by.



“Submitters“: Here you select the employee(s) or contact person(s) who have submitted the idea. The first time you save an idea, the current user is automatically designated as the idea submitter (through an asynchronous workflow. Possibly, the form must therefore be reloaded by using “F5” to see all submitter in the subgrid.

“Navigate to next Step”: After entering all the necessary data concerning the idea submission, the user is instructed to selects “Submitted for further proceeding” in the pick list of the “Navigate to next Step” field. Once the idea is saved, it then proceeds to the next phase called “Open Discussion”. From this point on, all fields of the submission phase are read-only (this excludes users with the security role “xRM1 Idea Manager”).

3.1.2 “Submitters“ form To designate more people as idea submitters, first select the subgrid "Submitters". Afterwards, select the “Add New Idea Submitter" button, located on the menu bar. The following form opens:

“Idea“: This field is automatically filled with the idea title. It is read-only and cannot be changed.

“Submitter Type“: Here, the user can choose between a user and a contact from a drop-down list. Depending on what’s selected, an additional box will open which will allow you to select a specific person as a submitter.

“User”: From this look-up, users can be chosen as submitters.

“Contact”: From this look-up, contacts can be chosen as submitters.

“Currency“: By default, the base currency of the system is shown here.

3.2 Open Discussion

“Duplicate of”: If the user decides that the idea is a duplicate of another, he/she can select the respective idea by selecting this look-up.

“Results of Open Discussion”: Here, you can insert comments or annotations concerning the results of this step.



“Navigate to next Step”: After the “Open Discussion” is finished, select “Validation” from the field’s pick list and save the form.

If you chose to use “Activity Feeds” for discussing ideas, the tab “What’s new” is included in the idea process.

Note: To be able to use activity feeds, the user needs to have the security role “Activity Feeds”. A whitepaper concerning the installation and usage of activity feeds can be found on the xRM1 website.

3.3 Idea Validation

“Duplicate of“: Here, the validator may also state that the idea is a double.

“Idea Type“: The user can also choose an appropriate idea type.

“Validator”: From a look-up field, you are able to select the person responsible for carrying out an initial assessment of the idea. If no one here is chosen, the current user is designated in the field after the idea is saved.

“Classification”: It’s here that the validator assesses the idea for the first time. From the pick list, he/she can choose between:

“Outstanding Idea“ “Great Idea“ “Good Idea“ or “No Opinion“.

“Comments”: The user can enter comments concerning the validation as well as further proceedings.

“Navigate to next Step”: Here, the user decides what the next step should be. He can move the idea to the “Concept”, “Evaluation”, or “Decision” phase. If you choose to select “Don’t proceed”, the idea will be deactivated and the idea management process will be finished.



3.4 Idea Concept

“Benefit estimate – Money”: The user provides a more detailed assessment of the idea in terms of monetary benefit.

“Benefit estimate – Man Days“: Here, an additional benefit assessment can be done in man days.

“Benefit estimate – Safety “: Benefit aspects of security can be specified in this field.

“Cost estimate – Money“: In addition to benefits, a monetary cost-estimate is also possible.

“Cost estimate – Man Days“: Additionally, you can also do a man day cost-estimate in this field.

“Duplicate of”: The concept developer can also label an idea as a duplicate.

“Project”: The idea can be linked to a current concept project or a new project can be set up. The field is an interface for the “CRM-Project“ module.

Note: A project is only displayed in the look-up if you select “Idea Concept” in the project’s “Classification” field. However, after clicking on the “Project” lookup, you may select another view and then choose your applicable project.

“Implementer”: The employee responsible for the project is located in this field. As a default, the field is filled automatically with the owner of the concept project. However, the implementer of this project may be changed by clicking on the look-up.

“Comments”: The concept developer has the opportunity to add comments here.

“Navigate to next Step”: Here, the user selects the next step. They can forward the idea to the “Evaluation” phase or directly to the “Decision”.



3.5 Idea Evaluation

3.5.1 Main form

“Benefit estimate – Money”: The user provides a final estimation of the idea’s incident in terms of the benefit in money.

“Benefit estimate – Man Days“: Here, you can carry out the final benefit estimate in man days.

“Benefit estimate – Safety“: Benefits, in terms of security, can be specified finally in this field.

“Cost estimate – Money”: In addition to benefits, a final monetary cost-estimate can also be calculated.

“Cost estimate – Man Days“: In addition, in this field you can do a final cost-estimate in man days. How many man days it will take to implement the idea.

“Duplicate of”: In the “Evaluation” phase, the user has one last opportunity to label the idea as a duplicate.

“Ref. to Case“: In this look-up field, you have the option to select a case reference.

“Idea Type”: The user can select an idea type which will provide specific and weighted evaluation criteria (see chapter 2.3.1). These criteria will be inherited by the subgrid “Evaluation Criteria”. In general, the idea type is also a means of classifying an idea.

“Comments”: Here, you can enter comments concerning the evaluation.

“Use Criteria”: Using this option, the user decides if the evaluation criteria are used for this idea’s assessment. If the user selects “Yes”, the subgrid “Evaluation Criteria” and the “Total Score” field are shown after the idea form is saved.

“Evaluation Criteria”: The idea is evaluated by the pre-defined criteria of the idea type selected. On the other hand, self-defined evaluation criteria can also be used. To add new criteria, simply select “Evaluation Criteria” and “Add New Idea Evaluation Criteria”. The correlating form will open (see chapter 3.5.2).

“Total Score”: Avalue is derived from the single evaluation criteria. This value is then shown, in this field, as total score

“Navigate to next Step”: Here, the user moves the idea to the next step “Decision“.



3.5.2 Form “Idea Evaluation Criteria“

When opening existing or adding new criteria, the following fields are relevant:

“Manual Score”: Here, the evaluator enters his score for the respective criteria. This is only displayed if the option “Add Subcriteria” is set to “No”.

“Name of the Criteria”: Here you enter the name of the evaluation criteria.

“Superior Criteria”: If a subcriteria refers to a superior criteria, the superior one is inserted in this field automatically.

“Idea”: In this field, the name of the idea, to which the evaluation criteria refers, is shown. The field is write-protected and cannot be adjusted.

“Responsible”: The current user is displayed here, if the criteria is newly created. The individual defined as responsible is automatically displayed if the criteria refers to an idea type.

“Contribution [%]”: The weighting of the respective criteria corresponding to the total score or to the superior criteria.

“Weighted Score this Criteria”: In this field, the “Contribution [%]” * “Manual Score” or “Contribution [%]” * “Scores Subcriteria” results are calculated automatically.

“Add Subcriteria”: This option allows the user to define if there is subcriteria relating to the current evaluation criteria.

“Subcriteria”: If subcriteria are to be added, this is done here. To add new criteria, simply select the subgrid and “Add New Idea Evaluation Criteria” (see chapter 3.5.2).

“Scores Subcriteria”: In this field, the value calculated from the individual subcriteria is displayed as a total score. It is only shown when you select “Yes” and “Add subcriteria”.



3.5.3 Task “Idea Evaluation”

When criteria are used in an idea evaluation, the person responsible for the criteria chosen receives a task to evaluate the idea. This task contains the following fields.

“Subject“: This is the subject of the task. It is called “CRM – Idea Evaluation – Name of the idea”.

“Text“: In the text field, the task is defined in detail.

“Regarding“: The task’s evaluation criteria is displayed here.

“Owner“: This field shows the owner of the task.

“Due“: Here, the due date is inserted. The standard value is two days after “Yes” is selected in the option set “Use criteria”: in the main form and the idea is saved.

“Manual Score“: The evaluator enters his score here.

“Idea“: Here you will find the idea which correlates with the task. The field is write-protected.



3.6 Decision

“Decision Maker”: Here you will find the person responsible for the final decision. This person can be selected from a lookup field. If no one is selected from the list, the current user will be written into the field after the form is saved.

“Implementer”: The decision maker can enter a person responsible for implementing the idea.

“Classification”: Here you make a final decision about the idea. The decision maker can choose between:

“Implementation – Priority low“ “Implementation – Priority medium“ “Implementation – Priority high“ and “Open Idea Pool“

“Navigate to next Step”: Here, the user chooses the next step. If it was decided to proceed with the idea, the decision maker selects “Implementation”. By selecting “Don’t proceed”, the ide idea is deactivated and the idea management process is stopped.

“Comments”: Field for comments concerning the decision made.

3.7 Implementation

“Project”: The idea can be linked to an existing implementation project or a new project can be set up. The field is an interface to the „CRM-Project“ module.

Note: A project is only displayed in the look-up if you select “Idea Implementation” in the project‘s “Classification” field. However, after clicking on the “Project” lookup, you may select another view and then choose your applicable project.

“Implementer”: The employee responsible for the project is noted in this field. Regularly, it’s filled automatically with the owner of the concept project. However, the implementer of this project may be changed by clicking on the look-up.

“Budget – Money”: The idea will be implemented according to a pre-defined budget. In this field, the user enters the monetary budget.



“Budget – Man Days”: Here, the budget can be set in man days.

“Details”: In this field, specific details about the implementation can be typed in.

“Link to Details”: A link to specific details can be entered in this field.

“Navigate to next Step”: Here, the user forwards the idea to the next step. He/she can choose between the “Reward” and the “Review” phase. Additionally, if neither steps are applicable, the user can decide to directly deactivate the idea by selecting “Completion”.

3.8 Reward

3.8.1 Main form

“Actual Benefits – Money”: The user enters the monetary benefit which has been reached up to this point.

“Actual Benefits – Man Days”: Here, you can add the verifiable benefits in man-days.

“Actual Benefits – Safety”: Furthermore, the achieved benefits, in terms of safety, can be noted.

“Actual Costs – Money”: Besides benefits, the monetary costs can also be entered.

“Actual Costs – Man Days”: Additionally, the actual costs of the idea, in terms of man days, can be entered.

“Rewarding of Submitters”: Each submitter can be rewarded with money, a gift or additional vacation days.

“Approval”: Using a pick list, the user can decide whether he/she will approve the reward(s) inserted. The reward(s) payment can also be chosen.

“Approved by”: Here, the person responsible for the reward approval can be chosen from a look-up field. If no one is selected from the list, the current user will be entered into this field after the form is saved.

“Reason”: In this field, you can enter a reason for (not) approving the reward(s).

“Navigate to next Step”: Here, the user moves the idea to the “Review” phase (the next step). If this step is not required, the user can directly deactivate the idea by selecting “Completion”.



3.8.2 Form “Idea Submitter“

If the user would like to reward all submitters, they can do this by clicking on the subgrid “Rewarding of Submitters“. Here, the following fields are available:

“Idea“: This field is automatically filled with the “Title” of the idea. It is read-only and cannot be changed.

“Submitter Type“: Here, the user can choose between a user and a contact from a drop-down list. Depending on what is selected, an additional box will open which will allow you to select a person as submitter.

“User”: From this look-up, users can be chosen as submitters.

“Contact”: From this lookup, contacts can be chosen as submitters.

“Currency“: By default, the base currency of the system is shown here.

“Type of Reward”: Here, the reward type is selected. The user can choose between a monetary reward, a gift or additional vacation days. Depending on the selected type, the additional look-up fields “Gift” or “Additional Vacation Days” are displayed.

“Gift”: With this look-up field, you have the freedom to choose rewards in terms of gifts.

“Additional Vacation Days”: Here you enter the additional vacation days rewarded to a submitter.

“Reward Value”: If the reward is monetary, the respective amount is entered here. If a gift is chosen, the respective value of the gift is written in automatically.

3.9 Review

“Actual Benefits – Money”: The user enters the monetary benefit achieved up to the review day.

“Actual Benefits – Man Days”: Here, the verifiable benefits in man-days are added.



“Actual Benefits – Safety”: Furthermore, the achieved benefits, in terms of safety, can be noted.

“Actual Costs – Money”: Besides benefits, monetary costs up to the review day can be entered.

“Actual Costs – Man Days”: Additionally, you can note the actual costs of the idea in man days.

“Review by”: Here, the user selects the day of the review.

“Comments”: Final annotations concerning the idea implementation can be entered in this field.

“Navigate to next Step”: After finishing this last process step, the user selects “Completion” in the “Navigate to next Step” field. The idea is now deactivated and all fields are write-protected.



4 Idea Management Controlling

4.1 Idea Portfolio Overview

4.1.1 Idea Portfolio Overview – Page 1

The ”Idea Portfolio Overview“ offers a „bubble chart“ to illustrate the monetary benefits and costs of ideas in their respective phase.

This chart also shows the score of the idea evaluation; the larger the bubble, the higher the idea score. If an idea did not go through the “Evaluation” phase, no score will be indicated.

”Mouse-Over“: The title and the evaluation score of an idea are shown when hovering over the respective bubble.

“Disk symbol“: The user is given the opportunity to export the “Idea Portfolio Overview“ as report in standard applications like Excel.



4.1.2 Idea Portfolio Overview – Page 2

The respective chart shows all selected ideas, independently from their process phase. It gives an overview of the benefits and costs in single stages. Thus, you can quickly and effectively assess idea development.

The following chart gives an overview of which “Idea Portfolio Overview“ column corresponds with which field, in the main “xRM1 Idea Management“ form.

“Idea Portfolio Overview“ column Field in the main “xRM1 Idea Management“ form

“Score“ Evaluation – “Total Score“

“Stage” “Status Reason”

”Submitting Costs“ Submitting – “Cost estimate – Money“

“Submitting Benefits“ Submitting – “Benefit estimate – Money“

“Concept Costs” Concept – “Cost estimate – Money“

“Concept Benefits Concept – “Benefit estimate – Money“

“Evaluation Costs” Evaluation – “Cost estimate – Money“

“Evaluation Benefits Evaluation – “Benefit estimate – Money“

“Reward Costs” Reward – “Cost estimate – Money“

“Reward Benefits Reward – “Benefit estimate – Money“

“Review Costs” Review – “Cost estimate – Money“

“Review Benefits” Review – “Benefit estimate – Money“



4.2 Dashboards “xRM1 Idea Management“ offers dashboards for executives, business units, and employees. Additionally, it includes a dashboard for comparing costs and benefits.

4.2.1 Idea Management Executive Dashboard

The most important parameters of idea management, for the board of executives, can be seen at a glance. This dashboard includes the charts:

“Ideas by Business Unit“: Active and completed ideas of the last 12 months, sorted by business unit, “Status Idea Lifecycle“: Active ideas in the respective stage of their lifecycle, “Ideas per quarter”: Ideas of the last 24 months, sorted by quarter, “Top 10 by Evaluation Score”: The 10 ideas with the highest evaluation score of the last 12 months, “Ideas by Type“: Ideas classified by the chosen idea type, and “Ideas by Topic“: Ideas classified by the chosen topic.



Note: The evaluation score of an idea in the chart “Top 10 by Evaluation Score” corresponds to the “Total Score” field in the main form of an idea. If an idea has not passed the phase “Evaluation”, the chart creates a score from the “Classification” field of the “Validation” phase. Here, the classification “Outstanding Idea” equals a score of “10”, “Great Idea” equals “8”, “Good Idea” equals “6”, and “No Opinion” equals “0”. If you want to change these settings, please go to the workflow “Fill Total Score - Idea Management [All languages] - xRM1” under “Settings” --> “Processes”.

4.2.2 Idea Management Business Unit Manager Dashboard

This dashboard shows charts with ideas of the manager’s business unit:

“Top 5 Submitters“: The top 5 idea submitters of the last 24 months, “Status Idea Lifecycle“: Active ideas in the respective stage of their lifecycle, “Ideas per quarter”: Ideas of the last 24 months, sorted by quarter, “Ideas by Type“: Ideas classified by the chosen idea type, and “Ideas by Topic“: Ideas classified by the chosen topic.



4.2.3 Idea Management Employee Dashboard

This dashboard was designed especially for the individual employee. He/she gets an entire overview of their ideas.

“My Ideas by Status“: Ideas sorted by their status, “Status Idea Lifecycle“: Active ideas in the respective stage of their lifecycle, “Ideas per month”: Ideas of the last 12 months, sorted by month, “Reward by approval per year”: Ideas of the last five years, sorted by year, approval, and payment, “Ideas by Type“: Ideas classified by the chosen idea type, and “Ideas by Topic“: Ideas classified by the chosen topic.



4.2.4 Idea Management Benefits and Costs Dashboard

This dashboard gives an overview of the costs and benefits of completed ideas, of the last 24 months. It includes the following charts:

“Comparison of Benefits and Costs - MD”: (Estimated) benefits and costs in man days, sorted by relevant phases,

“Comparison of Benefits and Costs - Money”: (Estimated) monetary benefits and costs, sorted by relevant phases, and

“Top 5 Idea Types by Costs”: Costs of ideas of the idea types with the highest cumulated expenses, compared with the respective benefits.

Technical Note: To reduce the number of views in the IM Section, some of the dashboard related views have been set to “inactive”. This might lead to some functionality within the dashboards to be restricted. If you require them, please enable them within the customizing of you system.



5 Rights and roles concept

5.1 Default settings

5.1.1 Licensing You can enter and save your license in the license field. This field can be found under “Configuration” when selecting the relevant solution under “Settings” --> “Solutions”.

For creating a license, your Microsoft CRM Organization Unique Name is required. Your MS Organization Unique Name is determined automatically and is displayed directly in the configuration screen. With the integrated copy function, the name as well as other license relevant data n (company name and e-mail), can be readout and forwarded.

In order to create your date for the license, please enter them in respective fields under “License report and request” and press “Copy”. Please confirm the copying by pressing “Yes” when you are prompted with a Silverlight window as shown below.

Now, we ask that you paste your data (“Strg”+”V”) into an editor or directly into an e-mail.

The data is saved as an XML string and appears as follows:

<LicenseInformation><CompanyName>Firma XY</CompanyName><EMail>[email protected]</EMail><OrgUniqueName>CRM</OrgUniqueName></LicenseInformation>

Please do not modify the record, but rather send it directly to xRM1, along with information about the desired license types and their amount. Please refer to the website www.xRM1.com for licence requests.

The license file will then be created and sent by xRM1 and can be soon after uploaded into the solution.

http://www.xrm1.com/



5.1.2 Global

”Log Level”: Specify the log level for the xRM1 solution. We recommend the "Error" setting.

5.2 Installation Instructions on how to install the solution can be found in our “Getting Started Guide“. You can download this from the xRM1 website. The guide can be found by selecting “Products“, “xRM1 Idea Management“, and lastly “Downloads Idea Management“ (on the right hand side).

5.3 Solution activation (Activation Wizard) Activating the solution can be done easily with the “Activation Wizard“. This can be found on the ribbon bar under “Settings“ --> “xRM1 License Types“.



In the first step, you’ll be asked if you would like to activate a free trial, a temporary license, or a purchased license.

5.3.1 Activating a free trial Here, you chose the solution(s) which you would like to be activated, by checking the applicable check boxes.

Please be aware that the license types “CRM-Project Employee“, “Idea Management Employee“, and “Time Tracking Employee“ cannot be used independently. Here, another license type of the respective Business Solution has to be selected additionally.

In the next step, you have the opportunity to create default settings and base data/demo date.



Default settings must be configured in order for the basic features to work properly. If you would like to have extended features, we recommend making additional changes concerning the configuration. The following data will be installed:

Setting Default Description

Hours per Man Day [h] 8 Specify the number of hours worked, per work day, for a full-time employee. The default standard is set to 8hrs. Possible data entry falls between 0hr to 24hrs.

Number of recent projects 5 Specify how many projects to list in Fast Time Entry for "Projects recently used".

Length of time the Time Entry can be edited [h]

24 Here you have the ability to define the period in which corrections to the Fast Time Entry entries are allowed.

Current project number 0000001 Specify the number range for automatic project numbering.

Project number prefix PRO Prefix for automatic project numbering.

Add travel times & expenses to project times & costs

Aktiv In order for CRM-Project to be able to bill correctly, products from your organization’s product list, used to bill travel costs and travel times, need to be specified.

Current travel number 0000001 Specify the number range for automatic travel numbering.

Travel number prefix TRV Prefix for automatic numbering of travels.



Current voucher number 0000001 Specify the number range for automatic document numbering.

Voucher number prefix VOU Prefix for automatic document numbering.

Caching 500 Specify how long the cached information is to be valid for user-related calendar availability.

Log level Error Specify the log level for the 4th module. We recommend the "Error" setting.

In order to test the solution as soon as possible, we recommend configuring base data/demo date. The following data will be installed:

Entity Values

Idea Type Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Idea Production-Idea Lower costs possible 30%

Improving quality possible 40%

Improving reliability possible 30%

Office-Idea Time savings of at least 10 min./Day possible 40%

Increases employee satisfaction possible 20%

Improving administrative processes 40%

After that, the activation can start.

When the activation is finished, you will see the following screen:



5.3.2 Activating temporary or purchased license(s) If you chose to activate a temporary or purchased license, you will be prompted with a screen in which the license can be uploaded.

By clicking the applicable button, an Explorer browser opens in which you can select your previously saved license file.



After clicking “Open“, the file will be uploaded. You will then be able to see if your license is valid or invalid.

The next steps are identical to steps 3 to 5 of the free trial activation. First, you chose if you want to create default settings and/or base data/demo data. After this, the license is activated and the the activation wizard is complete.

You can also request and upload your xRM1 license via the xRM1 configuration screen. More information are to be found in chapter 5.1.1.

5.4 Solution configuration (Configuration Wizard) The “Configuration Wizard“ is part of the “Activation Wizard“, but can be run separately, such as in already activated systems where base data/demo data is to be installed separately.

Note: When using the “Configuration Wizard“, already existing data will not be overwritten.

With the Configuration Wizard, there is no option to select between a free trial, a temporary license, or a purchased license. Instead, you start directly with selecting default settings and/or base data/demo data.



After that, you confirm the selected configuration.

When the activation is finished, you will see the following screen:



5.5 License administration For “xRM1 Idea Management“, every user needs to have a valid license which can be customized in the CRM user. Assigning a license, the user gets the following security roles according to the following chart:


Security Role Employee Professional

xRM1 Idea Submitter X X

xRM1 Idea Discusser X X

xRM1 Idea Validator X

xRM1 Idea Concept Developer X

xRM1 Idea Evaluator X

xRM1 Idea Evaluator restricted X

xRM1 Idea Decision Maker X

xRM1 Idea Implementer X

xRM1 Idea Rewarder X

xRM1 Idea Reviewer X

xRM1 Idea Manager X

5.6 Roles concept “xRM1 Idea Management“ uses the standard rights and roles concept of Microsoft CRM. The settings in the roles are used as default settings and can be configured further to the specific requirements of your organization. Please refer to the Microsoft CRM standard customization documentation for detailed information on configuring security roles.

The security roles of ”xRM1 Idea Management“ are essentially based on the idea management process steps (see chapter 2.2).



5.7 xRM1 Idea Management Security roles The following roles are provided in the delivered configuration:

5.7.1 xRM1 Idea Submitter All users who want to submit ideas, need this security role. It is included in the license types “xRM1 Idea Management Employee“ and “xRM1 Idea Management Professional“.

5.7.2 xRM1 Idea Discusser For an “Open Discussion” of ideas with activity feeds, you need this security role. It’s included in the license types “xRM1 Idea Management Employee“ and “xRM1 Idea Management Professional“.

5.7.3 xRM1 Idea Validator This role is necessary for initiating the first idea assessment (“Validation“). It is included in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional”.

5.7.4 xRM1 Idea Concept Developer You require this security role in order to set up an idea concept. This can be found in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional“.

5.7.5 xRM1 Idea Evaluator For a detailed evaluation of an idea, this security role is required. It is included in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional”.

5.7.6 xRM1 Idea Evaluator restricted This security role allows a user, who doesn’t have the “xRM1 Idea Evaluator” or “xRM1 Idea Manager” role, to complete an idea evaluation task (as described in chapter 3.5.3). It is included in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional”.

5.7.7 xRM1 Idea Decision Maker In the “Decision” phase, users with the security role “xRM1 Idea Decision Maker“ decides whether or not to implement the idea(s). The security role is included in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional”.

5.7.8 xRM1 Idea Implementer For the “Implementation“ phase including assignment to new or existing projects, this security role is necessary. It is included in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional”.

5.7.9 xRM1 Idea Rewarder With this security role, idea submitters can be rewarded. The security role is included in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional”.

5.7.10 xRM1 Idea Reviewer This security role is required for the phase “Review“. It is included in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional”.

5.7.11 xRM1 Idea Manager A user with this role may – contrary to all other roles – make changes to every phase of the idea management process. Additionally, this is the only person who has the right to create idea types and evaluation criteria outside of the idea form. The security role is included in the license type “xRM1 Idea Management Professional”.

5.8 License types and license assignment Under “Settings“ -> “xRM1 License types“, you can find an overview of the available license types and their respective expiry dates.



Under “Settings“ -> “xRM1 License Assignments“, you can find a list of the current license assignments.

In order to assign a license to a user, click on “Settings“ -> “xRM1 License Assignments“ and then (in the ribbon bar) on “New“. In the opening window, select the “License User“ and “License type“ which this user shall receive.



For the option set “Assign Roles Automatically“, we recommend keeping the setting on “Yes“, as the user receives all security roles of the assigned license automatically. After clicking “Save and close“, the user with the applicable license appears in the list of license assignments.

Documents

xRM1 Idea Management Idea Management“ intends to map and support customer processes including collecting, evaluating, deciding on, and implementing ideas (including a …