Statuses can be used to communicate the progress of the ideas within your ideation process. It is the idea responsible's or board admin's responsibility to move ideas from one status to another. All participants are automatically notified when you change the status of a suggestion.
Don’t try to force a polished process right off the bat. We recommend you start out by adding just the main stages or archives you feel are necessary for a logical process. Later, as you get more experience with the board, you can easily come back and add more statuses to fine-tune your ideation process.
How to get there
To be able to complete the following steps, you’ll need to have an admin account for the desired Viima board. Please contact your Viima super user for access if you don’t already have an account.
If you already know your board name, the easiest way to manage statuses is through the following URL:
https://app.viima.com/admin/organization-name/board-name/#settings
If you do this, proceed directly to Step 2. Otherwise, start from Step 1.
Step 1
On the dashboard of your organization, go to "Settings" in the admin portal.
Step 2
In the "Settings" sub-section, click “Process"
Step 3
Enable statuses by turning on the toggle switch.
Step 4
Start adding new statuses by clicking the "Add" button.
Step 5
Create your own status by filling in the form fields.
The "Name" field simply determines the name of the status.
The "Status type" tells what kind of status this is, and has certain effects on how the status functions. More info about status types can be found in a separate section below.
"Filter automatically" and "Hide ideas by default" are used for automatically showing and hiding ideas in the status whenever users enter the board. More info about these features can be found in separate sections below.
In the "Description" field you can tell users additional info about the status. This helps users better grasp the lifecycle of ideas. The description can be seen on the board by hovering your mouse over the status in the left sidebar.
When you're satisfied with the status, click the "Save" button in the lower right corner.
Status types
There are five different types of statuses to choose from when creating a new status. These types should be used to model the ideation process as accurately as possible. Different status types also behave slightly differently in some ways. To understand what each type is used for and how they behave, here's some info about them.
"Development" is a status where new ideas are being discussed and refined. This is usually where new ideas go.
"Evaluation" is where ideas that you're looking to collect evaluation data on, or that are waiting for a decision, go. Ideas in the evaluation status will display users in the Evaluation tab whenever they open an idea.
"Implementation" statuses are where the idea is actually being implemented or worked on (outside the tool).
"Archive" is a status for ideas that you've discarded, at least for now. Archive statuses are separate from the core process and certain metrics, such as cycle times, won't be calculated for ideas in this status.
"Done" is the status where completed ideas go. Certain metrics, such as cycle times, won't be calculated for ideas in this status. If impact assessment is enabled for the board, ideas in this status will show the impact tab by default.
Filtering statuses automatically
If you'd like users to only see ideas in certain statuses whenever they enter the board, you can create an automatic filter that does it by selecting the checkbox in the editing modal. Users will still be able to see all the ideas at any point if they choose to clear the filters. For example, you might want to show only new ideas to users whenever they enter the board.
Hiding statuses by default
If you'd like certain statuses' ideas to be hidden from users whenever they enter the board, you can hide the statuses by default by selecting the checkbox in the editing modal. Users will still be able to see the ideas in those statuses at any point if they select the statuses from the filters in the left sidebar. For example, you might want to hide ideas in the Archive status from users whenever they enter the board.
Editing a status
You can always edit your board's statuses by clicking the "Edit" button on the right side of status in the "Basic settings" tab. If you edit a status' name to a more descriptive one, for example, the status' name will change in all ideas in that status.
Deleting a status
Should you want to delete a status, you can do it by editing the status as instructed above. Once you have the editing modal open, click the red "Delete" button in the lower left corner. You then need to click the checkbox before clicking the "Delete" button again to conclude the deletion.
Note, that all ideas in that status will be set to "Not defined" status. Deleting a status also deletes all metrics in that particular status. Bear in mind, that deleting a metric also deletes any evaluations given to that metric by users.
Changing the order of statuses
You can change the order of your statuses by clicking the "Drag" icon at the left side of a status field and dragging the status to another position. The order of the statuses on the admin portal dictates their order on the board as well. Statuses are displayed as a linear process with the exception of "Archive statuses" being separate from the core process.
Default status
When a user is creating an idea on the board, the idea is automatically set to the default status if statuses are enabled.
If you want to change the default status, start by hovering your mouse over a status. You should then see a blue chip on the status bar. Set the status as the default by clicking the chip.
Don't forget to save your changes!
Green "Save" buttons can be found on all pages where changes can be made. Clicking this activates those changes.