When you've set up the impact assessment of ideas in the admin portal of your board, you can now give business impact assessments to ideas on the board. Depending on the metrics you have set up, these assessments can be anything from how much revenue the idea will bring in to how many work hours it will save employees.
The idea impact assessment feature is a great way to get numeric estimates regarding how well the idea will succeed after its initial implementation. This helps you form a better understanding of the value of your entire ideation pipeline which, in turn, helps in estimating the financial impact of your overall innovation work. For more information on the importance of measuring business impact, check out this guide.
To make sure that people have the required knowledge on or influence over the idea to give a relevant assessment, we've made it so that only board admins and those responsible for an idea can give assessments of it.
How to give an impact assessment on the board
Now that we know why impact assessments should be made and who can do them, let's see how it actually happens.
First of all, it's important to note that this feature is meant for assessing the business impact of implemented ideas. For this reason, they will only be visible in a status, which is of the "Done" type.
In this step-by-step guide, we'll demonstrate how to assess the business impact of a freshly implemented idea.
N.B. The following steps can only be done by an admin or an idea responsible.
Step 1:
First, if the idea is not already in a "Done"-type status, in order to be able to make an impact assessment, we need to change the status of the idea. For our example, we'll open the idea "FAQ page" which is currently in the last development status called "In progress".
Step 2:
When the idea is open, to change the status, we'll need to click the "Edit idea"-icon which is marked by the orange arrow in the image.
Step 3:
Here, we'll choose the "Done"-type status, which logically here is called "Done". After this, we'll click the green "Save" button. This will change the status of the idea.
Step 4:
Now, we'll find the idea in the status called "Done", after which we'll open the idea again.
Step 5:
After the idea is open, you should be in a tab called "Impact". If you do not see this tab, it can be due to any of the following 4 things:
No impact assessment metrics are set up in the admin portal or the feature is not enabled.
The status of the idea is not of the "Done" type.
The category of the idea is not included in any of the impact assessment metrics.
You cannot give an assessment of this idea (aka, you're not an admin or responsible for the idea).
From this tab, you can give an impact assessment to the idea by clicking the blue "Assess the impact" button. If you or someone else have given previous assessments of this idea, you can also view them from here.
Step 6:
Now, you will be represented with all the existing business impact metric types. You can choose which ones you wish to assess by marking the checkboxes next to their names.
After you have made your decision, click "Next".
Step 7:
Here we can see the impact metric types and the metrics themselves.
The orange arrows in the image indicate the metric type and the pink arrows the metrics themselves. (When you set up a metric in the admin portal, you get to define its type.)
As you can see, there can be multiple impact metrics under a certain metric type. For instance, in our example, we have 5 metrics altogether. In this example, we will go through all types individually.
Step 8:
We'll start with "Revenue" where we have the "Increased revenue" metric.
Revenue metrics can be used for estimating how much income the idea will yield in a given time.
Step 9:
If the metric is not "one time only", we must choose its recurrence. This means how often the given sum will be realized. In our example, we'll choose "€ / year" for a rough annual estimate. (Whether the metric is recurring or "one time only" can be chosen when setting it up in the admin portal.)
Step 10:
Next up is "Cost" where we have the "Initial investment" and "Cost to maintain" metrics. These are two examples of how the cost of an idea could be measured. Here, one is "one time only" and the other is recurring.
In the final calculations, the cost estimates will be subtracted from the other estimates.
Step 11:
Now, we'll move on to "Cost saving" where we have the "Cost to maintain" metric.
Cost Saving metrics can be used for estimating how much money the idea will save the company in a given time.
This metric looks different since it is set up so that the sum can vary by year. (This can be done when setting up the metric in the admin portal.) This allows you to give different values for each year if you wish.
Step 12:
Last but not least is "Time Saving", where we have the "Time saved in work hours" metric.
This metric type is quite straightforward and helps estimate the number of hours the idea can save employees.
The time saved translates to money which profits the company. The value of a saved hour can be set up from the admin portal under "Basic settings" and this hourly rate will be used for the final calculations in the assessment.
Step 13:
Now that we have given all our estimates, we can finalize the impact assessment by clicking "Next".
Step 14:
Here we can see the overview of the impact assessment. You can see the values of all individual metrics, as well as the overall benefit or cost for the company. In this example, this idea would benefit the company by 4,591 euros.
You also need to add a description for your assessment. Here, you can give a more in-depth explanation for your given estimates.
After you're done, click the blue "Save" button.
Step 15:
Now you can see your freshly given assessment in the "Impact" tab. If you have given previous assessments, they will also be shown here.
P.s. To see how and for which time frame the total value of an estimate was calculated, you can see additional information by hovering your mouse on top of the number.
