Filtering the dashboard statistics

The filters on the analytics dashboard enable filtering by time and by category/categories. Choosing filters in the top-right corner affects all charts at the same time (some charts have exceptions mentioned in their specific section in this guide).

Time period filtering can be done with pre-selected values "All time", "This month" and "Previous month". You can also select a custom time range for more granular precision. Note, some charts show a change from the previous period. The previous period is always a time range of equal length immediately before the selected period. With "This month" selected, the previous period is "Last month".

Category filtering can be done by selecting categories in the drop-down that appears when the category selection is clicked. If no categories are selected, events and ideas from all categories are reflected in the statistics.

Board overview

The board overview lets you know the number of new ideas, comments and likes created, and the number of active users on your board in the timeframe indicated by the time period filter. Evaluations users have given to ideas are also shown if the feature is enabled in the settings.

The percentages next to the numbers indicate the change in the number compared to the previous time period of equal length (e.g. "previous month" for "this month"). If the change percentage is not shown, the change can't be represented in percentages (e.g. "all time" was chosen as the time period).

The change percentages allow you to easily react if you see activity falling behind your desired levels.

PS. The amount of active users indicates how many of the users have actually done something, such as visiting the board, not the number of active user accounts you have on the board.

Current ideation process

The current ideation process chart showcases the current state of your ideation process, which allows you to identify how effectively you've been able to progress ideas in the process. Healthy processes will have a few new ideas and the majority of the ideas as either being worked on, discarded, or implemented.

In addition to the current state, the chart also showcases cycle time statistics for each status (except "Done" and "Archive" statuses), allowing you to more easily identify and fix bottlenecks in your process. For example, if you find that ideas are stuck in "New ideas" for months on average and you have just a couple of decision-makers responsible for progressing them, you'll probably want to find ways to share the responsibility of investigating the ideas prior to making the decision.

PS. Time period filters do not apply to this chart but category filters do. The chart always shows you the current state of your ideation process, as well as historic cycle times.

Weekly activity

The weekly activity chart showcases the number of key actions performed by the users on your board each week for the duration defined by the time period filter. This allows you to easily see how the level of each key activity has changed over time and to identify what the impact of your actions as an admin (such as communication, sparring, etc.) has been.

A healthy continuous process will see the level of activity rise in the beginning and then remain quite steady over time, whereas with campaigns, you're looking to see activity spikes related to important dates within the campaign, such as the start and end dates.

The current actions that are tracked within this chart are Ideas, likes, comments, and shares. Also, evaluations if you have the feature enabled. You can click on the rectangles below the chart to temporarily hide the clicked action from the chart.

Ideas by category

The Ideas by category chart provides you with an overview of the number of ideas created in each category in the timeframe specified by the time period filters, which allows you to identify which categories are hot, which aren't, and how they relate to each other. This information can be useful to identify key areas to put more emphasis on.

For example, if you're looking for continuous improvement ideas and the majority of them seem to be related to customer satisfaction, that might be something you want to pay special attention to. On the other hand, if you're looking to find new innovations and the majority of the ideas were somehow related to Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR), those technologies might be worth investigating in more detail.

You can click on the rectangles below the chart to temporarily hide categories from the chart.

Ideation process performance

The Ideation process performance chart shows you how your process has worked in practice. You can, for example, use it to see how many new ideas were created and how many of those ideas progressed to a certain status during the given time period, as well as how the performance has changed from the previous time period of identical duration.

You can choose to look at all activity of any ideas within the filter restrictions or to only look at data of ideas that have been created within the given filter restrictions. With "only created" selected, ideas in a given status are considered to also have passed each status prior to the current status so that it's easier for you to identify where ideas get stuck or drop out in your process. With "all data", ideas in a given status do not necessarily show in previous statuses, only in those that the idea has been moved to or passed. If an idea was created within the selected time period, it will always show in the first status.

By using the filters you can, for example, use this graph to see how many new ideas you actually implemented during the first quarter of this year. By selecting different time periods, you can see how your innovation efforts have increased or decreased following events or other informational activities. Shifting between "only created" and "all data", you can see whether your efforts have sped up your process or not. By choosing “All time” for the time filters you can analyze how the overall idea funnel and drop-off rates between statuses look like.

Please note that deleted and merged ideas will also show in the chart data and thus the new ideas count might differ from the Board Overview section statistics.

Average response time

The average response time chart shows you how long admins or idea responsibles have taken on average to respond to an idea within a category. A response is considered to be a comment added to the idea by the admin or the idea responsible or if the idea’s status is changed. An attachment is not considered a response.

You can use this information to train your admins and responsible people as the reaction time (and the quality of the response) to the ideas really affects the motivation of the participants.

In the case categories aren’t used, the graph shows the average of all ideas.

Portfolio value

The portfolio value chart shows you a projection of the past and future business impact of your implemented (and assessed) ideas. The values are calculated using a Net Present Value (NPV) formula. You can see both the cumulative business value (dotted line) as well as the change in portfolio value over time (green or red graph).

The figures are based on the Impact Assessment feature of Viima that you can configure in the board settings. For implemented ideas, admin users have the option to give impact assessments of how the idea affects your business through the defined metrics. The assessments are reflected in this chart.

You can use this chart to find the total impact of all implemented and assessed ideas. For example, if an idea reduces costs, it is reflected as an increase in the portfolio value. You can analyze your portfolio of innovations and find whether your portfolio will impact your business positively or negatively in the past and the future. By using filters and filtering by different categories, you can analyze different parts of your innovation projects and see which efforts are in great shape and which might need attention. Read more about assessing the business impact of ideas in our business impact assessment guide.

PS. Time period filters do not apply to this chart but category filters do. The chart always shows you all available data from the past to the future.

The business value of the portfolio

The Business value of the portfolio shows you how much business value you’ve realized from the implemented (and assessed) ideas within the chosen filters and what the total business impact of the ideas you implemented is.

The realized value shows you how much value your implemented and assessed ideas have generated within the chosen time period. The projected future value shows you the total value that can be expected from your ideas that were implemented within the time period.

By using the filters you can, for example, analyze the value of your ideas in the first quarter of this year (Q1) and how ideas that were implemented in Q1 will impact your business in the future. By adding categories to the filters, you can analyze different parts of your innovation projects.

The figures are based on the Impact Assessment feature of Viima that you can configure in the board settings and furthermore, the impact assessments that admin users have given to implemented ideas.

Technical details

Statistics calculation

Cycle time statistics in the Current ideation process chart, Ideation process performance chart, and Average response time statistics do not, unfortunately, perform calculations prior to April 2018. This is the time when Viima started recording the more detailed change in the history of each idea which is why prior data does not exist.

Unique users statistics data does not unfortunately exist before September 2019. This is the time when Viima started recording more detailed information.

Ideation process performance

When an idea is merged with another, the idea that is removed will stay visible on the chart. This idea will naturally not progress from the status that it was removed from but will live on within the idea it was merged into. So, if 2 ideas were created and neither progressed before the ideas were merged, both will display in the first status. If the remaining idea progress in statuses, the removed idea stays in the first status and the remaining idea shows in all statuses it has passed.

Average response time statistics

Response time following a merge

When an idea is merged into another, the lowest available response time is selected from the two ideas. If neither idea has received a response before the merge, the response time will be calculated from the remaining idea's creation timestamp.

Response time following a copy

When an idea is copied from one board to another, the response time is reset for the idea on the other board. The response time is calculated for the new idea from the timestamp when it was copied to the other board. The original idea will not have its response time altered.

Response time calculation between April 2018 and April 2020

The following differences apply to ideas that have been merged together between April 2018 and May 2020.

The paragraphs will talk about "remaining" and "deleted" ideas. When an idea is merged with another idea, only one of the ideas will remain on the board. This idea will henceforth be called the "remaining" idea. The other idea that is not selected to remain is deleted, henceforth called the "deleted" idea.

Due to missing data of ideas being deleted following a merge, the response time calculation accuracy is highly dependent on which idea was selected to remain on the board. Since comments are moved to the "remaining" idea and status change data is lost for the "deleted" idea, missing information causes calculation troubles.

Response times have been calculated always to the "remaining" idea's creation timestamp, regardless of whether the comment actually was created to the "deleted" idea or to the "merged" idea. If the "remaining" idea is older, the response time calculation is the most accurate as both status changes and comments can reliably be used to calculate response times. Given, comments to the "deleted" idea and status changes to the "deleted" idea could potentially give a shorter response time if they were made more quickly to the "deleted" idea.

If the "remaining" idea is newer than the two, the accuracy of the response time is less accurate. Since comments are migrated from the "deleted" idea the time difference between the first admin comment and the "remaining" idea's creation timestamp could be negative. In this case, these ideas will be ignored in the calculation of the response time averages for the chart altogether. Unfortunately, data does not exist to give a reliable result. If the first comment by an admin on the "deleted" idea was created after the "remaining" idea, the response time has been calculated to the "remaining" idea, not the original "deleted" idea as it should have. Of course, comments on the "remaining" ideas affect the calculation as well. Status changes for the "deleted" idea are not reflected in the calculations. Only status changes for the "remaining" idea have been considered in calculations for past ideas prior to April 2020.

Calculations were also made with the assumption that persons who are admins now, also were admins in the past. Comments by persons that have recently been assigned admin privileges were therefore assumed to be admins in the past as well. Also, persons who were admins before, but have had their admin privileges removed, were not considered to be admins in the past. This can affect the response time of some ideas created in the previously mentioned timeframe.

In short, the following calculation logic applies: