Ideation Portal | Pros and Cons

[Denise DeCesare]

We are looking at the Ideation portal as a possible intake module.  We currently use JSM. 

I would like to hear pros and cons for anyone using the ideation portal as my first instinct at a high level is that it is not robust enough to handle requests from high level strategy down to business as usual and smaller requests that flow directly to teams/squad. 

While I understand you can have many intake forms, I am trying to understand the following:

• Can the Ideation portal handle a large amount of requests at one time (2K open at any time) 
• Does it provide an easy way to organize the work, tag, categorize and manage in all different workflow phases? 
• Are there ways to create reports and dashboards? 

[Steve Sauser]

@Denise DeCesare Intake and Ideation are hot topics recently, thank you for your questions. 

• I am going to preface this with just a little of my background so that you have a sense of why I answer the way I am. 
• Prior to joining Atlassian I lead our Agile Tools and Processes at a large financial institution (think 6,000 Teams), and I now work with a number of our largest strategic customers using multiple of our Products. 

First let me see if I can answer your individual bullet points, then I can provide an opinion regarding options. 

• Large Amount of requests - Yes, no issue with 2K or 10K Ideas. 
• Tag, categorize and manage in all different workflow phases - This is a little harder to answer in a textual manner, however if you are talking about the workflow phases inside the Ideation Portal and not once an idea is converted to an actual work item, then yes you can, to a degree.  
  • You won't be able to see all the data you enter into an Ideation Form on the Idea Card which (for me) is restrictive. 
  • If you are referring to once the item has been converted to a work item then no, you cannot leverage the Ideation Portal itself to get your answers, you would need to work from the other spaces in JA. 
• Reports and Dashboards - you can see the reporting available at this link - Ideation: key metrics 

Now for the remainder of your inquiry. 

• The Ideation Portal is great for for capturing ideas, voting, a rough sizing and then creation of a work item.  
  • I find for most customers that the flexibility provided is less than desired.  
• The most robust answer to Intake and Ideation tends to be through the use of JSM (Intake), JPD (Ideation), and then leveraging Automation Rules work items can be created in Jira Align when they are ready.  
  • JSM - One Front Door (users don't need licenses, but Agents do).   
    • This is where an idea submitted can get a quick eval (Does this idea meet our Mission, Vision, and Values?  Can we see ourselves working on this idea in the next X Months (12-18 typically)?).
      • If either is a "No", then can the idea and don't do more work on it.  
      • If the answer is "Yes" then trigger the automation to place the idea into JPD and create linkage between JSM Idea and JPD work item. 
  • JPD - This allows you to do deeper analysis (create a Lean Business Case) and gain approval through your necessary processes. 
    • Once approved automation creates the work item in either Jira (Feature or Story) or Jira Align (Feature, Capability, Epic, Theme). 
    • Creates a link between the JPD work item and the Jira or Jira Align work item.  

The flexibility of JSM and JPD provides a very robust solution and reduces waste in the process (you don't want high value individuals who do the deep work of creating a LBC, evaluating every idea submitted.

This is a lot of information, but hopefully it is helpful.  If your company has purchased Advisory Services I would advise you engage with your SEM or other Advisory Services team members assigned to your company, they will be able to step through your deeper concerns and provide solutions to help create an efficient process.