Rating ideas and answering step questions

Each step in a collection, and the Inbox, can have its own questions, such as a rating of impact and effort or a yes/no decision. The people working on the idea answer them on the idea, in the section for that step. Each person gives their own answer, and the Voting and Scoring tabs let you compare ideas side by side.

Who can do this: collection managers and Admins, for any step. Panel members and the idea’s assigned reviewer, for the step the idea is in now (or the Inbox, for the Inbox panel).

Step questions are different from the submission form. The form is what people fill in when they submit an idea. Step questions are for the people working on the idea afterwards. To set up step questions, see Question types and settings.

Answer or rate an idea

Open the idea.
If you manage the collection, click the Manage tab. Panel members and reviewers see the section for their step on the idea.
Find the section for the step you want. There is one section for the Inbox and one for each step, with the date the idea arrived there.
Open the section to see its questions and the answers so far.
Click Answer, or Rate for a rating question. If you have answered before, click Edit.
Give your answer and save.

Your own answers show as You.

When you rate an idea, you can also add a Comment (optional) to explain your score. Your comment is shown to the collection managers and to the other people who rate the idea.

Everyone gives their own answer

Step questions are answered per person. If three people rate the same idea, the idea has three ratings. The Scoring tab then shows the average.

When you can answer

As a collection manager or Admin, you can answer or correct the questions of any step at any time. That includes steps the idea has already left. Earlier answers stay on the idea when it moves on.

As a panel member, you can answer and rate the questions of your step while the idea is in that step. The same goes for the idea’s assigned reviewer at that step. Inbox panel members answer the Inbox questions while the idea is in the Inbox. Once the idea moves on, your answers stay, but you can’t change them any more. See Reviewers and panels.

Step questions whose Visible to level is Managers include the current step’s panel and assigned reviewer for that step’s questions.

Good to know: Required step questions don’t stop anyone moving an idea to the next step. If you want every idea rated before it moves on, agree on that within your team.

Compare ideas with Voting and Scoring

Open the collection’s Manage view.
Click the Inbox or a step in the sidebar.
Under Contributions, open:
- Voting to see the results of options questions (where people pick one or more options) for each idea in that step
- Scoring to see the ratings for each idea in that step, with averages

If a step has no rating questions, the Scoring tab says so.

Panel members and reviewers see the Voting and Scoring overview for their step too, without names.

Who sees the scores

Collection managers and Admins see every answer and rating, and who gave it. Panel members and the assigned reviewer see the answers and ratings for their step while the idea is there, but not who gave them. Members who aren’t on the panel don’t see step answers on the idea.

Answers to the submission form work differently. Who can read those depends on each question’s Visible to setting. See Who can see and answer a question.

Things to know

Deleting a question deletes its answers. If a collection manager deletes a step question, every answer to it is gone for good.
Deleting a step deletes its answers too. The ideas in it go back to the Inbox. See Changing the steps of one collection.
Changing the workflow deletes step answers. Applying a different workflow to a collection removes every answer given to the current steps’ questions.
Step answers are not in the export. The spreadsheet export only includes the submission form. See Exporting a collection to a spreadsheet.