The Solution: Innovation Process Management

The Microsoft platform helps customers address this end-to-end innovation management process
through the following stages (see Figure 1):
1.

Strategize

2.

Capture

3.

Formulate

4.

Evaluate

5.

Define

6.

Select

Figure 1 Stages of Innovation Process Management

Strategize
In order to foster innovation, the organization must first establish and prioritize business drivers
and metrics.

Capture
Ideas are captured in a centralized and collaborative portal. Employees can search to find experts
both internally and externally, and they can search back-end systems to gather sales history data
to develop a business case. Workflow and collaboration technology will then help create a crossfunctional team and collaborative workspace for idea submission.

Formulate
Ideas are formulated according to business cases that include strategic impact, market potential,
financial analysis, and SWOT analysis, and it can then be published for review. Other members of
the community can provide ratings, reviews, and feedback to help determine the ideas priority and
value.

Evaluate
Select ideas according to business parameters, analyze the portfolio, and objectively evaluate ideas.
In this stage, high-rated ideas are approved.

Define
Build the project team and execute the project while taking into consideration design, market
potential, and legal evaluation. After the review is finalized, a design document is prepared that
provides a project workspace for team collaboration. Assign resources and skills to projects in order
to track project progress.

Select
Give final funding approval to selected projects, and proceed to a delivery processes such as New
Product Development (NPD), enabling end-to-end project management and tracking, from idea to
retirement.
The focus Microsoft has on innovation process management solutions is built around three key
aspects of the overall process of managing innovation. This process is facilitated by an integrated
enterprise project management and business productivity infrastructure that includes collaboration,
unified communications, business intelligence, enterprise content management, and enterprise
search.
The three aspects of the overall process are:

Ideation and knowledge capture helps you and your teams share ideas easily and rapidly
to promote a culture of innovation. This culture occurs by increasing participation and then
the quality and quantity of contributed ideas. By collaborating to solve problems and
develop ideas, teams can gain incremental benefit or create an entirely new product,
service, or process. Collaboration encourages feedback, gauges interest, strengthens
teams, and further develops concepts to transform them into well thought out ideas.

Process and knowledge management (PKM) helps you to investigate, formulate,

evaluate, develop, and promote an idea from concept to sanctioned project while involving
key stakeholders internal and external to an organization. PKM provides you with the
capability to enforce process structure and discipline without stifling innovation. In
addition, you gain the ability to manage the lifecycle of all-digital content flowing in and
out of the solution.

Project and portfolio management (PPM) helps you to evaluate ideas according to
governing strategic objectives, such as growth, globalization, innovation, and customer
loyalty. PPM provides functionality to develop and implement operational parameters, such
as workforce resource constraints, capital expenditures, project funds, and competing
investments. PPM also provides performance metrics capabilities, such as sales forecasts,
inventory, and budgeted versus actual expenses. You gain the ability to analyze macro
environmental factors, such as market dynamics, market size, and industry trends. You can
also track up-to-date progress against forecasted metrics, and make informed decisions to
optimize budget, resources, and time constraints, so you can meet market demands, such
as market windows of opportunity to gain first mover advantages.

Typical functions of the R&D organization

Navigation ensuring the effective evolution of an organization
Conducts scientific , technological and market research and evolutionary screening. The results of
this are submitted to management to support strategic planning and decision-making related to the
componys growth.
Conduct exploratory projects
New intellectual property
New product/processes/services
Enhancement of technology/products/quality, etc.
Forming and managing an intellectual property portfolio
Methodological projects
Establishing an innovative culture
Generating revenue
Contributing to growth of the company

Valuable IP
Commercial projects

Funnel concept of New Product Development

New Product Development Essentials

from the PDMA

The PDMA ToolBook for New Product Development

Step 1: Review Current Idea Capture Methods

How are new product ideas from employees captured in your organization today?
Are you satisfied with the quality and quantity of new product ideas submitted?
Does your company have a formal employee new product idea program?
Does the existing formal program work for your needs?
What were the last five winning new product ideas, and where did these originate?

Questions
Review Current Methods

How are new product ideas from employees being captured in your organization today?

Are you satisfied with the quantity and quality of new product ideas submitted?

Does your company have any formal employee new product idea programs?

Does the existing formal program work for your needs?

What were the last five winning new product ideas and where did they originate?
Gain Management Support

What benefits could a structured employee new product idea program offer?

How does a new product idea program fit with your corporate strategy and culture?

What human, financial, capital, or other resources would be required?

What would managements role be in the process?

Purpose

What are your employee idea program objectives? Will your program be a way for employees to brainstorm
new product ideas, voice client ideas, or store ideas so they will not be lost?

Why should a new product idea program be implemented? For example, have ideas have been falling by the
wayside? Do people leave and take ideas with them? Is your primary purpose to represent the voice of the
customer?
Scope

Who will your new product idea program reach?

What kind of new product ideas do you want to capture?

Idea Ownership/Intellectual Property

Do you want to know and track who is submitting ideas?

Who will implement the new product ideas submitted?

What are your companys policies on intellectual property?

Framework and Concept Validation

What are the design functions required for the program to be successful?

What methods will be used for submitting ideas? Will submissions be paper-based, automated,
collaborative?

What are the special technology requirements?

How will you pilot-test the concept? Who will be part of the test? How long will it last?
Idea Evaluation Process

What form will be prepared when submitting a new product idea?

What are the program and idea submission guidelines?

What is required to process an idea? Who will screen ideas? What are the responsibilities of the
administrator, idea evaluator, idea review committee, and senior management review board?

What is the time frame for evaluating and criteria for screening an idea?

What is the approval process once an idea has been evaluated?

What method will be used to communicate results of the idea evaluation and progress to the idea submitter?

What method will be used to track and monitor ideas?

How will the process integrate with the new product development process?
Measurement/Goal

What measurable goals would you like to achieve? Higher participation rates? Faster turnaround? Increased
number of products launched?

How will you measure human factors, such as whether the program is easy to use and efficient?
Awards


Do you want to reward employees for their new product ideas?

Who will be eligible to receive awards?

What type of awards and methods to distribute awards will be used?

When will awards be distributedat the time of submission, or upon implementation?

Implementation

What training will be provided to teach people how to begin thinking of ideas?

What training will be provided based on specific roles, such as submitter, evaluator, administrator, or
manager?

Who will perform the training: the training department, human resources, product development, or other?

What identity and design logo will the program have?

Administration

How much time is needed to manage the employee new product idea program?

What resources will be needed for managing the program?

What reporting information will be provided to management? With what frequency?

What will the ongoing motivational and promotional plan consist of?

Step 2: Gain Management Support

What benefits could a structured employee new product idea program offer?
How does a new product idea program fit with your corporate strategy and culture?
What human, financial, capital, or other resources would be required?
What would managements role be in the process?

Step 3: Define the New Product Idea Program Purpose

What are your employee idea program objectives? Will your program be a way for employees to
brainstorm new product ideas, voice client ideas, or store ideas so that they will not be lost?
Why should a new product idea program be implemented? For example, have ideas have been
falling by the wayside due to shifting short-term priorities, or have people left and taken ideas with
them? Is your primary purpose to represent the voice of the customer?

Step 4: Determine Scope

Whom will your new product idea program reach?

What type of product ideas do you want to capture?

Step 5: Establish Idea Ownership and Intellectual Property

Do you want to know and track who is submitting ideas?

Who will implement the new product ideas submitted?
What are your companys policies on intellectual property?

Step 6: Choose Form and Validate Concept

What are the design functions required for the program to be successful?
What method will be used to submit ideas? Will submissions be paper based, on-line,
collaborative, voice-recognition-based, some of the above, or all of the above?
What are the special technology requirements?
How will you pilot-test the concept? Who will be part of the test? How long will it last?

Step 7: Implement an Idea Evaluation Process

What form will be prepared to submit a new product idea?

What are the program and idea submission guidelines?
What is required to process an idea? Who will screen ideas? What are the responsibilities of the
administrator, idea evaluator, idea review committee, and senior management review board?
What is the time frame for evaluating and criteria for screening an idea?
What is the approval process once an idea has been evaluated?
What method will be used to communicate results of the idea evaluation and progress to the idea
submitter?
What method will be used to track and monitor ideas?
How will the idea capture process integrate with the new product development process?

Step 8: Establish Measurements and Goals

What measurable goals would you like to achieve: higher participation rates, faster turnaround, or
increased number of new products launched?
How will you measure human factors, such as whether the program is easy to use or efficient?

Step 9: Define the Awards Program

Do you want to reward employees for their new product ideas?

Who will be eligible to receive awards?
What type of awards and methods to distribute awards will be used?
Will awards be distributed at the time of submission or upon implementation?

Step 10: Implement Program, Communicate, and Train

What training will be provided to teach people how to begin thinking of ideas?
What training will be provided based on specific roles, such as submitter, evaluator, administrator,
or manager?
Who will perform the training: the training department, human resources, product development, or
other?
What identity and design logo will the program have?

Step 11: Set Up Ongoing Administration/Program Maintenance

How much time is needed to manage the employee new product idea program?
What resources will be needed for managing the program?
What reporting information will be provided to management and with what frequency?
What will the ongoing motivational and promotional plan consist of?

ENSURING IDEA PROGRAM SUCCESS

Gain management support. Management must take an active role in reviewing ideas and
providing resources. Many grassroots programs have started and failed without the appropriate
support.
Design a program for your company. The program should be customized to your companys
culture and work processes.
Make it easy to submit ideas. Keep it simplemake it fun. Inspire, stimulate, and facilitate the
flow of ideas from employees. Build a program culture to cultivate teamwork, promote learning,

and increase commitment. Dont assume ideas can be shared easily across departments.
Remember that technology cannot replace face-to-face meetings.
Measure success. A program should be developed with the expectation that it will produce
tangible results in the near term. It is important to the long-term survival of an idea capture
program that it begin with a purpose connected to real business issues. Both outcome and
process measures should be tracked.
Provide results. Results produced should be communicated. Keep track of the number and
types of ideas submitted by employees. This will help identify areas where program participation
is low. Promotional activities can be targeted to low-participation areas to increase overall
involvement.
Offer feedback and immediate acknowledgment. Reinforce the program by recognizing all
ideas submitted and keeping idea submitters informed. Response to the submitter should be fair
and timely. Continually communicate idea evaluation status progress to submitters
Recognize and communicate success stories.
Organize launch-related and ongoing promotional efforts. Ongoing training and promotion
are essential to retain employee interest. In some companies, the pilot test gets a lot of attention
because of the newness of the program, but the real work begins after the pilot, in sustaining a
flow of ideas.