Software Tools To Support Innovation Process-Class 4

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE
HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Software tools to support innovation process

- focus on idea management
Innovation Management Institute

Working Paper 29
Akseli Summa
Innovation Management Institute / Helsinki University of Technology, 2004

Table of contents
1 Research plan .................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Background................................................................................................ 2
1.2 Objectives.................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Scope and perspective ................................................................................ 2
1.4 Research question ...................................................................................... 3
2 Innovation process and front-end ....................................................................... 4
2.1 Innovation in modern business environment............................................... 4
2.2 Innovation process ..................................................................................... 4
3 Software tools supporting the innovation process............................................... 7
3.1 Introduction to supporting the innovation process with software tools........ 7
3.2 Software tools ............................................................................................ 9
3.3 Software architecture ................................................................................12
4 Idea management in innovation processes.........................................................14
4.1 Creativity in innovation processes.............................................................14
4.2 Idea management process..........................................................................16
4.3 Software tools supporting idea management..............................................18
4.4 Software selection process ........................................................................19
4.5 Criteria for evaluating software tools ........................................................20
4.6 Commercial software versus custom applications......................................22
4.7 Links to other applications ........................................................................23
5 Idea management software................................................................................24
5.1 SAP Product Lifecycle Management SAP AG .......................................25
5.2 Idea management for mySAP Target soft ...............................................25
5.3 Lotus Notes Platform for in-house developed applications .....................26
5.4 ELS Consult DanProd and Start application ...........................................27
5.5 IDe IDweb .............................................................................................27
5.6 Hummingbird DM Document management............................................29
5.7 Accolade idea management Sopheon......................................................30
5.8 Enterprise Idea Management BrainBank Inc...........................................32
5.9 Idea management software General Ideas Inc.........................................33
5.10 Ideas management Idea Value ................................................................34
6 Idea management in distributed organizations...................................................36
6.1 Taxonomies and data structure ..................................................................37
6.2 Database reporting and business intelligence tools ....................................38
6.3 Goldfire Innovator Invention Machine ...................................................38
6.4 Documentum Content intelligence services ............................................39
7 Semantic searches.............................................................................................40
7.1 Introduction to semantic searches and the semantic web............................40
7.2 Semantic web............................................................................................40
7.3 Commercial applications...........................................................................41
8 Summary and conclusions ................................................................................43
8.1 Summary and conclusions.........................................................................43
References................................................................................................................46
Appendixes ..............................................................................................................47
Appendix 1. Web resources ...............................................................................47
Appendix 2. Software tools list..........................................................................48
1
1 Research plan
1.1 Background
Organizations constantly develop new ideas. It is vital for their long-term success to
exploit them effectively in their business and other activities.
New ideas need to be properly evaluated and their submitters need to get a quick and
sufficient feedback on their idea and on how the organization will make use of it. This
ensures that sound ideas are put into practice and also keeps innovators motivated for
submitting new ideas for evaluation. Transparent idea management process and
feedback improve the quality and number of new ideas (e.g. Nielsson et al. 2002,
Fieldberg, J., DeMarco, D. 1992).
There are commercially available software on the market to systematically gather and
exploit ideas generated by employees. It is especially challenging to share and transfer
ideas between different locations and functions in distributed organizations. The
difficulty is to ensure that once a new product idea is developed in a production or in
service function, it is transferred to the research and development functions. Idea
management software store ideas and relevant documentation in a database giving the
organization wide access to the information and transfers ideas and their utilization
effectively to every location.
1.2 Objectives
The first objective of this research project is to (1) map existing commercially
available idea management software which can be used to collect, evaluate and
document ideas created in a single location or function. Idea management software
designed for multi-site and multi-function organizations will also be briefly explored.
The second objective is to (2) evaluate the available technologies and software in
relation to the idea management needs.
1.3 Scope and perspective

This research is based on the theory of innovation process and on previous research
on software tools supporting innovation process and idea management.
It focuses on examining idea management on the front-end of the innovation process.

Idea management is studied both on function/ location and corporate levels, the main
emphasis being on function/ location level.
We shall mainly look into commercially available idea management software that is
designed for gathering, evaluating and documenting ideas created in a single location
or function. Technologies and software for managing ideas in multi-site and multi-
function organizations will also be explored. Both functionality and structure of the
software will be evaluated.
This research is explorative and evaluative by nature. Complementary interviews will

be conducted if necessary.
2
This research produces a report about commercially available software tools

supporting innovation processes and systematic idea management in the organizations
(Figure1).
Idea
gathering
No
Yes
Action
Idea
Feedback
gathering Idea
Tool to analyze
gathering
No
Yes
No ideas documented
Action
Feedback
in different systems
Yes Idea
gathering
No
and locations
Yes
Action Action
Feedback
Idea
gathering
No
Feedback Yes
Action
Feedback
Figure 1. Simple idea management processes, and software to consolidate and analyze ideas
created in different locations and stored in different systems/ formats
This research is part of Helsinki University of Technologys Innovation Management

Institutes COINNO project.
1.4 Research question

Main research question:
How can software support idea management in the front-end of innovation process?
Sub-questions:
What kind of software exist to support idea gathering, evaluation and
management in single site environment
What kind of tools and techniques can benefit organization wide utilization
ideas created in multi-location environment
3
2 Innovation process and front-end
2.1 Innovation in modern business environment

In the history of mankind four different successive evolutionary eras can be
identified: the farming era, the industrial era, the information based era and the
communication-based era. Each new era has been associated with decreasing
evolution cycle times and with vastly different sets of paradigms for success. During
the farming era, the time factor for evolutionary processes was counted in centuries,
whereas it is now reckoned in decades or years. (EIRMA 2000)
It appears inevitable that evolutionary speed will continue to increase setting new
challenges. Rapidly changing and developing technologies, shorter product life cycles
and more demanding customers are some of the general drivers of the modern global,
turbulent and more competition-oriented business environment. In order to cope with
increased market dynamics and the change of pace companies need to develop their
ability to use the entire potential of the organization and enhance their innovativeness
to meet the demands of fast developing businesses and operating environments.
In a fast changing operating environment research and development activities are

influenced by such trends as more open organizations and company culture, research
and product development spans across multiple organizations (networks and clusters),
and flatter and more flexible organizations. Rapid development of information
technology, including web technologies, support research and development work in
this new environment. Efficient communication technologies are especially vital for
distributed teams and global research and development.
Changes do not only possess threats but they also open new opportunities. Recent
changes in the business environment as well as in the information technology have
opened new opportunities for organizations to increase effectiveness and efficiency,
but the same changes can also be a threat if the organization fails to adapt and make
use of its opportunities.
Organizations have developed their innovation processes with approaches such as

cross-functionality, parallel development and elimination of many time consuming
phases. This development has been supported by the information technology
including team collaboration tools, simulation, 3D-modeling and document
management.
Software tools support the innovation process and can improve innovation quality,
shorten cycle times, cut costs, lower risks, enhance the results of innovation, and
increase its diffusion to customers. (Quinn et al., 1996)
2.2 Innovation process

Creativity can potentially provide a competitive advantage to an organization if it
manages to harness this resource. The innovation process generates new ideas by
combining organizations knowledge and intelligence, aligned by its vision and
strategy. The efficiency of the process is in a key role determining the organizations
4
ability to utilize its creative potential and to turn it into competitive advantage and
long-term success. (McAdam et al., 2002)
According to Quinn et al. (1996) innovation process consists of technological,

managerial, and social processes through which a new idea or concept is first
introduced into to practice in a culture. Discovery is the initial observation of a new
phenomenon. Invention provides the first verification of a particular solution to the
problem. Diffusion spreads innovations within an organization. All these phases are
necessary to create value.
Innovation activities can be approached from various levels including the strategic
level, the portfolio level and the project level. These different levels should be aligned
to ensure efficient product and service development supporting the organizations
strategy and goals.
This study uses the macro-level innovation process model developed by Innovation
Management Institute (Poskela et al. 2004) which focuses on the front end of the
innovation process. This model can also be used to investigate how software tools
can support the innovation process and especially idea management in the invention-
phase of the fuzzy-front end.
FUZZY-FRONT-END
PHASE: INVENTION PLANNING OFFERING COMMERCIALI-
DEVELOPMENT ZATION
STRATEGY
BUSINESS
PROCESS
ROAD- PORT- DEVE-

INTELLIGENCE
MAPS FOLIO LOPMENT

BUSINESS
LAUNCH
CROSS
FUNCTIONAL
TEAMS
COMPETENCES
FOCUS ON: CREATIVITY DECISION SPEED COSTS

MAKING
Figure 2. Innovation process and fuzzy front-end (Poskela et al., 2004)
Knowledge forms the foundation for any innovation. The knowledge process can be
divided into various sub-processes including knowledge capture, knowledge transfer
and leverage (Farris et al., 2003). Life cycle approaches can also be applied in
knowledge management in the innovation process. The organization should capture
and utilize knowledge in every phase of the innovation process, including product
launch and after market operations. Customer interface is regarded as the single most
important source of creative potential. Quinn et al. (1996) say that more than 50% of
innovations occur at customer interface, but the potential is seldom fully utilized.
5
EIRMA (2000) states that advances in information technology also bring changes into
research and development (R&D) operations. The classic corporate R&D model,
which is more than 50 years old, assumes that the innovation process should not be
disturbed by real business problems.
A new IT based model, so-called blue sky research, states that R&D should not be
regarded as a separate activity. This model has been modified and refined to make
R&D a part of the business plan and to improve the linkage between R&D,
manufacturing, and other functions. The model exists in the knowledge economy as a
distributed open model of innovation. It helps cross-functional approaches in R&D by
removing the boundaries between different functions such as marketing and
operations, and external partners and stakeholders such as universities and other
companies, customers and competitors.
To an increasing extent, R&D operations should be integrated with both the internal
and external information environment (figure 3). Rapidly developing information
technology provides increasingly effective tools to make this integration happen. The
pulling together of different kinds of database via the internet technology makes it
easy to move between different systems, and this enhances the transfer of knowledge
between partners and from the operating environment.
Tools such as Product Data Management (PDM), data mining, and groupware
supporting collaborative working, and others are powerful instruments for within
organization and with closely integrated partners. Technologies such as web casting
support outside-in knowledge transfer. New software tools are under development
improving support for research and development networks and partnerships. In
EIRMAs vision standardization, combined with better performance of existing and
new tools, will in the near future provide for a borderless world information flows
frictionless. (EIRMA 2000)
Inter-
Inter-
governmental Business
organizations agencies
Laws &
regulations Competitors
People
Services Strategic
Customers,
Customers,
Politics Intellectual
Stakeholders prospects
assets
& markets
Operational Information Know-

Know-how
Communities Innovation Products Suppliers

/R&D & services & partners
Structures Corporate
Tactical goals
Ecological Technological
systems trends
Financial
Economics markets
& systems
Figure 3. R&D model integration with information environments (Source: EIRMA 2000)
6
3 Software tools supporting the innovation process
3.1 Introduction to supporting the innovation process with software tools

Software providers offer a wide variety of tools to assist the organizations innovation
process. Some of them have been used for a relatively long time while others are
emerging. Software systems have long been used to plan and monitor hard
innovation processes (Quinn et al. 1996). The Program Evaluation and Review
Technique and the Critical Path Method are examples of early software tools used in
association with these processes. It is safe to say that a significant part of the now
available software tools are not yet in use in most organizations. (EIRMA 2000)
Kohn et al. (2003) conducted an extensive study on available software supporting the
innovation process in organizations. Their findings include that a large variety of
software exist, but organizations very seldom use them. This applies especially to
small and medium sized companies. The authors also list several cases where software
tools have contributed to the innovation process and created competitive advantage.
It is important to emphasize that the effective deployment of an IT tool is often not a

trivial undertaking, especially if it is to be used by many people or will depend on the
capture and storage of significant amounts of data or information. Tools are usually
only relevant as part of a system - a set of agreed processes and working practices
based on a common understanding of what is to be achieved. The purchase cost is
often only a minor part of the initial implementation cost, and in most cases ongoing
resource and funding will be required to achieve the planned benefits.
One of the key challenges in innovation processes and enhancing organizational

creativity is to capture, leverage and utilize the knowledge gathered throughout the
whole life cycle of the product from initial idea generation through concept
development and manufacturing to use and final disposal.
Figure 4. R&D processes and related IT tools (EIRMA 2000)
7
To gain any major benefit, the following issues, common to all processes, must be
taken into account: (EIRMA 2000)
Ensuring simple and easy access to all information across an R&D
organization, with retrieval tools that allow the timely mining of unstructured
and incomplete data. Typical data sources include project databases and
portals, product data management (PDM) systems, technical report
repositories and patent databases, which are mined using simple or intelligent
search engines.
Providing solutions which allow 'virtual teams' to work effectively across
organizational and geographic boundaries. There are a growing number of
collaboration and workflow tools which support R&D processes.
Easy access to consistent information is the key to delivering R&D effectively
in an environment where teams are working across the globe and in different
organizations.
Quinn et al. (2003) say that in user-based innovations the innovation process has been
inverted. The customer has become the innovator, and all intervening steps in the
innovation process have disappeared. A major contribution of well-designed software
is that it allows the original innovator to tap into the creative potential of all the firms
customers and suppliers. Since more than 50% of all innovation occurs at these
interfaces, this creates a substantial leveraging of the companys own capabilities.
(Quinn et al. 1996)
Quinn et al. (1996) state that software tools improve innovation quality, shorten cycle
times, cut costs, lower risks, enhance the results of innovation, and increase
innovations diffusion to customers.
A few companies have interlinked their marketing and enterprise resource planning
systems with their scientific databases and design processes. Such integration can
substantially enhance the responsiveness, degree of advance, and customer impact of
innovations. It can also significantly lower innovation risks, investments, and cycle
times. (Quinn et al. 1996)
EIRMA (2000) says that R&D will follow other functions such as manufacturing in
the trend of outsourcing and networking. They found out that the following changes
will occur at the implementation of IT systems and new management models:
Companies will focus on what they do best and transfer the rest to a network
of partners
The biggest profits will go to those that manage information, not physical
assets
Companies will give consumers the tools to design and demand exactly what
they want
Many new businesses will depend on free agents and outside contractors to
develop products faster than ever. (for example IDEO)
ICT technology improves efficiency by cutting time, capital and people
Old business models are vulnerable to new businesses that can get good ideas
into development fast
8
Companies will have to look for talented people, and then create environment
that let workers flourish
3.2 Software tools

A wide variety of software tools are used as a support to the innovation process,
varying from computed-aided design (CAD) programs, 3D-modeling and simulation
tools through customized software for R&D project portfolio management,
collaboration, expertise locators to portals used to integrate separate software and
databases (Farris et al. 2003, Helminen 2003, Quinn et al. 1996, EIRMA 2000).
Quinn et al. (1996) identified seven phases in an innovation process. They all have
their own characteristics and special software to support them. This model is based on
a more or less stand-alone software, and only loosely linked with business processes
and R&D operating model.
Applied research software tools and communications technology bring
practical data about market, economic, or performance. Quinn et al. (1996)
states that most major innovations are preceded by a defined need.
Development the design of physical systems, subsystems, components, and
parts now occurs first in software. This phase uses software such as 3D CAD.
Simulations often allow less expensive and more effective test than physical
models.
Manufacturing engineering the same kind of software used for product
development is available for developing manufacturing operations and product
design. Quinn et al. identified different data gathering, analytical and test
software designed for improving process design and manufacturing
engineering. Modern software tools allow manufacturing to be simulated
before the manufacturing system, or even product, has been built.
Interactive customer design Customer participation is a crucial element in
both lowering risks and enhancing the customer value of designs. Quinn
suggests that companies can leverage their internal capabilities by tapping into
their customers and supply chains creative ideas. Web configurators enable
customers to design the product they want.
Post-introduction monitoring When a product has been introduced to the
market, according to Quinn et al., software can improve its effectiveness,
oversee proper maintenance, and introduce new value creating features.
Remote diagnostics is one example of this kind of product.
Diffusion and organizational learning software is a critical element in
facilitating the organizational learning.
New value-added systems By combining software with existing products,
companies may develop their business in a new direction by adding more
value to the customer, or by customizing existing product platforms with
different types of software.
Farris et al. (2003) presented a model called web of innovation which links the key
business processes, software tools (presented in figure 5) and knowledge foundation
to innovation process. In this model the software tools are both integrated in to
organizations innovation process, and act as modular entity. Farris et al. (2003)
stresses the importance of information and data flow both between the levels and
9
within each level. However, the model does not explicitly include knowledge created
in the use phase of the product.
Portals
Expertise Scorecards
locator & Metrics
Capture
Collaboration decisions &
reasons
Intellectual
asset &Competitive Computer
intelligence aided analysis
Mgmt.
Data & Text
mining and
analysis
Figure 5. Software tools supporting innovation (Adapted Farris et al. 2003)
Kohn et al. (2003) have divided software for innovation management into eight
categories according to their functionality:
Scenario management
Portfolio management
Business intelligence
Idea gathering and generation
Idea management
Idea evaluation
Project planning and management
Software for managing and steering entire innovation process
Kohn et al. (2003) say that idea gathering and generation software are often smaller
and simpler applications than the software used to support other phases of innovation
process. However, they found out that even these simple tools help to enhance
organizations innovativeness. There are also more sophisticated, and more expensive,
tools to support idea gathering and creation, but they are mainly focused on solving
technical details. The idea management categories (Kohn et al. 2003) are closely
linked to the idea gathering categories discussed above.
For the purposes of this study software tools supporting the innovation process are
categorized as follows:
1. Software for designing and testing of products, manufacturing, theories, etc

2. Software tools to support project, process, and portfolio management. This
category includes also tools for linking strategy to portfolio and project
management
3. Knowledge management tools
4. Collaboration tools
5. Competence management tools
10
In addition to the above mentioned software categories innovation process can

benefits from portals which enable customized content and user interface depending
on individual needs. Common system management layer offers service such as
reporting and search capabilities to other software components.
Management
Strategic management
layer
Project management
Portal
Idea Idea Idea Product

Eva- Product After
gene- gat- develop- develop-
luation launch sales
ration hering ment ment
system support
Collaboration
enablesr,
Life-cycle knowledge Business intelligence

Technology intelligence Knowledge management Market intelligence
Competitor intelligence
Competence management
User management Search capabilities
Reporting System management Interoperability
Figure 6. Software to support innovation process
There are a few questions that make it difficult to evaluate the innovation process
software tools. Organizations needs, abilities and processes vary making one kind of
software a better choice for one organization and not suitable for another. Innovation
process tools form only a small part in the IT-infrastructure and strategy. As discussed
by many researchers, it is vital for success that innovation process tools can be
integrated with systems existing e.g. in marketing, production and service
organizations. Partly for above mentioned reasons some organizations decide to either
customize commercial software to meet their specific needs, or develop software tools
in-house to support their innovation process. In order to be successful, especially in-
house development, but also commercial software to some extent, needs to be linked
to existing IT-platforms (such as Lotus Notes/Domino).
According to Farris et al. (2003) software tools can be divided into three different
categories depending on their level of customization:
Commercial sources
Collaboration
Computer-aided analysis
Front end of innovation
Mixed
Project management
Internal portals
External portals
Intellectual asset management
11
Competitive intelligence management

Data mining & analysis
Developed In-house
Scorecard & Metrics
Knowledge capture
Expertise locators
3.3 Software architecture

Quinn (1996) states that systems supporting the innovation process can be divided
into three interacting modules. Database and model access systems embody the
organizations current raw data and external models. Software engines contain the
primary processing, manipulation and operating systems logic. Common interfaces
make the three modules work together and enable various users to access the system.
Quinn et al (1996) says that the highest innovation pay-off can be derived from
expanded database availability and easier-to-use interfaces. Organizations Intranets
will ultimately be their largest users. Quinn et al. (1996) also state that it is essential to
keep all three critical systems as updated, open, and flexible as possible.
Figure 7. Software architecture
Quinn et al. (1996) say that most successful software systems have been developed
focusing individually on the three critical subsystems and carefully predefining
interface standards. This leaves each subsystem free to contribute as quickly as
possible, it allows incremental implementation and interactive learning, and avoids
12
the long and costly development times. Quinn et al also state that successful
companies concentrate on developing system software that insulates users from
having to understand the complex rules and sophisticated methodologies of its internal
operations.
Quinn (1996) says that single extensive systems are difficult to accomplish and
suggests interacting subsystems which can be accessed through portals such as
Intranets. If the organization decides to implement innovation process software by
integrating separate software systems, special attention should be paid to available
interfaces when selecting software to be used as.
13
4 Idea management in innovation processes
4.1 Creativity in innovation processes

Creativity is an important human resource which exists in all enterprises.
Organizations have to try to make use of this resource by devising settings which
permit creative talents to thrive and by using mechanisms which will elicit creative
contributions (Proctor, T. 1998).
Creativity in R&D depends to a large extent on readily available information on a

wide range of issues. Speeding up the project approval process is an important factor
in the timely delivery of innovations. These requirements are met by the effective
implementation of Ideas Management and Collaboration Tools. (EIRMA 2000)
Typically the idea sources in the fuzzy-front-end of product development projects are
as follows. Market needs and requirements (as well as invitation of tenders) are
identified by Sales and Marketing. New or changing regulatory requirements or
product obsolescence are identified by the Product Manager, Product Development,
Technical Support or Production. The Product Development or Research Unit
introduces new product ideas and possible new technologies. Customer and end-user
needs (via feedback) are identified by Technical Support and After Sales people.
(Poskela et al 2004)
Ideas and knowledge for new or existing products are created in different
organizational functions, and nowadays even between different organizations.
Employee engagement is fundamental to sound organizational development. Too
often these ideas are not disseminated and they do not result in any action, or actions
are taken without vital information. This is a typical knowledge management problem.
However, it is also an idea management issue if ideas are wasted because they are not
shared, evaluated, implemented or rewarded in a way which supports the
organizations strategy and exploits the full potential of the ideas. It is difficult, if not
impossible, to excel in idea management without proper knowledge management
practices and software support.
Stakeholder, especially customer, participation in idea generation and innovation

processes lowers risks and enhances customer value. Companies can leverage their
internal capabilities enormously by tapping into their customers and sophisticated
suppliers creative ideas (Quinn et al 1996).
An EIRMA working group says that an organization needs tools to which enable new
ideas to be captured and for suitable ones to be selected and progressed effectively. A
number of tools exist to support idea generation and management. EIRMA says that
these tools tend to be strongest in the generation, categorization, and ranking of ideas,
but often weak in the subsequent conversion of ideas into projects. EIRMA has
identified the following process for creativity. (EIRMA 2000)
14
Figure 8. Sub processes for creativity (EIRMA 2000)
Neither identifying new challenges and opportunities nor the generation of new ideas
and concepts falls within the definition of an idea management process in this study.
However, the importance of those two preceding phases should not be
underestimated.
Breakthrough Low number

Strategic high unit value
ideas
High unit value and

Progress number
Transverse ideas
High number
Evolution Local ideas low unit value
Figure 9. Idea typology presented by IdeaValue Inc. (www.ideavalue.com)
15
Local ideas are evaluated and implemented within the team where the idea was
discovered. Evaluation is carried out by the immediate supervisor, and the innovator
is usually responsible for the implementation. There are usually many local ideas and
the value of a single idea is low. The main challenge from the idea management point
of view is to transfer local ideas to other sites and functions where they could have
value to the organization. There is no need to invent the wheel twice.
Ideas which do not fall within the borders of single site or function need a different
evaluation and implementation process than local ideas. An idea may be so complex
that the competence of several functions is necessary to evaluate and implement it.
Sometimes an idea has an impact on several functions or due to its high costs several
functions should commit to its implementation. Ideas are evaluated by a single
person, e.g. unit manager or by a group of people, e.g. function managers.
The third idea category is ideas with strategic value. These ideas have a major impact
in organizations ability to compete in new or existing markets. They are evaluated by
the middle or top management.
4.2 Idea management process

Idea management is a process which gathers documents and evaluates ideas generated
within an organization. Idea management should be distinguished from the idea
generation phase, which is not a part of idea management as defined in this study.
However, both idea management and idea generation processes benefit from each
other and one cannot excel without the other. Idea generation generates new
innovative ideas for idea management, and idea management builds an organizational
knowledge base to support the generation of new ideas. Well managed idea
management motivates the organization to generate more and better ideas.
Ideas Ideas
Idea Idea Innovation

generation management process
Common memory, guidance,

feedback common memory,
experience
Figure 10. Idea management is linked to idea generation and innovation processes
Idea management can benefit the organization in two ways: First, systematic and
transparent idea gathering and evaluation increase the amount of ideas generated and
made public. It is vital that ideas are evaluated quickly and innovators receive
feedback on the results. Second, systematic idea management improves the
organizations ability to utilize generated ideas by sharing them and by building its
common memory.
Idea management does not only include traditional incentive boxes and innovation
contests. It is a wider and continuously ongoing process where ideas are gathered,
documented and evaluated. Incentive boxes often generate ideas of poor quality and
may cause image problems to whole idea management process.
16
Idea management is often organized at site or function levels. When ideas are
evaluated and developed further close to the innovator, it gives transparency to the
evaluations and motivates the innovators. However, modern distributed organizations
benefit from a cross-functional approach. This should be emphasized in idea
management. The development of ideas often requires collaboration of people from
various functions and locations. Therefore, software tools should support idea
management and team work in distributed environments. One goal of the cross-
functional approach is to reduce the risks of the not-invented-here effect, which
hampers organizations ability to implement new ideas.
Idea management is divided into separate phases in several ways. Proposed

categorizations include (Nickey, K. 2003 SHRM Online):
Idea gathering
Idea development
Implementation
Measuring results
Recognition and rewards
Another way to define the phases of an idea management process is as follows (Wood
2003):
Idea generation
Idea management
Idea evaluation
Implementation
Recognition and rewarding
In this study idea management processes consist of the following white phases:
Process management including strategic linking, reporting, etc
Follow-up
Idea Idea Idea Idea Idea
and
generation gathering evaluation development implementation
rewarding
Organizations memory
Figure 11. Idea management process
Idea generation is not part of the idea management process in this study although it
has strong influences on idea management and the organizations ability to innovate.
On the other hand, idea management affects future idea generation. If the importance
of idea management is not understood and ideas are not evaluated correctly with
rewards to the employees, it demotivates them to innovate and present their ideas in
the future.
Idea gathering, where ideas are systematically collected and documented, is the first
phase in the idea management process itself. This creates a basis for idea evaluation
17
and builds an organizational memory. This is also the phase where the idea is for first
time stored in the idea management database.
Idea evaluation is one of the critical steps in innovation management. Evaluation

should be linked with the organizations strategy and vision. In case there is no
strategic fit, the organization may give the idea to a venturing organization. If
evaluation is poor it can be very demotivating for the employees.
Poor idea evaluation is a significant cause for sub-optimal performance of

organizations innovation activities. Reasons for poor idea evaluation include (Nickey
2003):
Evaluators cannot see the benefit of their participation or they are not
rewarded for their work
Senior management does not support idea management and evaluation
Evaluators do not have the required skills or competence to evaluate ideas
Evaluators are afraid to support ideas. Development and implementation of
new ideas include always risks as well as opportunities. If the organization
does not tolerate failure, it cannot utilize the potential existing in new ideas
Continuous idea development through collaboration is necessary for creating a

competitive edge. In the modern, complex world where organizations are divided into
cross-functional teams, it is rare that one person generates ideas and refines them until
they are transferred into the innovation process and a formal development project is
established. Idea development should continue throughout the idea management
process, as it is one of its most critical phases.
Without idea implementation organizations do not benefit from their innovativeness

and a competitive edge is not created. However, idea implementation should be
handled in a separate process and continue throughout the whole life cycle of the
product. There are separate tools for idea implementation.
Idea follow-up and rewarding the innovator should always be included in the idea
management process. The follow-up of ideas entering the innovation process creates
valuable knowledge and should be stored in the organizations memory, to be used for
managing idea generation and management processes in the future.
4.3 Software tools supporting idea management

Traditionally, systems for handling ideas, such as suggestion schemes, have been
paper-based, which has made them difficult to administrate. Much work has been
needed to provide feedback to the submitter of an idea. By using computerized
systems, the administrative burden is reduced and it becomes easier to provide quick
feedback. With idea management software, the organization can enhance every phase
of an idea management process. However, it should be stressed that software is
merely a tool to support other dimensions of idea management including
organizational culture and idea management processes. (Nilsson et al. 2002).
Idea management can be supported in many ways and at all organizational levels.
Perhaps the most important issue is the organizations commitment to support idea
generation and evaluate them promptly and transparently. Idea management is closely
18
related to knowledge management. Organizational cultures which promote issues such

as knowledge sharing, open communication, cross-functional teams and so on also
benefit from the idea management process and its goals.
Software tools in idea management do not compensate for organizational issues, but
support idea management especially in large multinational and functional
organizations.
Software tools can be divided into several categories based on their level of
customization, scope and so on. There are software designed purely for idea
management, but some tools are designed innovation management activities in a
wider sense. The next chapters describe some ways to categorize these software tools
and build evaluation criteria.
Nilsson et al. (2002) have identified the following dimensions of organizations idea
management systems:
Purpose of the system
Focus
Information technology
Access to the system
Congruence of ideas with overall business strategy
The role of innovator
Transformation to NPDP
Incentive for participation
Proctor (1998) identifies six categories for software tools assisting creative problem
solving. Text-based outliners, often built-in work processors, help to structure
thoughts. Visual outliners such as Mind Manager and MindMan help users to express
his/her idea by the means of mind maps, concept maps, or other graphical outline.
Idea processing software offers a range of tools to record, process and manipulate
ideas. Questioning programs use sets of questions, keywords or exercises based on
user input to provoke new ideas. Idea implementation software help to implement
ideas. This category includes for example project management tools and to-do lists.
The last category identified by Proctor is communication tools which are often based
on the Internet. These tools include online chat rooms, e-mail, newsgroups, and idea
databases.
4.4 Software selection process

Software evaluation includes many artefacts which have to be evaluated and then
aggregated. Software evaluation begins with a needs analysis. The organization
should carefully assess what it really requires to see if investment in software can
meet those needs. A needs analysis should also include goal setting and other specific
objectives.
The second step is to specify all requirements, including issues such as costs,
hardware compatibility, IT policy, user friendliness, documentation, technical and
other support, and correlation with the organizations needs, goals, and objectives
defined in first phase of the evaluation process. It should be noted that the cost of the
software represents usually only a small part of the total costs involved.
19
A cross-functional approach is usually beneficial in software projects. IT departments

in larger organizations have their own policies and templates for software selection,
and they can provide a valuable input into the project. Inclusion of all relevant parties
from the early phases of software selection and implementation often helps to commit
all parties to the successful completion of the project.
The third phase is to identify commercially available software that meet a maximum
of the requirements specified in second phase. Commercially available software is,
however, not always the best alternative and therefore the organization should also
look into customized or tailor made software. Available software reviews, experiences
from other organizations, magazines and the information available in the Internet
should be fully utilized in this phase.
After having identified potential commercial software, the selected alternatives are
evaluated more closely. This fourth phase usually includes trial versions which are
tested by a project team including people who will later use the software. It is often
beneficial to evaluate commercial software alternatives even if the organization ends
up with a decision to purchase tailor made software.
The fifth step is to make a recommendation for purchase. It should be based on a

careful and systematic evaluation of all available options. Alternatives should be rated
against the selection criteria, and the evaluation process with its results should be
documented for future reference. Feedback after the software has been taken into use
will help to improve the software and the process it is supporting as well as future
software acquisitions.
4.5 Criteria for evaluating software tools

The software selection process described in previous chapter is rather generic but the
criteria the software is evaluated against are case specific. However, some categories
or criteria groups can be identified. One criterion is hardware compatibility such as
servers, workstations and network connections. The second category is compatibility
with current software including operating systems, servers and client software, and
other software with links to new systems. The third issue is software quality. Quality
covers a wide range of issues from stability to bug free implementation, but it includes
also factors such as software functionality, adaptability, easy of use and other
capabilities. The fourth issue is available documentation and training. The fifth
category consists of vendor related issues such as support, warranty, copyright issues,
maintenance and possibly new versions. The final category includes questions such as
existing software reviews, references, and vendors and softwares market shares.
(Adapted from Walton & Taylor, 1986, and Mandelbaum, 1992.)
Giga Research Inc. has divided the software product selection into five groups:
Vendor strategy, product functions, usability, pricing & contract, and vendor viability
& support. These five main categories have been further divided into several attributes
such as deployment, algorithms and data access based on the key requirements set for
the software products. (www.gigaweb.com 18.3.2004)
Based on discussions between the researchers and client, and previous experience, we
have identified the following criteria (see figure 12) groups and criteria for evaluating
20
idea management software. Evaluation criteria include supported hardware and

software, vendor, functionality, training and documentation.
Hardware
Functionality Software
Training,
documentation
Vendor
Other
Figure 12. Software evaluation criteria

Software quality and functionality is the single most important category. It includes
issues such as functionality, manageability and structure (including support for
common interfaces such as ODBC and JDBC). Idea management software needs to
have following functionality:
Support for centralized and decentralized idea management
Possibility to build idea campaigns
Support for electronic attachment
Search capabilities
Ability to integrate with other systems
User and group management
Support for variety of platforms
Collaboration
Enable both predefined and ad-hoc reporting
Alarms/ support for push technology notifications
Transparent evaluation
Web access
Idea classification
Idea valuation/ scoring
Process definition/ Workflows
Group submissions
Problem posting
Idea status (active/ inactive)
Idea development
Gathering ideas from partners, customers and other stakeholders
The original idea was to use formal evaluation methodology such as Analytic
Hierarchy Process to assess different software tools. A list of evaluation criteria was
developed, but applying formal evaluation methodology was not done for following
reasons:
Idea management is closely linked to various activities such as knowledge
management, innovation process and business intelligence. There are
software tools to support idea management which also benefit other activities
21
such as document management. Therefore, these tools should not be assessed

from idea management perspective only but the evaluation needs to take into
consideration also the other activities in which they can be useful to the client.
Evaluation criteria depend on various factors, such as organizational culture,
idea management processes, linking between idea management and
innovation processes, IT policy and supported IT platforms, influence the
feasibility of software tools. Therefore, evaluation criteria are organization
specific.
The best software tool for the organization under review depends on issues such as
Organizational culture
Needs
Top managements commitment
Other parameters such as timetable, budget, existing IT infrastructure, future
development plans, ability to implement,
4.6 Commercial software versus custom applications

Software is divided into three categories: in-house developed applications, customized
commercial software, and commercial off-the-shelf software.
Commercial In-house
?
Figure 13. Commercial versus In-house developed software
Commercial, off-the-shelf software is software which can be configured and

implemented without new or modified software code. Process either cannot be
customized or the customization is done by adjusting parameters using user interface
or configuration file.
Customized software is based on existing software or software modules, which

require limited modification to adapt to the specific organization, innovation process,
IT infrastructure, etc.
In-house developed software can be built on an existing IT platform using available

software components, but requires designing and significant amount of programming.
If customized software is based on existing application which is customized to meet
the specific requirement, in-house developed software is designed for the specific
need and can utilize to some extent available software components.
In-house developed software

Application can be developed to support the organizations specific processes
without the limitations of commercial off-the-shelf software
Easier to integrate all the requirements set for e.g. functionality, connectivity
and structure
Should utilize existing IT platforms, servers, user management, etc
No updates available
22
Customized applications
Customized applications try to combine the benefits of both commercial and
in-house developed applications
Updating more difficult than updating off-the-shelf software
Commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS)

Updates easily available
Software quality is often better than in in-house developed or even in
customized software
Better support available
4.7 Links to other applications

As mentioned before, idea management has links to other organizational activities,
including strategic planning, knowledge management and business development. It
has also been said that an idea management process gets input from other activities
such as business and market intelligence. Most prominent ideas are transferred from
idea management to the innovation process for further development and
commercialization. Good ideas should also be rewarded and relevant immaterial
properties protected. Idea management is integrated into other organizational
activities, and idea management software can benefit from links to other applications
as well. Well integrated idea management software could have links to other
applications, including:
Patent management solutions for protecting the organizations immaterial
rights
Human resource systems and payroll to reward good ideas and to provide
innovativeness statistics for management
Competence management/ expertise locator
Business-, market- and technology intelligence these systems provide
information and knowledge to enhance innovativeness and to support idea
evaluation, development and implementation
Other software used to support and manage the innovation process (e.g.
portfolio management)
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
Knowledge/ document management system
One solution to integrate different applications is to use portals to integrate user

interface, and common data access interfaces enabling data exchange between
applications. Common interfaces for data access include:
ODBC
JDBC
XML
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5 Idea management software

One of the objectives of this study is to evaluate commercially available software
tools and Lotus Domino/ Notes platform to support the idea management process.
This study explores available alternatives and suggests some tools for further
evaluation. Final decision should be based on the decisions on how idea management
is organized in context of innovation process and fuzzy front-end.
Idea management software was searched from various sources, including Internet,
studies (EIRMA 2000, Insti 2003) and literature. In the first phase some 30 software
products were screened, and the most prominent ones were selected for this study.
Information comes mainly from suppliers Internet pages. Some suppliers were
interviewed and sending other questioned by e-mail. However, some software
suppliers did not provide answers to questions and/or the requested material and trial
software.
I have divided the reviewed software tools into:

Idea management software Software designed especially for idea
management. Commercial off-the-shelf or customized based on existing
software components
Innovation process software Software developed to support various
activities within innovation process, including idea management. Other
supported activities could include expertise location, portfolio management
and project management
Custom applications In-house developed idea management application.
Based usually on organizations existing IT platforms such as Lotus Notes
Knowledge management systems Knowledge management systems which
can be configured to support formal idea management process
Integrated idea management application Idea management integrated into
the organizations other software applications such as Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP)
Applications based on document and knowledge management systems focus more on

managing knowledge and focus less on the ideas in the innovation process. However,
in document and knowledge management software there is often possible to define
specific paths of document flows which could be used to support idea management.
With document and knowledge management systems the biggest questions are: how
do they support reporting on organizations idea management process, and do they
allow collaboration, such as team comments and development of the original idea.
Some of the studied software permits centralized and/or decentralized innovation

management throughout the organization, whereas others are designed to be used
independently in single location/ function. Chapters 6 and 7 discuss ways to support
idea management in distributed organization with technologies such as semantic webs
and searches, taxonomies, and document management applications.
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5.1 SAP Product Lifecycle Management SAP AG

As a part of their Product Lifecycle Management (PML) SAP (www.sap.com) offers a
package solution to support idea management. SAP can either be configured to
support the organizations existing idea management processes or the organization
can implement a predefined idea management process.
SAP Idea management includes the key functionality like web-access, portal
technology, support for customized idea management process, smooth data transfer
between different SAP supported activities (e.g. project management, document
management, user management), push content, collaboration and commenting. In
addition to the key features SAP offers wide variety of other, mainly integration
related, benefits. These include possibility to integrate CRM data, link service (there
is separate function to include service information into SAP) know-how into
innovation process, and project management (cProject) link.
SAP uses industry standard relational databases, and offers variety of data exchange
interfaces. For user interface integration SAP Enterprise Portal supports a broad range
of industry standards such as LDAP, Java, .Net, JCA, SOAP, JAAS, ICE, XML and
Internet technologies such as Web services.
SAP Enterprise portal includes also content management and Text Retrieval and
Information Extraction (TREX) component of the knowledge management platform.
TREX has semantic search and text mining capabilities. However, there were no
documents available on the implementation and properties of semantic search and text
mining capabilities.
SAP idea management would certainly benefit from implementation of SAP human
resource (HR) and organizational functionalities. If SAP is used to manage
organization structure, this information can be utilized in defining and maintaining
user groups.
SAP PMLs strength is on familiar interface, existing infrastructure, smooth

integration with other systems, and global training and support. SAP idea
management should be linked to the decision on the role of SAP in Corporations
information technology infrastructure. SAP PML requires implementation of SAP
Enterprise Portal 6.0.
5.2 Idea management for mySAP Target soft

Target Soft (www.target-soft.com), which is a SAP partner company, offers idea
management systems based on My SAP R/3 Enterprise resource planning software.
Innovation management system includes comprehensive list of functionality to
integrate innovation management into MySAP ERP-system. Software can be adapted
to both centralized and decentralized innovation management processes. Software has
been predefined with roles, user rights, and idea management process making it fast to
implement. However, software can be customized by redefining e.g. above mentioned
roles and processes or by replacing some components with custom ones enabling it to
support different idea management processes in various organizations.
25
PLEASE NOTE: Target Soft MySAP module requires SAPs human resources
management software mini-master records. Implementation of SAP Organizational
Management is also recommended.
SAP partner certification gives Target Soft AG credibility and some level of
guarantee on support and future updates. This ensures comparability with current and
future versions of MySAP. Target Soft appears to have high level of know-how and
experience in developing idea management processes and supporting software tools.
Target Soft has received hard to get SAP certification, and Target Soft idea
management software is also sold through SAPs sales organization.
One concern is Target Softs ability to offer global implementation, training and
support for their product, and the long-term support and development of the product.
SAP representative said that they support third party developers, and that certification
gives even more credibility for Target Soft. There is however no information available
concerning Target Softs financial and market situation.
Target Softs software can be used with older versions of SAP R/3 (release 4.5B or
higher).
This idea management software seems to be a good choice for organizations that have
committed to MySAP in various functions. However, no information was given on
how to integrate this idea management software with following phases of innovation
process.
5.3 Lotus Notes Platform for in-house developed applications

Lotus Notes is an example of commonly used IT platforms. These platforms enable
applications to utilize some common resources such as user management, interfaces,
replication, etc. Usually when organization has once paid for the platform, the use of
platform does not inflict any extra costs. Benefits of using organizations standard IT
platform such as Lotus Notes includes:
Both hardware and software infrastructure exists
Platforms often include some kind of portal to integrate different applications
Platforms usually support access with various types of devices such as PCs,
PDAs, Cellular phones,
Platforms usually enable web-access and encrypted connections
IT department offers some kind of support to standard platforms
Communication and data exchange between Lotus Notes/ Domino
applications are easier (use of open database interfaces such as ODBC and
JDBC is not needed)
On the other hand following negative aspects can be associated to applications based
on common IT-platforms:
Platform may not enable optimal implementation of application (because of
e.g. database type, available programming languages, etc)
When common platform is updated or settings are changed, it may have
impacts on functionality of the application
Especially some older platform using their own databases may have
performance problems
26
Existing IT-platforms are usually good choices when organization develops in-house
an application customized for the specific needs of the organization.
Largest providers of custom developed Lotus Domino/ Notes applications in Finland

are TJ Group (www.tjgroup.fi) and Sofor (www.sofor.fi). Summer trainee with some
Lotus Domino/ Notes development experience can probably develop simple
application to support idea management.
5.4 ELS Consult DanProd and Start application

ELS Consultants (www.elsconsult.dk) is a Denmark-based consulting company
focusing on innovation management. They also provide software tools to support
innovation management process. DanProd and Start tools are aimed to support idea
management and project evaluation in the fuzzy front-end phase.
DanProd is a management system for screening, evaluating, prioritizing and

diagnosing new product projects. It is designed for use relatively early in the new
product process - at the concept identification and business justification stages -
before a formal development program is begun. Before DanProd is used, many ideas
can be filtered and structured and information gathered. Select, the sister product of
DanProd, is designed for this early sequence of ideas filtering.
Before a formal development program is launched, many ideas must be filtered and
structured, and information gathered. The quality of execution of the predevelopment
steps - initial screening, preliminary market and technical studies, market research,
and business analysis - is closely tied to the products financial performance. Select
1.3 is designed for this early sequence of ideas filtering and increases your ability to
pick winning new products, and concepts.
5.5 IDe IDweb

IDweb (www.ide.com) is an integrated solution that supports the whole innovation
process from the idea gathering and management to project implementation and
knowledge management. IDweb supports also strategic linking of the innovation
process and portfolio management. IDweb enables cross-functional approach linking
different functions to innovation process and idea management. Software enables
company to utilize innovation potential of outside the development organization and
integrate customers, suppliers, development partners, and others into the development
process. Software supports all gate-based innovation processes.
IDweb is modular software which can support various activities within the innovation
process. Modules work independently, but can be combined to create an integrated
application.
IDweb is an integrated system in which idea and innovation management works with
other modules.
Software engine supports following areas of product development:

Corporate Strategy
- Strategic planning
- Idea and innovation management
27
- Platform management
Business Strategy
- Portfolio and pipeline management
- Process management
- Resource management
Program Strategy
- Project cost and time management
- Project and program management
- Partner and outsourcing management
Operational Excellence
- Knowledge management
- Performance measurement
Software includes all key functionality required to support idea management,

including:
Compare and evaluate new ideas fairly and consistently
Ensure that all ideas are appropriately evaluated and processed
Easy data transfer from idea management to development process
Document storage for future review and leverage of organizations memory,
combined with search capabilities
Electronic attachments
Reporting capabilities for the whole innovation process configurable reports
and charts, what-if scenarios, financial controls
Web-based interface configurable Web interface that can be made available
through user portals, a corporate intranet, a partner extranet, desktop
productivity tools, or email distribution.
Idea sharing
Idea development and reopening software support adding details,
documents, and notes to a new idea as it develops.
Support organizing and prioritizing of ideas
Allows to compare, combine, and sort groups of ideas
There is no information available on the possible supported interfaces and the used
database. However, these are probably minor issues for this alternative. User and
group management is more concerning. It is likely that this software cannot utilize
user management from other systems such as HR databases, ERP, etc.
Software structure based on integrated modules offer benefits to organizations later

implementing other modules. However, it raises the question how much the software
can be customized without compromising future compatibility with other modules or
new releases.
One of IDe strengths is that they seem to have very high substance know-how. IDe
has several partners in various areas including IBM, Oracle and MIT Centre for
innovation in product development. IDe has also references from large multinational
corporations such as Chrysler, Honeywell and Hasbro.
28
5.6 Hummingbird DM Document management

Affecto (www.affecto.fi) offers Hummingbirds (www.hummingbird.com) knowledge
management product which includes document management solution. This product is
intended for document management, but it offers functionality such as support for
version management, and document flow and approval control, needed to support idea
management. Hummingbirds functionality from the idea management point of view
does not differ from the other document and knowledge management software.
Idea management can be seen as a one specific case of knowledge management, and
integrated into organizations knowledge management system. Idea management and
innovation process exploits and builds organizations knowledge base. Prerequisite for
effective idea management and creativity is easy access to organizations knowledge
Document management system enables employees to securely manage, organize and

share documents. Document management system delivers a centralized repository and
interface for users while working in tandem with other modules for e.g. collaboration,
instant messaging, workflow, records management, reporting and analysis. Document
Imaging transforms paper-based documents into digital format (both picture of the
original and extracted text for searching).
Hummingbird Enterprise functionality:

- Supports multiple user interfaces for the Web, desktops, and mobile devices
- Allows users to create and manage documents using standard tools such as
Microsoft Office
- Advanced search capabilities including full-text, search term highlighting,
metadata, document summarization, and result clustering
- User and group management
- Reporting capabilities
- Configurable repository for metadata capture and the creation of forms used for
content profiling and searching
- Receive event notifications, such as version changes, document check-in, or
workflow alerts, via SMTP messaging.
Hummingbird KM can categorize documents (location and content) and has advanced
search capabilities. The Cluster Map categorizes the content of each document and the
Knowledge Map categorizes the physical storage of document collections.
Hummingbird KM can connect to ODBC databases, it can also search Lotus

Domino/ Notes and Exchange Server folders. It can also search through Windows NT
file systems or Novell file servers. It can search web sites, but the software doesn't
support w3c standards (RDF, RDFs).
User can make a search that use a thesaurus to find items that contain the
search term or synonyms of the search term. Hummingbird KM lets you specify that
certain search terms are more important than others. This is called search term
weighting. Search term weights are numerical values that can be assigned to search
terms.
29
Hummingbird document management provides separate views for heavy users and
occasional information consumers. Heavy users can utilize browser-based and
desktop interfaces (Explorer and Microsoft Outlook-based interfaces, and for
occasional users software provides environment that offers basic document search and
retrieval functionality.
Hummingbird includes a secure, web-based collaborative workspace that allows

teams across and beyond the enterprise to work together.
Hummingbird includes document flow management functionality, metadata

management and customizable document templates. Document flow management can
be defined to support different business processes including idea management.
Customizable templates and metadata management enables creation of structured or
semi structured documents and systematic idea descriptions and evaluations.
Hummingbird and the other major knowledge and document management software
are based on proven technology and developed in a robust way. They offer scalable
architecture enabling them to meet the future needs of growing companies.
Use of knowledge and document management software to support idea management

process is based on the idea that idea management in the front-end is a special case of
a more common knowledge management problem. Knowledge management systems
allow companies to utilize not only created ideas but also tap into the vast amount of
knowledge created throughout the company. Knowledge management software may
be viable option to support idea management if the same software is used to manage
knowledge in other areas as well.
5.7 Accolade idea management Sopheon

Sopheon (www.sopheon.com) offers software tool called Accolade for supporting
portfolio, process and idea management, resource planning and decision making.
Figure 14. Structure of Accolade's idea management software (www.sopheon.com)
Accolade's Idea Management module lets you gather, organize, evaluate and develop
ideas within your organization. Software includes support for collaboration in idea
management.
During idea generation, Sopheon provides access to insight and know-how from our
proprietary network of leading authorities in more than 30,000 areas of science and
30
technology. Through an organized forum, they can help identify alternative avenues
for current products, assess technologies, and formulate technology and business
strategies for ongoing idea generation.
To help you capture and organize your ideas, Accolade's web-based Idea Management
module permits colleagues throughout your organization and suppliers, clients and
partners within your value chain to submit ideas. By linking to an idea submission
form on your corporate intranet or website, Accolade's Idea Management can collect
all ideas in a central repository for movement through your idea screening process.
Accolade's Idea Management module also assists with idea evaluation by providing
scoring capabilities to measure the potential for each concept based in your defined
metrics. Your evaluation team can complete a scorecard for each idea, offering their
appraisal of a concept's viability based on your defined screening criteria. You can use
system-reporting capabilities to compare and contrast the scores of a group of ideas to
determine your project priorities.
Benefits
Increase the volume of ideas gathered
Improve the use and re-use of ideas and product concepts
Leverage the insight of world-class experts during idea evaluation
Identify the most valuable ideas quickly and accurately
Reduce the time it takes to turn accepted ideas into new projects
Accolade's diagnostic and screening module, SG Selector, helps companies make the
right product development choices by predicting how likely a given product is to
succeed or fail. It provides decision support to evaluate and prioritize new products at
the early stages of development. It also helps focus new project funding decisions on
those products with the greatest potential for commercial success.
SG Selector comes equipped with a research-driven database of new product profiles

projects with known outcomes providing benchmarking data for evaluating
your project strengths and weaknesses against known winners and losers. By
comparing your project to the extensive SG Selector database, you can assess the
likelihood of a project's commercial success.
Functionality
Create an online idea submission form to capture any idea submitted for
consideration such as products new-to-the-world or new-to-our-organization,
line extensions, process improvements and so on.
Scorecards can be defined to help you collect insight on the value of an idea.
New ideas are routed directly to the appropriate Idea Manager, who facilitates
the screening and evaluation process using an online scorecard.
Using system-reporting capabilities, groups of ideas may be compared against
one another. Filter idea ratings by Project Type, Region, or other criteria, and
display the results in a prioritized bar chart, with those ideas with the highest
rating on top.
Input provided by your evaluation team in the Idea Scorecard can be totaled
and averaged. The results are presented in a report card summarizing the
weighted averages and standard deviation for all concepts.
31
Score projects on nine critical success factors.

Compare the strengths and weaknesses of your project to an extensive
database of new product profiles - projects with known outcomes to assess
the likelihood of a project's commercial success.
Benefits
Identify project strengths, weaknesses, deficiencies and risks
Inform go/kill project decisions based on objective insight
Allocate resources to projects with the greatest likelihood of success
Spot areas of disagreement among teams, paving the way to concrete solutions
Map vital actions to improve your odds of project success
Strengthen cross-functional team communication and increase team
productivity
Figure 15. Example view on Accolade idea management software (www.sopheon.com)
5.8 Enterprise Idea Management BrainBank Inc

BrainBanks (www.brainbankinc.com) software solution approaches idea
management from slightly different point of view. Their software links different
stakeholders, along with company employees, to generate and supply ideas.
Included functionality:
Templates for different idea categories
Search function
Collaboration between employees
32
Workflow management to ensure are routed for evaluation and

implementation
Databases including information on e.g. cost and logistics
Feedback and rewarding
BrainBank offers services to improve idea management and evaluation. They also
offer Idealink Developer which is a development architecture that enables internal
programmers to create in-house Idea Management applications from scratch.
5.9 Idea management software General Ideas Inc

General Ideas (www.generalideasinc.com) advertise themselves as the global leaders
in idea management software. Their software tools approaches idea management from
slightly different angle that most of the other tools: General Ideas approaches idea
management from the idea source point of view, meaning that they have separate
modules to gather ideas from various groups such as employees and customers.
General Ideass software includes all the basic functionality required to effectively
support idea management. Their tool enables organization to collect idea, evaluate
them in teams and further develop ideas in groups. Software can also be used to run
idea campaigns.
Features:
Web-enabled
Supports campaigns and incentives
Supports custom workflows
Alerts
Data capture forms
User management
Reporting
Complete Solution
User Profiles
Promotions
Rewards & Recognition
Workflow Automation
Real-Time Alerts
Process Monitoring
Advanced Reporting
Key Metrics & Analytics Dashboard
Microsoft Word and Excel Integration
Mobile Solutions
General Ideas have categorized users into four groups: Idea submitters, evaluators,
supervisors and system administrators. Each group has their own task in the idea
management process.
Submitter: Provide Solutions

Enter and View Submissions
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Direct Submissions via Email

Attach Files
Submit Anonymously
View Evaluation and Status of Submissions
Create a Personal Profile Page
Communicate with Evaluators via Message Boards
Evaluator: Review and evaluate submissions

Filter and distribute submissions
Monitor particular categories or submitters
Comprehensive search capabilities
Communicate via message boards
Evaluate submissions through Email
Supervisor: Review and implement submissions

View collective evaluations
Determine implementation status
Grant submitter rewards
Communicate with submitters
View reports
System Administrator: Monitor system usage and manage usability

Modify site aesthetics
Create and edit categories
Edit supervisor and evaluator permissions
Create submission and evaluation questions
Change key site information
5.10 Ideas management Idea Value

Idea Value (www.ideavalue.com) is a French based company and it offers an
Internet/Intranet idea management solution for gathering, evaluating, and following
idea implementation. Idea management software enables sharing of best practices.
Idea Value offers also consulting and training services for idea management.
Strong points
Efficiency in every department, no matter how business is structured
Information accessible and transmitted instantly (paperless)
Integration of a motivation system with a reward incentive
Use of tools facilitating the specification of the idea and decision making
Performance indicators permitting process guidance
Experience gained with more than 100 North American and European companies.
Stimulate creativeness
The ideas base, methods of creativity, as well as the structure of the forms
provide efficient tools for generating new ideas.
Collect and process ideas simply and quickly
34
Simple, but thorough forms are used to describe and then evaluate an idea.
Warning signals make it possible to guarantee evaluation and decision-making
times.
Encourage and motivate teams
Different communications media (CD-Rom, notepads, posters, etc.), and
follow-thru insures launch success
Creativity challenges make it possible to mobilize both staff and management
continuously.
A stimulating system of rewards (allocation of points) insures motivation.
Follow the whole process
Performance indicators make it possible to monitor performance (ideas given
and accepted, profitability of the process, etc.) and to identify corrective
actions.
Capitalizing and developing new ideas
A powerful search engine makes it possible to identify the relevant ideas
quickly.
Push functionalities ensure automatic circulation of ideas to involved
managers.
Key functionalities
provision of tools / models which allow staff to develop their ideas,
forms for submission of definable ideas, customization of screens, workflow
systems
user profiles and multiple administration levels
management of creativity challenges (limited period and specific recognition)
identification of best practices
anonymous idea submission
multi-criteria search engine
push function allows automatic transmission of the best ideas to managers
integration of performance indicators and on-line management help,
multi-lingual application
The IdeaValue solution works in the Intranet or Internet (ASP) environment, Ideas
management through the Internet
35
6 Idea management in distributed organizations

Effective idea management in geographically distributed organizations is more
complex than in organization located on one location. Idea management should be
handled to some extent on locations to ensure transparent evaluation and effective
communication between the evaluators and innovators. However, to utilize the whole
potential of organizations creativity, some kind of practices and tools are needed to
exploit the potential of distributed idea sources.
Idea
gathering
Manufacturing
No
Idea
Yes gathering
No
Action
Yes
Action
Feedback
F eedback
Idea
gathering
No
R&D
Idea
Yes gathering
Tool to analyze
No
Action
Yes
Action
ideas documented
Feedback
Feedback
in different systems
and locations
Idea
Marketing
gathering
No Idea
gathering
&
Yes No
Yes
Action
Action
Sales Feedback
F eedback
Idea
gathering
No Idea
Service
gathering
Yes No
Yes
Action
Action
Feedback
Feedback
Figure 16. Site -level idea management databases and centralized idea analysis
In 2000 EIRMA identified three software solutions which are able to recall past and
geographically diverse information. They concluded that the functionality is best
provided by intelligent search tools which enable contextual and semantic retrieval of
information. One of the software tools is custom-developed at Corus. The tool is used
to capture knowledge on a specific expertise area and to organize project data.
The second software tool mentioned in the report is Knowledgist from Invention
Machine Inc (www.invention-machine.com). Invention Machine offers new Goldfire
Innovator software for managing the front-end of the innovation process. Based on a
selection of the documents to be analyzed, the software scans the documents and
extracts the relevant technical content. After that, it reviews and evaluates solutions to
documented problems, selecting only the most relevant documents.
A third software tool is RetrievalWare from Convera Inc (www.convera.com).

RetrievalWare is a text search tool with a capability to search information from a wide
variety of sources, including intranets, LAN directory structures containing text/office
documents, Exchange/Lotus Notes systems, and relational databases. EIRMA (2000)
says that RetrievalWare has very good search and classification strategies.
Knowledgist and RetrievalWare include semantic search capabilities. Semantic

searching is discussed more closely in chapter 7.
36
6.1 Taxonomies and data structure

Taxonomy (from Greek taxis meaning arrangement or division and nomos meaning
law) is the science of classification according to a pre-determined system, with the
resulting catalog used to provide a conceptual framework for discussion, analysis, or
information retrieval. One of the best known taxonomies is the one devised by the
Swedish scientist, Carl Linnaeus, whose classification for biology is still widely used.
Knowledge and document management software often utilize document

categorization by taxonomies which are closely related to ontologies used in semantic
searches. The difference is that taxonomies describe only the hierarchical structure
(tree) where ontologies describe domain, structure, synonyms/homonyms, etc.
Software applications can use several taxonomies and/ or ontologies depending on the
perspective of the analysis of the data.
Organization specific taxonomy building requires a lot of work and knowledge of the
field and regular maintenance. However, there are commercially available taxonomies
for example legal, information technology and human resource management
applications.
In theory, the development of a good taxonomy takes into account the importance of
separating elements of a group into subgroups that are mutually exclusive,
unambiguous, and taken together, include all possibilities. In practice, a good
taxonomy should be simple, easy to remember, and easy to use. Organization specific
taxonomy building requires a lot of work and knowledge of the field and regular
maintenance. However, there are commercially available taxonomies for example
legal, information technology and human resource management applications.
If the organization decides to build and maintain taxonomy to categorize documents,

they need to be linked with the corresponding taxonomies. Some software
applications can automatically link or suggest a link to the user. However, automatic
linking is seldom sufficient and user involvement is usually necessary.
If the building and updating of taxonomies seem to give too few benefits to justify the
work involved, categorization may be better alternative. Possible categories include:
Participating organizational function
Required investment
Type of innovation (product, process, service)
Level of importance: incremental radical innovation, or local, transverse,
strategic innovation
Strategic link (e.g. strategic focus areas such as service development,
intelligent products, etc)
See taxonomy based search demo by WorldMap (http://82.33.204.140/search/).
37
6.2 Database reporting and business intelligence tools

Database reporting tools enable the organization to collect data from various types of
databases distributed throughout the organization. The main differences between these
solutions and the use of a semantic web are:
Database reporting systems are cheaper and easier to implement
Reporting systems do not include any kind of artificial intelligence e.g. the
user must understand the data and make correct assumptions and analyses
based on the data. The data structure plays a significant role in determining
how easy the data is to analyze.
Database reporting tools are often developed for analyzing and reporting
numeric, instead of text, data
The market leader in database reporting and business intelligence is Business Objects
Inc. (www.businessobjects.com).
6.3 Goldfire Innovator Invention Machine

Invention Machine Corp. (www.invention-machine.com) is a provider of software
that supports the innovation process. Their product Goldfire Innovator brings
unprecedented simplicity, structure, discipline and predictability to the innovation
process - spanning idea generation and new product development, the renovation of
existing products, and the improvement of production processes. Early users of the
software report that Goldfire Innovator reduces innovation costs and speeds time-to-
market.
Goldfire Innovator is the only solution addressing the long-overlooked front-end of

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). Goldfire Innovator is the first software to
integrate within a single desktop platform or "dashboard" comprehensive functions
and content those aid the innovation process, "upstream" from PLM. Softwares
functions include:
- Problem-analysis tools and methodologies
- Semantic knowledge retrieval
- Patent information and access to more than 9000 scientific effects and over 2000
scientific websites
Goldfire Innovator helps R&D, product and process engineers, product marketers and
technology strategists to efficiently and systematically analyze, conceive, research and
validate concepts for new products and features and to optimize existing products and
improve production processes.
Goldfire Innovator improves innovation, in part, by eliminating reinvention of

existing products, avoiding infringement on intellectual property, and reducing the
number of time-and-resource sinking ideas that fail to make it to commercialization.
In addition to bringing structure, discipline and predictability to the art of invention,

Goldfire Innovator:
Facilitates the processes around concept creation
Validates ideas before they consume production dollars
Enables detailed value analysis of systems and processes
38
Defines and prioritizes engineering problems and solutions

Facilitates the capture and sharing of corporate and personal knowledge
Facilitates competitive analysis, patent analysis and technology trend analysis
Provides access to over 15 million patents worldwide and scientific content
Goldfire Innovator includes a number of enhancements to Invention Machine's

TechOptimizer and semantic technologies. Goldfire Innovator brings together
problem analysis and solution-generating methodologies, process-enhancement
technologies and semantic search technologies providing innovation workers access to
world-wide patent databases and scientific and engineering content both internal and
external to an organization.
Goldfire Innovator also features pre-configured and customizable workflows,

sophisticated root-cause analysis, problem identification and resolution workflows to
address product and process configuration challenges, a solution manager to automate
solution identification to engineering problems, and broad ad-hoc and out-of-the-box
patent and technology analysis.
Invention Machine customers include Boeing, Honda, HP, NASA, Northrop

Grumman, Procter&Gamble, Peugeot, Samsung, and Shell.
6.4 Documentum Content intelligence services

Documentum (www.documentum.com) offers a wide variety of document and content
management solutions to organizations. Content intelligence services support
following areas:
Information extraction
Conceptual classification
Business (semantic) analysis
Taxonomy and metadata management
Information extraction extracts information from various sources and document types,
automatically tags and categorizes document based on metadata, content and
taxonomies
It seems that Documentum does not currently support OWL language developed to
describe ontologies for semantic webs. It is not known if those languages will be
supported in the future.
It is also not clear whether Documentum recognize synonyms in searches, and how
application handles homonyms.
39
7 Semantic searches
7.1 Introduction to semantic searches and the semantic web

Semantic searches are currently developed by two different groups. The first group is
software suppliers aiming to improve their products search capabilities. The second
is a W3C group developing semantic web, which is a semantic extension to the
Internet The goal is to enable machines to understand and process information
publicized in the Internet.
Commercial products with some semantic search capabilities are mainly knowledge
and document management software. Suppliers of commercial software use the term
semantic search in a somewhat confusing manner. Semantic-based search methods are
either based on a real ontology or they use implicit concepts rather than explicit
knowledge. Software companies seldom reveal how they have implemented their
semantic search and if they use ontologies for searching.
Why are software suppliers interested in developing semantic searches? The answer
lies in the limitations of keyword-based search methods currently used by most of the
search engines. Hyvnen et al. (2002) have identified the following shortcomings in
keyword-based searches:
1. A keyword in a document does not necessary mean that the document is
relevant. For an extreme example, an advertisement may contain the phrase
"We do not sell stamps, but ...", which means that a search using the keyword
stamp will include the page in the hit list.
2. The engines cannot differentiate between synonyms. For example, a service
selling "personal computers" is not found using the keyword "PC". This
lowers the recall rate of information retrieval.
3. The engines do not understand homonyms (A homonym is a word with several
meanings). For example, the keyword "Nokia" would not only pages related to
the Finnish telecommunication company, but also pages related to a city in
Finland. This leads to low precision in information retrieval.
4. The engines do not understand general terms or phrases. For example, if you
are interested in finding out "accommodation" you do not find advertisements
with the words "hotels" or "inns" unless also the word "accommodation" is
present.
5. Relevance. It is difficult to evaluate the relevance of a document with respect
to a query. A list of 1000 hits is not very useful unless they can be ordered
according to their relevance to the user.
6. Implicit information. A textual description is found only if it contains the
explicit keyword. For example, one may be interested in companies dealing
with "astronomy". A telescope advertisement is not found unless it happens to
mention the word "astronomy", which may be too obvious to be mentioned.
7. Images and other non-textual binary documents cannot be matched.
7.2 Semantic web

The development of the Internet is often divided into three phases. The first
generation of the Internet separated presentation from location, meaning that web-
40
page or other file located in physically different place (e.g. another country) can be
displayed anywhere with access to the web. The first generation was based on
languages such as HTML.
The second generation separated structure from presentation. This enabled the same
content to be displayed with a variety of devices, or the information to be processed
and displayed in different ways depending on the users needs. The second generation
was characterized by the use of XML language.
The third generation is based on the need to put machine-understandable data on the
Internet. The Internet can reach its full potential only if it becomes a place where data
can be shared and processed by automated tools as well as by people. Many believe
that in the future programs are able to share and process data even when these
programs have been designed totally independently. The W3C group developing a
semantic Internet has the following vision: the idea of having data on the web defined
and linked in a way that it can be used by machines not just for display purposes, but
for automation, integration and reuse of data across various applications.
The semantic web, which is currently under development by W3C, aims to separate
meaning from structure. The information is given a well-defined meaning, enabling
computers and people to work in cooperation. A semantic web is an extension to the
current Internet. The third generation will be based on languages such as RDF, RDFs
and OIL.
On 10 February 2004 the World Wide Web Consortium released the Resource
Description Framework (RDF) and the OWL Web Ontology Language (OWL) as
W3C Recommendations. RDF is used to represent information and to exchange
knowledge in the Web. OWL is used to publish and share sets of ontologies, which
support advanced Web search, software agents and knowledge management.
Davies et al. (2003) say that a large scale industrial take-up of OWL (=DAML + OIL)
is still lacking. They also say that even RDF, which is a much simpler language, is not
yet widely used in industrial applications. However, Davies et al. point out that it took
a long time between the first XML specification and the first waves of industrial
enthusiasm.
In the real world applications ontologies are often developed by several persons.
Because of changes in the real world, adaptations to different tasks, or alignments to
other ontologies they continue to evolve over time. Due to the fact that ontology
engineering is still a relatively immature discipline, each research group employed its
own methodology. (Davies et al. 2003)
While some automation in building the Semantic Web has been achieved, it remains
in part a labor intensive annotation process with problems in scaling up to the full
free-text Web.
7.3 Commercial applications

Industrial applications of semantic webs have been documented in the pharmaceutical
industry and in insurance and banking (Davies et al. 2003). In Finland The Helsinki
Institute for Information technology (HIIT) has developed semantic web prototypes
41
for The Yellow Pages and Finnish Museums. Professor Eero Hyvnen, who is leading
HIITs semantic web team, is not familiar with the semantic search capabilities of
commercial knowledge and document management software.
To get more information about the semantic search capabilities of commercial

knowledge and document management systems, an informal information request was
sent via email to Documentum and Hummingbird. A phone call was placed to a
Scandinavian company called Affecto which represent Hummingbirds products in
Finland. All of the companies approached failed to provide relevant technical
information about their semantic search capabilities and possible use of ontologies.
There is software on the market that automatically extracts metadata from the source
and enables what the suppliers call semantic searches without prebuilt ontologies and
taxonomies (for example Invention Machines Goldfire Innovator). The technology is
patented, but the vendor does not offer any specifics how the search has been
implemented.
42
8 Summary and conclusions
8.1 Summary and conclusions

It appears inevitable that evolutionary speed will continue to increase setting new
challenges. Rapidly changing and developing technologies, shorter product life cycles
and more demanding customers are some of the general drivers of the modern global,
turbulent and more competition-oriented business environment. In this fast changing
environment organizations are forced to continuously innovate to stay competitive.
Innovativeness and ability to collaborate in cross-functional and geographically
distributed organizations, and with partners from other organizations, are becoming
increasingly important for both long-term and short-term success.
Information technology has opened new opportunities for organizations to increase

effectiveness, but the same changes can also be a threat if the organization fails to
adapt and make use of its opportunities. Information technology can support cross-
functional teams, parallel development and eliminate many time consuming phases in
the innovation process. These IT tools include team collaboration tools, simulation,
3D-modeling and document management.
Software tools support the innovation process and can improve innovation quality,
shorten cycle times, cut costs, lower risks, enhance the results of innovation, and
increase its diffusion to customers.
The study describes three models for software support in the innovation process.
Quinn et al. (1996) divided the innovation process into seven phases and focused on
stand-alone tools to support these phases. Quinn et al. presented software architecture
which enable different applications to share data through a common database. The
model also separated logic layer from user interface.
EIRMA (2000) describes two processes in their model linking the innovation process
and software tools. They call the first process a R&D life-cycle consisting of three
phases creativity, organize and run projects, and enablers. The second process is
management of R&D information. The R&D information process has links with other
information sources such as customers, suppliers and manufacturing.
The third model is a web of innovation (Quinn et al., 2003). The model consists of
three layers which are called key business processes, foundation and software
enablers. Key business processes are front-end, new product and process
development, portfolio management, and technology strategy. The foundation consists
of three interwoven knowledge functions knowledge capture, transfer and leverage.
Based on the three models and a literature review I present the following framework
for software supporting the idea management process.
43
Management
Strategic management
layer
Project management
Portal
Idea Idea Idea Product

Eva- Product After
gene- gat- develop- develop-
luation launch sales
ration hering ment ment
system support
Collaboration
enablesr,
Life-cycle knowledge Business intelligence

Technology intelligence Knowledge management Market intelligence
Competitor intelligence
Competence management
User management Search capabilities
Reporting System management Interoperability
Figure 17. Model for innovation process and software support
Collaboration, knowledge management and competence management software create

a foundation for modern R&D operations in networked economies. Strategic,
portfolio and project management structures the management and provides a strategic
direction to all activities. Portals enable a customized view based on the users needs.
A system management module offers services to other software components. The
various phases of an innovation process are assisted by different software tools such
as 3D CAD, simulation and data mining based on the needs of the specific project.
Idea management, which is a part of the innovation process front-end, has been
divided into idea gathering, evaluation, development, and follow-up and rewarding.
Idea generation and idea implementation are closely linked to idea management but
are not part of it.
Follow-up
Idea Idea Idea Idea Idea
and
generation gathering evaluation development implementation
rewarding
Figure 18. Idea management process
Literature suggests that evaluations should be decentralized so that ideas are assessed
close to the innovator. This improves communication between the innovator and the
evaluator creating a ground for further development of the idea and proper evaluation.
However, a company needs a common idea pool to share the idea among different
functions and locations. Organizations should develop and monitor the performance
of idea evaluation since poor evaluation is a significant cause for sub-optimal
performance of an organizations innovation activities.
As a part of this study more than 30 software products developed for idea generation
and management were reviewed, and eleven of them were selected for further
44
evaluation. For evaluation purposes a list of key functionalities were gathered from
literature and software vendors. Some architectural issues such as interfaces and links
with other applications were included in the evaluation.
For the purposes of this study the evaluated software were divided into the following
categories:
Idea management software Software designed especially for idea
management.
Innovation process software Software developed to support various
activities within the innovation process, including idea management.
Custom applications In-house developed idea management applications.
Knowledge management systems Knowledge management systems which
can be configured to support formal idea management processes
Integrated idea management application Idea management integrated into
the organizations other software applications (such as ERP)
Software tools require some level of customization to support the organizations idea
management process. Some software suppliers stated that they have an online demo of
the tools, but despite numerous requests no full demos were received (some suppliers
had screenshots or PowerPoint presentations). To get the best picture of the
functionalities of the software, evaluators should ask for references from other users
and familiarize themselves with a working application.
Another issue complicating software evaluation was that the evaluators were not
familiar with the processes the software should support. Issues which influence the
feasibility of different alternatives are for instance corporate culture, way to operate,
IT infrastructure, and policy need to be known. However, four alternatives, with their
pros and cons, for software support for idea management were identified.
The study focused on idea management in a distributed organization .Capabilities to

search and link similar ideas were considered important. Most of the evaluated
software are able to adapt themselves to a central database and decentralized
evaluation at the same time (each location can have their own list of ideas but they are
stored in the same database). Taxonomies seem to be one alternative to group ideas
helping linking and searching. A more sophisticated solution is to use semantic webs
and searches, but the study concluded that semantic web standards are under
development and industrial applications are rare. Knowledge and document
management software, SAP TREX and Invention Machines Goldfire Innovator,
claim to have semantic search capabilities. However, there is very little information
about how the search is implemented and there is no way of knowing how well these
semantic searches perform in real life.
45
References
Farris, G., Hartz, C., Krishnamurthy, K., McIlvainc, B., Postle, S., Taylor, R.,
Whitwell, G. (2003). Web-enabled innovation in new product development. Research
and technology Management, Vol X, No. X, pp. 24-35
Nilsson, L., Elg, M., Bergman, B. (2002). Managing ideas for the development of new
products. International Journal of technology Management, Vol. 24, No.5/6, pp. 498-
513
Feldberg, J., DeMarco, D. (1992). From experience: new idea enhancement at Amoco
Chemical: an early report from a new system. Journal of Product Innovation
Management, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 278-286
Proctor, T. (1998). Idea processing support systems. Management Decision. Vol. 36,
No. 2, pp. 111-116
Quinn, J., Baruch, J., Zien, K. (1996). Software-based innovation. MIT Sloan
Management Review. Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 11-24
Helminen, N. (2003). Verkostomaisen tuotekehityksen ryhmtykalut. Helssinki

University of technology/ Innovation Management Institute Outsourcing in
Innovation Operations project (In finnish)
Jongbae, K., Wilemon, D. (2002). Strategic issues in managing innovations fuzzy

front-end. European Journal of Innovation Management. Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 27-39
Kohn, S., Levermann, A., Howe, J., Hsig, S. (2003). Software im

innovationsprozess. Insti Studienreihe. Vol. 1, No. 1, 85p. (In german)
McAdam, R., McClelland, J. (2002). Individual and team-based idea generation

within innovation management: organizational and research agendas. European
Journal of Innovation Management. Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 86-97
Poskela, J., Berg, P., Pihlajamaa, J., Nordlund, H., Lehtonen, T. (2004). Strategic
perspective on new product development managing fuzzy-front-end. Conference
paper for IRNOP VI Research Conference in Turku, Finland
Davies, J., Fensel, D., van Harmelen, F. (2003). Towards the semantic web
ontology-driven knowledge management. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISBN 0470-84867-
7
Hyvnen, E., Klemettinen, M. (editors) (2002). Towards the semantic web and web
services Proceedings of the XML Finland 2002 Conference, October 21-22, 2002.
HIIT Publications. ISBN 1458-951-22-6181-2. 147p.
Hyvnen, E. (editors) (2002). Semantic web kick-off in Finland Vision,

technologies, research, and applications. May 19, 2002. HIIT Publications. ISBN
1458-951-22-6019-0. 304p.
46
Appendixes
Appendix 1. Web resources

http://www.innovationtools.com/ Creativity software tools and articles
http://prodt.businesscanada.gc.ca/CFDOCS/firm_en/main.html Innovation
Management toolkit (Government of Canada)
http://www.wiley.co.uk/wileychi/innovate/website/pages/atoz/atoz.htm Innovation
Management Toolbox (John Wiley & Sons)
http://www.creax.com/resources/creax_net.html Creativity for Innovation
47
Appendix 2. Software tools list
48

Software Tools To Support Innovation Process-Class 4

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INNOVATION MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Software tools to support innovation process

Innovation Management Institute

Innovation Management Institute / Helsinki University of Technology, 2004

1 Research plan .................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Scope and perspective

It focuses on examining idea management on the front-end of the innovation process.

This research is explorative and evaluative by nature. Complementary interviews will

This research produces a report about commercially available software tools

This research is part of Helsinki University of Technologys Innovation Management

1.4 Research question

2 Innovation process and front-end

2.1 Innovation in modern business environment

In a fast changing operating environment research and development activities are

Organizations have developed their innovation processes with approaches such as

2.2 Innovation process

According to Quinn et al. (1996) innovation process consists of technological,

ROAD- PORT- DEVE-

MAPS FOLIO LOPMENT

FOCUS ON: CREATIVITY DECISION SPEED COSTS

Figure 2. Innovation process and fuzzy front-end (Poskela et al., 2004)

Operational Information Know-

Communities Innovation Products Suppliers

3 Software tools supporting the innovation process

3.1 Introduction to supporting the innovation process with software tools

It is important to emphasize that the effective deployment of an IT tool is often not a

One of the key challenges in innovation processes and enhancing organizational

Figure 4. R&D processes and related IT tools (EIRMA 2000)

3.2 Software tools

Figure 5. Software tools supporting innovation (Adapted Farris et al. 2003)

1. Software for designing and testing of products, manufacturing, theories, etc

In addition to the above mentioned software categories innovation process can

Idea Idea Idea Product

Life-cycle knowledge Business intelligence

Figure 6. Software to support innovation process

Competitive intelligence management

3.3 Software architecture

Figure 7. Software architecture

4 Idea management in innovation processes

4.1 Creativity in innovation processes

Creativity in R&D depends to a large extent on readily available information on a

Stakeholder, especially customer, participation in idea generation and innovation

Figure 8. Sub processes for creativity (EIRMA 2000)

Breakthrough Low number

High unit value and

Figure 9. Idea typology presented by IdeaValue Inc. (www.ideavalue.com)

4.2 Idea management process

Idea Idea Innovation

Common memory, guidance,

Idea management is divided into separate phases in several ways. Proposed

Process management including strategic linking, reporting, etc

Figure 11. Idea management process

Idea evaluation is one of the critical steps in innovation management. Evaluation

Poor idea evaluation is a significant cause for sub-optimal performance of

Continuous idea development through collaboration is necessary for creating a

Without idea implementation organizations do not benefit from their innovativeness

4.3 Software tools supporting idea management

related to knowledge management. Organizational cultures which promote issues such

4.4 Software selection process

A cross-functional approach is usually beneficial in software projects. IT departments

The fifth step is to make a recommendation for purchase. It should be based on a

4.5 Criteria for evaluating software tools