Research

Guidelines:

· Name: The name of the person generating the idea. This is important to ensure that credit is given where due and to provide a contact for additional clarification/development work. These forms should not be completed anonymously as there may well be a need for additional research and discussion.

· Department: This will help to provide some context to where the idea is coming from: What is the perspective that the person has toward the idea? If possible, this should be a drop-down list to assist in filtering and sorting ideas based on department.

· Job title: This builds on the department information to provide additional context to the thinking behind the idea: How does the idea relate to the work that the individual does, how much insight will the individual have into the challenge/opportunity, etc.?

· ID (PMO use only): Every idea submitted should be given an ID for further tracking. The ID should be assigned using a logical numbering system by whichever group is tracking the submissions (I have assumed the PMO here).

· Which goals does your idea support: I have provided two dropdown options for this selection because I want people to think about more than just single-benefit ideas. You can add a third if you wish, but take care not to encourage people to claim any benefit--ideas will only be approved based on their major benefits. It is important that this be set as a dropdown to align with your organization’s objectives. Ideas will ultimately only evolve into projects if they help the organization to achieve its goals and objectives so when people come up with ideas, it is important that those ideas align with the organizational needs.--that is what this field is designed to help achieve.

· Please describe your idea: This is the core content of the form, where the idea is described. This field is deliberately generic to avoid “scaring” people away, but contributors should be encouraged to provide as much information as possible.

· What are the biggest advantages? This field forces people to think about the major benefits that the project will deliver to the organization. Again, the field is generic to avoid “barriers” to contributions, but you should be looking for the potential for significant organizational benefits to help identify those ideas that are worth pursuing further.

· What are the biggest challenges? This field is simply the “mirror” to the field above, looking for the major challenges to implementing the identified idea. You should be looking for legitimate challenges rather than attempts to play down the hurdles that will need to be overcome to implement the project.

· Additional comments: This is simply a free-format field for additional information that the person completing the form wishes to provide.

Name
Department
Job title		ID (PMO use only)
Which goals does your idea support?	Choose an item.	Choose an item.
Please describe your idea. Please provide as much information as possible: what your idea is, why it’s a good idea, how it helps, etc.
What are the biggest advantages of your idea?
1. 2. 3.
What are the biggest challenges to your idea?
1. 2. 3.
Additional comments