System

Idea management system with clear stages and a decision trail

An idea management system is the process that takes an idea from submission to a decision and, if approved, to implementation. Brainstormer gives that process fixed stages, scoring against your strategy, clear decision rights and a logged record of who moved each idea, when and why.

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Seven stages from submitted to implemented or rejected
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Every stage change logged with who, when and a note
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AI scoring as a consistent first pass before review
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Audit trail CSV on Business and Enterprise

A system is the process, the software only enforces it

Many idea programs fail not because people lack ideas, but because nobody agreed what happens after an idea is submitted. Who reads it, by when, on what criteria, and who can say yes. Without those rules, ideas sit in limbo and employees stop contributing.

An idea management system answers those questions before the first challenge opens. Brainstormer enforces the answers: every idea sits in exactly one of seven stages, only admins and the owner can move it, and each move records who made it, when, from which stage to which, and a note. The software keeps the process honest. The rules themselves are yours to design.

The stages of the system and the question each one answers
Stage	Question it answers	Who usually acts
Submitted	Is the idea captured and clear?	Member, with AI expansion
In review	Is it worth a closer look?	Admin
Shortlisted	Is it among the best in this challenge?	Review panel of admins
Approved	Will we commit time or budget?	Owner or decision maker
In progress	Who is delivering it and by when?	Idea owner and admin
Implemented	Did it ship and meet the success measure?	Admin
Rejected	Why not, and is that recorded?	Admin, with a note

Designing the review rules

Start with criteria. In Brainstormer you set three to six strategic goals with weights, and AI rates every idea on impact, cost, risk and strategic fit from 1 to 10, then produces a weighted total and a written rationale. That gives every idea the same first pass, no matter who submitted it or how well it was written. The idea prioritization page explains the scoring in detail.

Then set a cadence. A practical rule is that admins move every new idea out of submitted within two weeks, the panel reviews the shortlist when a challenge closes, and the owner approves or rejects shortlisted ideas at a fixed monthly meeting. Write the rule in the challenge description so members know what to expect.

Finally, decide what a rejection looks like. A rejected idea should always carry a note. It costs the admin one sentence and it is the single most important thing for keeping submitters engaged.

Decision rights and the audit trail

The system separates who contributes from who decides. Members submit and vote. Admins run the review and move ideas through the early stages. The owner, or whoever the owner delegates as admin, approves the ideas that need time or budget. Votes inform the decision but do not make it.

Because every stage change is logged, you can always answer the questions leadership and auditors ask: when was this idea approved, by whom, and on what reasoning. On Business and Enterprise the full audit trail exports as CSV. Each challenge also has a board report with the ranking, themes, stage counts and a recommendation. For how the system runs across a whole company, see the idea management platform page.

Keeping the system clean as it grows

A system that works for fifty ideas can drown at five hundred. Two things keep it manageable. Duplicate detection finds similar ideas and lets admins merge them, keeping all authors and votes, so the pipeline holds one version of each idea. Theme grouping clusters a challenge's ideas so reviewers see patterns instead of rows. More on that in idea clustering.

Plans scale with the program. Team is $149 a month billed yearly for up to 25 members and 3 open challenges. Business is $399 a month billed yearly for up to 150 members with unlimited challenges, weighted goals, the board report, the admin role and the audit trail CSV. Enterprise is $999 a month billed yearly for up to 1,000 members with full workspace export. See pricing, or read how it works.

Questions

What are the stages of an idea management system?

In Brainstormer there are seven: submitted, in review, shortlisted, approved, in progress, implemented and rejected. Every idea is in exactly one stage at a time.

Can we rename or add stages?

No. The seven stages are fixed so that reports and the audit trail stay comparable across challenges. Your rules for moving between them are set in how you run the program.

Who can move an idea between stages?

The owner and admins. Members submit ideas and vote, and they can see the stage of every idea.

How do we prove how a decision was made?

Each stage change records who made it, when, the stages involved and a note, and the AI score comes with a written rationale. Business and Enterprise export the audit trail as CSV.