Managing Idea Stages

Stages let users know where an idea is in its development lifecycle. A brand new idea might be "Active," for example, while an idea that turned into something just released could be "Delivered." You can customize the stages for what works best for your community and its ideas. You can remove or rename the stages included by default, and configure how they appear to people in the community. You can also add your own stages.

In the community, administrators set stages by setting an idea's stage while editing the idea. You manage the available stage choices available from the admin console.

Fastpath: Admin Console: Ideas > Idea Settings > Manage Stages

The idea feature comes with a default set of stages you can use. The default stages include the following:

Active
Already Offered
Archived
Coming Soon
Delivered
For Future Consideration
In Progress
Partially Implemented
Under Review

You can rename, delete, and reconfigure the default stages. For information on adding your stages, see Adding an Idea Stage.

Configuring a Stage

You can define what a stage is called and how it appears to people in the community. You can also set which of the available stages should be the default, and which stages allow voting for ideas on which the stage is set.

Choosing the right background and text color for stage name display can help people in the community more easily scan lists of ideas to find the ideas they're looking for.

Fastpath: Admin Console: Ideas > Idea Settings > Manage Stages

To configure a stage:

In the admin console, on the Manage Stages page, find the stage you want to configure.
To set the stage as the default (it will be applied to new ideas), click the stage's button under Default.
To enable voting for an idea with a particular stage applied, select that stage's Voting On check box.
To set up how the stage should look in the community, click the stage's Edit icon.
On the Edit Stage page, enter values for the following:
- Stage Name -- Enter the text that should appear in the dropdown where an administrator assigns the stage.
- Background Color -- Click Select color to choose a color for the box that surrounds the stage's name in content lists.
- Text Color -- Click Select color to choose a color for the stage name's text.
Click Save.
The Sample Text value shows what the stage name will look like in the community.

Enabling, Disabling, or Deleting a Stage

You can enable a stage when the community is ready to use it. Disable a stage when it shouldn't be visible to people in the community, or delete it when you know the community won't need it again.

Note that you can't disable or delete a stage that is currently in use by an idea. Before disabling or deleting the stage, you'll need to edit each of the ideas on which it's currently applied, selecting another stage for the idea. To see whether a stage is currently in use by ideas, take a look at the Ideas column on the Manage Stages page of the admin console. The value there tells how many ideas have that stage currently applied.

Fastpath: Admin Console: Ideas > Idea Settings > Manage Stages

To enable, disable, or delete a stage:

In the admin console, on the Manage Stages page, find the stage you care about.
Perform the action you want:
- To enable or disable a stage, click the stage's icon under Disable/Enable.
- To delete a stage, click the stage's icon under Delete.

Setting an Idea's Stage

If you're an administrator, you can set an idea's stage when you're editing the idea.

To set an idea's stage:

Navigate to the idea in the community.
Under Actions, click Edit idea.
Beneath the editing window, under Stage, select the idea's new stage.
Click Update Idea.