Good tool to collect issues, improvements, ideas.

Question

I need a tool for collecting feedback and new ideas inside our company regarding our internal IS product. The problem is the acceptance level for such a tool.
Most of our colleagues are not IT oriented, so a solution like BugZilla or Jira is way to complicated for them to use. You need to create an account, take care of a lot of parameters before submission, new ideas about new software doesn't really fit well in these tools, etc...

So, here are my requirements:

• No login need, or optional.
• Few fields to enter.
• If possible a WYSIWYG editor for the main description field.
• Web based or E-mail based (we use outlook internaly).
• Free (as a beer).
• Not too chaotic (a Wiki is not an option)

I've take a look at uservoice (of course), it's really a nice tool for experienced people, but too complex for my target users.

Answer 1

How about using for example Google groups? I've found a mailing list works quite well for this kind of purpose.

Edit: or how about http://getsatisfaction.com/

Answer 2

Microsoft's Exchange server has support for Public Folders, email lists/groups. This may be an easy introduction to collaboration for your environment, using tools that are familiar. From the Microsoft Help on Public Folders:

Public folders are an easy and effective way to collect, organize, and share information with other people in your workgroup or organization. You can use public folders to share files or post information on an electronic bulletin board.

I'm not sure how effective the tools for managing those "lists" are - I'm not sure if you can mark responses such that all users see the mark, for example.

But it is probably a good start. As people start to see the value of collaboration, something along the lines of a Wiki becomes more appealing.

I've got to say that Confluence, especially now that editing with Open Office or Microsoft Office tools is possible really deserves a look. Not free (as in beer).

Answer 3

You could use Google Documents to create a shared spreadsheet. Your uses will need Google accounts, but they only need to log in once and a cookie will remember them for next time.

Answer 4

If the barrier to actually use the tool should be minimal, then perhaps the best way to collect the feedback is to use an e-mail address. Everybody knows how to use the system, so there is practically no barrier. And the feedback that is provided has to be processed by developers / management anyway, in order to decide what concrete actions are going to be taken. The developers can then use whatever system suits them best in order to keep track of bugs, immediately required functionality, nice-to-have features that can be implemented later, etc.

Answer 5

Hum, I've found that we've also InfoPath as part of our toolset. I've never use it, but maybe that it could do the job.

Answer 6

Some "defect tracking tools" handle this.

Don't vote down because of "defect tracking". Some of the tools are enterprise and handle incidents, requents, requirements, etc. And, you can go to one place for bugs and enhancement requests.

Answer 7

I would think a locally hosted php-bb (or other...) forum would be a good choice, as you could moderate it and have a FAQ and history that people could check before duplicating suggestions. So, that's the advantage over a simple email address, and it has a simple, known interface.

Answer 8

What's too complex about Uservoice? The main UI is a single question ("I suggest you ..."). Your users can be anonymous, one field to enter, web based, free for small users. Seems to tick all the boxes except the visual editor. Even administering it is not terribly tricky. (I use it for my iPhone app.)

Answer 9

It looks like you're facing a very standard tradeoff - you want your feedback to be structured, but you don't want any impositions upon your users.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Why is a wiki off the table? Wikis were designed to balance this kind of tradeoff.

Answer 10

Is the feedback you are seeking possible to collect through a questionnaire? There are many free solutions that provide you with questionnaire forms very easy to use, and if none apply it is also something relatively easy to implement.

I also do not understand why a wiki will not be a good solution, but regarding the Outlook, you have the possibility of doing simple votes (approve/reject) (yes/no):

See: http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/worktogether/forms.mspx

Answer 11

Mantis? http://www.mantisbt.org/