As the Account Owner, set up SilkFlo in this order before you invite anyone: company details, roles, terminology, business units, costs, the rest of Platform Setup, branding, then your team and your existing ideas. The Account Owner runs the organisation’s SilkFlo account. The first person on a new account gets the role automatically, and it’s the only role that can open every area of Settings.
Why the order matters #
Setup comes before invites because first impressions shape adoption. If people join and see default stage names, no business units to pick, and business cases built on placeholder rates, the platform feels like a trial, not your programme. It’s also harder to fix later: ideas submitted before business units exist won’t be linked to a team, and business cases built before you set your rates will need revisiting.
Most steps take a few minutes. The ones that need thought are roles (who should have a paid Admin seat) and costs (which day rates finance will accept).
Setup checklist #
- Check your company details. Go to Settings > Account and check your company name and industry. Set the average working hours per day and working days per year to match your organisation. SilkFlo uses these in its time and cost calculations. See How to set up your SilkFlo account details and working time.
- Understand the roles. SilkFlo has six system roles. Decide who in your organisation needs which one before you invite anyone. See Understanding User Roles in SilkFlo. On Pro and Enterprise you can also edit collaborator roles under Settings > People > Roles.
- Name things your way. Go to Settings > Platform Setup > Terminology to rename pipeline stages, idea stages and statuses so they match the words your teams already use.
- Add your business units. In Settings > Platform Setup > Business Units, set up your departments and teams, so ideas can be tracked by where they come from. See How to set up Business Units in SilkFlo.
- Set up your costs. In Settings > Platform Setup > Cost Setup, add the costs and rates your business cases will use.
- Add the rest of Platform Setup. Add the Applications your processes use, your Tags for grouping ideas, and any templates or best practice guides under Document. Documents you add here appear in the Documentation area of every new idea. See Platform Setup.
- Add your branding (Pro and Enterprise). Upload your logo and set your colours under Settings > Customization.
- Invite your team. Go to Settings > People and click Invite, or share an invite link. Pick each person’s role from the dropdown. You can invite people into any role except Account Owner. On Pro and Enterprise, your team can also use Sign in with Microsoft: give your Tenant ID to the SilkFlo team during onboarding and we’ll set it up. See How to invite users to SilkFlo and How to sign in to SilkFlo with your Microsoft account.
After setup #
Once your team is in, these are the areas you’ll use most:
- Submit Idea: add a new idea, or put it straight into a Smart Assessment.
- Dashboards: Personal, Performance and Values views of your programme.
- Explore: browse Ideas, Solutions and People across your organisation.
- Pipeline: see every idea by stage, from Review through Assess, Decision and Build to Deployed. See Pipeline.
FAQs #
Who is the Account Owner in SilkFlo? #
The person who runs your organisation’s SilkFlo account. The first user on a new account gets the role automatically. It’s the only role that sees every area of Settings and the only one that can change a user’s system role. Each account has one Account Owner. To change who holds the role, email SilkFlo support at [email protected].
What should I set up first in SilkFlo? #
Your company details and terminology, then business units and costs. Do these before you invite your team, so ideas are tagged to the right business unit and business cases use your rates from the start.
Can I invite someone else as an Account Owner? #
No. The invite dropdown offers every system role except Account Owner. Each account has one Account Owner. To hand the role to someone else, email [email protected].
