Your on-the-ground expertise is the most valuable resource for improving how our business works. You see the challenges, the repetitive tasks, and the opportunities for innovation every single day.
This guide will show you how to turn those insights into high-impact projects by submitting an innovation idea through Silkflo.
Three Ways to Share: Quick Idea, Detailed Proposal, and AI-Assisted Submission #
We understand that team members have different levels of familiarity with process improvement and innovation. To make it easy for everyone, SilkFlo offers three paths for submitting an innovation idea:
- AI-Assisted Idea (fastest, guided option)
- Quick Employee Idea (simple manual form)
- Detailed CoE Idea (advanced manual form)
1. AI-Assisted Idea Submission (Personal Dashboard) #
This is the fastest and easiest way to transform a rough concept into a well-structured idea. When you log in, you’ll see the AI-powered idea box prominently displayed on your Personal Dashboard. Simply describe your idea, and let SilkFlo’s AI help you create a professional submission.
The AI uses your industry context and the information you provide to generate a clear title and summary, saving you time and ensuring your idea is ready for review.
Employee Innovation Idea (AI-Assisted) #
Available to: All Users
Perfect for any employee who has identified a problem or opportunity. The AI makes it easy to capture your insights even if you don’t know all the technical details.
How It Works #
Step 1: Describe Your Idea
Type a description of the problem or opportunity you’ve identified into the idea box. Include details such as:
- Current steps or processes involved
- Input and output data
- Challenges and pain points
- What you’d like to improve
Step 2: AI Generates Title and Summary
Click the “Generate Idea” button, and SilkFlo’s AI will:
- Craft a clear, professional title for your idea
- Write a concise summary that captures the essence of your proposal
- Structure your thoughts into a format ready for review
Step 3: Complete the Smart Questionnaire
After the AI generates your title and summary, you’ll be guided through a simple, intelligent questionnaire that adapts to your inputs. Questions include:
- Business Unit, Area, and Sub-Area affected
- Input data characteristics (digital, physical, structured)
- Current process satisfaction
- Supporting documentation (optional)
- Process owner and collaborator assignments
Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers—the goal is to capture the core of your idea so our expert teams can help with the rest.
What Happens Next? #
Once submitted:
- Instant Scoring: The Silkflo platform provides an initial Feasibility Score, Readiness Score, and Idea Score, giving you immediate feedback on your idea’s potential. [Read more about these scores here]
- Profile Page Created: Your idea gets its own dedicated page where you and colleagues can track progress, add comments, and see updates
- Expert Team Notified: Your idea is automatically sent to your organization’s Center of Excellence (CoE) for detailed assessment
- Dashboard Visibility: View your ideas in your Personal Dashboard and the Explore > Ideas section
CoE Innovation Idea (AI-Assisted) #
Available to: Admin Users Only
This advanced path is designed for innovation teams, Business Analysts, Process Owners, and Consultants who need to create detailed project charters quickly.
How It Works #
Step 1: Describe Your Project Charter
Using the same AI-powered idea box on your Personal Dashboard, describe your initiative in detail, including:
- Problem statement
- Pain points
- Potential challenges
- Expected benefits
- Current process details
Step 2: AI Generates Title and Summary
The AI will create a professional title and executive summary for your project charter.
Step 3: Fast-Track to Assessment
After AI generation, you’ll have the option to fill in advanced strategic details immediately, or you can complete the full detailed assessment later on the dedicated assessment page. Initial inputs may include:
- Expected Benefits
- Expected Challenges
- Environmental Stability
- Employee Profile
- Process Volumetry and Error Rate
- Review/Audit Process information
- Ways of Working
- Data Input details
- Potential Fines
- Applications Used
What Happens Next? #
Once submitted:
- Advanced Scoring: Silkflo automatically calculates the Idea Score, Automation Potential, Ease of Implementation, and other important metrics
- Profile Page Created: A dedicated page is created for tracking and collaboration
- Direct to Assess Stage: Your idea automatically moves to the Assess stage, bypassing the initial Review stage
- Further Refinement: Complete the detailed assessment at your convenience using the comprehensive assessment page
Note: You can click “Save as Draft” at any time to pause and save your progress without submitting your idea for review.
1. Quick Employee Idea (Side Menu) #
Available to: All Users
How to submit an Employee Idea #
Click the main “Submit Idea” button.
You’ll be guided through a few simple questions about the process, such as:
- A name and short description of the problem.
- Which business area is affected.
- The type of data involved (e.g., digital, physical, structured).
- Any documentation you might have.
Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers. The goal is to capture the core of the idea so our expert teams can help with the rest.
High-level Idea questions #
There are a number of questions that you will need to answer about your idea in order for it to be reviewed.
- Task/Process Name
- Short Description
- Business Unit, Area and Sub-Area
- Describe the input data for your process?
- How digital is input data for your process?
- How structured is the input data?
- Upcoming changes to the process within 6 months?
- Your satisfaction with the current process
- Documentation
- Assign process Owner
- Assign collaborators
What next? #
As soon as you’ve shared your idea, you’ll be presented with a scorecard, with a Feasibility Score, Readiness Score and Idea Score. Read more about these scores here. The following flow is then initiated:
- Your Idea is Scored Instantly: The Silkflo platform provides an initial score for feasibility and readiness, giving you immediate feedback on your idea’s potential.
- A Profile Page is Created: Your idea gets its own dedicated page where you and your colleagues can track its progress, add comments, and see updates.
- The Expert Team is Notified: Your idea is automatically sent to your organization’s central improvement team (often called the Center of Excellence or CoE) for them to perform a further detailed assessment.
You can view your ideas in your Personal Dashboard. They will also show up in the Explore > Ideas section.
CoE Idea (Side Menu) #
Available to: Admin Users Only
This path is designed for team members with a deeper knowledge of process improvement, such as Business Analysts, Process Owners, or Consultants. This option allows you to provide a richer, more detailed analysis upfront and fast-track the idea directly to the Assess stage.
Submit a CoE Idea #
Detailed Analysis Idea questions #
As well as the High-level questions above, you’ll be able to answer more advanced questions about the process:
- Task/Process Name
- Expected Benefits
- Expected Challenges
- Environmental Stability
- Short Description
- Employee Profile
- Process Volumetry
- Error Rate
- Review/Audit
- Process Ways of Working
- Data Input
- Potential Fines
- Select the Applications Used
- Assign process Owner
- Assign collaborators
After filling out all the necessary inputs, click Submit.
You can find out more details about the Detailed Assessment by viewing the ‘Performing a Detailed Assessment‘ page.
What next? #
As soon as you’ve shared your CoE idea, the below flow is initiated:
- The SilkFlo platform automatically calculates the Idea Score, Automation Potential, Ease of Implementation and other important metrics.
- An Idea Profile is created. You can view the idea, Like it, and follow its evolution and updates.
- The idea is automatically moved to the Assess stage (no need for Review).
- The CoE idea undergoes several further reviews and updates.
You can view your ideas in your Personal Dashboard. They will also show up in the Explore > Ideas section.
Note:
You can also click the Save as Draft option to pause and save your progress without submitting your idea for review. 
