Idea Submission

Employee idea programs that rely on suggestion boxes, informal emails, or ad hoc conversations fail to capture the full context of each idea in a consistent format. Implementation steps are rarely articulated. Expected impact is not documented. Ideas arrive without the detail needed to assess them fairly or take them forward, and there is no central record of what has been submitted, by whom, or what happened to it.

The Idea Submission template for SharePoint, built with Infowise Ultimate Forms, gives employees a structured channel to submit innovation and improvement ideas, capturing the idea title, full description, implementation approach, expected impact, supporting documents, and two declaration fields. Every submission is stored as a complete, reviewable record in SharePoint.

How it works

Employee details

The form captures the submitting employee's full name, employee ID, department, job title, email address, and phone number. Capturing the employee's department and role alongside their contact details gives the reviewing team the organizational context needed to assess the idea in relation to the submitter's area of expertise and to follow up through the appropriate channel if the idea is selected for further review.

Idea title and description

A title field gives the employee a concise way to identify the idea, while a dedicated description field provides the space to explain it fully. Capturing both ensures that the reviewing team can scan the list of submissions by title and open individual records for detail, without every review requiring a full read of every description.

Implementation approach

A structured implementation field asks the employee to explain how they envision putting the idea into action, including the steps or processes required. This field is the most critical differentiator between an idea and a proposal. Requiring the submitter to articulate the implementation path shifts the submission from a vague suggestion to an actionable starting point, and gives the reviewing team something concrete to evaluate and build on.

Expected impact

An open-ended impact field invites the employee to describe what they expect the idea to achieve. Whether the anticipated benefit is cost reduction, efficiency improvement, customer experience enhancement, or a cultural change, capturing it in a structured field at the point of submission ensures the review panel has a clear view of the intended value of each idea without needing to ask.

Supporting documents

A file upload field allows the employee to attach documents, diagrams, prototypes, or any other supporting materials that help illustrate or validate the idea. Supporting materials linked directly to the submission record ensure that the review panel has full context without requesting files separately.

Originality and contact consent

A required originality declaration confirms that the idea is the employee's original work and that they have the right to submit it for consideration. An optional consent field captures whether the employee grants permission to be contacted for further discussion if the idea is selected for review. Both are documented within the submission record, providing a clear basis for the organization's use of the submitted idea.

What you get

• A structured idea submission form capturing employee details, idea title, full description, and implementation approach
• Expected impact field providing the review panel with a clear view of the intended value of each submission
• Supporting document upload linked directly to the submission record
• Originality declaration and optional contact consent documented within the same record
• Every submission stored as a complete, reviewable record in a standard SharePoint list
• Filterable by department, submission date, or review status for innovation program management
• Extendable with automated submission acknowledgment notifications and review workflows using Ultimate Forms
• Free for all Ultimate Forms customers, installed automatically with a single click

Built on standard SharePoint lists

The Idea Submission system is built entirely on standard SharePoint lists. There is no external data storage and no custom interface. All submission records stay inside your SharePoint environment, governed by your existing permissions and data policies. The system can be extended or adapted at any time in the browser by the administrator who manages the site.