The primary purpose of this website is to spread management information about accounting. However, don’t wait for new ideas from me – get them from your own staff. There is a small industry of software providers who deal in “knowledge management” systems (KMS). An example is Imaginatik’s Idea Central (now in version 6). A KMS is not a glorified suggestion box (though it does have that function!). In addition to accepting suggestions, it also focuses contributors onto several key challenges identified by corporate management, establishes bulletin boards on which related comments can be posted, and keeps contributors updated with the latest posted comments. In addition, management can assign suggestions to groups of in-house experts for evaluation, score their comments, and assign approved suggestions for implementation. Thus, a KMS covers the entire workflow associated with employee suggestions, assuring that they are reviewed, approved, and implemented in a timely manner. Such systems are really designed for large organizations, and are priced accordingly (a mid-five figure price tag is the minimum starting point).

You can access the Imaginatik web site at www.imaginatik.com