This is the first port of call for suggested enhancements to any of our solutions. Raise a case through the Portal and describe your idea for improvement or additional functionality. It will be helpful if you can describe what you are trying to achieve and why that is currently difficult rather than just describing what you think would help. Describing the symptoms of the problem instead of what you consider to be the cure enables us to take a more holistic approach.

Idea Manager enables our customers to directly influence our software development priorities by voting on them. Product Managers gather ideas from suggestions made through the Self-service Portal as well as interactions with customers and colleagues, such as Account Managers, who may present ideas on behalf of a customer. The Product Manager serves as a filter to prevent the duplication of ideas that could easily happen if all these sources were able to enter ideas directly.

A Product Manager and/ or your Account Manager will spend between half a day and two days, usually on site, helping you to describe the tasks that are carried out at your institution relating to planning and scheduling. This will include, but is not limited to, tasks that are currently supported by our software. Ideally, we would have the person who carries out the task describe the steps involved and record those using an electronic board. There are huge organisational benefits to participating in User Journey Mapping.

The Scientia User Forum is the online home of our user community. We publish the results of the User Journey Mapping sessions here so that customers see the journeys that other institutions have already mapped and can comment against them. This enables us to build a picture of what tasks and processes are common. Even if you cannot host a journey mapping session you can indicate on the forum that your journey is identical or similar to one that’s already mapped.

In product development, a sprint is a set period of time during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review. We invite customers to attend periodic webinars where we show them what progress has been made. This is another opportunity for you to give feedback on wireframe mockups or working software, depending on where we are in the process. In response to your feedback we can make adjustments to the software so that what we end up with is a good fit for your needs.

From annual, user-led Conferences to free, one-day Scientia Regional User Groups (SRUGs), we aim to bring members of the Scientia user community together as frequently as possible. Events provide unparalleled access to Scientia staff from all departments, enabling the sorts of conversations which often lead to big developmental leaps. You know your ideas are being heard if you’re talking to a Scientia Product Manager!