Knowledge

Glossary: Participation & Idea Management

Terms, methods and processes around participation and idea management — explained simply.

Citizen participation

Participatory budgeting

Participatory budgeting lets residents help decide how a set portion of the municipal budget is spent.

Citizens’ budget

A citizens’ budget is a fixed sum of money that residents help decide how to spend — often for projects in a neighbourhood or district.

Citizens’ assembly

A citizens’ assembly is a body of randomly selected people that deliberates on a specific question and gives politics its recommendations.

Planning cell

The planning cell (Planungszelle) is a participation procedure in which randomly selected people are released for a short time to produce a citizens’ report on a specific question.

Future workshop

The future workshop (Zukunftswerkstatt) is a creative participation method that develops solutions together in three phases: from critique through fantasy to implementation.

Participation process

A participation process is the structured way an administration involves residents in a decision or plan.

E-participation

E-participation means citizen participation by digital means — from online idea collection and digital voting to participation platforms.

Mitwirkung

In Switzerland, Mitwirkung refers to involving residents early in a municipality’s or authority’s plans and projects.

Vernehmlassung

In Switzerland, the Vernehmlassung is the formal process in which cantons, parties and associations comment on planned legislation.

Student council (SV)

The student council (Schülervertretung, SV) is the elected body that represents pupils’ interests to the school and teachers.

Class council

The class council (Klassenrat) is a regular, democratic assembly in which a class discusses and decides on its own concerns together.

Student participatory budget

In a student participatory budget (Schülerhaushalt), the student body decides how a fixed budget for their school is used — participatory budgeting in miniature.

School development

School development (Schulentwicklung) is the planned process by which a school systematically develops teaching, organisation and community.

Idea management

Idea management is the structured process by which an organisation collects, evaluates and turns ideas into improvements or innovations.

Innovation management

Innovation management is the systematic steering of innovations in an organisation — from generating ideas through evaluation to bringing them to market.

Employee suggestion scheme

An employee suggestion scheme is the system by which a company collects, evaluates and rewards improvement suggestions from its staff.

Continuous improvement (CIP)

The continuous improvement process (CIP) improves products, processes and quality continuously in many small steps.

Customer feedback

Customer feedback is the responses, wishes and ideas customers have about a product or company — the basis for targeted improvements.

Voice of the Customer (VoC)

Voice of the Customer (VoC) is the systematic capture and analysis of customers’ needs, expectations and feedback.

Product feedback

Product feedback covers users’ responses and feature requests about a product — a central basis for product development.