Providing feedback and managing inputs
Providing feedback
Managing project input is essential to maintain quality and trust. Project managers and admins handle updates manually, while the platform also provides automated notifications.
Effective project management includes:
Assigning the right project managers to distribute responsibilities
Keeping participants informed by updating content with text, PDFs, images, or videos
Actively taking part in discussions with comments, statuses, and tags
Moderating inappropriate content such as spam or profanity
Assigning ideas internally to colleagues for collaboration
💡 Create a shared admin or project manager profile (e.g., communication@...) to simplify collaboration among colleagues
Managing the status of the input
As an admin or project manager, you can easily update the status of an idea. When you change a status, the author and anyone who has commented on or voted for that idea will automatically receive a notification.
The platform includes a set of default statuses, but you can also create your own. Just contact us at support@govocal.com with the list of statuses you’d like to use and their preferred colours, and we’ll set them up for you.
Examples of custom statuses:
Under consideration, Seen by project manager, To be completed, Not an idea, Needs more explanation, or even placeholders like Status 1, Status 2, etc. Feel free to be creative, statuses are a great communication tool, as they’re visible on the platform and help keep participants informed about progress.
ℹ️ Ideas are always immediately visible in the timeline phase where they were submitted, you can move them between phases and projects, read more about this in our support article.
Bulk uploading feedback
Bulk official feedback allows admins to add official updates and change the status of many ideas at once by using a structured Excel sheet.
This process is useful when:
You need to give the community updates on a large number of ideas at once.
You want to change multiple ideas’ statuses in a single action.
Instead of updating each idea manually, you send a filled‑out template Excel file to support, and the team imports the updates for you.
How to bulk update ideas with official feedback is described below.
How to track and provide official feedback on inputs?
1. Find inputs that need your attention
Go to the Input Manager
Use the dropdown filter to:
View ideas assigned to you, or
Filter by another colleague to check their assignments.
Toggle
Only show posts that need feedbackA red badge indicates how many inputs (ideas or proposals) still need feedback.
2. Respond to inputs
You can give official feedback by changing the status of the input or by adding it manually.
Give official feedback by changing the status
Change the item’s status (e.g. Proposed → Under Review)
Leave an official comment explaining the status change or giving feedback
This keeps participants informed and shows visible progress on the platform
Give official feedback manually
open the input you wish to give feedback
there will be a red box that allows you to give official feedback - when submitted it will appear also in red for the user
3. Stay on top of assigned work
All admins and project managers receive a weekly email reminder listing:
Items assigned to them.
Items still awaiting feedback.
Note: Items remain on your list until official feedback is provided (changing status or commenting).
Responsibilities in managing inputs
Assign project managers: distribute management responsibilities. (Visible to participants)
Keep participants up-to-date: update content, add PDFs, images, or videos. (Visible to participants)
Take part in discussions: use comments, feedback, statuses, and tags. (Visible to participants)
Moderate inappropriate content: handle spam, delete posts, or remove profanity. (Not visible to participants)
Assign ideas internally: collaborate by assigning inputs to colleagues. (Not visible to participants)
How to bulk update ideas with official feedback?
Step 1: Export the ideas
Export all ideas you want to comment on or update.
Step 2: Prepare the template
Copy all IDs (column A in your export) into column A (“ID”) of the provided Excel template.
[Include link or reference to download the template Excel sheet.]
Step 3: Fill out the columns
Feedback Author Name (Column B) – Required
Shown publicly on the platform (e.g. “Team Mobility – City of Nanaimo”).
Does not have to be a registered user.
Feedback Email (Column C) – Required
Not shown publicly. Must be the email of a registered admin on the platform.
Your Feedback (Column D) – Required
The text of the official update. You can personalize with
{{first_name}}to auto‑insert the participant's first name.
New Status (Column E) – Optional
If you want to change the status, type the exact status name as it appears on your platform.
First Name (Column F) – Optional
Used when the participant deleted their account, so a placeholder name can appear instead of leaving it blank.
Step 4: Send to support
Email the filled template to support@govocal.com
Include the exact day and time you want the updates applied
Allow 10 working days for the task to be scheduled