Guidelines & how to write a good “Product Idea” post

Welcome to ConnectMaster - Ideas

No one knows our products better than you, our users. We love hearing about how you use our tools and what would make them better.  

Here are a few guidelines on how to use the “Product Ideas”-Community, so that our Product team can effectively use and apply your feedback.

Follow the Community Code of Conduct

Feedback and constructive criticism are welcome. Disparaging, harassing, mean, or snarky remarks about VertiGIS, its employees, vendors, partners, or other community members will not be tolerated. We’re all appreciative people and professionals, so let’s keep it polite. We don’t like having to remove comments, but we reserve the right to do so without warning in order to maintain a positive community experience for everyone.

If it's a bug, create a ticket

This topic is for sharing ideas about the product. If you're reporting an actual bug, you should submit a request in the support area of our support portal. 

Search first

We receive many feedback posts every month, so there's a good chance someone has already made a suggestion similar to yours. Keeping conversations in existing threads makes them easier for others to find, and helps keep the Community organized. Here's how to filter your search: 

Vote for suggestions you like

Votes do matter! See a post or comment you like or agree with? Use the up arrow! Post a comment to share your detailed use case.

Give details, examples, and tell us about the problem you’re trying to solve

Our Product Managers are problem solvers! The most helpful Product Feedback posts are the ones that describe the nature and scope of a problem. Try to share the following information in your post or comment: 

• Feature Wish Summary
• Functional Area/Module your idea is related with
• Description/Use Case
• Product limitation or missing feature
• Business impact of limitation or missing feature
• Other necessary information or resources

Here is a template for feature wishes that you can copy and paste and then just fill in your details. 

It's much easier for us to address a suggestion if we clearly understand the context of the issue, the problem, and why it matters to you. 

Rest assured we will read your post, but we may not respond

Our Product Managers dedicate time each week in the community to read your comments, answer your questions, ask you questions about your feedback, and lead conversations around areas they’re focused on.

That said, we simply can't respond to everything.

VertiGIS team members may engage in conversations, ask follow-up questions, or even start threads on topics they’re exploring. If your post or comment doesn’t receive a response, don’t worry. We’ve seen it, and we’ll let you know if and when we have any updates to share.

Posts are not guaranteed a response, or inclusion in any product backlogs or roadmaps. This forum is simply for sharing your challenges and how you use the product, but it is not a case/resolution system. 

Our product teams present the planned product roadmaps at regular intervals via various channels such as webinars or at trade fairs and conferences. Here we inform you what we include in our roadmap and what we don't. Follow us via newsletter and/or social media and you will not miss any update.

We don’t share timelines

Occasionally, we’ll share very general ideas of what is or isn’t on a roadmap, or roughly when you might expect to see something roll out. However, we do not share specific dates. Any timelines we share are not guaranteed and are subject to change without notice. 

There are situations where we aren't ready to share what we're up to or it's not reasonable for us to give specifics. While we are as up front as we can be, our roadmap is full of projects and we generally don’t provide timelines for new features or changes. If we do provide a timeline, know that it is subject to change.

If you have an important and/or urgent need for a new feature in our software and you want to get a commitment on content and time of delivery or you don’t want to share it within the ConnectMaster community for any reason, please contact your Sales Representative. Such requests will be treated in a different process than the product ideas in this community.