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Sparqbox Docs

The feedback loop

The core product promise: every idea receives a written response before it closes. Every idea, every time. This page explains what counts as feedback, who writes it, and where it lands.

Why feedback matters

Section titled “Why feedback matters”

Most internal idea programmes die because submitters never hear back. Sparqbox is built around the opposite assumption: a closed idea without a written response is a bug, not a feature. The product enforces this in two places.

  • The auto-decision rule writes feedback automatically as part of the same step that records the outcome.
  • An admin override cannot save without feedback text.

There is no setting to turn this off. Feedback is always on.

Two paths to feedback

Section titled “Two paths to feedback”

Auto-feedback

Section titled “Auto-feedback”

When an idea reaches scored and the auto-decision fires, the system generates feedback and saves it together with the decision. Auto-feedback is built deterministically from the data already on the idea, so it always covers:

  • The outcome (Approved, Rejected, or Needs discussion).
  • The weighted score.
  • The thresholds that drove the outcome.
  • The criteria where the idea scored highest.
  • The criteria where the idea scored lowest.
  • Who reviewed.
  • The AI's summary if the AI completed.

No human writes auto-feedback. The submitter receives it instantly when the decision fires.

Admin feedback

Section titled “Admin feedback”

When an admin overrides an auto-decision (for example, Needs discussion → Approved, or Approved → In implementation), they write the feedback themselves. The override form has a feedback text area; submitting with empty or whitespace-only text fails with a clear error.

Admin feedback overwrites the previous feedback on the idea. The previous text is preserved in the idea's status timeline.

Visibility of feedback

Section titled “Visibility of feedback”

Feedback is always visible to the submitter, even on anonymous submissions. The submitter sees it in two places:

  • The decision email they receive when the outcome lands.
  • The idea's detail page in the app, under the decision banner.

Coordinators and admins of the workspace see feedback on every idea. Other workspace members see it when the idea's visibility is Open.

Feedback for anonymous submissions

Section titled “Feedback for anonymous submissions”

If an idea was submitted anonymously, the submitter still receives the feedback. Their identity is not revealed to the people writing or reading the feedback; the submitter sees their own feedback through their own dashboard, not because the system knows who they are in any reviewer's view.

What's next

Section titled “What's next”