Setting Up Your Account
You can get up and running quickly with productfolio; there are just a few steps you’ll want to take to get the configuration the way you like it, import your data, and invite your team.
The setup wizard walks you through the requires steps of this, but here’s a full view of steps you may want to consider:
| # | Tool | Used For |
| 1 | Define Strategy | The first thing you’ll want to do is to fill out the key strategy tenants on your home screen. State your vision. Add your goals. Define your Focus Areas (aka themes). Essentially, you’re setting up all the Northstar details about your product so that you can share these details with your team and remind them every time they enter. Some of this information is also linked from other areas of the tool, so its a good place to start by getting these into place. |
| 2 | Select Scoring Rubric (setup wizard) | The scoring rubric is the framework that you’ll use to prioritize your Features. If you’re in a Trial or free Starter plan, you’ll see two options here: Impact vs Effort or ICE. If you’re a paid subscriber you’ll see 4 additional options: Weighted Impact, Benefit vs Risk, RICE, and WSJF. Once you’ve selected your scoring method, you’ll be able to use this inline on your Features list to start scoring those items. Note – this is something you’ll setup as part of the onboarding flow. |
| 3 | Select Roadmap Type(setup wizard) | Each Workspace has a roadmap and you can select which type you prefer to use – a timeline or Kanban style (now, next, later). Its good to go ahead and set this up as well, so you can begin dragging your features onto the roadmap, as soon as you’re done prioritizing. Note – this is something you’ll setup as part of the onboarding flow. |
| 4 | Explore with Example Data | Now that you have the basic setup elements out of the way, go ahead and create a few features and requirements. Practice linking those together, setting attributes, tags, and attaching files. Try dragging them into different orders and assigning Focus Areas – you’ll get a pretty good sense of how it works from just trying a few. Note – your first workspace comes loaded with some sample data that you can use to get a quick feel for things . Feel free to delete those examples however, once have a sense and don’t need them anymore |
| 5 | Import Your Data | If you’ve completed all the steps above then you should be in good shape and have a pretty good sense of how everything works. You’re ready to start pulling your data into Productfolio. This is easy to do if you have the data in CSV or Excel format. (XSL/XSLX). Just select the ellipse icon button in the upper-right corner of the Features list or backlog, and map the fields for a simple upload of your data. Once the data is uploaded, spend a little time setting properties, linking data, and dragging items into priority and onto your roadmap, and you’re be all set. |
| 6 | Setup the Feedback Portal | Go to the Feedback section, setup your portal to, and add a few items to get a sense. You can configure settings for your portal by clicking the fear icon and use this to enable public view of your portal. Next, add a few features (from your feature list) to the portal, to enable voting. Finally, make note of the public URL for your portal (assuming you enabled public access). You can share this with your customers if you’d like to get their feedback and suggestions. |
| 7 | Invite Your Team | Lastly, now that you have your workspace and data , invite your team to the workspace. You can go to Account > Users and invite them there (assuming you have a paid account that allows for additional team members). When an invitation is sent, the invitees will receive an email instructing them to create an account and give them access to your workspace once they do. |
| 8 | Regularly Update Your Data | Now that you have your data in place and your team is participating in the account, its up to you now , to keep the data up to date and relevant to your team. Check back in regularly and make incremental progress a few times a week. This will avoid last minute pressure points as well as increase the value of the material for the team, which in turn will result in them using the tool more often too. |
Have Questions?
We hope the above was a helpful walkthrough of getting started. We also highly recommend checking out the Foundational Concepts so you understand the structures and workflow of the tool. We’re also here to help and answer any question you still have. Write to us at [email protected] and let us know how we can help you get started.