An idea management system is simply defined as a wholistic methodology for collecting, filtering, and implementing ideas. Traditionally, these systems were paper based and required great manual effort to manage.

In the 1990s organizations began using spreadsheets and databases to help record and catalog ideas, however these early "digital" methods did not allow many people to interact with the data. It wasn't until recently, and really in the last 5 years, that web 2.0 technologies helped propel idea management into a new dimension.

The modern systems enable users to interact with ideas through it's entire lifecycle. What's better is the fact that with modern web based systems every user can search through the database to learn which ideas have worked and which ones haven't. This makes idea management systems like Eureka unique best-practice reservoirs which are ideal and necessary in every organization.