TOOLS MODULE — ENGAGEMENT
WordPress Feature Request Plugin — Roadmap Voting, Moderation, and Prioritization
LuperIQ Roadmap Voting turns your WordPress admin into a full feature request management system. Users submit ideas with titles, descriptions, and priority levels. Visitors and team members vote on requests using a configurable scoring system. Comments let stakeholders discuss each idea. A six-stage status workflow moves requests from pending through open, planned, in progress, shipped, and declined. Admins moderate submissions, reorder priorities with drag-and-drop, and filter requests by module or context — all from three dedicated admin pages without leaving WordPress.
The Problem With Managing Feature Requests in WordPress
WordPress does not include a built-in system for collecting, organizing, or prioritizing feature requests. Most site owners and plugin developers fall back on scattered approaches: feature ideas get buried in support tickets, forum threads, spreadsheets, or third-party SaaS tools that charge per-seat fees and store your data on external servers. There is no single place where users can see what has already been requested, vote on what matters most to them, or track whether an idea is being worked on.
When feature requests live outside your WordPress site, you lose context. Requests are disconnected from the admin pages where they originate, duplicates pile up because users cannot search existing ideas, and there is no transparent workflow showing whether a request is under review, planned for a future release, or already shipped. Product decisions end up driven by the loudest voices in email threads rather than by measurable demand from your actual user base.
LuperIQ Roadmap Voting solves this by embedding a complete feature request lifecycle directly inside your WordPress admin. Users submit requests with structured titles, descriptions, and priority levels. A voting system with configurable scoring surfaces the most-wanted ideas. Comments let stakeholders discuss implementation details on each request. A six-stage status workflow gives everyone visibility into what is pending, planned, in progress, or shipped. Admins moderate submissions, reorder priorities with drag-and-drop, and filter the roadmap by module or context. A persistent footer panel and a one-click Suggest a Feature button make it easy to submit ideas from any LuperIQ admin page without navigating away.
Complete Feature Request Management in One Module
Everything runs inside your WordPress admin. No external services, no per-seat fees, no data leaving your server.
Feature Request Submission
Users submit feature requests with a structured form that captures a title, a detailed description, and a priority level (low, medium, high, or critical). Each submission is tied to the submitting user and timestamped. Requests can optionally be scoped to a specific module or context so they appear in the relevant section of the roadmap.
Configurable Voting System
Every feature request can be voted on by users with a scoring system you control. Vote scores are stored in a dedicated feature_votes table with one row per user per request. The total vote count and weighted score are displayed alongside each request so the most popular ideas surface naturally to the top of the list.
Comments
Each feature request has its own comment section. Users add comments to ask questions, suggest implementation details, or express support. Comments are stored in the feature_comments table as a flat list. Admins can moderate comments through the Moderation page.
Six-Stage Status Workflow
Requests move through a clearly defined lifecycle: pending (awaiting moderation), open (accepted and visible), planned (scheduled for development), in_progress (currently being built), shipped (released), and declined (will not be implemented). Admins update the status from the Roadmap page and users see the current state of every request at a glance.
Admin Moderation Queue
The Roadmap Moderation page shows all pending submissions in a dedicated queue. Admins can approve or decline each request with a single click. Two moderation modes are available in Settings: auto-approve, which publishes requests immediately, and manual, which holds every submission for review. This gives you full control over what appears on the public roadmap.
Drag-and-Drop Prioritization
Beyond the vote-based ranking, admins can manually reorder feature requests using drag-and-drop on the Roadmap page. Each request carries a manual weight field that overrides the default sort. This lets product managers place strategically important items at the top of the roadmap regardless of vote count.
Context-Based Filtering
Feature requests can be scoped to specific modules or contexts within your LuperIQ installation. The Roadmap page provides filter controls that let you view requests for a single module, a group of related modules, or the entire site. This keeps large roadmaps organized and makes it easy for users to find requests relevant to the tools they use.
Footer Panel and Quick Submit
A persistent footer panel is injected on every LuperIQ admin page. It provides a Suggest a Feature button that opens a lightweight submission form without navigating away from the current page. Users can file a request in seconds, and the panel can be enabled or disabled from Roadmap Settings.
What's New Feed and Documentation
The module includes a What's New changelog feed that shows recently shipped features and release notes. A documentation integration provides help docs accessible directly from the roadmap interface, so users can learn about existing functionality before submitting a duplicate request.
Who This Module Is Built For
WordPress Plugin and Theme Developers
You maintain a product used by hundreds or thousands of sites and need a structured way to collect, prioritize, and communicate feature plans. Roadmap Voting gives your users a single place to submit ideas, vote on priorities, and track progress from planned to shipped — all visible inside the admin they already use every day.
Site Owners and Administrators
You run a WordPress site with multiple stakeholders — content editors, marketing staff, client teams — and feature requests arrive through email, Slack, meetings, and support tickets. This module centralizes every request in one admin page with voting so you can see which improvements matter most to the people who use your site.
Agencies Managing Client Sites
Your clients want new features and you need a transparent way to capture, triage, and communicate what is being worked on. The moderation queue lets you review every submission before it becomes visible. The status workflow shows clients exactly where their request stands without back-and-forth emails.
Product Managers and Team Leads
You need data-driven prioritization, not just gut feelings. The voting system quantifies demand, the priority levels capture urgency, and drag-and-drop reordering lets you layer in strategic context. The roadmap view becomes a living product plan that the entire team can reference.
Three Admin Pages, One Complete Workflow
Roadmap (Main View)
The primary dashboard displays all feature requests sorted by vote score, manual weight, or status. Each request card shows the title, description excerpt, priority badge, current status, vote count, and comment count. Click any request to expand its full description and comments. Use the status dropdown to advance a request through the workflow. Drag and drop cards to manually reorder priorities. Filter by module context, priority level, or status stage.
Roadmap Settings
Configure the voting system scoring, toggle between auto-approve and manual moderation modes, enable or disable the footer panel on LuperIQ admin pages, and manage general module preferences. Settings are saved per site and take effect immediately across all admin users.
Roadmap Moderation
A dedicated queue for pending submissions. Each card in the queue shows the submitter, submission date, title, description, and requested priority. Approve to move the request to open status, or decline to remove it from the public roadmap. When moderation mode is set to auto, this page shows only items that were flagged for review.
Under the Hood — How Roadmap Voting Works
When a user submits a feature request, the form data is sent via AJAX to a WordPress handler that validates the nonce, checks user capabilities, sanitizes the title and description, and inserts a new row into the feature_requests table. The row stores the user ID, title, description, priority level, initial status (pending or open depending on moderation mode), a manual weight field defaulting to zero, and an optional context string identifying the module or area the request relates to. If moderation mode is set to manual, the request stays in pending status until an admin approves it from the Moderation page.
Votes are recorded in the feature_votes table with one row per user per feature request. Each vote carries a score value determined by the scoring configuration in Settings. When a user votes, the handler checks whether a vote already exists for that user-request pair and either inserts a new vote or removes the existing one (toggle behavior). The total vote count and aggregate score are recalculated and cached so the Roadmap page can sort requests by popularity without running aggregate queries on every page load.
Comments are stored in the feature_comments table as a flat list. Each comment records the user ID, feature request ID, comment text, and a timestamp. The Roadmap page renders comments chronologically beneath each feature request. Admins can moderate comments through the Moderation page. All database operations use WordPress prepared statements, nonce verification, and capability checks to ensure data integrity and access control.
The footer panel is injected via a WordPress admin_footer hook on all LuperIQ admin pages. It renders a collapsible bar at the bottom of the screen with a Suggest a Feature button. Clicking the button opens an inline form that submits the request through the same AJAX handler used by the main Roadmap page. The panel also includes a What's New feed showing recently shipped features and a link to the documentation. The panel visibility is controlled by a toggle in Roadmap Settings and can be turned off entirely if not needed.
Voting, Scoring, and Prioritization Logic
The voting system supports configurable scoring so you can weight votes differently based on your product needs. By default, each vote contributes one point to a request's score. You can adjust this in Roadmap Settings to give different weight values. The aggregate score determines the default sort order on the Roadmap page, placing the most-demanded features at the top. Users see the current vote count on each request card and can toggle their vote on or off with a single click.
Manual weight provides a second prioritization layer for admins. Each feature request has a weight field that can be set via drag-and-drop reordering on the Roadmap page. When manual weight is applied, requests are sorted by weight first and then by vote score within the same weight tier. This gives product managers the ability to promote strategically important features above high-vote items when business priorities require it. The combination of community voting and admin reordering creates a prioritization system that balances user demand with product strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this module require WooCommerce?
No. Roadmap Voting works on any WordPress site running LuperIQ. It does not depend on WooCommerce or any other ecommerce plugin. The feature request system is designed for any site that needs to collect and prioritize user feedback.
Can users vote without being logged in?
Votes are tied to WordPress user accounts to prevent duplicate voting. Users must be logged into your WordPress site to cast a vote. Each user gets one vote per feature request, and votes can be toggled on and off.
How does moderation work?
Two modes are available. In auto-approve mode, every submitted request is immediately published with open status. In manual mode, new requests enter pending status and appear in the Roadmap Moderation queue. Admins review each submission and click Approve or Decline. You can switch between modes at any time in Roadmap Settings.
Can I use this for a public-facing roadmap?
The module is currently designed for the WordPress admin interface. Feature requests, votes, and comments are managed within the admin dashboard. The data is stored in custom database tables and could be exposed on the frontend through custom development, but the built-in interface runs inside wp-admin.
What happens when a feature request is declined?
Declined requests move to the declined status and are removed from the active roadmap view by default. The request and its votes and comments are preserved in the database. Admins can filter by declined status to review past decisions. A declined request can be reopened by changing its status back to open or planned.
Is there a limit on the number of feature requests?
No hard limit is imposed by the module. Feature requests are stored in a custom database table and scale with your WordPress database capacity. The Roadmap page supports filtering and sorting to keep large lists manageable.
How does context-based filtering work?
Each feature request can include an optional context string that identifies which module or area of your site it relates to. The Roadmap page provides filter controls that scope the view to a single context, a group of contexts, or all requests. This is particularly useful for LuperIQ installations with many active modules, as it keeps the roadmap organized and relevant.
Can multiple admins manage the roadmap?
Yes. Any WordPress user with the appropriate admin capabilities can access the Roadmap, Settings, and Moderation pages. Status changes, approvals, and priority reordering are available to all authorized admins. The module uses standard WordPress capability checks to control access.
Turn User Feedback Into a Product Roadmap
Install LuperIQ, activate Roadmap Voting, and start collecting feature requests with voting, flat comments, and a six-stage status workflow. Moderation, drag-and-drop prioritization, and context filtering are all included.