Key Changes
- We removed the Add New Link button in favor of a Clone button that automatically copies link attributes from an existing link to simplify the link creation process.
- We added a Get URL Link to copy a link to your clipboard and paste to an email or social media site.
- Made it possible to associate a link to a phone bank in the phone bank creation process.
- Moved some phone bank settings to the Advanced Options page
Phone Bank Changes Overview
We have made a few changes to the Online Phone Bank link management process in preparation for the 2024 election cycle. These changes are meant to promote a more effective utilization of phone bank links while simplifying the overall link management process.
Phone bank links provide a simple method of directing your callers to a specific phone bank project so that they can quickly and easily access their assigned phone bank. Callers usually receive the url links via email, text message, or from an organization’s website. Clicking on a link will direct callers to a login page that will let them only access the one phone bank associated with the link. As a PDI phone bank manager, you can easily control associations between each active phone bank and your links.
The primary purpose and greatest benefit of having independent phone bank links is that they can be reused which saves organizations the trouble of having to constantly distribute new links to callers for every phone bank effort. Ideally, organizations should only have as many phone bank links as they would have concurrent operational phone banks running at the same time. This means that most organizations should only have one to four active phone banks links at any given time.
In the event that your organization needs a new phone bank link, we have simplified the process making it possible to clone an existing link instead of creating a new link from scratch. Links can have many configuration settings for preferences that are often consistent for your organization. Cloned links assume all of the configuration settings from the original link and only require entering a new name.
Examples of the link configuration setting include the following:
- Require Password checkbox and Set Password
- Show Volunteer Organization Dropdown on Login Page (Make Optional)
- Show Volunteer Organization Dropdown on Login Page (Make Required)
- Enable Callers to Self Register
- Disable Skip Calls
- Set hours of operation to restrict access during early morning or late night hours.
To clone a phone bank link, simply find an existing link with the configured attributes you wish to clone and then click on the Clone link on the right side of the Links section.
You will then be prompted to provide a name for the new link and click on the Create Link button.
If you want to make changes to the cloned link configuration, you can click on the link name to view the current settings and make edits. Clicking the Advanced Options link may be necessary to view or edit all settings.
Changes to the Create New Phone Bank Process
We made a couple small but beneficial changes to the process for creating new phone banks. The most significant change is being able to associate a new or existing link to your new phone bank. This optional feature eliminates the need to go back and associate the phone bank link after your phone bank project is created.
The process will ask you to confirm link changes to ensure the new association will not have unintended consequences.
We also moved a few settings to the Additional Options section of the pop-up. These include the options for Universe Type, Template, and Phone Bank End Date. You will also find a "Link is Active" checkbox in the Additional Options section. This is how you can control whether your Phone Bank is active, instead of setting an expiration date.
We are appreciative of the user feedback that was considered to make these improvements to the online phone bank creation process. Our goal is always to keep improving the PDI tools and make your work easier and more effective.