2024 Release Notes

Posted July 20th 2024

PDI released a few workflow and feature updates to the field canvassing and online phone bank modules. Most of the updates are intended to be utilized by admin users who are managing field and phone canvassing projects. There should be little to no disruption of current workflow operations but we are confident these updates will make an administrator's work easier, more efficient, and effective.  The updates are definitely worth exploring.

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Quick Summary

• Comment History and Flag Contact History were added to the online phone survey interface.
• A manually initiated Refresh process was implemented for online phone bank projects to update the project universe and remove returned ballot.
• A Six Character Code export option that lists all turfs in an assignment zone was created for quick and easy on site assignments.
• Buttons to toggle between the field canvassing map and list view assignment pages were added for workflow efficiency.
• A new feature was created to save several settings as program defaults for managing field canvassing projects.

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Comment and Contact History for Phone Bank

Two new sections on the phone bank interface have been added to provide callers with details of past comments and recorded flags for the targeted voter.  This feature was added as the result of user feedback.

Refresh Option on Phone Bank Projects

This feature is for administrator use only.  It allows phone bank managers to refresh their phone bank project when desired to update the phone bank universe and remove voters who have returned their ballots. Refreshing a project will not affect data collected for a project and completed calls will still be considered completed after the refresh process is complete.

Do not run this process while your organization is actively calling voters.  Do so would disrupt your phone bank activity.

Exporting Assignments Codes

To make the workflow for assigning canvassers with six character codes easier and more efficient, we have created a file export feature that generates a file listing the turfs and assignment codes for field managers to distribute to their canvassers.

Assignment codes are generated from turfs grouped as an assignment zone.  By selecting an Assignment Zone from the Assign from List page, a list of six character codes will be displayed on the page grid. Being able to then export this list of codes makes the process even easier.

The canvassers can enter the code in the mobile app to download an assignment. The canvasser's name will then be displayed in the program for their assigned turf.

Toggle Between the Assign by Map and List Pages

Since assignment zones are created on the map view but the codes are best displayed on the list view, we added a link to make it fast and easy to toggle between the pages.

Once you create your Assignment Zone, you can toggle to the list view and then see the full list of coded turfs.

Creating Canvassing Default Preference Settings

Over the duration of a campaign, field managers will spend numerous hours managing canvassing projects.  Having to enter the same configuration settings over and over can get tedious.  To address this scenario, we have created a settings page to enter your desired preferences once and then have the program use these settings in your new projects.

If this scenario resonates with you, take a minute to explore this feature.  You can always just enter a different option if necessary when creating new projects.

Click on the Show Admin Options from the Manage Canvassing Projects page and then click on the Set Canvassing Default Preferences.

Posted June 12th 2024

PDI did a pretty significant release last night (6/26/2024) with some game changing advancements relating mostly to our field canvassing tools. As significant as the new features are, however, they should cause little disruption to your existing workflow and not require immediate action.

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Quick Summary

• A new statewide layer of canvassing turfs was added to decrease the need to manually cut turf for most campaigns.
• Some enhancements were made to our Turf Color Coding tools to identify the turfs you should be prioritizing in your canvassing efforts.
• Additional functionality was built to support a new version of our mobile app that will be released on July 1st, 2024.  You will be able to continue using the current version of our app but it is recommended that you switch at a time of your choosing. (more information will be provided as the new app is officially released.
  • An intro segment was added for your canvassing surveys
  • A new option to dispatch canvassers using a six character code was developed
  • The use of Assignment Zones was implemented for use in making Automatic Assignments with the new version of the mobile app.
• The Standard and Precinct Count Report pages were upgraded to have a multi-select drop down box instead of many check boxes for enumerated rows.  

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There is a lot to unpack with this new version. The goal was to address the most inefficient and challenging parts of field canvassing management and find effective solutions that will be simple to implement, understand, and utilize.

The first and most challenging issue is turfing. The burden on campaigns having to manually cut turf is often overwhelming and requires resources that would be better served if used in other ways.  After exploring new approaches to all the usual solutions that have been attempted in the past, it was clear that the best solution would be building a hand-cut statewide turf layer for the entire State of California to be shared and utilized by every PDI client. After spending 9,000+ hours cutting turf to specific standards, a turf layer with almost 250,000 individual turfs was built. These turfs were created for walkability and have been vetted over the past six months.  There is no longer any viable reason for campaigns to manually cut turf. This feature cannot be described as anything other than a game changer for campaigns cutting their own turf. As you may be skeptical, it is suggested  that you check them out at your earliest convenience.

This screenshot shows the new PDI Turfs (in green) compared to precinct lines (in purple)

The next issue to address was the process for prioritizing and targeting the high value turfs in a district.  Not surprisingly, most PDI clients are still using spreadsheets, wall maps, and external programs to strategically and methodically decide which turfs should be assigned to canvassers on any given day. It was also clear that the PDI tools for this process were not intuitive and needed some work. 

The solution was to overhaul our Thematic Scaling / Color Coding Turf tool to make it easier to use and more effective for targeting turfs in a district.  The tool now automatically creates priority buckets and that can instantly be converted to Assignment Zones for dispatching canvassers.

                                                             
 

The new view with color coded turfs makes it simple to identify the high value target areas in your district broken down by PDI Turf or Precinct.  Additionally, a Map Overlay feature that displays precinct and pre-built maps showing concentrated areas of various voter groups was integrated with the mapping page.  More options are in the works to be added in the near future. Unfortunately, these features do not work with custom turf at this time.

The third major issue addressed was exploring ways to improve and optimize the actual canvasser assignment process.  Two new assignment methods will be added for assigning data to canvassers that are quick, easy, and most importantly, preserve the data integrity by making it possible to have canvassers logging in under their own mobile app accounts.  

The first new option is a six character code that is generated in the main software program but can be entered into the mobile app to create an assignment for the canvasser while at the campaign headquarters or out in the field.  As the code is entered in the mobile app,  the data will be sent to the canvasser’s app and the canvasser’s name will be recorded in the program. This process allows for quick dispatching with complete control of your canvassing assignments.

                                                       

The second option goes to the next level which is completely automating the assignment process.  The concept is simple. You define the canvassers and the turfs to canvas. The program will then make the assignments as the canvassers show up for their shift.  The folks at PDI have been refining this process for a couple years and are confident you will find it extremely useful.

The final item is introducing a new version of the mobile application that will have new features to simplify all aspects of door to door canvassing.  The new app will be formally introduced in early July.

As we continue detailing the program changes, an effort should be made to clarify some commonly used program and data terms that have been used throughout this document.

New Terminology

Turfs - The term “Turfs” was commonly used to describe small geographic areas for canvassing that were hand cut by campaign staff.  The term is now used more generally to describe all types of small geographic canvassing areas.  This includes Precincts and the new PDI predefined Turfs. In other words, our system will now support three types of canvassing areas:  1) PDI-Turfs, 2) PDI Precincts, and 3) Custom Turfs which are cut by each campaign. When discussing the overall canvassing process, the term “Turfs” will be used for any of the three area types.

Assignment Method - An Assignment Method is the process in which a canvasser receives their list of voters to canvass (their assignment). Prior to the recent release, the PDI system supported two methods for assigning canvassers to their list of voters: 1) Manual Assignments - which requires the field manager to manually enter or click the canvasser names in the PDI program for each geographic area (Turf). 2) On The Go Assignments - This process automatically provides a list of voters to a canvasser based on their current location.

A new soon to be released version of our Mobile Canvassing App will will allow two additional Assignment Methods: 1) Assignments using a Six Character Code to be distributed to specific canvassers and no longer require manual entry and 2) An Automatic Assignment method that will automatically assign canvassers to an area with no manual intervention.

Manual Assignments - Manual Assignments is the primary process that has historically been used in the PDI system for assigning canvassers to a Turf or Precinct.  It requires a field manager to manually enter or click the canvasser names in the PDI program for each geographic area.

Six Character Code Assignments - This is a new process that simplifies the process of assigning canvassers to a specific area. It provides the same level of control as manual assignments without the manual entry. Six Character Code Assignments makes real time canvasser dispatching extremely efficient.

On The Go Assignments - On the Go Assignment have been in the system for many years but this is a good opportunity to make sure folks understand the assignment method as other methods are added. The On the Go assignment method automatically provides a list of voters to a canvasser based on their current location.  It is ideal for campaigns that do not have the resources to properly manage a field canvassing effort.  It does not provide ability to effectively canvass targeted areas where canvassers do not reside or want to go.

Thematic Scaling / Color Coded Turfs - This feature has actually been in the program for several years.  A few simple changes were just  implemented to make this tool more useful for identifying high value strategic target areas.  The tool color codes each turf in a shade corresponding to one of five buckets with range value based on household percent or total count.  Each bucket can now be instantly converted to Assignment Zones for dispatching canvassers.

Map Layer - Like the Thematic Scaling / Color Coded Turf tool, the mapping page now has a map overlay feature that can be displayed over your assignment turfs to help identify areas with concentrated levels of a specific demographic group. These maps may not necessarily be based on live PDI universes or datasets. They can be from external sources and should be used only as a general guide for targeted group concentrations.  The maps are being updated and will be ready in early July.

Introduction Survey Segment - The new version of the PDI Mobile app will have a small change with how it displays a survey script.  Instead of starting the survey when you click on the individual voter section, an introductory segment will be displayed from the household view when the canvasser first engages with the voter and asks about the people residing in the house.  The configuration of this segment is a new feature in this version of the program and should be pretty intuitive.

Assignment Zones - Assignment Zones are going to have a more significant role in the assignment process as we moved toward Six Character Code assignments and Automatic Assignments.  An Assignment Zone is simply the grouping of one or more PDI Turfs or Precincts, nothing more. They provide a way to filter a list of turfs or allow the program to make assignment decisions knowing where you want to canvas.  Most likely, you will use them as a throw away grouping for turfs canvassed on a specific day, weekend, or week.  They can be deactivated and forgotten once used and carry little analytic value.

The small changes you will notice.

1. Create Surveys Page - If you go to the Survey’s tab and click on the Add New button, you will now see a new options page for selecting a survey type.  This page is more descriptive in explaining the option details and makes the Survey page a little cleaner.

2. The Manage Door to Door Canvassing Page - Some enhancements were made on this page to handle some new features and some features that will be released very soon.  A Method column was added to help field managers track which projects are using specific Assignment Methods.  This is important if you are using multiple methods with multiple canvassing projects.

The other small change is the labeling of the drop down options box on the right side of the page.  What we previously referred to as Select Method is now called Select your Geography and Map List.

The Select Assignment Geography drop down options box will also display slightly different options.

There are now only six options listed in this drop down box. The options include a map view and
list view for the three geographic area types: PDI Turfs, Precincts, and My Custom Turfs. You may
be wondering why the map and list options with counts were removed.  Don’t worry, they were
added counts to all the list views and label button on the map view to show the area names and
counts.

The advantage to this solution is that it reduced the number of options in the drop down and
gave users more flexibility to control the appearance of counts without having to completely switch
Maps. You can now toggle the appearance by clicking on the labels button until it turns blue and
then green for counts. 

     3. The Create New Canvassing Project page - Small changes were made to the standard view of the
         create a New Canvassing Project page by using a drop down box instead of separate check boxes
         for each combination of assignment methods.  This just offers a cleaner look compared to a dozen
         check boxes. Keep in mind, the default setting is Manual Assignments only which is the normal
         method that has always been used in the program.

4. Count Reports Enumeration Settings - A couple small upgrades were made to the Standard Count Report page and Precinct Count Reports page to improve how the page lets you enumerate geographies.  The multiple check boxes were replaced with a single multi select drop down box with new options for PDI Turfs and common demographic rows.

5. Precinct/ Turf Captains - A new feature was added to simplify the management Precinct Captain.  This feature needs to be activated from the General Settings page.  Once activated, users will be able to assign turf to a canvasser with a special captain status.  When new canvassing projects are created, all precinct assignments to captains will be automatically processed.

Posted May 1 2024

• We have updated the option label in the user menu from "Manage Account Geography" to "Filter My District Geography." 

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• On the Flags Tab of the Create Universes page, the grid layout has been optimized to provide better spacing. You can now “Split by Candidate" to consolidate data on the grid. This option is checked by default.

Posted March 27th 2024

• The Printable phone list-Phone List for Wireless Phones is now sorted by Precincts
• In the people search page, Saved Lists (Static Lists) will now be included under the Saved People Universe.
• We now have Phone Bank Project Statistics available on the Phone Bank Management Page, similar to the Door-to-Door Canvassing Management Page.

• We have added a permission to remove the auto-approve button on the canvassing page. You'll find the auto-approve button at the top right of the page under Outreach > Door-to-Door Canvassing > Review/Approve Data. To add this permission, navigate to Admin > Add/Edit User Accounts > User Account Security Profiles. Under Profile Edit, expand the 'Field Canvassing' section and checkmark the 'Field Canvassing - Show Auto Approve Button' option." 
• Note: Admin accounts will already have this permission selected.

 

Posted March 7th 2024

Ballot curing is the process of correcting a mail ballot that has been returned but was rejected by the local Registrar of Voters (ROV) office.  The most common reasons for rejecting ballots are no signature or a signature that does not match the ROV’s signature on file.  

Most ROV offices will make a concerted effort to cure these ballots themselves by contacting the voters and requesting signatures or by taking measures to validate the signatures.  State law in California also allows for these ballots to be cured and resolved by campaign organizations.

If your campaign’s election results are so close that ballot curing may change the final outcome, you can request to have PDI load the data identifying the voters whose ballots are still considered “Rejected” into your PDI account.

Contact PDI support at [e-mail] and provide your campaign account name located on the upper left corner of the program header.  There is no additional charge for this data.  We will continue to post updates as frequently as possible until the election is officially certified.

Using Ballot Curing Data

Using ballot curing data is simple but may not be associated with data you commonly use.  We post the data under the Models tab of the Create Universes page.

Go to the Create Universe → Models tab and type “Curing” in the Model Name field.  You will see options for “Ballot Curing - No Signature 24P” and “Ballot Curing - No Signature Match 24P”.

The model values represent dates of when the data was posted.  For example, a value of “305” for the Ballot Curing - No Signature 24P” will identify the voters whose ballots were rejected as of March 5th. 

You can use the slider below the graph or the From and To fields to configure the dates you want.  If a voter no longer has a model score, it means their ballot has been resolved and is no longer considered “Rejected”.

Once you set the criteria and build your universe, you can view the  list of voters from the People Search page (Using the Saved Voter Universe option) or create a phone list, phone bank, or canvassing project to directly contact these voters and help them with the curing process.  

For your convenience, here is a link to Election Code 3019.  

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=ELEC&division=3.&title=&part=&chapter=1.&article=

Posted February 27th 2024

• We have made some improvements to the website. Now user and organization geographies, are optimized for Home page loading, and improved counts in "Create Voter Universes" (meaning faster loads!). 

Posted February 21st 2024

• We have added new fields “Mail Ballot Returns (Daily Count)” and “Mail Ballot Returns (Cumulative Counts)” under the Dropdown “Type of Counts” in the Daily Statistics  of the program Home page
• We have added a new report titled 'Volunteer Productivity Report.' This report contains data for the collective work performed by volunteers or paid staff. You will be able to select multiple projects for a report, allowing you to combine both phone and field canvassing data into a single report.

Posted February 20st 2024

• We resolved an issue where the "Add Volunteer" button was missing on the volunteer management page for accounts without existing volunteers. The button is back, allowing you to add volunteers.

Posted February 15th 2024

• Temporary outage from third-party vendor, only affected a small portion of clients. The issue was resolved within the hour. PDI has made appropriate adjustments to resolve this issue in order to ensure that it does not happen again. For more details contact [e-mail] 

Posted February 14th 2024

• From now on, when adding a simple flag to support a candidate, it will be automatically directed towards the default candidate. This is only for flags associated with support 

• We have made an update regarding the selection of universes when creating printable list templates. Now, when adding your criteria and selecting Custom Options, you'll be able to select the desired universe to display as a Checkmark, bold Print, or 3cc.

 

Posted February 13th 2024

Dashboard:

• We have added a new field “% Returned” calculation (Returned Ballot divided by Issued Mail Ballot) in the Key Statistics Section of the program Home page

Posted February 9th 2024

• We have added a date range filter option to the “Export All Flag” Data feature. Now, you can specify a desired date range and only the records within that range will be exported.
• We have added a “Get Link URL”' option to the Links section of the Phone Bank page

Posted February 6th 2024

Canvassing:

We have made changes and additions to the Color Coded Precincts Pages. 

• The Improvement includes an option for automatically setting bucket ranges to 20% of precincts, simplifying the distribution process
• The Process Button has been renamed to "Process Buckets"
• The "Process Buckets" button is not disabled until a Saved Universe is selected, preventing the processing of buckets without a specific universe. 
• The "Load Map" button will be grayed out until the "Process Buckets" button has been clicked.
• If you don’t make any edits to the ranges, the system will calculate the numbers automatically, when you click "Process Buckets." Once done, you click "Load Map" to see the shading on the actual map itself. 

• The button name in the Assign Turf From Map page has been updated from "Show Color Coded Precincts" to "Show Precinct Priorities by Color (Based on a Saved Universe)"

• The new view introduces the Assignment Status (By Doors Knocked Percentage) option. You can no longer choose a color palette, although you have the option to customize the minimum/maximum ranges for each bucket.
• The calculations are updated as the Total Doors divided by Doors Knocked. 
• The Shaded block indicates areas that have been canvassed, while non-canvassed areas appear normal.

• We have made some UI enhancements to the Canvassing page, ranging from label edits to correcting the door-knocked counts on the grid.

We've updated the program in a few ways to make it more intuitive and streamline some processes. You'll also find that some pages that had complicated layouts have been simplified to make them easier to navigate.

One key new feature is that when we've released an update to the program, the Help Center icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen will be green. You can click on that icon to be taken to the Help Center and view the release notes for the update.

 

Posted January 31st 2024

Canvassing

• We have added new counts to the Manage Canvassing Projects page. The columns now include:
  • Total Doors
  • Assigned
  • Knocked
  • Percentage Knocked
  • Percentage Remaining
  • Contacted

Reports

• When opening the Flags Report from the Universes/Lists Menu, previously, a default user setting was configured for the active user. This option has now been set to "Select a User” This enables you to see all users flags at once. 

General

• We have fixed a few bugs to improve the system's performance.

Posted January 23rd 2024

Canvassing

• We have updated the Auto-Approve process for Canvassing to approve all pending data instead of only approving data from a limited time frame. 

Billing

• The Billing folder grid will now show 20 folders, whereas previously, only 10 were displayed. The maximum number of records per page will be 20.

Phone Banking:

• The Phone Bank Link elements on the grid will now be automatically saved. When you make changes to the assigned Phone Bank Project Name from the drop-down menu, the system will save it and show a confirmation message that the selection has been saved. The same applies to the “Allow Self Register” and “Disable Skip Calls” checkboxes.

Imports:

• We improved the import process to allow for special characters to be a part of the import process and still allow you to import the file without an error message. 

People:

• We have made some improvements to the  “Add New Individual” page. We have simplified the process and if you click on the “Additional Entry Options", the page will expand to show the additional fields. 

Posted January 17th 2024

Canvassing

• We've made some updates to improve the “Show Canvasser route on Map” viewing experience.
  • The default filter in the Status combo box on the map is now set to "Pending"
  • Added display instructions for displaying data on the map once the Map Data is loaded
  • Canvassers names can now be sorted alphabetically in ascending order
  • Split the options to show house locations and show canvasser locations into two separate checkboxes

Posted January 11th 2024 

Canvassing

• We have made improvements to simplify the canvasser data approval process and added new filter options. Upon entering the page, you will see your most recent data will be available once selecting your pending and/or approved data.

General 

• We have fixed a few bugs to improve the system's performance.

Posted January 9th 2024 

People

• The process of importing people data from external files and exporting IDs has been improved for a better user experience.

General

• We have fixed a few bugs to improve the system's performance.
• We released the new versions of the app, iOS v8.7.17, and Android v3.8.17, to enhance the app's performance.

Posted January 7th 2024 

General

• We have updated the contents of the onboarding email you receive. They are now more clear and concise.
• We now display a message to inform you if your account has data pending approval in the homepage stats.

Online Phone Bank

• Phone Banking page design is slightly modified and it is more intuitive now.

Posted January 3rd 2024

Online Phone Bank

We've streamlined the process for creating and managing Phone Banks in the Online Campaign Center. When you create a new Phone Bank Project, you can now assign it to an existing Phone Bank Link. Reusing an existing Phone Bank Link means that your callers can continue to use the same link for the entire election cycle. (We recommend having separate links for any Phone Bank Projects that are operating simultaneously.)

If you want to create a new link that has the same settings as one that already exists, you can clone the existing link in two places. When you're creating a new Phone Bank Project, you can select "Create a new link from a clone." Alternatively, you can go to the Create/Edit a Phone Bank Project page and click "Clone" in the row of the link you want to copy.

You can find a detailed explanation of these changes in the Changes to the Online Phone Bank for 2024 article.

You can also now refresh a Phone Bank Project, which will reprocess the phone bank's universe and add or remove individuals depending on whether they currently fit the universe's criteria. This is similar to a feature that is already available for Door-to-Door Canvassing Projects.

Posted January 2nd 2024

You can find a list of updates below.

• General
• Events
• Create Universes
• Process Lists & Files
• Door-to-Door Canvassing

General

• The session expiration time limit has been extended to 60 minutes, so you can stay logged in for longer.
• If your account's election cycle is set to a past Election Day, you will see a warning message. This is to help avoid working in the wrong election cycle.

• The Manage User Profile page has been divided into the Switch to Other Accounts page and the My Account Info page. Both of these pages can be accessed via the user navigation menu.
• The layout of the General Account Settings page has been updated.
• The Help Center icon will turn green when there is a new release.

Events

• We've made some small changes to the layout of the Create New Events page which should make it easier for you to create events.

Create Universes

• The add/remove button in the Advanced Universe Query Builder has been changed to a gear icon.
  
• The No Age checkbox has been removed from the Create Voter Universes page, to reflect changes in California demographics.
• Elections are now listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent election at the top.

Process Lists & Files

• We've added more information to the names of output types so that you can find the right one more easily.

Door-to-Door Canvassing

• Creating a Door-to-Door Canvassing Project is now a simpler process.
• On the Manage Canvassing Projects and Canvassing Assignments page, instead of changing an expiration date, you can now control whether a canvassing project is active or inactive with a checkbox.
• The "Voters in Household" section on the lookup results page (Voters Tab) has more information. You can now click on another voter's name to switch to their record.
• We made some minor bug fixes.