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Adding Context to an Organization's Acquired Data
Introduction
ID Flags are used in the PDI system to record information related to individuals in your account database. Any piece of information you can think of can be entered as a flag. Common examples of flags would be "Strong Support", “Moved”, "Yard Sign", and “Volunteer Prospect”.
ID Flags consist of a ten-character code and a longer description field to explain the flag code in more detail. Other software applications may refer to this type of data as a tag, response code, activist code, answer to survey question, or label.
The method for saving flags in the PDI program is unique. Other systems use the code and description fields to not only detail flag values, such as "Strong Support", but also reference the candidate name, survey question, and method of contact. By adding this extra information in the flag description field, account administrators are required to create a copy of every flag for each candidate, survey question, and contact method. The result is a lot of unnecessary flags that clutter your flag option list and a data structure that does not promote standardization or optimal use.
In the PDI program, flag codes and descriptions have a generic meaning and do not reference a survey question, candidate, issue, or method for acquiring the flag. The program saves Candidates, Issues, Survey Questions, and Acquisition Types in separates fields, which allows organizations to assemble and reuse the original flag in various combinations that declutter your flag options and promote more efficient data standardization and utilization.
By spending five minutes configuring your flag data, the program will automatically apply the correct Candidate, Issue, Survey Question, and Acquisition Type to your flags without any additional work by canvassers or data entry staff.
Our method of constructing flag data from multiple fields has been successfully used by thousands of organizations since 2010.
The ID Flags tab can be accessed by hovering over the Admin dropdown in the top Navigation Menu, clicking on Flags & Surveys, and clicking the Flags sub-tab.
ID Flag Associations
The ID Flag Associations allows you to add context to your ID Flags, so the PDI program knows how to properly process the flag you have created. The standard use of flag associations are the Support Associations, which allows you to track an individuals latest support status, divide support statuses by election cycle, and take advantage of our various support counts throughout the program (Daily Statistics and Key Support Statistics). Below are a list of our various flag association categories.
- None - The ID Flag will function as a standard flag, and will not feature any special properties.
- Support Level - The system will track the individuals support history, support status, and associate the flag with a specific election cycle (The associated election cycle is set in the Account Settings page). ID Flags with this association can be used to make support survey questions.
- ID - The ID association section features a number of flag associations with unique properties. The Volunteer and Donor associations will mark the individual as a Volunteer and Donor Prospect respectively, and add them to your People database. The Yard Sign and Yard Sign Delivered associations allows you to easily track who has not yet received their yard sign with the Lawn Sign(not delivered) option in the Demographic tab of the Create Voter Universes Options page. The Suppress association allows you to easily remove individuals from your universes using the Remove Dead, Moved, Voted, Suppressed button in the Create Universes pages.
- Misc. - Allows you mark the individual as a person you have registered to vote.
- Non-Contact - Flags in the Non-Contact association are used to create your Non-Contact Disposition Code Sets. The Moved and Deceased flag associations can be used to easily remove individuals from your universe using the Remove Dead, Moved, Voted, Suppressed button. The Bad Number (Home) and Bad Number (Mobile) associations are be used to automatically remove bad numbers from your Phone List and Online Phone Bank. The Inaccessible and Do Not Walk associations are used to automatically remove those addresses from your Walk List and Mobile Canvassing Project. The Household Observation association is used to create Household Observations for the Mobile App.
- Voter Intention - The Voter Intention association is used to create Voter Intention Survey Questions.
How to Create Custom ID Flags
- Click the Add New button.
- Use the Flag Value text box to assign a name to your ID Flag. This is how you will reference your ID Flag throughout the program, and will also be the default way your ID Flag will display on Paper Canvassing Tools (Walk List and Phone List). Note: Flag values can be any combination of characters, but it is best that you choose a flag value that makes it easy for your canvassers to mark the correct answer.
- Use the Description text box to write a description for your ID Flag. This is the default way your ID Flag will display on our Electronic Canvassing Tools (Mobile App and Online Phone Bank).
- Use the Associate with: drop-down menu to select a category to associate with your ID Flag. The Associate with category allows you to add context to your ID Flag so our system knows how to properly process that flag. For example, creating an ID Flag named "Support" does not automatically associate it with support status. Only after you select one of the support related associations does the flag actually become associated with a support status.
- To use steps 6 - 7 click the Show Advanced link.
- (Optional) Activate the Is Default checkbox to automatically share the ID Flag with any newly created sub-account.
- (Optional) Activate the 'Consider a "Contact"' check box, if you want to consider any individual who has received this flag from your campaign as being contacted.
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Optional) Click the Padlock icon to assign the candidate to a permission group.
- Activate the checkboxes of the Data Permission Group that should have access to this candidate.
- Click the Save button in the Permission Assignments pop-up.
- Click the Save button.
Managing ID Flags
Deactivating an ID Flag
- Click the Show Admin Options link.
- Activate the checkbox/es of the ID Flag/s you would like to deactivate.
- Click the Deactivate Selected Items link.
- Click the Yes button
Reactivating an ID Flag
- Click the Show Admin Options link.
- Activate the Show Inactive Items checkbox
- Click on the name of the ID Flag you would like to reactivate.
- Deactivate the Deactivate Response Code checkbox.
- Click the Save button.
Copying an ID Flag from a Parent Account
- Click the Show Admin Options link.
- Click the Copy Selected Items From Parent Account link.
- Activate the checkbox of each ID Flag you would like to import into your organization account.
- Click the Save button
Adding Context to an Organization's Acquired Data
In addition to the Flag Values and Flag Associations, organizations may want to know additional information about the transaction responsible for acquiring the data. PDI structures proprietary data using the following data elements:
- Candidate / Issue - The candidate or issue associated with the ID Flag.
- Acquisition Type - The method used to acquire the flag.
- ID Flags (Survey Answers) - The flag value and its Flag Association.
- Survey Questions - The survey question that holds the flag.
- Canvasser - The canvasser that collected the flag.
- User - The individual who entered the flag into the PDI system.
- Date - The date the flag was acquired.
By using these elements, organizations can build a data structure that is effective at the single account level and overall multi-layered organizational level. The system creates a Parent / Child relationship between accounts used by an organization. The ability for Parent Accounts to pass cataloged information to Child Accounts makes it possible for an entire organization to have consistent naming conventions and classification standards at every account level.