Overview
Managing a door-to-door field canvassing program in the PDI software application is probably the most complicated job you will need to administer for your campaign or organization. Whether you are deploying one or a hundred canvassers, there are many steps that need to be completed before your team is ready to begin canvassing using the PDI Mobile Connect app.
While the entire canvassing workflow is covered to some degree in this document, it is still a quick read and will help you get the most out of the PDI Software canvassing tools.
As stated above, there are many tasks involved with managing door-to-door canvass operations. They include the following:
- Manage a list of canvassers
- Recruit and schedule canvassers to work on a specific date and time
- Create a voter universe to determine which voters to target
- Create a survey script to provide guidance to canvassers on what to say, what questions to ask, and which responses to record.
- Identify priority areas within your district to canvass
- Help canvassers download and use the PDI Mobile Connect mobile application on their iPhone or Android mobile phone.
- Create canvasser assignments that will direct each canvasser to a specific area
- Approve response data sent back to the system
- Build reports to help you analyze data from your canvassing surveys
The end goal is help field managers maintain ongoing canvassing programs with volunteers knocking on doors of targeted voters in a systematic and strategic manner. The geographic and individual work distribution should be simple and directed by the field managers preferred workflow. Canvassers should be guided by technology that tells where to go, what to say, and what data to record. The data flow to and from mobile devices should be effortless and immediate. This document focuses on functionality exclusively utilized for field canvassing. Sections of the program with general use, such a saved universes and managing Flags & Surveys, are addressed in less detail.
Manage a list of canvassers
The first step in putting canvassers to work is building a list of your canvassing volunteers. How you manage this process depends on the level of sophistication you wish to achieve. If you want to quickly get individuals logged in the system and ready to canvass, you can simply enter the minimum required name, phone, email address, and password. The program, however, has the capability to manage sophisticated hierarchical volunteer programs with different organizing management level, teams, and geographies.
There are several locations throughout the program to enter canvasser information. The best place to start is probably from the Volunteer Management page, which you can access by clicking the People section in the navigation bar and then clicking Manage Volunteers in the drop-down menu.
The Volunteer Management page functions as a spreadsheet containing a list of your volunteers. You can add new individuals directly in the spreadsheet or click on the Add New Volunteer button. When making changes to the spreadsheet, be sure to click on the Save Changes to Spreadsheet button to save your changes. You may need to refresh the page to see your changes.
If you have many volunteers in a separate program or file, you can bulk import them using the Import Data page in the People section.
You can also have volunteers sign up as canvassers online using the program’s web form tool, which you can find on the Webforms page in the Outreach section. Any Contact Block can be used as a Canvasser Sign Up form by configuring the option from the Contact Info tab. You can use this form as a separate web page or embed the form on a page within your website. This form can reduce the need to hand enter new volunteers.
Recruit and schedule canvassers to work a specific date and time
The PDI system does not require organizations to use its events and shifts management tools when organizing canvassers, but it can make the process much easier. Knowing roughly how many canvassers are scheduled and confirmed to work each day helps field managers better prepare and plan their work each day. Organizing canvassers by shifts in the program also ensures your canvasser’s information is already in the system and they are ready to canvass.
Volunteer shifts are managed from the Events Calendar, which you can find on both Dashboard > My Dashboard and People > Events and Calendar. You can create an event with shifts for multiple types of activities. Creating canvassing shifts with a count goal for the number of canvassers you need each day lets you recruit effectively to reach your targets.
Create a voter universe to determine which voters to target
Determining which voters should be contacted when canvassing is a very important decision that should be made with serious consideration. Walking door-to-door to reach voters requires a major commitment of resources and you want to make sure the impact is worth the effort. A group of voters that meet specific criteria are saved in the PDI software application as a Saved Universe. You should make sure your Saved Universes for canvassing are aligned with your organization’s overall strategic objectives.
Canvassing universes can be slightly broader than your normal voter universes. Canvassers will walk right past houses in the next tier and adding them to a canvassing universe is the least expensive opportunity to go beyond your primary universe.
Canvassing programs can utilize three different universes. A base universe that covers all voters to be contacted and two mutually exclusive universes within your base universe to target subsets with different scripts and surveys. You can think of this as an opportunity to piggyback a couple small universes on the back of your larger base universe.
Create a survey script to provide guidance to canvassers on what to say and questions to ask.
Like the voter universes, your canvassing survey and script needs to be created prior to setting up your canvassing lists and should be well conceived and aligned with your organization’s overall strategic objectives. Every organization account includes a sample survey with questions for candidate/issue support, volunteer interest, and yard sign placement. Please review the documentation for managing flags, questions, and survey to build effective surveys and scripts for door-to-door canvassing.
Create Canvassing Projects
Canvassing with a mobile app is an evolution from the time when canvassing was accomplished by generating a large paper list with hundreds or even thousands of pages of voter names and addresses. Campaigns would then separate the list by precinct and odd/even addresses for individual canvassers to carry and mark survey responses. The paper lists included all targeted voters and had codes for survey responses. Organizations would distribute individual walk packets to canvasser until the list was completed. After that, they would create a new list.
Today, the Canvassing Project has replaced the paper canvassing list. Canvassing Projects include details on the list elements such as saved voter universes, surveys, scripts, On The Go setting, and expiration date. Canvassing projects are intended to be used for several weeks until the walkable areas have been canvassed. They can be distributed to canvassers by precinct or custom turf area depending on the preference of each organization.
To create a new canvassing project, go to Outreach > Door to Door Canvassing.
Then, click on Manage Canvassing Projects. On this page, you will be able to view and edit your mobile canvassing projects, as well as create new ones.
Click the Create New Project button on the right-hand side of the screen.
A pop-up window will appear.
The Create New Project form lets you enter the basic information required for most projects. If you click on the Show Additional Options link at the bottom, you will have more options to customize your data and workflows.
Create areas to distribute your canvasser assignments
Once you have created your Canvassing Project, you will be tasked with distributing the work to individual canvassers. The first decision you will need to make is what geographic unit makes sense to use for your organization. You have three different options: Voter Precincts, Custom Drawn Turf, and Custom Turf from Census Blocks.
Precincts
Most campaigns and organizations use precincts. They are readily available in the program and correspond to existing districts. The downside to using precincts is that they are usually too large to complete in a single day by one or two canvassers.
Custom Drawn Turf
Many campaigns and organizations create turf using the PDI mapping tools. You can navigate to this page by hovering over Outreach in the navigation menu, clicking Door to Door Canvassing, and then clicking on Cut Custom Turfs. These turfs are usually small enough to complete in a single outing. The downside to custom drawn turf is that it takes a lot of work to draw each turf and they are not usually aligned well with streets and other boundaries.
Custom Turf from Census Blocks
PDI has created a new method for building custom turf areas by combining small census blocks. This option is much faster than drawing turfs by hand and they are perfectly aligned with streets and other boundaries. You can navigate to this page by hovering over Outreach in the navigation menu, clicking Door to Door Canvassing, and then clicking on Cut Custom Turfs. Then, in the Select Layer drop-down menu, choose one of the Census Blocks layers.
Click on the census blocks you want to combine, and then click the Merge Shapes button in the upper right-hand corner.
A pop-up window will appear.
If you already have an existing group that you want to add this area to, click Add New Area to Existing Group in the Naming Method list.
If you want to create a new turf area and group name, click Create New Group Name.
Identify priority areas within your district to canvass
If you are canvassing a small district, you can start anywhere and should be able cover all precincts / turfs. If you are canvassing a large district, you will want to assess your priority precincts / turfs based on factors such as percentage party registration, ethnicities, past election results, or uncanvassed areas. One of the most powerful features in the entire program is the ability to color code precinct based on any saved universe. You can create up to five buckets that each represent a designated degree of strategic value. This map can be used for just visual analysis, or you can make canvassing assignments based on color coded priority directly from the map.
To use this feature, hover over Outreach in the navigation menu, click Door to Door Canvassing, and click Manage Canvassing Projects. Find the canvassing project you want to assess and click on the drop-down menu in the Assignment Method column.
Then, select any method that assigns Turf or Precincts from Map. (There will be many options. The only methods that will not work are the ones that assign Turf or Precincts from List.)
Once you have selected an assignment method, click the Go button. You will be taken to the Assignments page.
Then, click the Show Color Coded Precincts button on the right-hand side of the screen.
A pop-up window will appear with configuration settings.
Once you have configured your color-coding, click Save.
The map may take a few minutes to load.
Assignments can be made directly from this map by double clicking on any precinct.
Help canvassers download and use the PDI Mobile Connect mobile app
Helping canvassers download the PDI Mobile Connect app is now as simple as texting a link or providing a flyer with a QR code. To access the links, navigate to Outreach > Door to Door Canvassing > Manage Canvassing Projects.
PDI Mobile Connect App Flyer
Create canvasser assignments that will direct each canvasser to a specific area
Canvasser assignments connect the canvassing project to a precinct of turf to an individual canvasser. It is through assignments that make it possible for numerous volunteers to methodically canvass a large area without omitting areas or duplicating work. The easiest way to create an assignment is to Assign Precincts from Map.
Click the Go button to go to the Assignments page.
Double click on any precinct.
Click on the Canvasser you want to assign and then Click on the Save Assignment and Send to Devices.
Another method for making assignments is to Assign Precincts From List with Counts.
Enter one or two canvassers in the drop-down boxes. Click on the Save Assignments and Send to Devices button.
If you want to assign more than two canvassers to the precinct, you can click on the precinct number and activate the checkboxes next to the canvassers you want to assign.
Assignment Zones
An Assignment Zone is a group of precincts or custom turfs that can be quickly selected on the map and represent the area you wish to canvass on a specific day or period. They can be utilized to track areas canvassed in the future or past. They can also be used to filter a list from any of the Assign from List pages.
From the Assign Precincts from Map page, click on the Brush Selection tool and drag the cursor on the map to select precincts. There is an Eraser tool in case you accidentally select unwanted precincts. When you have selected the precincts you want to include in your group, click on the Create Assignment Zone button located to the left of the Brush tool.
After clicking on the Create Assignment Zone button, a dialog box will appear. Enter the name of the zone, the expiration date and click on the color box to select a color. Click the Save button when done.
Example of displaying Assignment Zones on the Assignments from Map page. The patterned areas have been canvassed.
Example of using an Assignment Zone to filter precincts in the Assign from List page.
Since Assignment Zones contain the precincts or turf you wish to canvass on a specific day or period, we have created an option that lets the program make the assignments when requested from a canvasser. Using this feature eliminates the need for field managers to make assignments prior to canvasser deployment.
Once the canvasser is entered in the PDI system as a volunteer and has downloaded the PDI Mobile Connect App, they can open the app and select an Assignment Zone provided by the campaign.
Approving response data sent back to the system
As data flows back to the PDI system from your canvassers, you can hold the data to review before it goes into your database. You can review the responses from every voter contacted. You can even review the canvasser’s route to confirm they actually walked their assigned area. If you do not wish to review the canvasser data before it goes into your database, you can click on the Auto Approve All Assignments Daily check box on the Approve Canvass Data page.
Build reports to help analyze data from your canvassing survey
To review the data from your field canvassing projects, you can run the Field and Phone Canvassing report from the Organizing menu Report Section. this report provides a comprehensive look at field activity by canvasser and assignment geography.