March VoteSource Newsletter

Welcome to the March edition of the VoteSource Newsletter.

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Welcome to VoteSource 11

On the 15th March we released VoteSource 11 to bring you the latest updates and releases.

• New - All the software is now compiled and targeting .NET 8. .NET 8 delivers thousands of performance, stability, and security improvements. These thousands of improvements help VoteSource in many ways. We have also increased the version of many third party components, again increasing performance and security.

• New - Improved accessibility. Several colours have been tweaked across the systems to improve the contrast for accessibility.

• New - Improved layouts. Some constituent components and campaigning components now have a better feel right down to mobile devices, and the whole suite of applications have improved layouts on modern wide monitors.

• Enhanced - Improved the behaviour of the application when a session timeout occurs, both on uploads and at various flows, navigating you back to the sign in page rather than hanging.

Every component of VoteSource (Authentication, Core, Campaigning, Membership, Registers, Donations, Events, Party Organisation, Support and Data Protection), VoteSource API’s (Authentication, Core, Campaigning, Membership, Donations, Events, and Party Organisation), VoteSource Microsites (Membership/Donate/Survey (letstalk)), VoteSource Adobe link and VoteSource Messaging has been updated to benefit from the new platform.

We have reconfigured our Application Performance Monitoring to enhance support for the changes.

With the release there has then been over 223 issues resolved, some coming from customer feedback, some from our new automation testing and testing, as well a host of new features, improvements, and fixes.

A breakdown of key changes and work item for each section are listed below.

Core

• Improved - The links from the search now have improved flows back to the search you were on, particularly from user and members search

• Improved - The rich custom addressee and salutations that VoteSource Support, are made clearer with household customisation broken down to the household the individual is shared with now improved for individuals linked to many addresses.

• Updated - The social links have been updated to mention X for Twitter and Tiktok, Snapchat and Telegram have been added.

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Low Priority - unable to merge two records together
• Task - Enhance resiliency during file upload operations by implementing session validation across all instances where ng-upload is used in the application
• Bug - Unable to inform constituent on request rejection for request to be forgotten
• Task - Add new ‘version’ of the merge engine
• Bug - Core - User Search - back
• Feature - Core - Household Info
• Bug - General - Some in-consistent styles
• Bug - Issue positions delete does not warn / validate
• Bug - Constituent Contacts - household button not looking at all addresses
• Bug - Core - button margin adjustments
• Bug - Constituent Contacts Page Styling
• Bug - Committee Room styling
• Change Request - Update references of Twitter to X (including logo) + add social media platforms
• Bug - Button spacing export spreadsheet
• Bug - Membership - Text error on suspension dialog
• Bug - Membership - Links broken for back to consolidation payments page from constituent record
• Bug - Application Termination due to Lack of Service Registration (Merge engines)
• Bug - Constituent - Modifying a constituent’s Contact Restrictions on their profile gives error code 400
• Bug - Constituent - Online surveys aren’t ordered in Campaigns tab
• Bug - Constituent merge - resolve conflicts button margins
• Bug - Constituent Merge - export button margins
• Bug - Note Moderation - loading animation missing
• Bug - Core - Constituent info page labels overlap with value fields/ don’t line up properly
• Bug - Core - Constituent date of birth shows date not valid message but still allows incorrect date to be saved
• Bug - Core - Add relationship modal dropdowns 
• Bug - Core - Add new email on constituent record dropdown arrow missing
• Bug - Core - Constituent date of birth shows date not valid message but still allows incorrect date to be saved

Campaigning

Walk Routes

• New - The walk routes now support proposed geographies. Walk routes are all ways against a polling district, but you can now drill down via a proposed geography to ensure a new area is full covered.

Issue Break down report

• New - This report shows all issue in an area, it now supports multiple electoral types, including proposed parliamentary constituencies and mayoral areas.

Mail Merges from a Target Audience

• New - You can now export further information for household exports:

  • First Elector First Name

  • First Elector Individual Addressee

  • First Elector Individual Informal Letter Salutation

  • Second Elector First Name

  • Second Elector Individual Addressee

  • Second Elector Individual Informal Letter Salutation

  • Third Elector First Name

  • Third Elector Individual Addressee

  • Third Elector Individual Informal Letter Salutation

  • Fourth Elector First Name

  • Fourth Elector Individual Addressee

  • Fourth Elector Individual Informal Letter Salutation

Target Audience

• New - Targeted Online Survey can now be carried out with new targeted audiences. These give unique emailable links to constituents to fill in a survey.

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Campaigning - Leaderboard page not loading
• Bug - Campaigning - Rapid Canvass entry shortcuts not working
• Bug - Campaigning- Reports - Distribution reports show an uncaught type error when a create/refresh tab is selected when not selecting a date option
• Bug - Campaigning - Issues section taking a while to load and no loading animation present
• Feature - Campaigning - Walk routes - Proposed Geography
• Bug - Incorrect SurveyAnswerSurveyAnswerTypeLookupId Values for matrix answers in Database
• Bug - Campaigning - Merged Constituent response not being processes
• Bug - Campaigning - Target Audience
• Bug - Campaigning - Survey Editor - Data entry tab not updating correctly when switching between questions
• Change Request - Campaigning - Target Audience ,Control room and Committee room reports
• Bug - Campaigning - Candidates page fails
• Bug - Campaigning - Data entry - Survey ranking questions update all ranks when changing answer ranks
• Bug - Campaigning - Rapid Canvass - Address
• Bug - Campaigning - Data entry - Multiple choice type questions on surveys are radio buttons, don’t allow no response for questions
• Bug - Campaigning - Survey Editor - Colours wrong
• Bug - Campaigning - Target Audiences - election selector limited so missing majoral
• Bug - The parameter ‘item.Title’ is too long: it must not exceed 250 chars in length. (Parameter ‘item.Title’)
• Feature - Campaigning - New Columns on Export files
• Bug - Adding a survey thinks it’s a french page
• Bug - Campaigning - button margin adjustments
• Bug - My calendar arrow at top overlap
• Bug - Campaigning – Local Volunteer can’t request access to Delivery List activity

Registers

Drop off Improvements

• New - Drop offs is a section enabling you to identify who is no longer on the register in your area, and if you know where they have moved to link them back up. This has now been upgraded to start a merge when you can match a drop off. This removes any time constraint on this process as the merge process ensures all the campaigning, membership, communications, and donation information is kept from both records.

• New - You can now mark which constituents that have fallen off the register you have checked, this is preserved across all your filters of information i.e. if you can’t find a match for a member, it will show you have check them when looking at lost contacts and lost pledges etc. So saving time on the task.

• New - The drop offs now gives an indication if matches might exist, this speeds up where to focus your effort.

• Improved - Added Loading Indicator For Match Search: An enhancement has been made, with a loading indicator now displayed during match searching in the “Dropoffs” section.

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Marked Register - Postal Voter or not
• Bug - Registers - staying on some time on the registers Dropoff section with No activity results in a sign out page and with a script signing back in front end when signed in.
• Bug - Register - comment out proposed geography and remove knockout.js
• Bug - Dropoffs - Addition of Potential Matches Count Column
• Bug - Dropoffs - Addition of Boolean Fields ‘NoMatchFound’ and ‘NoMatchFoundUserId’
• Bug - Registers- Include All Radio Button within recent files section Gives No results
• Bug - Register “Go to Merge Details” button
• Bug - Registers - button sweep
• Bug - Support for Tab-Separated Values (TSV) Files
• Bug - Marked Register Reports not showing for some areas on LIVE
• Bug - Dropoffs - Implement Filter to Exclude “Can’t find a match” Records
• Bug - Dropoffs - Include ‘NoMatchFound’ Field in Data Export
• Bug - Dropoffs - Implementation of Merge Flow for Matching Register IDs
• Bug - Registers - Styling across application
• Bug - Dropoffs - Implement ‘Can’t find a match’ Button in Grid and Pop-up Window
• Bug - Registers - Marked registers, Same Roll numbers been shown seems same name unmerged individuals
• Bug - Issue with frontend Responsiveness of ‘Remove’ and ‘Edit’ Button Styles in PublicationDate View
• Bug - Registers - Available range 458 total electoral shows 685
• Bug - Dropoff computed number of matches timed out
• Bug - Unintended Array Reinitialization in dropoffs.controller.js
• Bug - Registers - No email or phone validation when editing a publishing authority
• Bug - Register Dropoffs blank page
• Bug - Register - files > edit/new publication date styling
• Bug - Register - recent files button styling
• Bug - Register - recent files/publication dates export buttons should be hidden if there are 0 results
• Bug - Register - Upload history page styling
• Bug - Register - file upload styling
• Bug - Register - dropoffs register to search styling
• Bug - Register - marked register report & dropoffs export pw on a new line
• Bug - Register - approval / rejection modal grammar
• Bug - Register - validate marked register entry button styling
• Bug - Register - marked register entry styling
• Bug - Register - publishing authority details buttons styling
• Bug - Register - Old VS9 link title still showing in authority section
• Bug - Register - Authority notes > no data message styling issue
• Bug - Register - electoral geography grid styling
• Bug - Register - 2 back buttons when viewing registers of a publishing authority
• Bug - Register - no loading animation when some pages are loading data
• Bug - Register - Design Bug within recent file section when include all radio button selected
• Bug - Register - Finding a drop off results in 400 error
• Bug - Registers - Publication dates through 400 error

Donations

• Fixed some issues regarding to UTC conversion with dates a donation is made

• Fixed some issues with adding organisations

• Improved the consistency of display data when updating

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - UTC to local conversion missing for incident 237213 and 237246
• Bug - Donations - User unable to Add an Organisation
• Bug - Donations - Inconsistent date format and no validation whilst using custom date option
• Bug - Donation - Date appears wrong in BST
• Bug - Donate - A blank Red strip appears once we are on donation report section and it times out and we try to export the spreadsheet
• Bug - Campaigning - Donations made using donate campaign cannot be deleted results in 400 Error
• Bug - Donate - A ‘+’ symbol displayed in between a first name and surname once a Back Tab is selected on a constituent record that we went from a donate search page
• Bug - Donations to approve count not matching
• Bug - Donate - Permissible organisation Check list has a blank purple bar
• Bug - Donate - After editing details of donation, modifying the donation amount, does not show new amount in grid
• Bug - Donate - When returning to donations reports, no loading animation for grid
• Bug - Donate - a couple of button styling issues on donation details pages
• Bug - Donate - After editing details of donation, clicking submit takes the user to constituent donation page
• Bug - Donate - Donation value is not showing to 2 decimal places
• Bug - Donate - After editing details of donation, modifying the less amount, clicking back still shows the new value
• Bug - Donations - buttons sweep
• Bug - Donate - add organisation 10 character limit on CRN number (company)
• Bug - Timeout Error in Donate -> OrganisationCompliance
• Bug - Error whilst searching for organisation
• Bug - Donation - Electoral Commission Report errors when leaving field blank
• Bug - Datepicker wrapping issue on donation reports popup
• Bug - Missing kendo datepicker styles Non-UK address seasonal
• Bug - Select Many button not working

Events

• Fixed where a record could appear duplicated on approval

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Events - Duplication on Approval
• Feature - API - new constituent lookup endpoint
• Feature - Add visibility to sessions
• Bug - Events - Design issues on the Constituents Events section when event Participation Accreditation details is selected .
• Bug - Events - once events timed out and the user signs back in the event details page results with No data until refreshed and gives type error on console
• Task - Enhance resiliency during file upload operations by implementing session validation across all instances where ng-upload is used in the application
• Bug - Events - Styling for buttons
• Bug - Events - Login page appearing inside dialog box
• Bug - Events - Not styling on Update Ticket page

Membership

• New - You can now view more than one primary membership, where another might have been created and moved to obscure the main one, resulting in issues renewing. This was the primary cause of support issues in this area

• Improved - Deleting an email/phone number or withdrawing consent now updates the membership contact details if they have another one available, thus closing a gap where a member could lose contact

• Improved - Creating a direct debit membership could remain hidden until the first payment is taken, its now visible, stopping duplicates from being created my mistake

• New - We now have a separate National Expulsion support

• Improved - Pending payments tile amount could appear inconsistent

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Constituent Membership - Delete payment for a membership not working as expected
• Bug - Constituent Membership - Active membership is hidden behind a cancelled/resigned membership
• Bug - Membership - Updating payment information / renewal basket 400 error
• Bug - Messages fail to generate for Membership
• Bug - Membership - Issues with some renewal baskets having no master date
• Bug - Membership - Branch Closing issue with party organisations
• Bug - Membership - Communications Sent
• Bug - Membership - outdated Braintree SDK version
• Bug - Membership - back link lost
• Change Request - Membership - Direct Debit disappears
• Bug - Membership - History is not aligned
• Bug - Membership - Club details - Family monthly membership fee column has incorrect number of significant figures
• Bug - Membership - Deleting an email address does not automatically update the membership email contact (if any eligible available)
• Bug - Membership - Withdrawing consent for and email address does not automatically update the membership email contact (if any eligible available)
• Bug - Membership - Withdrawing consent for a telephone address does not automatically update the membership telephone contact (if any eligible available)
• Bug - Membership - Deleting a telephone address does not automatically update the membership telephone contact (if any eligible available)
• Bug - Membership - Suspending a Membership - Entering invalid date inputs
• Bug - Membership - Cannot update the cost for payment amount grid in level details
• Bug - Membership - Clubs - “Can’t find them” search yields ReferenceError
• Bug - Remove date limit error
• Bug - Approved Membership not showing if back dated
• Bug - Are auto renew options correct
• Bug - Editing Additional Levels 400
• Bug - Transaction Plan 400
• Bug - Membership - Join Requests
• Bug - There is a leading space in the approval and rejected memberships list
• Bug - Membership - constituent membership display wrapping incorrectly
• Bug - Membership - organisation payments tiles should only be red if the value is greater than 0
• Bug - Membership - Top set of tiles in Central Accounts section takes a while to load and shows no loading animation on acceptance and live
• Bug - Membership - Null value in dropdown
• Bug - Membership - show adjustments button produces no response
• Bug - Membership - payments modal client side validation
• Bug - Price formatting
• Bug - Hovering over Doughnut changing pending / paid
• Bug - Viewing Communications Sent
• Bug - Membership - buttons sweep
• Bug - Membership - Expel Members Option
• Bug - Design spacing issue in constituent memberships
• Bug - Investigate / Check payment
• Bug - Direct Debit creates membership without details
• Bug - Awaiting Approval decreases by 2 rather than 1
• Bug - Membership - export spreadsheet response pending
• Bug - Memberships not showing up in membership section
• Bug - Membership - Pending Payments tile amounts not consistent across pages
• Bug - Membership - processing locations > error processing batches > no data message is red
• Bug - Membership - processing locations > completed processing batch > alignment/styling
• Bug - Membership - processing locations > waiting batches unassigned > grid still showing when there is no data
• Bug - Membership - accounts > payments exceptions > grids contain no data
• Bug - Membership - payment exceptions > export button and grid data should be hidden
• Bug - Membership - accounts > pending payments > edit a payment grid date picker styling
• Bug - Membership - accounts > pending payments > buttons styling
• Bug - Membership - accounts > pending payments > no loading animation for page or tiles count
• Bug - No membership levels appear when making an additional membership
• Bug - Membership - central account > unconsolidated payments > export button
• Bug - Membership - members > find/renew members page is using the incorrect loading animation
• Bug - Membership - button styling
• Bug - Membership history - Doughnut missing in the Membership history section
• Bug - Unexpected Values in Membership Approval Refund Table
• Bug - Membership - Missing margins on buttons in membership request area
• Bug - Membership - blank membership card is appearing on a membership request made through an online survey
• Bug - Clubs - Design Bug
• Bug - Clubs - Unable to do Editing on the prices within the clubs for individual, joint, family once saved
• Bug - Membership - export spreadsheet response pending

Party Organisation

• Improved - Deleting an email/phone number or withdrawing consent didn’t always update the private contact details of the individual

• New - We now support proposed electoral areas for roles and organisations. So roles can be based on the proposed constituencies for example

The following work items have also been resolved

• Change Request - Change the Party Reference in the RP2 report
• Task - Enhance resiliency during file upload operations by implementing session validation across all instances where ng-upload is used in the application
• Bug - Party Organisation - Unable to edit email or phone number to contacts
• Bug - Party Organisation - Deleting an email address does not automatically update the users private email address in party organisations (bluebook)
• Bug - Party Organisation - Withdrawing consent for email does not automatically update the users private email address in party organisations (bluebook)
• Bug - Party Organisation - Deleting telephone does not automatically update the users private phone in party organisations (bluebook)
• Bug - Party Organisation - Withdrawing telephone consent does not automatically update the users private phone in party organisations (bluebook)
• Bug - Party Organisation - Design bug with the Former candidate’s section with Custom Date option
• Feature - Party Organisation - Proposed EE for a role and current party organisation
• Bug - Party Organisation - Design issue with Party Organisation
• Bug - Party Organisation - Renew appointment doesn’t renew correct constituent position when constituent has multiple constituent positions for same position in same organisation/geography
• Bug - Membership - Branchid not saving with party organisation
• Bug - Party Organisation - Application fails to load data when an individual is selected and tried to export spreadsheet
• Bug - Party Organisation - Application allowing to Add Candidates in without an Election and term dates
• Bug - Party Organisation - issue with Expiry and renewals of an appointments if he is assigned to more than one position 
• Bug - Party org - buttons sweep
• Bug - Party Organisation - Add address modal style and functionality issues
• Bug - Organisation - no margin on data export buttons

Support

• New - Articles that contain images will no longer list all the images as attachments

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Support - News - No Published to and from date validation within News section
• Change - Enhance resiliency during file upload operations by implementing session validation across all instances where ng-upload is used in the application
• Bug- Support - Error 404 and an unhandled rejection when a what seems to be a hyperlink is selected under the Name of a person raising ticket
• Bug - Support - Export to spreadsheet fails In all Tickets section of the support
• Bug - Support - Application not redirecting to signout page correctly when in help center management area
• Bug - Support article - Image resize
• Bug - Support - buttons sweep
• Feature - Support articles attachements

Data Protection 

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Data protection - Right to object
• Bug - Data Protection - Date validations across all the requests seems not to work with in the new request
• Task - Enhance resiliency during file upload operations by implementing session validation across all instances where ng-upload is used in the application
• Bug - Foreign Key Constraint Violation on “Core.CampaignSource” Table
• Bug - Data protection - button sweep
• Bug - Data Protection - Request details export button styling
• Bug - Data protection - constituent unable to submit requests due to date validation
• Bug - Data protection - input size for date needs reduction in width

Survey Microsite / letstalk

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Campaigning - Survey Editor - Page logic causes survey to not load for online survey

• Bug - Survey Microsite – Contact Details question does not accept valid email

Donate microsite

The following work items have also been resolved

• Bug - Donate Microsite - not setting src in Braintree

Support Desk Extended hours for May elections

VoteSource Support will be working the following extended hours during the upcoming election campaign. These extended hours will be starting from Tuesday 2nd April 2024 and will end on 3rd May 2024.

VoteSource Support will be open from 9am – 7pm on weekdays, and every Saturday from 9am to 2pm.

On Sundays the email inbox for votesourcesupport@conservatives.com will be checked for emergency issues raised.

Outside of these working hours all calls will go to voicemail. The VoteSource Support email inbox will be checked regularly throughout the local elections.

On Polling Day, VoteSource Support will be available from 7am until 10pm. to assist everyone who is getting out the vote.

We will return to our regular office hours of 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday from Friday 3rd May 2024.

We can be reached, as always, on: 020 7984 8000 or via email on votesourcesupport@conservatives.com

Please remember that, out of the above extended hours, your query might have to wait till the next working day. To keep your campaign running smoothly, we strongly recommend you plan ahead so we can assist if you need any support.

Fundamentals - Walk Routes

Walk Routes allow for local knowledge to come to the fore as you can set up groups of streets under one name to allow for easier canvassing. Once you have created a walk route in the system it can be used via Target Audiences, Delivery Rounds, GTV and the VoteSource Canvasser App.

Instead of downloading a polling districts worth of streets you can instead generate smaller and more concise groups of streets that allow for campaigning to be conducted more efficiently.

The following user guide, found in VoteSource:

Campaigning – Additional – Walk Routes

https://votesource.uk/support/HelpCenter#!/ViewArticle/268

Covers how to set up walk routes and we would recommend checking carefully that your routes are set up now ahead of election periods.

With republished registers and boundary changes that are pending this year, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to preserve walk routes if there are changes from local authorities to polling districts. We would recommend that once you have set up your walk routes you export an excel copy of each polling district so that if you have to set them back up you will have a guide to what was previously created.

To export your walk routes you will need to do the following:

The Walk Route section can be found by logging into VoteSource, going to the Campaigns section and then scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking on the Walk Routes tile. You can then set your electoral geography type and choose via the displayed options. It is now possible to set up walk routes on proposed boundaries and you may wish to start planning your walk routes for future elections.

It is worth noting that you cannot setup multiple walk routes by electoral geography type. If you select several streets in polling district A under Parliamentary geography, the route will remain if you try to set up a walk route by local geography.

To export your existing walk routes, you will need to drill down to the polling district and then scroll down the page to the Available streets section. On the right-hand side of the page you will find a Export to spreadsheet option. This will create an excel spreadsheet listing the Street, the number of properties, the number of constituents, the number of inaccessible properties and finally the walk route name the street is assigned to.

To reiteriate, every effort is made to preserve walk routes when we apply electoral geography files to the system, but it is not always possible for us to retain them. This method will allow you to restore the routes much quicker than starting completely from fresh.

If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact us on 020 7984 8000 or votesourcesupport@conservatives.com