September VoteSource Newsletter

Welcome to the September edition of the VoteSource Newsletter.

Missed our last edition? Catch up by clicking here.

Or click here to browse all previous editions.

New version of Mobile App

We are pleased to announce an upcoming release for the VoteSource Canvasser App. We do not have a set release date yet, as the team are still finalising it, but will announce the date as soon as possible.

Scrolling Issue resolved

We are sure many readers will be very pleased to discover that the issue whereby a user was automatically returned to the top of the street list when they marked someone as complete at any point will be resolved with this upcoming release.

Improved synchronisation

This is another improvement we are sure our readers will be pleased to read about!

During the recent elections when an individual pressed synchronise after canvassing with the app, data only went from their device to VoteSource. This meant that properties canvassed by others were not marked as complete on users devices easily.

We are pleased to announce that with the upcoming release for the app when a person presses synchronise not only will data go from their device to VoteSource but data will also be downloaded to their phone from VoteSource and ensure canvassed properties are marked as such.

This will ensure that as long as you are canvassing from the same session and regularly synchronising your data you will not knock on someone’s door who has already been canvassed.

Resolved issue encountered when accepting terms and conditions

Not everyone encountered this issue, but some users would find when they attempted to log in and accept the terms and conditions the app threw them out and they had to try again.

This issue will be resolved in the upcoming release.

Issue resolved where the App would freeze mid-session with suboptimal internet connections

This issue, as described above, affected a small number of users whose mobile internet connections were not particularly strong. The upcoming release will address this issue.

Fixed issue on telling constituent search on multiple polling districts

Some users found that the app crashed when searching for a constituent whilst telling. This would normally occur when multiple polling districts had been downloaded for telling.

This issue will be addressed in the upcoming release.

Fixed issue on telling, when the user navigates between history and search

A few users encountered an issue whereby they found themselves stuck in a loop between the history and search section of the telling function.

The upcoming release will resolve this issue.

We will also be making general security and performance improvements to the canvassing app.

As soon as we have a release date we will make this known to all users of VoteSource. If you have any suggestions or thoughts on the app – or would like more information on how you can use it with your campaigning, please contact us on 020 7984 8000 or votesourcesupport@conservatives.com

VoteSource Fundamentals - Canvass and Mailing Mail Merge files from a Target Audience

Building on our series of Target Audience related activities, we will now go over how to create Canvass and Mailing mail merge files from a target audience you have created.

If you missed our original article on how to create a target audience and want to catch up, you can do so here.

How do I create a mail merge file from a target audience?

From within the target audience you have run you will need to select the blue tile Enabled Activities. When this section loads you will find there are two separate options for creating a mail merge file.

The first appears under the heading Doorstep and is for hand delivery. The Doorstep heading means that anyone who has requested that the Conservative Party does not knock on their door will be excluded from the mail merge file.

Simply check under the Doorstep heading and you will find the option Canvass Mail Merge, you will need to toggle this option to On. You will then have the ability to choose when the file is generated, what column headers you wish to have in the excel file and the householding options.

The left-hand column lists all the available column headers you can export, you can scroll through it and move any headers you require to the right-hand column.

The right-hand column will already contain some headers, and you can remove any you do not require.

Underneath the export columns there are four options for grouping the electors together, you can only select one option from the list:

• None - Each elector will take up one line in the spreadsheet, even if they live in the same house.
• Basic address grouping - This option works in conjunction with families that have been marked as such. If you have marked Dave Smith & Sophie Smith as husband and wife via their constituent records they can be exported on one line in the excel spreadsheet.
• Group electors by surname – This option will group all residents at the property who share the same surname on one line, but you will need to ensure you have included First Elector Name, Second Elector Name, Third Elector Name and Fourth Elector Name in the column headers section.
• Group electors by address - This option will group all residents who share the same address on one line, but you will need to ensure you have included First Elector Name, Second Elector Name, Third Elector Name and Fourth Elector Name in the column headers section.

Once you have selected all the options you require simply click the generate option. VoteSource will then produce an excel download file and a password for said file.

The second mail merge option appears under the heading Mail and as the name implies should be used for mail merges that you plan to send by post. It works in the same way as the canvass mail merge, by which we mean it will exclude people who have stated they do not wish to receive mail from the Conservative Party.

All the options are the same as with the canvass mail merge but if you have any questions about creating either option, please do contact VoteSource Support on 020 7984 8000 or votesourcesupport@conservatives.com

Approving New Users – Not all recipients of the Newsletter will have access to this section

As you will be aware, certain roles on VoteSource will allow you to approve new user requests – and delete user accounts no longer required.

In this article we will cover how to approve a new user and what the different sections of user request mean.

It is important to reiterate – not all recipients of this Newsletter will have the ability to approve new user accounts.

The quickest way to check if you can approve or delete users is to login and see if you have access to the Users tile. If you can see this tile, by clicking on it you will have access to New User Requests and Existing Users, as such it is your responsibility to regularly check both sections to ensure legitimate new user requests are processed – and no longer required accounts are removed.

Please remember when a person registers for a VoteSource account, their account is linked to their electoral register address. This means that if a person works in South Dorset constituency but is on the electoral register in Christchurch constituency – their user account is not visible to staff with access for South Dorset.

In this example their account would need to be approved by a Campaign Manager, Area Campaign Manager, Voluntary Party Manager or the VoteSource Support team.

It is also important to remember that when you are checking existing users – if you come across a name you do not recognise you check their Electoral Area Permission. They may legitimately have access to another constituency but live in the one you have access to. Their user account being visible to you does not mean they automatically have access to your data.

If in doubt – please contact VoteSource Support and we can investigate with you.

When approving a new user, you will find the following options – not all will be applicable but please read carefully to help understand the process.

Electoral Area Permissions – In this section you type the area you wish to grant access to (ward, constituency) and will then be able to select a user role. For more information on what the different user roles entail, please read one of the following user guides, you will be able to assign certain roles depending on your access.

• List of roles a constituency organiser can grant
• List of roles a campaign manager can grant
• List of roles national campaign staff can grant

Each guide is specific to your relevant role and can be found in the Help Centre on VoteSource.

Electoral Area Permissions they can manage – If you are granting the user a role which allows them to in turn approve new users, you will need to list the area they can approve users for and each role required. For example, a constituency organiser, the lowest level of access that can approve user accounts, should have fourteen roles listed in this section so that they can properly approve new users. Again, the user guides, listed above, show what roles a constituency organiser or campaign manager can grant – you can use this as a guide to ensure you are setting up your new user correctly.

Party Organisations they can view – If you are granting a user access to a role which can view membership data, you will need to add the constituency in this section so they can access the data. Please be aware membership data access can only be granted for the whole constituency and only certain user roles can view membership data.

Party Organisations they can manage – If you are granting the user a role which allows them to in turn approve new users, you will need to list the constituency that they are allowed to grant to other users.

Accounting Units they can view – If you are granting a user access to a role which can view donations data, you will need to add the constituency in this section so they can access the data. Please be aware donations data access can only be granted for the whole constituency and only certain user roles can view donations data.

Accounting Units they can manage – If you are granting the user a role which allows them to in turn approve new users, you will need to list the constituency that they are allowed to grant to other users.

Control Rooms they can view – This access should only be granted to one person per association and it goes with the role of constituency organiser. If the access is granted to more than one person it can lead to issues of who is actually running the control room and who decides what is happening in the control room.

For simplicities sake only one person should run the control room and make any changes required. During the local elections in May there were several occasions where associations had multiple people running control rooms and people were uncertain who had made changes to their poll day plans.

The access will allow them to set up and run a control room for elections. It will also ensure they can create committee rooms and approve users access to these for their poll days.

Publishing Authorities they can view – This section must be added for marked register data to be entered, in fact we recommend every user account have access granted. The lower level user accounts will be able to enter marked register data and higher level access can view updates from their respective local authority for registers.

Publishing Authorities they can manage – If you are granting the user a role which allows them to in turn approve new users, you will need to list the constituency that they are allowed to grant to other users.

Once you have assigned the required permissions, the final step is to scroll to the bottom of the page and click either Approve or Approve and Email.

Authorising new users can be tricky to learn, the VoteSource Support Team are always ready to help explain and guide you through the process if required. We can be reached on 020 7984 8000 or votesourcesupport@conservatives.com

Important updates from the Insights Department

Read about the new voting intention code, target audience templates and more that the Insights Department have put together and are now available on VoteSource. This information is important for your campaigning efforts.

New Voting Intention Code

Introducing H! It means somebody’s probably going to vote Green but is considering voting for us. So, it should feel familiar, because it follows the same pattern as M (probably will vote LibDem, but considering us) and T (probably Labour, considering us) and a few others. And remember – if you’re canvassing using the more accurate 0-10 system you don’t need to memorise all the codes: just record the person’s scores in VoteSource, and the system translates them into the right Voting Intention code.

New Templated Target Audiences

Want to be really precise with who you target, but not sure if you’re selecting everybody you should? We’re setting up some new templated target audience selections which should help. For instance, one will select all people whose last known VI is M (Probably going to vote LibDem, considering voting for us) and it will include people who are P or U, if they’ve given the LibDems a score higher than Labour, Green, Brexit Party and UKIP. It means that in one go you can select all the people who are choosing between us and the LibDems, without including the Ps who might be picking between us and the Brexit Party, for instance. Watch out for these new templates, coming in the next week!

Target Voters

Users may have noticed the Target Voters options growing in recent months. We’re going to start removing some of the older codes to make it easier to know which ones to use, and when. A good general rule is – if the target audience you want to run is for a local government by-election, use that year’s set of Local Election targets. If the target audience is not for a named election but still want to focus your campaign down to a specific group of people, use the 2021 Incumbency Targets. If you have any questions, please email insight@conservatives.com.