Programs, Packets, and List Segmentation

What are Programs in RunningMate?

Our 'Programs' feature is here to help Owners, Admins, and Data Managers create, manage, and group outreach activities by type (e.g. persuasion, turnout, voter registration, etc).


Users can set up a Phone Banking and Canvassing efforts within the same Program.

Create your universe and turn it into a program!


  • Use the filters on the Explorer page to create a targeted universe for your field program.
  • Click Create Program at the top and confirm the program name, which defaults to your Universe name.
  • If your filters haven’t been saved yet, RunningMate saves them automatically as a Universe with the same name.

Finding the Program setup page:

Navigate to the Menu on the left, click on 'Outreach' then 'Programs'. Users will be presented with the list of all Programs created. In the Program List View users are able to: 

    • Create a New Program
    • See all of the Programs created for their district
    • Search by Program name 
      • Update Program Status
      • Edit Program 


What are the steps to create a Canvassing or Phone Banking Program?


Step 1:  Create a Target Universe

Build your target universe on the Explorer page by configuring filters and saving it. Each Program uses a single universe, which is applied to both Canvass and Phone Bank setup.


Step 2: Create a Program

  1. Click the Create Program button on the Explorer page
  2. Give the Program a name (required field)
    1. Program name must be unique within the same district 
    2. Description and Date fields are optional 
      1. Date fields are available to help the user organize their outreach efforts, but are not required.
  3. Status of Programs will default to Published during Program creation
  4. Save the Program 
    1. Once the program is saved, it will show up in the Programs listing page 


Step 3: Set Up Canvass or Phone Banking

  1. After creating a Program, users can select Canvass Set Up by selecting their turf segmentation type or choose to set up Phone Banking.
    1. Be sure to assign the canvassing or phone banking packets to users if you want them to be visible to those volunteers.
    2. Toggle the Canvassing and Phone Banking on in the program, then Publish and Save.
    3. Updates can be made by clicking on the edit/pencil icon to the right to access the Program.
    4. Users can also delete their program by going near the 'Basic Information' header and clicking on the trash icon.

How to segment turf for canvassing:


Once a user has created and saved a Program, they can set up their canvassing efforts via the Canvass Setup tab in the Program edit view. 

  1. Navigate to 'Programs' and select the program you want to edit
  2. Click on Canvass Setup located above 'Basic Information'
  3. Select Create Packets. The program’s universe is used automatically, so no list selection is needed.

  1. Select how you'd like to segment your list from the three options:
    • Geographic Clustering. The clustering of targets geographically and is the most common segmentation method.
      • During setup, you choose roughly how many targets you want in the packets, and the system will cluster targets geographically, attempting to keep them near each other.
        • For example, you may choose 75 households per packet during canvass setup. The system will then cluster the targets geographically, so you may end up with packets that have 60 targets and others that have 80, with most around 75 households.
    • By Precinct. Split a target list up by precinct, and have canvassers work at a precinct level.
    • Single List. Limited to 1000 households.

  1. If using the Geographic Clustering option, then hit continue:
    1. Choose the number of households you would like in each packet
      • Please note that if the list is large, the user should aim to make the packets no larger than 1000 targets, otherwise canvassers may experience loading issues or crashes, due to large packet size.

    1. Note, this may take a minute or so to complete. You can move on to the phone bank creation process while waiting for it to complete. Support article here on how to set up phone banking.

  1. Once a user has created their packets they are automatically saved and map of their packet locations will appear.
    1. Hovering over a packet will highlight it on the map.
    2. Click the three dots next to the packet to Download the packet for printing.
      1. To learn about how to print walk packets and record the data in RunningMate click here.
    3. Assign packets to canvassers by clicking the three dots next to the relevant packet. Multiple people can be assigned to a canvassing packet.
    4. Owners, Admins, and Data Managers can refine packets created with Geographic Clustering on desktop by clicking Edit Packets on the packet list page, moving households between packets or creating new packets at any time. To re-cluster the whole list at a different packet size, create a new program.

  1. One final step is needed:
    1. Assign your Canvassing and Phone Banking packets to volunteers, OR
      1. Download and print the PDF versions of the Canvassing packets by clicking the three dots next to each packet.
      2. Review the

You're ready to hit the field!

Program Status Types

Users can update Program status on the Program List view or by clicking into the Program Overview. 

Programs can have one of three status: 

  1. Unpublished
    1. For programs still being set up or not yet ready for volunteers.
  2. Published 
    1. New programs default to Published. Packets are not required to publish, so you can publish first and build canvassing and phone banking packets afterward.
  3. Closed 
    1. Closed programs are not accessible via Canvassing 
    2. This status is meant for programs that have completed.

Roles and Permissions

The following roles have permissions to access, create, and manage programs:

  • Owner
  • Admin
  • Data Manager 

The following roles have read-only permissions to programs:

  • Data viewer 

The following roles have no access to create or manage programs but they do have access to canvass, phone bank, or use the search functionality to add Support Scores, tags, and notes: 

  • Volunteer 

Packet Map Visualizer

Users can see the location of their canvassing packets within Programs in Canvass Setup.


Once packets are generated the visualizer will be helpful for field managers to see the location of the packets on map. A campaign may want to focus canvassing on a particular neighborhood or assign adjacent packets to a specific volunteer. Being able to visualize the location of packets will give our users additional data to help them organize their outreach efforts. 


Green Packet Markers

Each canvassing packet is represented by a marker placed at or near the center of the packet, which is located within the Canvass Setup portion of the Program.

  • The number within each packet marker represents the number of doors to contact

  • Household dots cannot be interacted with (clicking or hovering over it will have no effect) and is meant to show the user where the households are for that packet 
  • If a user packeted their list by precinct, precinct lines will display on the map. If user did not packet by precinct, only the district outline will be displayed. 

  • Hovering over a packet name in the packet listing on the left will display the popover for that marker
    • Popover will display the name of the packet and the number of doors left in that packet 

  • Clicking on the packet name to locate your packet on the map

  • Clicking on the packet marker will display household dots
    • To see the packet marker again instead of household dots, click anywhere on the map 

Packet Viewing on Browser

When clicking on a packet via the packet listing will zoom the map into that marker and the map will also display the popover for that marker that contains the packet name and number of doors remaining for that packet  

  • On mobile:
    • Clicking on a map marker will display the popover towards the bottom of the map.
  • Packet list view has been updated to include number of Households in addition to number of Targets for each packet

Notes:

  • Canvassing and phone banking within a program use the program’s single universe.
  • Once a program is set up, users can enable/disable Canvassing or Phone Banking in the Overview > Outreach Methods section of the program, which can be done at any point during the program. 
  • Simulator Restrictions: Simulator users will only be able to canvass or phone bank using only synthetic data for their selected district.

Step by step help articles on:

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