Admins and Managers - Create a Canvassing Effort

Canvassing efforts are for door-to-door engagement. You can create a List or Segment, view it from the map, and break it up into walkable sections called Turfs. This will allow Canvassers to engage with people at the door using a premade Script that has talking points and questions. 

Before creating a Canvassing effort, keep the following limits and recommendations in mind:

• As outlined in the Import Guide, file size is limited to 500 MB and for files with more than 1,000 data records (i.e., rows), we recommend that you reach out to Support to request help with reviewing, cleaning, and uploading the file 
• Lists and Segments are limited to 10,000 profiles for each Canvassing effort
• We recommend limiting efforts to two weeks
• There is a limit of 250 profiles and five Canvassers per turf

To create a Canvassing effort, follow these steps: 

1. Create a Script for your Canvassing effort. Note that Forms cannot be used as Canvassing Scripts.
   • Note that Forms cannot be used as Canvassing Scripts.
   • It is best practice to add a message to the end of your Script so Canvassers will know when the Script is complete.
2. Create a List or Segment for your Canvassing effort. 
   • Note that your List or Segment must be limited to 10,000 profiles. 
3. Navigate to My Universe > Canvassing.
4. At the top right, click Create New.
5. Name your Canvassing effort, and optionally, add a description to clarify the purpose and goals. 
6. Select your Start Date/Time. Your options are:
   • Start Now: This will make your Effort and Turfs immediately available for Canvassers as soon as you launch. 
   • Schedule for Later: This option allows you to choose a starting date and time at which your effort will be available for your Canvassers. 
7. Select your End Date/Time. 
   • This is the date/time you no longer want your effort to be available to Canvassers. 
   • We recommend limiting each effort to a few days, and no longer than two weeks. 
8. Select your Script.
   • We suggest you create a Script before creating a Canvassing effort, but if you have not done that, or if you need to make changes to your Script, you can save your effort as a draft and come back later. 
   • You can only select published Scripts. Grayed-out Scripts are still in draft mode. 
9. View your Dispositions. 
   • Dispositions will appear for your Canvassers to mark if they cannot conduct a survey at one of their assigned doors. 
   • Dispositions can be marked for an individual or for the entire household. 
   • Dispositions fall into two categories: Revisit and Do Not Revisit.
   • See further details in Manage Dispositions.  
10. Select your List or Segment. 
    • Your List or Segment must be limited to 10,000 profiles.  When selecting a segment, Segments which contain unsupported data and would not contain profiles are marked with an alert symbol. 
    • If you have not created your List or Segment, save your effort as a draft and then go create it. After creating it, it may take a few minutes to load in the drop down in your effort. You can leave (without needing to save) and come back later; the loading will continue while you are away.
    • Once you add your community for turf cutting, the community (list or segment) and it's profiles become static. So the profiles associated with a segment will not change through the effort.
11. Cut Turf and Assign Canvassers.
    • Turfs are smaller groupings of households that your Canvassers will engage with when going from door to door.
    • Turfs can include a maximum of 250 profiles.
    • Turfs can include a maximum of five Canvassers.
    • You can assign each Canvasser to up to five Turfs. 
    • Turfs can either be assigned to Canvassers who are regular “Users” in your Account, or they can be assigned to volunteers on a one-time basis. See details in Add Canvassers to the Mobile App. 
    • There are three different tools you can use to cut your Turfs; we recommend the Irregular Shape tool. See further details in Cut Turf and Assign Canvassers.
    • Click and drag Canvassers from the list and move them to the desired Turf.
    • If you need to add more Canvassers to your effort, see instructions in Add Canvassers to the Mobile App.
12. While your canvassing effort is in a draft state, you can replace the script or community associated with the canvas. Should your community contain unsupported data which impacts the number of profiles in the segment, an alert symbol will appear next to the target community name. You can then replace the community with a different segment or list. 
13. Launch your effort.
14. Monitor your Canvassing effort's live results on the Monitor Effort page.
15. Update your effort, as needed; see Edit Canvassing Efforts After Launch.

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