Help Articles: complete listing
Maps overview
Learn more about maps – a tool for visualizing your people by their location, including generating downloadable or printable house visit lists with street maps, or defining areas of the map for analysis or to cut turf.
How maps work
View and assess your project's contacts by location on a map. View all your people on a map Start by clicking the Maps link on the navigation panel. Clicking this link takes you to Broadstripes' Maps page. By default, you'll see the location of every contact in your...
Working with shapes
Understanding map shapes and shape groups Shapes A shape is a user-defined area of the Broadstripes map (for instance a voting ward, neighborhood, or school district). Any people in your project who are located within a shape you've drawn are considered a part of that...
Data tools overview
Intro Many things influence the nature of a labor or community organizing campaign — the industry of the workers, the culture of the community, the goals of the campaign, and so on. Broadstripes has been built for maximum flexibility, to allow you to capture and work...
Organizing tools overview
Overview Broadstripes was built primarily to help labor organizers find and use information effectively during campaigns. One of its strengths is the built-in tools within Broadstripes that collect and organize information specific to labor organizing: Assessment...
Assessment codes
Overview An essential piece of any organizing campaign is figuring out where the workers stand in relation to the campaign's goals. This is usually done using a numeric assessment scale, with 1 indicating strong support, and the highest number in the scale (usually 5)...
Leadership roles
Overview An important part of many kinds of organizing is the identification of leaders within the bargaining unit or worker group. Leadership is usually defined by roles. Labor organizing (internal or external) often uses "Committee" and "Key Leader," while...
Built-in data
Intro Broadstripes comes with a number of built-in information fields already included. This means that you can set up your project and add information to it easily and quickly. This is a complete guide to all of Broadstripes' built-in fields and their intended use:...
Custom fields
Overview Data that is permanently relevant about the worker (such as "Shift" and "Issues of Concern") – but can’t logically be mapped to one of Broadstripes’ built-in fields – is best captured in a custom field. How is a custom field different from an event? A custom...
Add a new person
If you are entering a new person or new organization in Broadstripes, click Person or Organization from the CREATE A NEW section of the toolbar on the left-hand side of your window as shown below. Create a new record for a person or org by using the links in the...
Getting started (+video)
Getting started – Product tour Getting started – Product tour Are you new to Broadstripes? We're here to help! This video will walk you through some of the most common tasks...
Register your account
Welcome to Broadstripes! Getting started with Broadstripes is simple. It all begins when your Broadstripes administrator creates your account and emails you an invitation to join. You'll follow the link in that email to set a password and log in to the app. Here's...
Log in (and reset a password)
Log in as a Broadstripes user You'll need to have been invited to Broadstripes and completed registering your account before you can log in to the app for the first time. If you haven't received an invitation to join Broadstripes, ask your administrator to send you...
Tour your homepage
Quickly find people by name or workplace.
Use the Quick Search
Quick search Much of the work you do in Broadstripes will begin with a search. Whether you're trying to pull up the record of one specific person, or all the people at a certain work location, it's simple with Quick Search. Click the Quick Search link in the toolbar...
Search for a person
To search by a worker’s name simply place the cursor in the search box at the top of the screen, just to the right of the Broadstripes logo, and begin typing the name of someone you’d like to find.
Search for people by their workplace
Intro Sometimes you want to search for a single person by name; at other times, you may want to see a group of people all at once. A common case is when you want to see everyone who works in a particular shop or department. For this example, we'll search for everyone...
Add flexible contact info columns to a layout
Overview Broadstripes' layouts let you customize the contents of the search results panel. With flexible contact info columns, you can can decide on the fly which contact info you want displayed and what type of contact data you don’t want to see. You can also create...
Choose how data is displayed (layout)
What is a layout? Together with searches, layouts let you see the contact information you need in the format that works best for your process. While a search filters the set of contacts displayed by the criteria you choose, a layout determines which exact information...
Adding Profile pics
Overview Broadstripes allows users to add a profile picture to a person’s record. You can attach an image to go along with the person’s information. Broadstripes will even produce a picture grid to take with you for house visits and events. Upload a profile pic Go to...
Add a column to a layout
Overview Broadstripes' layouts let you customize the contents of the search results panel. Using the layout builder tool, you can choose just the columns of data you want to see, and leave out anything that might get in the way. This article will step you through the...
Record your organizing info (data entry)
Overview When you join an organizing project, you'll use Broadstripes to record organizing information as you collect it. With Broadstripes, you won't need to go to a special data-entry screen to record all that info — you can update any records you see on-screen at...
Print a list
Overview With Broadstripes, it's easy to print your organizing information as a list using the reports feature. Here are a few reasons you might want to print a list: you can bring your information with you in hard copy to house visits and check-in meetings for quick...
Download a list as a spreadsheet
Overview The Broadstripes Reports function allows you to download a list to your local machine as a spreadsheet (.xls or .csv) where it will be accessible to you even if you are offline. Once the information is in a spreadsheet format, you can manipulate and edit it...
View your people on a map
Get started With Broadstripes' Maps feature, you can easily view any list of people on an interactive map. Start by clicking the Maps link on the navigation panel. Clicking this link takes you to Broadstripes' Maps page. You'll see the location of every person in your...
Get driving directions for your list
Simplify workflow by choosing the right layout for the job. Together with searches, layouts let you see the contact information you need in the format that works best for your workflow. While a search filters the set of contacts displayed by the criteria you choose, a layout determines which exact information to display about those contacts.
Scrolling and paging through search results
Learn about the four areas of the search results page and helpful tools to navigate through your results.
Using keyboard shortcuts
Navigate your search results without a mouse.
Selecting (and deselecting) contacts
Learn to select contact records from search results to include them in a bulk action.
Actions overview – make changes to contacts in bulk
Apply changes to lots of records at one time with bulk actions.
Actions – Email (send bulk email messages)
Email Send a bulk email This bulk action is a great way to communicate with groups of workers quickly and efficiently. You can compose a single email and send it to multiple workers all at once. You can even include dynamic merge fields like "First name" so the emails...
Actions – Text (send bulk SMS messages)
Action: Text Send SMS texts to multiple workers This action allows you to send individual text messages to a group of workers all at once. See the Text messaging overview article or watch the Text messaging with Broadstripes video to learn more about using...
Email messaging permissions – opt in an email
Email messaging permissions Opt in multiple workers at once to receive Broadstripes emails This article only covers one step in the process of sending email messages with Broadstripes – how to mark workers' email addresses as "Opted in." Check out the Email messaging...
Text messaging (+videos)
Overview One of the most convenient features of Broadstripes messaging is that it allows you to send an SMS text to multiple workers at once, for instance, all the workers in a given shop or department, or everyone who has recently shown interest in coming to a rally...
Text messaging permissions – opt in a cell phone (+video)
Overview One of the most convenient features of Broadstripes messaging is that it allows you to send an SMS text to one or multiple workers at once. But first, each worker will need to provide a valid cell phone number and consent, or be "Opted in," to receive your...
Actions – Add to list/Remove from list
Action: Add to list/Remove from list Add contacts to a tag list One of the most common bulk actions applied to search results is adding contacts to a tag list. Tag lists give you an easy way to manually tag individuals whom you want to track as a group for any reason...
Actions – Assign event steps
Action: Assign event steps Set event steps When you are checking off an event or an event step for multiple contacts at once, using an action can be a great time-saver. (If you are new to events, check out the Events overview article for more information.) For this...
Actions – Assign to leader/Remove leader
Action: Assign to leader/Remove leader Assign a leader Broadstripes' bulk actions make it simple to assign a leader to multiple contacts at once. If you need to remove a leader, you can do that with a bulk action, too. First, run a search for the people you want to...
Actions – Set custom field
Set custom field Set (update) a custom field for multiple contacts If you are like other Broadstripes users, it's likely that you use at least one custom field to track information that's important to your campaign. If you want to set or update the value of a custom...
Actions – Change Employment, Department, Job Title
Employment/Department/Job title actions Update employment information Use a bulk action to update workers' department or job title or to create, terminate, or delete entire employment records for a group of workers. Working from your search results, you can easily...
Actions – Delete contacts
Delete contact(s) Delete contact records permanently You can use bulk actions to permanently delete a contact or group of contacts from your Broadstripes project. Unlike with other organizing databases you may have used, when you delete a contact in Broadstripes, the...
Actions – Delete contact info
Delete contact info Delete address, phone, and email information from contact records You can use bulk actions to permanently delete certain contact information from a contact or group of contacts from your Broadstripes project. You can delete all types of contact...
Embed a layout with a saved search
Embedding a layout with your saved search means you'll see the same columns of data each time you run the search – without added steps. To start, run the search that you want to embed with a new layout. (Learn more about creating searches in the Search by name or...
Create and save a layout
Access crucial information quickly by creating saved custom layouts for your project. Together with searches, the Broadstripes layout feature is your key to viewing the records you want in a format that matches your workflow. Layouts let you completely customize the contents of the search results panel. You can choose just the columns of data you want, and leave out the ones that might get in the way. While a search filters the set of contacts displayed by the criteria you choose, a layout determines which exact information to display about those contacts, and in what order.
Create and save a sort
Sort search results Sometimes a search brings back the records you need, but they're hard to make sense of because of the way they're ordered. For example, in a search for workers with signed cards, you may be given results ordered by last name, when what you really...
Create quick links
Overview Quick Links offer a simple dashboard customized to your specific needs—a fast one-click entry point to your most frequent searches or reports. Configuring quick links is simple, and once it’s done, your customized quick links appear automatically, each time...
Quick search quick links
Why add a quick search link? Since quick search is already easy to access and simple to use, you may wonder why you'd need to add it to your quick links tab. What you might not know is that adding a quick search quick link allows you to have all the advantages of...
Saved search quick links
Intro If you're like other Broadstripes users, you probably have a few saved searches that you use more than the rest. With quick links, you can add any saved search to your quick links tab; you'll have your most important searches right at your fingertips each...
Status report quick links
Intro Adding a status report to your quick links tab puts up-to-date aggregate counts just a click away. What's more, when you create the quick link, you can select how you want Broadstripes to present the reports: on-screen, or as PDF or Excel files that you can...
Create relationships to track connections between contacts (+video)
Intro If the Broadstripes “relationship” function is enabled for your project, you have the ability to track special relationships between individual workers. You can choose between a number of defined relationship types such as “Friend” or “Neighbor.” Once you’ve...
Create social groups to track workers by any trait
Intro Social groups are a feature that let you group and view workers by anything they have in common – whether it's the sports teams they follow, a common native language, or a shared break time. Why use social groups? Social groups can be a great organizing tool for...
Create events to track your goals
Events let you create custom check-offs to record and report information about your workers.
Add an employer filter
Limit your search to a particular set of workplaces. One of the most helpful features of Broadstripes is how it can help organizers and other union leaders quickly find people they’re looking for. The Employer filter tool makes that even easier for you to do by narrowing your search to a certain group of workplaces or employments. Here’s how to use it.
Sort search results
After running a search, you may want results to display in a certain order. For instance, if you're interested in gauging support, you'll want to sort by workers' assessment codes. With Broadstripes, sorting search results is just a few clicks away. Here's how it's...
Search Builder – build an advanced search (+video)
Overview Broadstripes' "search builder" helps you find search terms and build complex searches. As your familiarity with Broadstripes grows, you will likely want to filter your lists with more precision. This will mean searching by multiple criteria at once. For...
Save and/or share useful searches
Intro When you've built a useful search that you think you might want to run again, you can choose to save it. You can also share your saved searches with a single user, or all users in your project. Save (or share) a search In this example, we'll save a search and...
Add a rule or multiple rules to your search
A search with multiple rules generates a more precisely filtered list. With Broadstripes search, you can filter on multiple keywords or phrases to refine your list of search results. Broadstripes refers to each of these search filters as “rules.” For this example, we’ll show how to use multiple rules to search our project for the leaders at a particular shop called “Big Shop.”
Add rule groups to your search (+video)
Overview You may remember that we built a multiple-rule search for "people who are leaders at Big Shop" in a previous help article. Imagine that you now need a similar search that will find leaders at either "Big Shop" or "Small Shop". The rules in this search might...
Search by event-related info
Intro Many Broadstripes projects use events and event steps to capture particular actions in the workflow of a given campaign activity, for example: To track petition signatures To track invitations, RSVPs, and attendance for a meeting or rally To record whether...
Search event info using dates or a timeframe
Intro Broadstripes search builder allows you to search for very specific info including who has attended a rally in the last month or signed a card in the past week. In Broadstripes, that type of information is recorded as events and event steps. Keep in mind that...
Basic Lists – PDF
Overview With Broadstripes, it's easy to use the Reports feature to print your organizing information as a list. Here are a few reasons you might want to print a list: you can bring your information with you in hard copy to house visits and check-in meetings for quick...
Basic lists – spreadsheet
Intro When you want to download a list offline, but you need to manipulate it on your computer, the Reports function on Broadstripes allows you to download a list as a spreadsheet (.xls or .csv). Once the information is in a spreadsheet, you can manipulate and edit it...
Status reports
Take a snapshot of your progress with the Status Report feature. Learn how to create and work with status reports, including how to add custom columns and choose which shops and departments to include in your reports.
Add a shop or department (organization)
Learn to create new shops, departments, or sub-departments, broadly termed “organizations” by Broadstripes.
Import a spreadsheet
Required steps before you import a spreadsheet If you haven't already done so, review the Get ready to import data guide. The guide will walk you through a number of essential steps to prepare your spreadsheet for import and set up your project to receive new imported...
Data import overview
Imports are permanent When you run a data import, you need to know that the import is permanent, and there is no easy way to roll back your changes. Data import allows you to bring new worker lists into Broadstripes so you can begin organizing. Data import also lets...
Analyze import results
Hi. Thanks for using the Broadstripes knowledge base. This article is being drafted, but isn’t ready for prime-time yet. Please check back here soon. In the meantime, if you need help with anything, please contact support.
Events
Overview Events are one type of custom field in Broadstripes. Each event can be created to contain one or more “steps” (checkboxes) to capture particular actions in the workflow of a given campaign activity. Some examples of when you might use events include recording...
Analyze import results WIP
Overview Imports cannot be deleted or undone If you've come to this page because your import had unexpected negative results, it's important for you to know that there's no easy way to undo an import once it's been run. However, it's likely we can still help you....
Broadstripes search language
Search Operators and Syntax
External systems
Overview Importing or updating from another database? Do you plan to re-import from that same database again in the future? An external system can be a big help. If your worker list is from another database and contains a unique ID for each worker (for example, an...
Tag lists
Tag people to create manual lists Lists give you an easy way to manually tag individuals whom you want to track as a group for any reason. For instance: people who go on break or hang out together people that are your first-choice key targets people who helped hand...
Get ready to import data
Introduction Congratulations! You've got a new Broadstripes project and you want to bring in your list to start organizing. The easiest way to get a lot of worker data into Broadstripes quickly is through the import of one or more spreadsheets. Naturally...
Logging in and looking around
Introduction Welcome! You've joined the Broadstripes family as your project's admin and we're here to help you get adjusted in your new role. If you are admin to a completely new project, the first thing you might notice about Broadstripes is that it doesn't have any...
Set up a project
Setting up your project to enable effective organizing. Setting up a Broadstripes project means configuring the system to allow organizers to work in the most effective way (both for them, and for campaign leaders who need visibility into what’s going on). This section of the knowledge base was created to help project admins (like you) do just that.
Users and membership guide (+videos)
How to share Broadstripes with others on your team. Add users, help them register and log in, and set or edit their project permissions.
User roles and permissions
Overview Before you invite a new organizer or change permissions granted to an existing organizer, you'll want to understand the difference between each of Broadstripes' user roles. This article gives an in-depth look at Broadstripes' three user roles including...
Project settings overview
Intro As the admin of your Broadstripes project, you may find that you have a lot of information you want to keep track of – data imports, custom fields, report formats, and user permissions, just to name a few. Thankfully, Broadstripes provides the tools you need to...
General settings
General settings allow you to customize your Broadstripes project to match your organization's workflow. With general settings, you can select how you want certain key fields to be labeled, choose basic user permissions, and pick a default layout for displaying search...
Working with Calculated Columns
What are calculated columns? Calculated columns allow administrators to create their own custom metrics. Most fields in Broadstripes hold a single piece of information (for instance a person's first name or whether or not they've signed a card). With calculated...
Lists, Custom fields, and Events
This article covers how to work with the project settings Lists, Custom fields, and Events. To get started, access General settings by clicking Settings > All settings in the upper right corner of any page. The Project settings page will open. Click a link to make...
Codes and Assessments
What's the difference between "Assessments" and "Codes"? To give a short answer – well, nothing! "Assessment" and "Code" refer to the exact same piece of employment information in Broadstripes; it's just a matter of how it is labeled. In fact, you may use the label...
Leader roles
Whether your project is designed for internal, external, or community organizing, your users probably have a need to identify the leaders within the bargaining unit or worker group. As an administrator, you can easily view, edit or define new leadership roles for your...
External systems
External systems capture unique IDs from other database systems. Created prior to import, external systems are useful for retaining IDs that you don't want to lose when you bring your records into Broadstripes. External systems are also crucial if you plan to...
Data imports
Need to import data? If you are looking for step by step help on how to import data into your Broadstripes project for the first time, you'll want to check out the Import Overview article. (The article below focuses on how to work with the data imports index page to...
User groups
User groups allow you to pull users together into small groups to simplify sharing and communication tasks. To get started, access User Groups by clicking Settings > All settings in the upper right corner of any page. From the Project settings page, click the Basic...
Project members
See details about your members – the users who have been invited to have a role in your project. View your project's users To get started, you can access Members settings in one of two ways:Click Settings > Project members in the upper right corner of any page....
Job titles/Classifications
View all the job titles (AKA classifications) you’ve created for your project in a single list.
Status report definitions
Status reports allow you to create snapshots of your campaign progress for others to review. With status reports, you can select what information to display and quantify, what shops to include in your report, and customize the layout of your report. Once you have...
Calculated columns
Calculated columns allow you to create and display custom metrics for your project. You can learn more about what calculated columns can do in the Working with Calculated Columns article. Once your custom columns have been created, you can manage them from Project...
Custom house visit questions
Broadstripes can automatically print individual question sheets for each person on your house visit (house call) list. As an organizer, you can use the sheets to prompt you and help you record answers to the questions that are most important to your campaign. To get...
Spreadsheet template reports
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Contact types
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Employment data review
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Email templates
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Sent email
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Passwords and Digital Security Tips
Overview Working on an organizing campaign means you’re going to have access to some mission-critical information. If it’s been a while since you’ve thought about how to keep your information safe from prying eyes, here’s a quick checklist that will run you through...
Components of the Address Form
Broadstripes uses powerful logic that helps you get the most out of the contact information you collect. Whether you are entering worker records through an import, or entering records manually, address information is key data – and you can view, enter, update, or...
How to Use the Call Center
Hi there! You've probably arrived at this page because you've been asked to help with a phone banking campaign. The Broadstripes Call Center is a phone-banking app that makes phone outreach simple and effective. This video will walk you through exactly how to get...
Working with flexible contact info columns
Flexible Contact Info Columns
Temporary visibility
Overview In cases where users shouldn’t have full access to the project’s data, Broadstripes allows admins to control what data a basic user is able to see in a project with two optional features: "Limited Visibility" and "Temporary visibility." (You can learn how to...
Add, Edit or Delete an Address
Broadstripes allows you to record any number of addresses for each person in your project. You can save a home, business, or other address, and also keep track of addresses you want to flag as unusable or "bad." Broadstripes even tracks the changes you or others have...
Limited visibility
Overview Sometimes an organizing team will include activists or volunteers who aren't well-known to the team's leadership or who, for other reasons, simply shouldn't have full access to the project's data. When this is the case, you can turn on Broadstripes' "Limited...