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:
People
Here’s how to store information about workers.
| Name | Description | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Title | A person’s preferred title. e.g. Dr., Mrs., Ms., and so on. | This is useful for mass mailings. |
| First Name | A person’s legal first name. | |
| Middle Name | A person’s middle name. | |
| Last Name | A person’s last name. | This can be changed in the app in case of marriage, divorce, or other name change. |
| Suffix | Any suffixes such as Jr., Senior, II, III. | These can be updated in-app as well. This is particularly useful when multiple family members work for the same employer. |
| Birth Date | This field records worker birth dates in MM/DD/YYYY format. | Birth dates are useful when trying to correctly identify workers with common names or the same name, and also may be used for matching employer records. |
| Party | If your project includes voter data, you can use the Party field to enter registered voters’ party affiliation. | This is a drop-down menu containing whatever different parties are represented in your data. |
| Union Member | This is a yes/no checkbox, which may or may not suit your union’s needs for keeping track of members. | If you choose not to use this field, there are other tools in Broadstripes to track union membership. |
| Nickname | Here you can put any nicknames that could help you identify or keep track of your workers. | This allows you to retain the worker’s legal name in your data while allowing people to search for them by the name they are commonly called. |
| Notes | This is a simple text box for preserving information that does not fit neatly into a format, and also should not be its own custom field. | Often notes are one-time events, for example, “8/26, met Jane’s neighbor, she said Jane works Friday evenings 3-11.” Sometimes they are bits of information specific to the person: “Jane is cousins with Supervisor Maria.” |
Organizations
This section is being drafted, but isn’t ready for prime-time yet. Please check back here soon.
Physical addresses
Here’s a look at all the built-in components of an Address. Just remember that you don’t need to use all of them for any given entry.
| Name | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Street Number | The street number in the organization's address. | 100 Main St. |
| Direction prefix | The cardinal direction that precedes a street name in an address. | North Main St. |
| Street Name | The name of the street where the organization is located. | Main St. |
| Street Type | The type of street in question. | Ave., Pl., Dr., Rd., St., and so on |
| Direction suffix | The cardinal direction that follows a street name in an address. | Main Street South |
| Unit | A unit or suite number in the organization's address. | 100 Main St. Unit 204 |
| Care of | To direct mail to a specific person at the organization, put "Care of" in the Address field. Often abbreviated c/o. | Sample Shop, Care of Jim Worker, 100 Main St. |
| PO Box | Use this field to ensure the proper formatting of addresses with PO Box numbers | Jim Worker PO Box 12345, New York, NY 10001-1111 |
| City | The city the address is located in | New York, NY |
| State | The two-letter abbreviation for the state. | CT, NY, NV, etc. |
| Zip (first five) | The five-digit zip code for the address. | New York, NY 10001 |
| Zip (plus 4) | The five-digit zip code for your address, followed by the four-digit extension. | New York, NY 10001-1111 |
| Organization/Other | If the address is a business address, or has some sort of name in addition to the street address, you can put the name of the organization or the building here. | Town General Store, 100 Main St. or Kirkwood Apartments, 200 Main St. |
Multiple addresses and primary addresses
Some people or organizations have multiple locations or addresses. You can add as many addresses to Broadstripes’ address field as you want; just make sure to select the correct Primary address. Only one address can be the Primary address, and once chosen, that address will be the default address displayed in searches.
For organizations, a mailing address or central office is a good choice for a Primary address. For workers, the worker’s current home address is the recommended choice for a Primary address.
Commonly, organizations have multiple locations or addresses. You can record all affiliated addresses in the Addresses field, although this may not be useful for very large organizations/workplaces. Using the Organization/Other field, you can denote what each address is for (e.g. Billing Department, Human Resources, etc).
Bad addresses or addresses that need review
You can also mark addresses as “bad“. Only do this if you are sure the address is wrong in some way– if a piece of mail gets returned to you, or the building in question is demolished, or you are otherwise certain that the worker no longer lives there.
If you are not certain an address is bad, you can mark it as “Needs review” instead, which will allow you to find it easily at a later date to change or update it.
Contact information
This section is being drafted, but isn’t ready for prime-time yet. Please check back here soon.
Employment field and sub-fields
This section is being drafted, but isn’t ready for prime-time yet. Please check back here soon.