Database Design And Structure Will Optimize Subsequent Data Collection And Action

Data is only as good as its ability to generate insights and actions. Failure to organize and understand data will lead to an accumulation of useless data which wastes time in analysis and in collection. Therefore, good organization of data collection efforts is necessary to ensure that when the collection is done, the campaign staff can analyze and act on insights generated from the data.

To ensure that the database structure is appropriate for the campaign, the staff must first identify what it wishes to learn from the data that it collects. Some possibilities for organizing the data include:

• Contact information. Names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and voting district are the most critical piece of information that a campaign can collect, as this contact information is the basis from which action is taken.
• Willingness to support. Examples include monetary contributions, volunteer activities, willingness to vote for the candidate, party affiliation, and willingness to display signs in yards, windows, etc.
• Contact history. When and through what channels did the campaign contact this voter? Additionally, what was the response? Supportive? Indifferent?
• Bucket. Campaigns generally place voters into a few buckets: strong supporter (e.g. volunteer, contributor, worker), pro-candidate voter, on the fence, voter for opponent, and strong supporter of opponent. By identifying the fence-sitters, the campaign can focus its efforts on moving as many of those into the pro-candidate camp. The campaign can also focus efforts on driving get out the vote campaigns for the supporters.
• Voting day activity. The campaign needs to identify who has voted and who has not on election day.
• Voting history. If this information is available, this can be used to identify trends and also to target campaigns at poaching from the other side.

Interfaces are key to quick gathering and analysis of data. The data entry forms should be easy to use and work with, with appropriate tabbing and methods of entry. The more keystrokes and mouse movement necessary to enter the information, the more likely it is that errors will occur. Additionally, queries on the most important information should be pre-written. These include district queries, volunteer queries, and bucket queries.

Depending on the size of the campaign, this database can be run in something as simple as Microsoft Access, or it can use campaign management software such as BackOffice from Complete Campaigns. Regardless of the method used, the data should also be passed along to local party organizations during and after the campaign so that subsequent data gathering and analysis will be simplified.