Running an action
What a volunteer sees when they open an action, how their work is scoped to their slice, and how a lead tracks progress live.
On this page
Once an action goes active, two separate views come into play: the volunteer's execution view (scoped to the work assigned to that person) and the lead view (the whole-action picture a lead or organizer monitors while the shift runs).
What a volunteer sees
When a volunteer opens an active action, they land in an execution view shaped to the action's type:
- Canvass shows a walk list containing only the doors assigned to that volunteer.
- Phonebank shows a call queue containing only that volunteer's assigned calls.
- Text bank shows the message batch assigned to that volunteer.
- Event check-in shows the event the volunteer is staffing.
The interface a volunteer sees is the same workspace tool the organizer uses for that work type (the canvassing tool, the phonebank dialer, the texting console, the event check-in panel), but locked to that volunteer's slice.
Resource scoping: seeing only your slice
Every action that carries a resource (a walk list, a call queue, a text batch, or an event) assigns each volunteer their own portion of that resource at signup time. When the volunteer opens the action, they see their portion only, not the full list.
This scoping serves two purposes. Operationally, it prevents two volunteers from working the same door or calling the same contact. For data quality, it means every metric captured during the session is unambiguously tied to the volunteer who generated it.
How metrics are captured
As a volunteer works through their slice, the system captures activity automatically. The metric set varies by action type: a canvass records doors knocked, doors answered, and contacts made; a phonebank records calls made, calls answered, and voicemails left; a text bank records texts sent. These counters update in near real time as the volunteer works, without any manual submit step.
The lead view
A lead or organizer assigned to a running action can open a dashboard for that action and see two things at once:
- Roster. Every volunteer currently signed up or checked in, with their individual status.
- Live aggregate metrics. Totals across all volunteers for the action so far (doors knocked, calls made, texts sent, and so on), updating in near real time as volunteers work.
This view is read-only during the shift. Controls for reassigning slices between volunteers or ending sessions early are not yet available.
Why this matters
Running an action well depends on giving each volunteer a clear, bounded task while keeping your lead informed of the whole picture. Scoped slices remove coordination overhead from volunteers so they can focus on the work in front of them. Live aggregate metrics let you catch when a shift is falling behind and decide whether to call in more people or adjust targets before the window closes. The automatic capture of every contact and call also means your CRM and reporting reflect what actually happened, without relying on volunteers to file separate notes afterward.