If you have ever entered information on your bill sheet only to realize later that the data is missing, we are very sorry that happened to you. If you set up a big general bill sheet or regs sheet to let you know about new bills, but then stopped getting alerts even though bills were still coming in, we are sorry that happened to you. We've made two changes to let you know when something is going wrong so you will know right away and can address the situation before you waste time or miss bills. We've also added some information to the message you get when you have locked yourself out of your account.
Missing Custom Data in Bill Sheets or Regulation Sheets
First, when you log into BillTrack50 we create a session token that is valid for 12 hours. If you leave your computer and don't interact with our server your session token will expire and you will no longer be considered logged in. Once the session token is expired you must re-login before you can access or modify your data. If your browser is already open and you try to make a change to your data after your session has expired you will now get a better, more visible error to let you know you need to login again.
You can avoid this whole situation (for a month at a time) by checking the "remember me" checkbox when logging in. "Remember Me" causes BillTrack50 to create a persistent session for you lasting 30 days, which means you won't time out during that time. The persistent session also makes interacting with your alert emails more useful because the "highlight search terms" option will be available when you click through to read a bill. When you are on your own computer we strongly recommend clicking the remember me box.
But we know persistent sessions aren't the right answer for every situation, so we have also added two new visual indicators to let you know if your entered data is saving properly. When your computer has sent information to our server and is waiting for our confirmation that we received it, there will be a waiting arrow spinning in the footer of the bill sheet. When your internet connection is good the process happens too quick to see. But when something is going wrong the spinning arrow will be there to warn you. The most common source of this problem will be a slow or absent internet connection.
Also we now turn unsaved bill sheet data red as a warning that the system is not operating properly. It isn't easy to get into this situation, but it can happen. If you lose your connection, get logged out, encounter a database error, or something else happens to keep us from saving your data you will get other errors first letting you know you data hasn't been saved. But we wanted to be triple safe so this is one more new visual indication that your data hasn't been saved. So if this happens to you try again, and if the problem hasn't cleared up check your internet connection and then try logging in again to make sure your session is still good.
If your internet connection is fine and the problems persist don't hesitate to contact us to help you trouble shoot.
Bill Sheets and Regulation Sheets Have a Soft Limit of 5,000 and a Hard Limit of 7,500
If you try to create a bill sheet or regulation sheet with more than 5,000 rows we will give you an error and not let you save the sheet. But if you have created a sheet and over time it has accumulated more that 5,000 we will let it grow up to 7,500 rows before we stop updating it. Once your sheet reaches the 7.500 limit we stop adding new rows. We will still update the bill status and other information for bills on the sheet, and you will still get alerts about new votes and actions, but you won't get new bill or new bulletin alerts.
The "view all" option for Bill Sheets and Regulation Sheets shows you how many rows your sheets have. If you have a lot of sheets you can click on the count column to sort and see your biggest sheets. We also put an alert in the alert section of your Navigation Panel to warn you that one of your sheets has gotten too big. However it has come to our attention that not everyone reviews these alerts. Since we don't want you to miss new bills or regulations, especially if you don't know it is happening, we have added a new red badge to the alert section of the navigation panel to draw your attention when there is a problem that needs to be addressed.
If you see an alert badge please open the alert section and look in the System Alert section to see which sheet(s) are too big. To re-enable the big sheet you will need to get the row count below 5,000. For Regulation Sheets that will usually mean adjusting the date range on the query tab. For Bill Sheets you might want to divide your sheet up by session, region, topic, bill status, or whatever makes sense for your workflow. Remember you can always keep a snapshot of your original sheet before making changes by clicking on the copy button on the manage tab and then clicking the archive box on the copied sheet.
If you need any help narrowing down your sheet please let us know and we'll be happy to help.
Locking Yourself Out Of Your Account
Who among us hasn't occasionally fat fingered our password? This is one more reason that the "remember me" box is nice -- you won't have to enter your password for 30 days. But it you find yourself having gotten your password wrong 3 times in a row we will lock your account for security reasons. The lock doesn't last forever, though; it only lasts for an hour. We have updated our error message to remind you how long you need to wait. If you try again in less than an hour the message will let you know how long you still have to wait.
If you are in a hurry try writing to Karen and/or Patsy or you can use the Contact Us page and we will unlock you right away.
Hopefully you never find yourself with a spotty connection, timed out session, enormous bill sheet, or locked account. But if you do, we hope these new visual cues will help you be aware of the situation so you can make adjustments and avoid frustration and heartbreak.
Cover Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash