BillTrack50 Help Center

One of the strengths of the BillTrack50 bill sheet system is that it is completely flexible and can be set up to handle nearly any situation. A well-designed set of bill sheets can help make your bill tracking and sharing tasks manageable. However, that much flexibility can also be daunting. Whether you are just getting started or you have created some sheets but feel like they aren't working as efficiently as you like, this post is for you! We'll walk through several approaches to organizing your account and setting up a sensible workflow.

This post assumes you already know how to make bill sheets and enter query terms. If you need a refresher on those topics please see BillTrack50 - The Basics. Of course, we are always available to discuss your unique situation and help you decide on the best way forward. Please reach out anytime to discuss search terms or workflow strategies or anything else you need help with. We want you to be successful!

1 Set it and forget it

Enter relevant keywords, just let it run

If your topic is narrow enough, and you don't mind a few extra bills coming through, you can simply create your bill sheet(s) and let them run without ever coming back into the system. For help with creating your bill sheet, check out this step-by-step post. Set-it-and-forget-it is a great option if you just want the bill and/or event alert emails to keep yourself in the loop, or if you are sharing all potentially relevant bills on your website. More on alert emails here. We would suggest a year-end review at some point each summer to make sure your search terms are still valid and everything is running smoothly, but otherwise, lots of people just let their bill sheets run, get the alert emails, and that's that.

If your topic is broad or difficult to search for, or if it is important that you don't have extraneous irrelevant bills in your results, then you might consider taking a more active role by adopting an approach of either Curation (weeding out bills that are not of interest) or Cherry Picking (pulling out good bills).

2 Curation

Well-targeted search(es), remove bills that aren't relevant

If your search terms are pretty good, or if reviewing every bill is something you are going to do anyway, then Curation is a good approach. Create your bill sheet(s) using relevant search terms and then log in on a regular basis and review bills for relevance as they come in. When you come across a bill you don't need to track, simply click the X to remove it from your list. When using this approach it can be handy to add the "created" date to your bill sheet and set the template to sort the newest bills to the top. You may consider adjusting your template to include a summary column. In some states, the summary column can be more illustrative than the name of the bill column, allowing you to quickly move over your list in the grid before a more in-depth bill-by-bill review. For smaller lists of bills or more obscure search terms that pull in a small number of results we find it can me helpful to turn on alerts so you'll get an email to let you know there are new bills available that you might want to curate.

Fear not! It is easy to review the bills you've hidden from your sheet (or ask someone else to review them) and return any bills you actually do need to your tracking list. So no need to be shy about weeding out the bills you don't want to track!

3 The Whole Enchilada

Follow all bills in a state as they get introduced

If you have a wide variety of topics or simply don't trust that you can come up with keywords that will identify all of your bills, you can set up a bill sheet to follow all bills in a state.

To set up a whole state bill sheet simply make a new bill sheet, select the state you want from the state drop-down, and then enter the state's postal abbreviation as your "all of" search term, for example AL, CO, TX, WY.

(For Indiana and Oregon, their abbreviation is a word, OR or IN, and thus won't work as a search term. In that case, use the entire state name as your search term.)

Save your new bill sheet and you are all set.

You may want to remove resolutions or memorials. In states with a large number of bills, like NY, US, IL, TN, MN, MA, NJ, HI, OK, you may also want to filter out bills after they cross over; that is: uncheck "crossed over," "passed," "sighed," "vetoed," "dead" as in this image.:

Filtering out bills by status will help keep the number of bills on the bill sheet to a more reasonable level. Another option is to leave all status options checked except "introduced." That will leave bills out until they've been assigned to a committee which can be a good way to remove bills that have no legs at all, depending on how your state works. You can also choose to filter on a committee if you want to follow something like all education or all health care bills. More about filtering by committee here.

4 Cherry Picking

Broad search, move relevant bills to other sheets

If your search terms are broad, or if you are going for the Whole Enchilada, then removing all bills you don't need might not be practical. In this case, you might choose to "cherry pick" important bills and use the + button to add them to another bill sheet. Then you can use those other bill sheets for your alerts, widgets, sharing with management, etc., without ever freaking anyone else out over the full weight of the legislation coming through. But we'll know, and we appreciate you. :)

When Cherry Picking it can be convenient to add the "created" column to your bill sheet, and set the bill sheet to sort showing the newest bills on top. (More about adding columns and setting sort options here.) People using Cherry Picking often choose to X out any bill they review and decide they don't want, or at least make a note on the broad bill sheet, so that they don't forget and review the unwanted bill again later.

You might also consider removing bills from the broad bill sheet after you have assigned them to another sheet, or at least making a note to yourself in the bill sheet. You may wish to make a note to yourself via a drop-down column, where you can select a status that will remind you if you've reviewed it, copied it over, if it's ready for removal, etc.

Another best practice when Cherry Picking is to only have "new bill" alerts set on your broad-search sheet. The new bill alerts will work like radar, letting you know when there is something on the horizon, but not continuing to alert you after the initial ping. If an interesting new bill pops up you can review it and copy it onto another sheet if appropriate. Then you can set up your cherry-picked sheets to have more aggressive alerts because you know all those results will be relevant to you. Taking those steps early will help you be more efficient in your review when you get really busy during the heart of the session.

5 The Duck

Many narrow queries rolling up to one master sheet (optionally hiding narrow query sheets)

Imagine a duck floating serenely along the surface of a lake. Of course, below the water, its little feet might be paddling furiously to keep it moving. That image describes "The Duck" workflow.

If you have a difficult to search topic, with keywords that can be used in many different situations (like justice or restraint), or just lots of words (like a list of chemicals or diseases) in different combinations, then this might be a good approach for you. Although you can create complex searches (see here for more), you might still need to create several different bill sheets with very narrow searches, and then create a roll up to combine the results into one master bill sheet. Using a master sheet will have the happy side effect of removing duplicates from your results, too. So it is ok if your narrow bill sheets overlap.

Unfortunately, the roll-up bill sheet does not have its own query terms, so the "highlight text" feature when you are reading the bill text won't work. If you have a bill where you would like to highlight terms, use the + on the master sheet to see which bill sheet(s) contain your bill, then open the bill from one of those sheets. You can still Curate your master sheet, if needed, and add comments in any columns you have added. But be aware that if you check the "copy user data" box, then any comments added to the narrow sheets will roll up to the master sheet, overwriting whatever was on the master sheet.

If you would like a column in your master sheets listing all of the bill sheets that match, just contact us and we can set that up for you. If you have named your narrow bill sheets clearly then this column can serve as a list of topics that the bill touches on, making it very useful for maps, stakeholder pages, and for grouping on later (for more see grouping topic here).

Note: Once you are happy with how the master sheet is running, you can choose to hide all of the narrow bill sheets to keep your account tidy. Simply choose "manage users" from the account menu, and then click the edit link next to your own name. From there you can go to the bill sheet tab and set permission on the narrow queries to "none." Then just click save and you are done. It will take 3-5 minutes for your changes to go into effect and the narrow sheets to disappear from your account. You can always go back into the "manage account" screen and give yourself permission to see the sheets again if you would like to do any fine tuning later.

6 Taskmaster

Broad or targeted searches distributed to team members (or clients)

If you have members of a team or a bunch of committees you are distributing bills to for review, or if you have clients you are tracking bills for, a Taskmaster setup might be just what you need.

First, create your search bill sheets using Cherry Picking or The Whole Enchilada methods from above. Then create one bill sheet for each person, committee, or client you are going to assign bills to. These target sheets MUST have at least one state chosen; if you have a national subscription it is usually best to just choose all states. You don't need to add any search terms or set up any other options; just make sure the target bill sheet has a good name and save it. Now as you review bills on your own sheets, you can use the + to assign bills to one or more of your sheets.

The other part of this workflow involves setting up user permissions. If these sheets are for clients you'll want to add one (or more) users for the client from the manage users screen, giving them permission to the specific sheet(s) you set up for them. It is up to you whether you want them to be able to curate these sheets, just add comments to them, or not be able to edit the sheets at all. As long as you give them "view" permission they will be able to see the sheets, set up alerts, and make widgets. Any sheets they don't have permission to they won't see in their account at all, so you can be assured of privacy between departments, clients, etc. If you think it would be helpful, you can reach out to us to train your users, either as a group training or as one-on-one training, or we can work together to create a document including (or not) an explanatory video.

7 Feedback Please

Gather feedback/opinions on a list of bills using bill sheets or stakeholder pages

This is the option if you need to share bills with a legislative committee, subject matter experts, affiliated stakeholders, or others to get their feedback and/or opinions.

Perhaps you are deciding your organization's position on a bill for a scorecard, deciding on wording to suggest for an amendment, or simply trying to pull together information to help you fully understand the bill. There are two approaches to gathering feedback, depending on how much feedback you need and what form of information would be easiest for you to manage.

To organize your bill sheet to take a poll, for example, to determine your organization's position on a bill, you can create a new template with a column for each person you would like to weigh in on your list of bills. You might want to create a series of drop-down list columns to make sure everyone is choosing from the same set of options if that is appropriate. If you like you can create another set of columns for each person to leave their own comment. Or if your group is made up of people well known to each other and has enough mutual trust, you can allow them to add comments to one big comment column.

However you do it, once everyone has entered their opinion you'll be able to scan across the row in the bill sheet, tally the votes, and (if appropriate) enter the results in a column you created for that purpose.

To solicit feedback on changes needed to a bill or gather intelligence about the status of a bill, or any other lengthy ongoing discussion, you might consider setting up a Stakeholder Page to gather feedback, instead of setting up individual columns.

The Stakeholder page Forum tab allows for threaded conversations and extended text options that can be formatted with bold, italics and even links, so you can gather much more extensive information than by using the bill sheet columns strategy outlined above. If the conversation needs to be kept private within a certain group, for example within a certain department or an affiliated organization, you can set up a separate stakeholder page for each group and only give users access to the appropriate bill sheets. When you invite people to see a stakeholder page, make sure to give them at least comment permission. (Note: If you would like people to get an email whenever you add a new post to the stakeholder page then you need to give them manage permission.)

If you think it would be helpful, you can reach out to us to train your users, either as a group training or as one-on-one training, or we can work together to create a document including (or not) an explanatory video.

8 Chapters

Create regional or single state sheets from a template then roll back up to national level

Explode one national sheet into regional or individual state sheets

If you are a national organization with state chapters or affiliates, you might like to have regional or individual state sheets for each organization to use. Depending on how you are organized you might want to 1) roll-up the bills identified by all 50 organizations into one master sheet, or 2) you might want to maintain the official bill list at the national level and then explode it out to regional sheets or even 50 individual state sheets.

1) To start at the regional or state level it is usually helpful to create a bill sheet with the standard set of options you want to use (like search terms) and then copy it over and over, changing the name each time and updating the query tab with the appropriate state(s). Once these sheets are created you can invite the appropriate people to use them (see details on user management here). If you want the state-level users to be able to edit the sheet, make sure you give them the appropriate permissions.

You can then roll these sheets up into one master national sheet to use as the basis of a map or for alerts or other purposes like analysis. Once your roll up is created, you can hide the individual state sheets from your account so that you only see the overall results.

2) To start at the national level and explode your sheet into regional or state sheets you have two options, depending on what you actually need.

If you only need to share regional or state widgets with each chapter for their website then you can actually create all of those widgets from your national website. On the widget tab, notice the state filter option where you can choose one or more states.

Once you have made your choice, click the generate script button. You will see where in the script to edit the state so you don't need to create each widget from the UI, just edit that one entry for each state or region you need.

If you actually do want several regional or individual state sheets, no problem. We can set up your account to automatically copy bills from your national sheet onto other sheets. You can optionally choose to keep bill comments in synch too. Reach out to us and we can help you set up this option.

9 Member Benefit

Share certain sheet(s) view only, allow members (or clients) to make their own searches

If you are a chamber or a trade association or even a consultant that would like to offer access to BillTrack50 as a member (or client) benefit, then we have some best practices to suggest. Every BillTrack50 subscription comes with unlimited users, and we consider offering seats to your members to be well within the spirit of our offer, we are happy to help you think through your options and even train your members.

First, you need to decide what you would like to share with your members -- bill sheets, stakeholder pages, scorecards, regulation sheets. Do you want them to be able to change them or just see them? Once you have your items and permissions clear in your mind you can start inviting interested members into your account. You might also consider creating a bill sheet for each member, named after them, with a sample search already set up. When you invite your member give them manage permission to that bill sheet you made for them. Remember you can hide a sheet from yourself after you make it, and only turn it back on if your member has a question and needs your help. Remember that users can only see items you've given them permission to, so they won't see your sheets or each other's sheets (unless you want them to). Just make sure not to give any members "security admin" access.

Once everything is set up and all of your members are invited we can schedule a training session, which we can also record for you to share. Alternately, we can record a short tutorial video walking through the features you think are relevant to your members and distribute that with a welcome email. We are happy to support your members directly when they have questions, or if you prefer we can direct all questions back to you.

If you don't want to actually invite members into your account you can also choose to publish a stakeholder page to our mobile app (details here). Then you can share the password or a QR code with your members and they can choose to sign up and get alerts to that bill sheet on their phone. They will also see any comments about the bills that you've chosen to share. You might set up several topics and let members sign up for whichever ones they are interested in.

10 Grassroots Discoveries

Often used with "Chapters" or "Member Benefit," have a common sheet everyone can access to share key bills with the whole group

If you would like to let your members, chapters, or other aligned organizations let you know about bills they've identified as important this is the workflow for you. Simply create a bill sheet called "Member Discoveries" or something along those lines, choose the appropriate state(s), and then create the sheet without choosing any keywords. Now give your members "query" permission to that sheet and let them know they can + important bills to that sheet -- exactly what counts as important is, of course, entirely up to you. You might want to add a comments column for them to explain why they are watching that bill in particular. A shared sheet like this can be a great way for members around the country to see what trends might be developing that they need to be aware of. We do not track who specifically adds important bills, so if knowing who specifically adds the bills is important to your process, and you share this with a wide audience, you might want them to sign their comments in the column with their name or some identifying information.

11 A La Cart

Add a specific list of bills by bill number

There are many reasons for wanting to compile a list of specific pre-identified bills. The nice thing about the a la cart option is that it helps support any existing bill identification process.

You can add a bill by a specific bill number and have the system save you time by keeping the status up to date and sending you alerts. Also by compiling a specific list you can then easily leverage our various sharing tools to publish information on your website. Read more here for help with searching for a specific bill by bill number.

If you have a whole list already on hand before you make your sheet, you'll want to read this blog for tips on how to add a bunch of bills at a time.

12 Mix and Match

Search by keyword and also add a specific list of bills by bill number

Perhaps you start out and create a bill sheet around a specific policy area or topic by using keywords. There are a lot of great reasons to set up your workflow around keyword searching but sometimes you will find you also need to add a few specific bills by bill number too. Perhaps you find a relevant bill in that topic or policy area that speaks to the issue without specifically using your keywords.

Fortunately, you can add specific bills onto a keyword sheet so you can track all the relevant bills in one convenient sheet. Read more here for help with searching for a specific bill by bill number.

13 The ONE

Create a bill sheet with a single bill for alert or sharing or widget purposes

To customize alerts for a single bill, you need to have it live on its own bill sheet.

Having a sheet with a single bill on it can be particularly helpful in advocacy, lobbying, or government relations perspective. Sometimes you have a make-or-break bill that requires its own alerts or its own focal point on your website. To create a single bill based bill sheet, create the sheet you want to have the bill and make sure you have selected the appropriate state on the query tab. Then you can add the single bill by its specific bill number (tips for how to search for that are here) or use the + to copy the bill over from another sheet.

14 Just the Facts

In conjunction with any other workflow, especially Cherry Picking or The Duck, also create a priority sheet with higher alert settings for especially key bills

If you have a slate of critical bills you can create a separate bill sheet to help you keep a closer eye on those specific bills. Simply create a new bill sheet, perhaps called "+Key Legislation." Make sure you select some (or all) states on the query tab when creating your key legislation sheet, otherwise you won't be able to add bills to it later.

If you name the sheet with an asterisk * or hashtag # or some other punctuation at the beginning of the name the sheet will always sort to the top of your bill sheet list, both in your navigation bar and when using the + to manage your bills. This trick makes it much easier to find your key bills, makes more convenient to add additional bills to the list as you identify them., and sorts the alerts on these bills to the top of your alerts email.

Now that you have your key bills on a separate sheet you can set alerts on this sheet at a high level to make sure you know about anything that happens with these critical bills without filling up your alert email with action alerts on bills you don't care as much about. You can also share just this list of key bills with others, like management, counsel, clients, policy committees, even on your website, without overwhelming them with the full scope of bills you are following.

A good focused just the facts list can be helpful in advocacy, consulting, lobbying, or other traditional government relations roles. It might also be a good anticipatory tool for some compliance-oriented users.

15 Insurance Policy

Make an extra broad sheet with lower-level alerts to give you peace of mind you won't ever miss anything

In conjunction with any other workflow, especially Cherry Picking or The Duck, you might also create a query with intentionally broad terms, then set alerts on only bills sent to committee or possibly even only crossed-over bills, depending on your needs and the politics in your state. You might not even set alerts but just come poke around the results once in a while. Having an insurance policy will hopefully let you focus on your work without having to feel worried that something has slipped past you.