State General Info

Included with the State Legislators add-on option

This section contains contact information for the State Governments and the Offices of State Legislatures.

§ Find contact information for a State Legislature’s House Clerk or Secretary of the Senate.

§ Go directly to a State’s House/Assembly or Senate website or the main government website.

Congress Committees

(Page 13)

This section contains detailed information on each committee and subcommittee, including rosters, key committee staff, and committee jurisdiction.

§ You can print roster reports. (see How-To Print Committee Rosters)

§ Print mailing labels. (see How-To Print Committee Staff Labels)

§ Save merge files which are addressed to the committee mailing address. Individual committee staff can be selected for these mailings. (see How-To Create Committee Mailings)

§ Link directly to the committee web site for hearing schedules and other information. (see How-To Open Committee Websites)

§ To combine several committees into one list, use the Members of Congress section. (see How-To Filter for Committees)

Congress Leadership

(Page 14)

This section contains Senate and House Leadership plus leadership staff.

§ Senate and House Leadership plus leadership staff are displayed. (see How-To View Leadership and Staff and How-To Print Leadership Reports)

Zip to District

Match

(Page 15)

This section allows you to find the Members who represent a Zip code or Zip+4.

§ See who represents a Zip code or Zip+4. (see How-To Find the Legislators that Represent an Address)

§ Link to the U.S. Post Office web site to lookup a Zip+4 for any address. (see How-To Get the Zip+4 for any Address)

Grass Roots

(Page 16)

Available only in the Professional Version

This section allows you to maintain a Grass Roots Key Contacts Database.

§ Import records directly from your membership or employee databases. Congressional District assignment is performed automatically when new records are entered or databases are imported. (see How-To Import Your Membership/Employee Database)

§ Action Alerts can be prepared and sent to constituents of specific Members of Congress. (see How-To Email an Action Alert)

§ Merge email is a unique feature where each email can contain the contact information of the recipients Member's of Congress. (see How-To Send a “Contact your Legislators” Email)

§ Print constituent lists and economic impact statements. (see How-To Print Grass Roots Reports)

Issue/Bill Tracking

(Page 18)

Automated service available in the Professional Version or as an add-on to Standard Version

This section allows you to centralize Bill and Issue information.

§ Centralize Bill and Issue information. (see How-To Add Bills and How-To Add Issues)

§ Record contact history. (see How-To Manage Whip Lists, How-To Create Journal Entries or How-To Add User Defined Fields)

§ Produce whip lists. (see How-To Manage Whip Lists)

§ Eliminate all data entry and instantly update the database with the latest Bill Information from Thomas using the Automated Issue/Bill Tracking upgrade. (see How-To Update Bill Summaries) [Available in the Professional Version or as an add-on to Standard Version – see price list]

Vote Tracking

(Page 20)

Automated service available in the Professional Version or as an add-on to Standard Version

This section allows you to record and analyze floor votes.

§ Produce Vote Report Cards. (see How-To Create a Vote Summary/Report Card)

§ Enter votes on you own. (See How-To Add and Record Votes Manually)

§ Automated Vote Database option. (see How-To Import Votes) [Available in the Professional Version or as an add-on to Standard Version – see price list]

Journal

(Page 21)

This section allows you to record contact history notes.

§ Record contact history notes. (see How-To Create Journal Entries)

§ Group by category, subject, etc. (see How-To Filter Journals)

§ Include in reports. (see How-To Print Journal Reports)

Members of Congress

How-To Filter

Click the Members of Congress button on the main menu.
From the gray menu bar select Filter.
There are 11 tabs of filter criteria that can be used in any combination, the 12^th tab labeled ‘Filter’ is a summary of the values you have selected. (Ex. Legislators tab, Party dropdown box, choose Democrats Only and then on the States/Counties tab, choose California)
After you have chosen all your values, click the Apply Filter button. This returns you to the grid but it now consists of only Members that fit the criteria you chose. (Ex. List is now only the 35 California Democrats)
To return to the 540 Members of Congress, click Filter, click Clear All Filter Values button, then click the Apply Filter button.

How-To Filter for State Executives

Click the Members of Congress button on the main menu.
From the gray menu bar select Filter.
In the Members of Congress dropdown box choose None Selected
In the State Executive dropdown box choose All Selected
Click the Apply Filter button. This returns you to the grid. (it now consists of only the 191 State Executives)
To return to the 540 Members of Congress, click Filter, click Clear All Filter Values button, then click the Apply Filter button.

How-To Filter for Committees

Click the Members of Congress button on the main menu.
From the gray menu bar select Filter.
Click the Committees tab, click on the name of the committee(s) and/or subcommittee(s), they are listed alphabetically starting with the Senate, then House Committees.
Click the Apply Filter button. This returns you to the grid, which now consists of only the Members of those committees
To return to the 540 Members of Congress, click Filter, click Clear All Filter Values button, then click the Apply Filter button.

How-To Sort the Members of Congress

This option allows you to change the list order of the Members of Congress; the default is alphabetical by last name.

1. Click the Members of Congress button on the main menu.

2. From the gray menu bar select Sort.

3. Choose your list order: Last Name, State/District, Room (ascending order) or Room in Descending Order (these two options make hand-delivery easier), or in Party/Last Name order.

How-To Email

If you are a Congress Plus^© Professional subscriber or if you subscribe to the HTML Email service as an additional option please go to the HTML Email Service section.

To Email Members of Congress (File, Email Staff)

Most Members of Congress do not have public email addresses it is best to choose a Staffer to direct the email to even if you formally address it to the Member.

Filter your list to include those Members to whom you would like to send emails.
Click File
Click Email Staff, now click the check boxes next to the staff position(s) and click the Create Email Message button.
Here you can type or paste in your Message, and Subject line. (text only)
Once you have made all necessary adjustments and are happy with the result, click Send.

To Add Merge Codes to your Message - Personalize each message by adding merge fields.

Select your Merge Field from the dropdown box.
Then place the cursor in the text where you would like the information to appear and click Insert Field.

Use the these fields:

For this result:

<< Legislator’s Name+Address >>

Dear << Legislator’s Title+Lastname >>

The Honorable Neil Abercrombie

U.S. House of Representatives

1502 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515-1101

Dear Congressman Abercrombie,

Click Preview Merge to see the emails one at a time with the merged information. Click Next Record and/or Previous Record if you would like to see how each email will appear to the recipients. Close.

To Add an Attachment to your Email

Click on the Attachment -> Add button on the top of the window.
Choose the file you wish to attach from the browser. Highlight and click Open.
The attachment will appear at the bottom of the window. (Only 1 attachment is possible with this version of email)

Troubleshooting Email

Current versions of Outlook contain security settings that may cause a window to pop-up for each email that says, “A program is trying to access email addresses you have stored in Outlook. Do you want to allow this? If this is unexpected, it may be a virus and you should choose “No”.” This is actually not unexpected it is your Congress Plus attempting to send the email messages you just created. You can answer “Yes” in fact you will need to hit “Yes” for each email you are sending. If you were sending a large number of them this could be time consuming and tedious. Here is what you can do:

Buy the Enhanced HTML Email Option (SendEmail) from The Soft Edge, Inc. It bypasses your Outlook altogether and gives you additional email functionality. Email us at info@thesoftedge.com for more information.
Your email Administrator can change each user’s email profile to allow third party software to access Outlook.
Acquire a program to auto-click the message box prompt. Please be aware that The Soft Edge, Inc. does not support these programs and your IT department must determine if their installation and use is appropriate.
Open a New Message in Outlook. Using Congress Plus, copy the email addresses to the Clipboard and paste the addresses into the BCC: field of your Outlook message. This option will not allow for merging in personalized data. See the next section titled Copy Emails Addresses for more information.

Copy Email Addresses

Open Congress Plus.
Select Members of Congress.
Filter for your list of recipients.
Click File, Email Staff.
Click the check box next to the staff position(s) to whom you would like to send the email.
Click the Copy Emails button.
Close Congress Plus and open a new message in your regular email, Outlook, GroupWise, etc.
Click in the Bcc… box so that your cursor appears there and Paste (Edit, Paste or right click, Paste or Ctrl+V, whichever function is the most comfortable for you) the To… and Cc… boxes should be blank. (Note: sending to groups larger then 30-50 email addresses could cause your email to be blocked)
Send your email.

HTML Email Service

Using this optional service, you can compose and send email messages in both HTML and Plain Text simultaneously. The email jobs are uploaded to The Soft Edge, Inc. email server for speedy, hassle free delivery. Knowledge of HTML Source programming is unnecessary.

§ HTML version can contain website, webpage, and email hyperlinks. (See How-To Add Hyperlinks)

§ The HTML messages can contain web page like graphical content and links. (See How-To Add an HTML Template and/or How-To Add a Graphic Signature)

§ The messages can be sent to Legislators, Congressional Staff, or Grass Roots contacts. (See How-To SendEmail)

§ Messages Templates can be saved and retrieved to speed the message creation process. (See How-To Save an Email Message or How-To Open a Saved Message)

§ Creating a HTML message is as easy as using your word processor. (see How-To Format an Email Message)

§ A log of all email jobs is also maintained. Messages can be retrieved from the email log database and reused. (See How-To Filter for Recipients of a Previous Email and How-to Open Sent Messages)

§ The message "From" address can be another person's email address. (See How to SendEmail)

§ You can Preview the messages in both HTML and plain text. The plain text Preview displays the message after inserting the live merge data. (See How-To SendEmail)

§ Test copies of the messages can be sent back to the sender or to a predefined approval group. (See How-To SendEmail)

How To … SendEmail

Start Congress Plus. Go to Members of Congress. (For Grass Roots mailings see How-To Email an Action Alert)
Filter to create a list of Members.
Click SendEmail on the gray menu bar. (If you get a message that you do not subscribe to this feature go to previous How-To Email section)
Choose Staff. (Most Members of Congress do not have public email addresses so send email messages directly to an appropriate staffer)
Click the check boxes next to the staff position(s) you would like to email, also click check boxes next to any User Defined Fields that you would like to use as merge fields in your email.
Click Create Email Message.
You can change the email address in the “From” box.
You can change the Name in the “Optional Name” box.
Type a Subject line.
Type the body/text of the email.
Click Preview to view the message in HTML format.
Click Merge to view the text with the merge data.
Click the Test button.
Type in the email addresses of your Test Recipients.
Click Send.
Your browser will come up with a page that says, “Upload Job File, press CRTL+V and then Enter.” Put your curser in the box and paste them click the submit button.
Close the screen confirming a successful upload.
Answer Yes to the next question, if your job was uploaded successfully.
Click the Save icon or click File on the gray toolbar and choose Save As.
Type in a new name message name and click Save. NOTE: This will only save the message and template NOT the recipients. (i.e. the filtered list)
Review the test email that appears in your regular email program, then go back to Congress Plus.
To send your broadcast email click Send.
Type in a Campaign Name and click OK.
Your browser will open to the page that asks you to hit (CTRL+V) then (enter).
It should tell you that the job has been accepted. Close the window.
Now answer Yes to the ‘Was your job accepted?’ question again.
The ‘From’ email address will receive a confirmation email that the email messages have been sent.

How-To Add Hyperlinks

Put the cursor where you would like to insert a hyperlink.
Click the Hyperlink icon (a little globe with chain link) on the toolbar or on the gray menu bar click Insert then Hyperlink.
A window with instructions pops up allowing you to type in the Text to display on HTML Page and the box to Enter a Web address or Email address.
After you have filled in both of these boxes click Insert Hyperlink button. It will insert a line of HTML code.
Click Preview to see the link as the recipient will and click on it to verify that it is working.

How-To Add an HTML Template

1. In order to get graphic content for your emails you need a Template (a graphic frame/border). If you do not have a Template send us your digital letterhead or logo (a Word document or PDF is fine) and we can make one for you! If you have a graphic designer that you would like to make the templates, it is very simple, contact The Soft Edge for more information.

2. After you have emailed us your letterhead, we will email an HTM document back to you. Please DO NOT OPEN the HTML Template! Right click on the attachment and save it. Make sure you remember where you saved it.

3. Now open your Congress Plus, click Members of Congress, click SendEmail, and choose Legislators.

4. Click the HTML Template button. Browse for your template (the HTM document you just saved), highlight it and click Open. It will show the template filename in the top blue bar.

5. Click Preview to view the HTML template.

6. If everything looks okay then hit Save and give it a name like Letterhead. Now you have saved a blank message with the letterhead attached for future use.

7. Close Congress Plus.

How-To Format the Text of the Email Message

® Use dropdown boxes to choose your fonts and font sizes

® Use B (bold). I (italics) and U (underlined) buttons

® Use the align left, align center and align right buttons

® Use the bullets button, the increase indent and the decrease indent buttons

® Setting text colors – Click the arrow next to the colored triangle. Click Pick Font Color to choose from a number of color swatches. Click Enter Font Color to type in an exact color value. (Hex Value as RRGGBB) If you are trying to match a color to your logo or template precisely, the designer of the logo/template should be able to give you that value.

® Use the / button or click Insert, Horizontal Line to add a horizontal line to your email.

How-To Save an Email Message - NOTE: This will only save the message and template NOT the recipients (i.e. the filtered list.)

Click Members of Congress on the main menu
Click SendEmail, Legislators
Create your Message
Click File, Save As
Type a name for the message
Click Save
Close

How-To Open a Saved Message

Click Members of Congress on the main menu.
Filter your list so only those Members to whom you would like to send this email to are on the grid.
Click SendEmail.
Click the Open icon.
Choose the Saved Message you want from the list on the left and click Open. (Ex. Letterhead)
Make any changes to the text you would like, when your letter is the way you want it. Click Send.
Hit (Ctrl+V) on the keyboard and then click the submit button.
When you get the screen that says your message was uploaded successfully, Close the window.
Answer Yes if your send was successful
Click Save
Type a new name. (Ex. Reception Invitation Ltr)
Click Save.
Close

How-To Add a Graphic Signature

If you have a graphic signature, i.e. a scanned image of a signature that you would like to include in your emails, it needs to be placed on an internet accessible server. The Soft Edge can do this for you if you send us the signature file. Then using the “absolute address” of the image you may add the file to an email.

You need the have the “absolute address” i.e. link, where the image is posted.
Put your cursor where you want the signature image to appear and click the Insert Image icon or click Insert, then choose Image on the top menu bar.
In the very first box of that window next to Image Source: paste the link.
Leave everything else blank (unless you understand it) and click the Insert Image button. This will insert a line of HTML code.
Click the Preview to see the signature as the recipient will.

How-To Filter for the Recipients of a Previous Email

Open Congress Plus.
Click Members of Congress or Grass Roots on the main menu.
Click Filter.
Click the Email Log tab.
If you need to use the options on the bottom to help you find the email you are looking for then you may filter for emails: within a date range, by message type, by campaign name, by subject, or by “From” name and email address. Make your choices then click the button on this tab called Apply Job Filter.
Look through the remaining email messages on the top and click to highlight the one(s) whose recipients you want to view/contact.
Click the Apply Filter button at the bottom of the window.

How-To Open a Previously Sent Email

Click Members of Congress on the main menu.
Filter your list of Members.
Click SendEmail, Staff. Choose your staff position(s). Click Next.
Click the arrow next to the Open icon and choose Sent Messages, or go to File, Open, and Sent Messages.
Click on to highlight the message you want to open. NOTE: This will open the message and template NOT the recipients, the recipients always come from the filtered list.
Make any changes to the text you would like, when your letter is the way you want it. Click Send.
Hit (Ctrl+V) on the keyboard and then click the Submit button.
When you get the screen that says your message was uploaded successfully, Close the window.
Answer to the next question Yes if your send was successful.
Close.

How-To Export a Fax List

Creating a fax list for use with Xpedite or other online broadcast fax service

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click on the Members of Congress button from the main menu.

3. Select the desired Members. Refer to the Filter section for directions on how to make your selections.

4. Click File on the gray menu bar on top and click Save As/Export Data. Select Mail Merge Data File, Members of Congress.

5. A screen will appear asking you to save the file. You may either save the file to the directory shown (the default directory) or change the location. Remember where Congress Plus is saving the file!

6. In the Save as File Type change the file type to Xpedite Mail Merge (*.csv) or Xpedite FaxReach (*.csv) depending on which Xpedite Service you are using. If you are not using an Xpedite service the default Excel (*.csv) format should work perfectly well.

7. Exit Congress Plus.

8. Go to the Xpedite website, or whichever fax service or software you use. If you do not have an account and/or login or have forgotten it you will need to contact Xpedite. Call The Soft Edge, Inc. (703-442-8353) and we will direct you to an account representative at Xpedite that can help you.

9. Follow the directions to import the data/file that was created with Congress Plus, create/import your letter and send your broadcast fax.

How-To Print Labels

Start Congress Plus.
Go into the Members of Congress section from the main menu.
Filter to create a list of Members for labels.
With the desired list on the screen, click File on the gray menu bar on top.
Select Labels.
Select whether you want their Capitol Offices, All District Offices, Main District Offices or Staff (then choose staff positions).
Select Label Style from the pull down menu whose measurements are closest to your labels. Click OK.
This will provide a print preview of the labels before printing. This is only a preview therefore if you wish to edit them you must Save (Ex: labels.rft) and then open the file in Word
Click Print. Another window will appear, allowing you to select pages as necessary as well as other options.
Click Print. The labels should be printing.
Click Close.

How-To Mail Merge

Create a Mail Merge Letter to Members of Congress

Start the Congress Plus program.
Click Members of Congress.
Click Filter and choose the Members. (Ex: Members of Congress, House Only) Click Apply Filter.
Click File, Save As/Export Data, Mail Merge Data File, Members of Congress.
Select any Staffers and/or User Defined Fields you would like to include or leave all blank and click Next.
Select your “Save in:” folder, give the file a name and click Save.
Close Congress Plus and open your letter in your word processing program.
Choose the file you just created with Congress Plus as your data source.
A standard address block and salutation for a formal letter will use the following fields:

Use the these fields:

For this result:

«FormalName»

«CapStreet1»

«CapStreet2»

«CapCityStZip»

Dear «Salutation»,

The Honorable Neil Abercrombie

U.S. House of Representatives

1502 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515-1101

Dear Congressman Abercrombie,

How-To Print Reports

Go into the Members of Congress section from the main menu.
Filter the information you wish to view on your screen.
Click File, Print.
Select the report you want to print:

8 Main Report Types

§ List of Members (opt. Staff Column) - This will print the basic Name/Address/District information and can include a staff column such as Chiefs of Staff, with their email addresses.

§ List of Members Selected Staff, UDFs - This will print basic name and contact information and will allow you to choose which Staff and User Defined Fields that you would like to include in the report.

§ List of Members w/Staff, Cmtes – This will print basic name and contact information along with a full listing of staff names and committee assignments.

§ List of Members w/User Defined Fields – This will print basic name and contact information along with a listing of the UDFs associated with each of those Members and each UDFs’ values.

§ Member Detail Report – This report allows you to include basically all the information in the Members’ records. A form will come up that allow you to choose what information is included and what is excluded.

§ Committee Rosters – This Report is independent from the onscreen grid. It will give you options as to which Committee(s) you would like to print Member rosters for.

§ List Legislators by County - This Report is independent from the onscreen grid. It allows you to choose a state and print an alphabetical county listing for that state with the Member(s) that represent that county or part of that county.

§ Do Not Send Email Report - This Report is independent from the onscreen grid. It will give you the list of email addresses that are on your do not send list.

You will see a preview of the report.
Select Print. A window will appear to select pages before printing.
To save your report, click the Save button.
Choose a location to which the report will be saved.
Name the report. Ex. WI_delegation_report
The report will save as an .rtf file (rich text format). This type of file can be opened in Microsoft Word as a table.
To return to the grid, click Close.

How-To Create Journal Entries

Create a Journal from the Journal Section

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click the Members of Congress button from the main menu.

3. Highlight the Member you wish to make a journal entry for.

4. Click Tools on the gray menu bar on top.

5. And choose Make a Journal Entry, For Selected Legislator or For All Listed Legislators.

6. Type in a Subject.

7. Choose an Entry Type. Ex. Phone call, Email, etc.

8. To choose or add Contact(s). Click Select. A new window will appear.

a. At the top is a dropdown box labeled “Show Names From:” with different lists of contact names. Select from the list you want and the contacts on that list will appear in the box on the bottom left.

b. Click on a name on the left to add it to the list on the right. To add a new name that is not yet on the list, type the name in box above the list on the left and then click the Add button.

c. You may choose to add another name. Select another name from the list by highlighting it or choose another name from another list and click Add.

d. To remove a person from the list on the right, highlight the name in the right column and click the Remove button.

e. Click OK. All of the names that were in the right hand list will now appear in your journal entry.

9. Choose an Author. Either type in a name or select one from the pull down menu.

10. Date and Time can be changed to any past or future date or time. You may choose to time phone calls by using the Timer feature or type in values (Hours: Minutes: Seconds).

11. Record any notes or comments (text only).

12. At the bottom of the window is a button called Categories. When you click on this button another screen will appear. Select a Category already listed by checking the box. You may choose more than one.

® You may add or remove a Category from this list by clicking on the Add/Remove Categories button on the lower right side. Another screen will appear. Either highlight a category you wish to remove and click the Remove button or type the name of a new Category and click the Add button. Click Ok.

13. You may also add an attachment to the journal using the buttons at the bottom of the page.

14. If you are networked and do not wish to share access to this Journal entry, check the Private box in the lower right corner. Only you (and the admin) will have access to this Journal entry.

15. Click Save. You will be returned to the list of journals.

Make a Journal Entry from the Member’s Detail Record

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click the Members of Congress button from the main menu.

3. Double click on the Member you wish to make a journal entry for or click on the View Details button after highlighting the Member.

4. Click on the Journal tab.

5. Click the New button.

6. Create your journal entry (see preceding section for details on making journal entries)

7. Click Save.

How-To Add a User Defined Field (UDF) to More than One Member

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click on the Members of Congress button on the main menu.

3. Filter your list of Members. (Ex. States/Counties, Florida)

4. Click Tools on the gray menu bar on top and choose Add User Defined Field.

5. Type in a Field Name. (Ex. Reception Invitation) This is a bit like a group of three fields actually, each for a different type of data. When you create a UDF all three types are created automatically. You are not required to add values to all the fields but we suggest you add values to at least one of the fields.

® FieldName_Text (text only)

® FieldName_Number (numbers only, no commas, no symbols)

® FieldName_Date (date only)

(For this Example type in “emailed” in the text field then as you receive responses you can go to each Member and change the Reception_Invitation_Text value to “Confirmed” or “Declined”)

6. Click on the Step 2 tab.

7. In the Select Names for List From: dropdown box choose Legislators Listed in Grid.

8. Click to highlight the individual Members you want to have this UDF or click the Select All button. Clicking a selected Member will unselect them.

9. Click OK.

10. A screen will appear asking, “About to Add New Fields for Selected Members. Are you sure?” then click OK.

11. Those Members should now have a UDF called 'Reception Invitation’ with the Text field value “emailed”, and the Number and Date field values blank.

Editing a User Defined Field (UDF) for Only One Member

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click on the Members of Congress button on the main menu.

3. Highlight the Member’s name and click View Details.

4. Click the User Defined Fields Tab.

5. Highlight the UDF you would like to edit and click the Edit button above.

6. You may now change the Field Name, and its Text value, Number value, and/or Date value for this Member only.

7. Click Save. The changes will appear in the grid.

How-To View Constituents

Start Congress Plus.
Click on the Members of Congress button on the main menu.
Filter for the list of Members you want to target for this grass roots campaign.
Click the View Constituents for Listed Legislators button.
The Grass Roots grid will open showing the constituents of the Members you filtered for that are in your database. Now you can use this listing to send a communication to those people/organizations.

How-To View the Constituents of One Member of Congress

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click on the Members of Congress button on the main menu.

3. Highlight the Member’s name and click View Constituents for Selected Legislator.

4. The Grass Roots grid will open showing the constituents of the Members you filtered for that are in your database.

5. You can now email these grass roots contacts, export a mail merge data file, print labels, print reports, etc. Click File, the first six options are for communicating with the Member the next six are for communicating with these grass roots contacts.

How-To Export Data to your PDA

1. Start Congress Plus

2. Click on the Members of Congress button on the main menu

3. Click File, SaveAs/Export Data, PDA or Palm Pilot Data File

4. Click the Print Instructions button and print these more detailed instructions.

5. Select the destination, in other words the program on your desktop that you sync your handheld device with. Outlook, Palm Desktop or Lotus.

6. Choose which file to export: Congress or Committees

7. Choose which information to include in the file with the check boxes

8. Click OK and Save the file, PDA_Congress.csv or PDA_Committees.csv, somewhere you will find it easily.

9. Close Congress Plus

10. Make sure that your desktop software and your handheld have identical contact data, if not then do a sync before moving on to the next step

11. Start your desktop program

12. Click Contacts

13. Create 2 Categories: Congress and Cong Cmtes. Later when you update the data you will delete all the entries for these categories and import the new data from Congress Plus

14. Import the files PDA_Congress and PDA_Committees, make sure the fields are lining up correctly

15. Now sync with your handheld so that the desktop overwrites your handheld.

Committees

How-To Print a Committee Roster

1. First choose the chamber for the committee you are interested in by clicking the dot next to Senate, House or Joint.

2. Now from the dropdown box choose the Committee or Subcommittee of interest. They are listed alphabetically

3. There will be 4 tabs of information

§ Member Roster - this tab also includes general information about the Committee

§ Staff – This tab includes a listing of the Committee Staff

§ Journal – This tab includes any Journal entries there are for that Committee

§ Jurisdiction – here is the official description of the jurisdiction of this Committee

4. Click File.

5. Choose Print Committee Information.

6. A window will pop up with Report Options. Leave the options in their defaults in order to get a roster of the selected committee. Or use the first set of options to add subcommittees or to print multiple committees, like all House Committees. Use the second set of options to add information such as staff names and jurisdiction. Use the bottom set of options to change the page breaks from no page breaks to having every committee and subcommittee on a separate page.

7. Click OK, this will bring up a preview of the report.

8. Click Print and/or Save, the file will save as an .rtf document which opens as a Word table, an .htm document for use on a website, or a .pdf document.

9. Close

How-To Print Committee Staff Labels

1. Choose your Chamber, and then choose your Committee or Subcommittee

2. Click on the Staff tab

3. Click on individual Staff names that you would like labels for, or click on the Select All button

4. Click the Mail Labels button

5. Choose the label style which has the measurements closest to your labels and click OK

6. A preview will come up and you may then Print the labels, in order to make changes you will first need to Save them as a .rtf file and open them in Word to make your changes there.

7. Close

How-To Create Merge Files for Committee Letters

1. Choose your Chamber, and then choose your Committee or Subcommittee

2. Click File.

3. Choose Save as Member Mail Merge File.

4. Your default Congress Plus folder will appear. Name the file and click Save

5. You may now go to your word processing program and use this file to create a mail merge.

NOTE: These will all go the Committee Office. If you would like to send letters to the Members regular offices you need go to the Members of Congress Section and Filter for the Committee Name, then create your labels/envelopes.

How-To Open Committee Websites

1. First choose the chamber for the committee you are interested in by clicking the dot next to Senate, House or Joint.

2. Now from the dropdown box choose the Committee or Subcommittee of interest. They are listed alphabetically

3. Click the Go to Website button

Leadership

How-To View Leadership and Staff

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click the Leadership button on the main menu.

3. Choose House or Senate in the upper left. A listing of both parties’ leadership offices is shown along with contact information.

4. Highlight a position and click View Website to view the Office/Position’s website if they have one.

5. Double click on a leadership position, or highlight and click View Staff for a staff listing for that office.

How-To Print Leadership Reports

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click the Leadership button on the main menu.

3. Choose House or Senate in the upper left.

4. Click Reports

® List of Leadership. You will get a listing of all the leadership positions and contact information. Here you can Print and/or Save the report.

® Leadership Office and Staff for a multi-page report of the contact information and all staff for each office.

® Double click on the office you are interested in so the staff listing is displayed. Click Report in this window to print a report of the staff listing for this office only.

Zip to District

If you have an entire database of contacts that you would like matched you may be interested in our Congress Plus Professional Version which allows for a Grass Roots Database to be imported, matched to Congressional Districts and used to send and manage outreach to those contacts.

Or inquire about our Zip Match services. For a one time fee The Soft Edge will match all the Contacts in your database to their Congressional Districts.

How-To Find the Members that Represent an Address Based on the Zip+4

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click Zip to District Match on the main menu.

3. Type in a 5-digit zip code.

4. You may get a window explaining that more than one Congressional District falls within this zip code but it will give you the best guess district number. (This is the district that overlaps this zip code, with the highest number of registered voters.) Click OK.

5. It will then take you to the Members of Congress grid showing only the two Senators and the “best guess” Congressional Representative.

6. To be certain you need the zip+4 (Close and see below)

How-To Get the Zip+4 for any Address

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click Zip to District Match on the main menu.

3. Click the Find Zip+4 button, this will take you to the U.S. Post Office Website.

4. Type in the complete street address and click Submit.

5. You will get the +4 for that address. Copy the entire zip+4 and close your browser.

6. Paste in the zip code and the +4 and Click OK.

7. You will be back at a Members of Congress grid with only the 3 Members that represent that address. Here you can see details about the Members, print labels and reports etc.

Grass Roots

How-To Import Your Membership/Employee Database

The fastest way to get started is to import an existing database. The types of databases Congress Plus supports are: ASCII comma separated/delimited, DBase 3 & 4, FoxPro 2.0 & 2.5, Access and Paradox 3.x and 4.x. If you have an unsupported database, export your data as an ASCII Comma Delimited file.

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click the Grass Roots button on the main menu.

3. Your grid will initially be empty. Click File on the gray menu bar on top and then select Import/Update.

4. A screen will appear asking you to choose the type of database you are importing. Highlight your selection and click OK. For ASCII files, before you import, check to make sure that the first record contains the field names.

5. Browse for the file you wish to import. Highlight the file and click Open.

6. A screen will appear asking you to match the field list of Congress Plus (grid on the right) with your file fields (grid on the left). You need to click and hold on a Congress Plus field and drag it over to the appropriate matching field. Ex: Your file's field name = Org. Name, Congress Plus Field List Name = Company Name

7. If you have extra fields you wish to import into Congress Plus, but there isn't a matching field name, you can place them under User Defined Field. You can use this field as many times as you wish.

8. After you have finished matching all the fields, click the Replace Records button. When it's finished, it will tell you that the table was imported successfully. Click OK.

9. Your grid should now contain all the contacts you imported. Each Grass Roots contact is automatically linked to their Members as constituents at the time of data entry or file import. (It will match to a 5-digit ZIP code but a 9-digit ZIP+4 is more accurate. If you have only 5-digit zip codes contact The Soft Edge, Inc. for more information about our services to add the Zip+4.)

How-To Email an Action Alert

Start Congress Plus.
Click on the Members of Congress button on the main menu.
Filter for the list of Members you want to target for this grass roots campaign.
Click the View Constituents button.
The Grass Roots grid will open showing the contacts in your database that are the constituents of those Members based on a home or a work address.
Click SendEmail.
Choose Use Preferred Mail to Address.
In the body of your message include that contact’s Member’s contact information. Use one of the Merge Fields that start [[Sen/Rep from Filter -… to be sure that you are targeting the Members that were in your filtered list of Members (In other words the contact may live and work in different congressional districts and/or states so choosing the Member based on the address rather than the Members on the filtered list could give you the wrong results)

Use this field:

For this result: (Example)

[[Sen/Rep from Filter-All Information]]

Use the website to send an email on the web-form or just give them a call!

Congressman Duncan Hunter (R)

Capitol Mailing Address:

The Honorable Duncan Hunter

U.S. House of Representatives

2265 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515-0552

Website: http://www.house.gov/hunter/

Email:

Capitol Phone: 202-225-5672 Fax: 202-225-0235

Use the website to send an email using the web-form or just give them a call!

How-To Send a “Contact your Legislators” Email

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click the Grass Roots button on the main menu.

3. Filter your list of Grass Roots contacts.

4. Click SendEmail.

5. Choose Use Preferred Mail to Address.

6. Create your message.

7. Put your cursor where you would like to input their Legislators’ contact data.

8. In the dropdown box Merges use Legislators for this Address choose preferred, home or work.

9. Choose your merge codes and insert them, to include contact information on both of their Senators and their US Representative use the following merge codes:

Use these fields:

For this result: (Example)

[[Contact's Name+Address]]

Dear [[Contact's Prefix]] [[Contact's Lastname]],

[[USCong - All Information]]

Mr. Randy Ardell Jr.

1 Rancho Carmel Dr

San Diego, CA 92128-3403

Dear Mr. Ardell,

Your Senators are:

US Senators for California.........etc.

How-To Print Grass Roots Reports

Start Congress Plus.
Click on the Members of Congress button on the main menu
Filter for the list of Members you want to target for this grass roots campaign
Click Reports, choose:

§ GR Contacts Detail Report – The default report title is Key Contacts, this can be changed. Change the sort order. You may check the box if you want a page break after each Member of Congress or after each Contact. This report can include the Work and/or Home address information, Employee data, Legislators, User Defined Fields, Notes and/or Journals for these Constituents.

§ GR Contacts Address Report – Basically a Contacts Detail Report but it includes only the
Constituents’ mailing addresses for both work and home.

§ GR Contact Totals by Legislator- This report will print the number of GR Contacts for each Legislator in State/District order.

§ GR Contacts by State and District – Economic Impact Statement - This report includes the Work and Home addresses and also 2 additional columns of your choice from Company Data: Employees, Revenue, Taxes, Salaries, Contribs, and/or xnum.

You will preview the report before printing.
Select Print. A window will appear to select pages.
To save your report, click the Save button.
Choose a location to which the report will be saved
Name the report. Ex. WI_delegation_report
The report will save as an .rtf file (rich text format). This type of file can be opened in Microsoft Word as a table.
To return to the grid, click Close.

Issue/Bill Tracking

How to Add an Issue

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click Issue/Bill Tracking on the main menu.

3. Click the Add New button on the upper right.

4. Choose the Type of Bill. Choose either Senate or House

5. Next to Step 2 Bill Number or Issue delete the S. and type in your issue title. Example “Stem Cell Research”

6. Leave today’s date or change.

7. Click OK.

8. A blank record will appear.

9. At the top in the dropdown box under Position you can choose None, For or Against.

10. Type in any comments/talking points that your organization has about this bill and click Close to save them.

11. Click the second tab labeled Mbr Positions to create a Whip List.

12. Click the Status tab, click Add New to add entries to this tab

13. Click the Cosponsors, Add or Modify to create your own list

14. Click the Amendments, click Add New to add entries to this tab

15. Click the Referred Cmte, click Add New to add entries to this tab

16. Click Bill Text tab, type in any information additional information here

How to Add a Bill

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click Issue/Bill Tracking on the main menu.

3. Click the Add New button on the upper right.

4. Choose the Type of Bill. For this Example choose Senate

5. Type in the Bill Number. For this Example you want it “S. 3”

6. Verify the year and/or day if possible that the Bill was introduced. (2005)

7. Click OK.

8. A blank record will appear. Click the Web Page button to open the bill summary on Thomas

9. At the top in the dropdown box under Position you can choose None, For or Against.

10. Type in any of the summary information, and in the Comments section add comments/talking points that your organization has about this bill

11. Click the second tab labeled Mbr Positions to create your own Whip List.

12. Click the Status tab, click Add New to add entries to this tab using Thomas as your source

13. Click the Cosponsors, Add or Modify to create the list of Cosponsors by referencing Thomas

14. Click the Amendments, click Add New to add entries to this tab

15. Click the Referred Cmte, click Add New to add entries to this tab

16. Click Bill Text tab, type in any information additional information here

How-To Update Bill Summaries

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click Issue/Bill Tracking on the main menu.

3. Click the Add New button on the upper right.

4. Choose the Type of Bill. For this Example choose Senate

5. Type in the Bill Number. For this Example you want it “S. 3”

6. Verify the year and/or day if possible that the Bill was introduced. (2005)

7. Click OK. A blank record will appear.

8. At the top in the dropdown box under Position choose None, For or Against.

9. Go down to the section labeled Comments, type in any comments/talking points that your organization has about this bill and click Close to save them. This field will not change when you update the bill status.

10. Click the Update button. The bill summary data will appear in the record.

11. Click the second tab labeled Mbr Positions to create your own Whip List.

12. Click the Status tab to see a chronological listing of the actions taken on the bill

13. Click the Cosponsors tab to see a list of the cosponsors of the bill

14. Click the Amendments tab to see a list of the amendments to the bill

15. Click the Referred Cmte tab to see a listing of committees the bill has been referred to

16. Click Bill Text tab

a. Click the Go To Web Page button at the top

b. Click Text of Legislation.

c. Copy and Paste the text or if the text is too large. Create a file and place the file location on this tab for reference.

How to Manage a Whip List in Congress Plus

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click Issue/Bill Tracking on the main menu.

3. Highlight the Bill and click View Bill Details.

4. Click the second tab labeled Mbr Positions.

5. Record Member Positions More Than One at a Time

a. Click Edit All.

b. You can change the Sort Order using the dropdown list.

c. First select Members by clicking on their names or choose an option from the Select These Members dropdown box.

d. Then choose a position for those Members in the Set Position To dropdown box and click the Set Position button.

e. Repeat steps a-d as needed to fill in Member positions

f. Again select Members by clicking on their names or choose an option from the Select These Members dropdown box.

g. This time in the Assigned To box, type in the name of someone in your office, click Set Assigned To.

h. Repeat steps f-g as needed to make all assignments

i. Close

6. How to Record Member Positions One at a Time

a. In the Find Name box type the Members last name until they appear in the Name box at the top of the tab.

b. Then change the position, add comments (Example: “per phone conversation 5/19/05 with COS)

c. In Assigned To, type in the name of the person in your office who targets this Member.

d. Click Save

7. How to Print a Member Position Report/Whip List

a. Click Issue/Bill Tracking on the main menu.

b. Highlight the Bill you want to record positions for and click View Bill Details.

c. Click the Mbr Position tab.

d. Click Filter, to create more focused lists (Example; choose the Committees tab, choose a commitee and click the OK button)

e. Click the Position Report button, change the title to “House Energy Committee ” and change the Sort by to Room and Building. Click Run Report.

f. Print the report and/or Save it and email it to someone as an attachment.

Vote Tracking

How-To Create a Vote Summary/Report Card

This option allows you to create a report that summarizes the how each Member voted, when they voted with or against your organization’s position and for all the votes listed a percentage of correlation between each Member’s votes and your organization’s position.

1. Click Reports on the gray menu bar.

2. Choose Vote Summary Report.

3. A window will appear. Here you can choose your options for how the report will look. You may also create a new UDF, which is then added to the Members of Congress section, of the vote percentage (i.e. the percentage of the included votes where that Member voted with your organization’s position) (NOTE: the UDF is created for all 540 Members although only those chosen for this report can have a number value greater than zero)

4. Click the Step 2 tab and choose the votes you would like included.

5. Click the Step 3 tab and choose the Members you would like included based on the state they represent.

6. Click Run Report or Save to File.

7. A preview of the report will appear which you may Print and/or Save.

How-To Add and Record Votes Manually

1. Open Congress Plus

2. Click Vote Tracking

3. Click Find-Votes Bills go to the House or Senate websites or go to Thomas to find the vote summary, print and go back to Congress Plus.

4. Click Add New Button

5. Fill in the Roll Call Vote information, especially the first line; Roll Call Number, Date, Chamber, Congress, and Session. Also remember to set your position on the vote: For, Against or None.

6. Click Ok. It will ask if you want to record votes now. Click Yes

7. Use the Sort dropdown box to change the order of the Members in the grid

8. Use the Party dropdown to filter for Democrats, Republicans or Independents

9. Select those who voted Yea by first clicking on the names to highlight Members or click the Select All button, then click the Yea button on the left.

10. Select and assign the Nay, Present and Not Voting Members.

11. If you are recording a vote that is not recent it may include Members that are no longer in Congress, double click a name in the dropdown box choose the district you want to change the name on, type in the name of the Former Member of Congress and change the Party and Vote if necessary, and click Save.

12. If you would like to add comments to a Member about double click on the name, type in your comments then click Save.

13. Click Close button at the bottom of the page

How to Import Votes

1. Click Vote Tracking on the main menu.

2. From the top gray menu bar choose Find-Votes Bills and choose the Chamber, Congress, and Session.

3. On the Webpage find the vote(s) that you would like imported into your Congress Plus and note the Roll Call Numbers.

4. Email the Chamber, Congress, Session, and Roll Call Numbers to info@thesoftedge.com.

5. The Soft Edge will then email you back an attachment.

6. Right click the attachment and choose Save As, change the file name VotesRequested.mdb and save that file somewhere you can find it easily.

7. Open Congress Plus again and click Vote Tracking.

8. Click the Import button.

9. Browse for the file you were just sent. Highlight it and click Open.

10. Click the Import Votes button.

11. Now highlight the first vote and click Edit. Here you can indicate your organization’s position on this vote. (None, For or Against) If you do not choose a position the system assume “For” when creating vote summary reports.

Journal

How-To Create Journal Entries

Create a Journal from the Journal Section

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click the Journal button from the main menu.

3. Click the New button.

4. Type in a Subject.

5. Choose an Entry Type. Ex. Phone call, Email, etc.

6. Choose an Office. Click Select. Choose Members of Congress, State Executive or Congressional Committees from the dropdown. Click on to highlight your choice on that list and click Ok.

7. To choose or add Contact(s). Click Select. A new window will appear.

a. At the top is a dropdown box labeled Show Names From: with different lists of contact names. Select from the list you want and the contacts on that list will appear in the box on the bottom left.

b. Click on a name on the left to add it to the list on the right. To add a new name that is not yet on the list, type the name in box above the list on the left and then click the Add button.

c. You may choose to add another name, select another name from that list by highlighting it or choose another name from another list.

d. To remove a person from the list on the right, highlight the name in the right column and click the Remove button.

e. Click OK. All of the names that were in the right hand list will now appear in your journal entry.

8. Choose an Author. Either type in a name or select one from the pull down menu.

9. Date and Time can be changed to any past or future date or time. You may choose to time phone calls by using the Timer feature or type in values Hours: Minutes: Seconds.

10. Record any notes or comments (text only).

11. At the bottom of the window is a button called Categories. When you click on this button another screen will appear. Select a Category already listed by checking the box. You may choose more than one.

12. You may also add an attachment to the journal using the buttons at the bottom of the page.

13. If you are networked and do not wish to share access to this Journal entry, check the Private box in the lower right corner. Only you (and the admin) will have access to this Journal entry.

14. Click Save. You will be returned to your grid screen.

Filter – How to Filter your Journal Entries

Example: You wish to view only the phone call and meeting Journal Entries.

1. Start Congress Plus.

2. Click on the Journal button from the main menu.

3. Click on the Filter button.

4. Click on the Select button next to one of the filter criteria. A new window opens. Highlight those criteria you want applied from the list on the left nd they will appear in the list at the right.Click OK. Example: Click Select next to Entry Types. Highlight Phone Call and Meeting. Click OK.

5. After you have finished choosing all your selections, click Apply Filter at the bottom of the Filter Selection Form. You should now have narrowed down your Journal Entries to only phone calls and meetings

6. To return to a listing of all your entries click Filter then the Clear All Filter Values button, then Apply Filter .

How-To Print Journal Entry Reports

1. Open Congress Plus.

2. Click Journal on the main menu.

3. Filter your list.

4. Click File, Report or click Report from the gray menu bar.

5. Choose from

§ List of Journal Entries – a list of the entries currently onscreen without the notes/text

§ All Journal Entries – the complete detail of all entries currently onscreen therefore includes complete notes/text of the entry

§ Selected Journal Entry – the complete detail of the single entry currently highlighted

You will preview the report before printing.
Select Print. A window will appear to select pages.
To save your report, click the Save button.
Choose a location to which the report will be saved.
Name the report.
The report will save as an .rtf file (rich text format). This type of file can be opened in Microsoft Word as a table.
To return to the grid, click Close.