How to build your first project?
This guide introduces the main steps of managing projects on the Go Vocal platform:
1. Logging in and exploring the back end.
Use the invitation email from your administrator, or go to your platform and click Log in.
If prompted, take the onboarding tour to explore features.
If the tour does not appear, contact support to activate it.
2. Creating and configuring a project.
Steps:
Go to the Projects tab.
Click New Project and choose from scratch or from a template.
Enter project name, tags, areas, and upload pictures.
Save your project.
Project settings on the General tab:
Set up: update title, tags, areas, images, and URL (slug), and write a short description or use the content builder for advanced formatting.
Input Tags: if using ideation, define tags for categorizing inputs.
Access rights: control visibility, default assignee, and project managers.
Data: remove test inputs before publishing.
3. Planning your project phases and participation methods.
In the Timeline tab you can configure our timeline, phases and participation methods. Each phase of the timeline has a phase start/end date and a participation method. Common methods include:
Collect input and feedback: gather ideas on a list or map, with voting and commenting.
Proposals, petitions, initiatives: allow citizens to submit and support proposals.
Surveys: collect private feedback.
Voting/prioritization: participants vote or rank options (e.g., participatory budgeting).
Share information: provide updates and results.
Volunteering: recruit participants for activities.
Document annotation: collect feedback directly on documents.
Example timeline:
Collect ideas.
Analyze results.
Provide updates.
Invite voting or prioritization.
Share final report.
4. Testing and launching your project.
Test the project:
(Premium/Enterprise) use Share to generate a test link for internal review.
Launch the project:
Click Publish to go live immediately, or
Click Request Approval (Premium/Enterprise) to submit for admin/folder manager approval.
5. Managing participants and inputs.
Communicate with participants:
Use the Audience tab to look at your project demographics, download the list of participants and monitor traffic
Send direct emails via the Messaging tab.
for each phase use the Notifications tab to turn automatic emails on and off
Manage inputs:
Use the Input Manager to assign or reassign inputs.
Move or copy inputs between phases if needed.
Ensure someone is responsible for processing posts in your project settings General tab > Access rights.
6. Analyzing results and closing the project.
Add a final Information phase to publish outcomes.
Use the Report builder to summarize results.
Apply the AI Sensemaking tool to analyze large volumes of input.
Publish the report so participants are informed of the final decision.
ℹ️ For more information on the participation methods on our platform to use read: Overview of our Participation methods