Logging in to Your Platform
Start by logging in to your platform. If this is your first time, you should have received an email from your platform administrator with instructions to get started. If you have logged in before, go to your platform and click the Log in button.
Your Platform's Back End
When you log in to the back end of your platform for the first time, a notification will appear in the bottom right corner, prompting you to start the onboarding tour. We would recommend that you complete this tour before reading this article.
If the notification doesn’t appear, contact our support team via the chat button and ask them to activate it for you.
The most important section in your back end is the Projects tab.
How to set up a project
How to set up a project
🚀 Starting a project
To create a project, go to the Projects tab. Start a new project by clicking on the New Project button.
You can choose to create a project from scratch or from a template. We advise you to get to know the platform by creating a project from scratch.
Start with filling out the project name and choosing tags and areas. Tags and areas can help the visitors of your platform to filter projects. If the follow function is enabled, people following a tag or area will be notified by email when your project is published. Add project pictures and click save.
⚙️ Update your project settings
Click on the settings button in the upper right corner to update your project settings. The different tabs allow you to change different settings:
General tab:
In the general tab, you can:
Update the title, tags, areas and images related to your project
Update the URL of your project by updating the slug field.
Description tab:
You have two options to enter your project description:
Directly in the description box: keep it simple and enter text and if pertinent pictures in the box
With the content builder, you can add more formats and images to your description. Turn on the toggle of the content builder if you want to use it, and click on the link which appears. Click here to learn more about how the content builder works.
Project tags:
If you choose ideation as a method, you can manage the tags here by which participants can categorise their inputs.
Access rights:
In this tab, you can decide:
Who can see the project
To whom the inputs for the project will automatically be assigned
Who are the project managers
Data:
You might have tested your project by adding some input before publishing. Here you can remove all participant data before you publish the project.
Now click on the back button to go back to your project.
🏗️ Create your project timeline & phases
Your project will consist of multiple phases. When setting up your project, planning these phases in advance is important. Typically, projects begin with a phase for collecting input and conclude with a phase for reporting the results. Intermediate phases may include information phases to provide updates or participation phases to refine the collected input.
Start with creating your first phase
Give your phase a name and decide what the beginning and end dates are.
Next, choose your participation method for this phase. Depending on which method you choose, the information below the boxes will update.
These are the different participation methods we offer:
Collect input and feedback: Invite participants to submit and discuss inputs on a list or a map. Here, you can also create an option analysis where you only add inputs and participants react to these.
Proposals, petitions, or initiatives: Allow participants to submit proposals to which they need to gather a certain amount of votes within a set time frame.
Surveys: Gather private feedback by inviting participants to complete a survey.
Voting or prioritization: Enable participants to vote on options using different voting methods and help prioritize them. This includes a participatory budgeting exercise.
Share information: Provide key updates and resources to participants. This includes creating reports after your participation phase is done.
Volunteering: Encourage participants to sign up for activities.
Document annotation: Collect participant feedback directly on a PDF document.
A typical setup could be: You start by gathering ideas and input through Collect Input, Proposals, or Surveys. After analyzing the data, you provide an update using the information method. Next, participants vote on potential solutions, and finally, you report back on the final decisions with the information method using our report builder.
If you want to dig deeper into the possibilities of every participation method, click here or experience them on our demo platform.
At this point, we recommend you take a break from reading and experiment with setting up a simple project before moving on to the next section.
How to launch a project
How to launch a project
🔬 Test Your Project
Before publishing your project, you should test it and gather internal feedback. You can do this by clicking the Share button in the top right corner if you have a Premium or Enterprise license. This feature allows you to generate a shareable link and send it to a reviewer for feedback.
🚀 Launch Your Project
When you're ready to launch, you have two options:
Publish immediately – Click the Publish button to make your project publicly available.
Request approval first (Premium & Enterprise licenses only) – Click the Request Approval button to notify your admins and/or folder manager for review. Once approved, the button will change to Publish, allowing you to proceed with launching your project.
How to manage your project
How to manage your project
🔈 Communicating with your Audience
Once your project is launched, input will start coming in, and you have to follow up on it.
You can track who submitted input via the Participants tab in your project. To see where they are coming from, check the Traffic tab. We recommend monitoring this regularly to adjust your communication strategy if you’re not reaching your target audience.
When participants follow your project or have participated in one of the participation phases, they will receive updates when a new project phase begins. Hence, make sure you update the phase descriptions to prevent your participants from receiving empty emails. However, there may be situations where you want to communicate directly with project registrants. You can do this using our email functionality in the Messaging tab. This article explains how to do it.
⚙️ Managing Inputs
If you have selected the "Collect Input" participation method, you may want to manage contributions across different project phases. For instance, if you gathered input in an initial phase and later want participants to vote on it, you can transfer it to a subsequent phase. Learn how to do this here.
If you collaborate with colleagues on a project, you may also need to assign inputs to team members for follow-up. Find out how to do this here. Ensure that at least one person is assigned as responsible for processing posts in the access rights tab in the general settings.
How to analyze your data and close the project
How to analyze your data and close the project
Throughout your project—and especially at its conclusion—it’s important to include an information phase where you communicate the results and final decision.
To do this, open a new phase and select the Information method. This allows you to share a report on the (interim) results.
👉 How to set this up? Find out here.
If you're working with a large volume of inputs, consider using our AI Sensemaking tool to analyze the data before creating your report. Learn more about it here.
Congratulations on reaching the end! You should now have a solid understanding of the platform's core functionalities. To expand your knowledge further, we highly recommend using the chat bubble on the platform. You can ask questions there, and our AI bot, Fin, will provide answers based on our extensive support documentation. You can also always choose to get an answer from one of our support colleagues.
Enjoy the platform, and good luck with your projects!
The Go Vocal Team