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 in the top right corner
Enter project title
Optionally: select tags, areas, and upload pictures.
Save your project.
Tabs in the project settings:
Project page: this gives you an overview of how your project looks like. Clicking Edit on the top right brings you to the content builder where you can edit your project page. More details on the content builder in our support article here.
Audience: in this tab you will find an overview on the demographics of your participants and the traffic within your project.
Messaging: In this tab you can create and send emails to your participants.
Events: in this tab you can add events linked to your project. To read more about events, find our support article here.
360 input: this is the central hub for all your project files. You can find more information on the 360 input feature in our support article here.
Settings: in the settings tab you can configure all the settings that apply to your projects. For a deep-dive in setting up your project and configuring the right settings, find our support article here.
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
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 in your phase settings to assign or reassign inputs.
Move or copy inputs between phases if needed.
Ensure someone is responsible for processing posts in your project settings Settings > 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