OVERVIEW
 
Political Data Inc. is California's largest provider of voter information to political campaigns, consultants and pollsters. With the expressed goal of providing the highest quality data, PDI became the first company to offer many services that are taken for granted today. PDI was the first to maintain complete statewide voter history files as well as a complete local election vote history file for all cities in Los Angeles County. PDI was also the first firm to provide access to outside telephone matches, assessor-homeowner matches, ethnic surname matches and postal carrier routing standard services. In keeping with this tradition of providing innovative products and services to their customers, PDI began working with Sieena Inc. to design and develop their next generation customer-facing system. The resulting system is the Political Data Online Campaign Center.
 
BUSINESS ISSUES
 
The source data PDI provides to their customers is freely available from County governments. Consequently, PDI's business offering centers on the ability to provide value-added services on top of meaningful and accurate data. While PDI's existing systems provided well for their current service offering, these systems did not provide a solid growth platform for the future. The environment in which campaigns operate is extremely fast paced, especially in the closing weeks of an election. This fast-paced environment, coupled with the high stakes of politics in general, results in a demanding customer base that requires relevant and accurate information that can be used in a manner that supports rapid and critical decision making. PDI was well positioned to capitalize on their unmatched campaign experience and technical sophistication to establish a new paradigm for how their customers use technology to better manage the business of campaigning.
 
SOLUTION
 
The PDI Online Campaign Center puts an unprecedented degree of control in the hand of PDI Customers. Unlike the previous environment customers have direct access into voter data with the ability to create specific queries against it. This new degree of access and control supports campaigns to better target and manage communication between a campaign and voters. The software provides an invaluable service of facilitating the flow of voter information back to the campaign. Contacting voters is a fairly simple task; getting information from the voters and organizing the data for future targeting is far more challenging.
 
PDI engaged Sieena to re-architect and develop their entire system for managing data and getting it into the hands of their customers. This effort included all internal data management and storage systems as well as the development of a new client-facing web application. PDI already had internal experience with the Microsoft platform, making the.NET platform a logical choice. Sieena and PDI completed a full lifecycle development project that included a Discovery phase to finalize the breadth of the project with business and technical requirements; a Planning phase to define the technical specifics of how the system would be designed and developed; a Development phase to create the actual systems and a Stabilization phase to fully test, error-correct and roll out the system. Sieena provides on-going support and maintenance to PDI on this full life cycle project.

 ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS

Campaign Setup Module

The Campaign Setup Page facilitates the data entry of customer information. At the time of purchase, a PDI Account Representative enters information that includes Campaign Data Set Parameters, Campaign Contact Information, and Campaign Billing Information.
 
Output Control Module
This module supports all data output requirements for the system. Files are distributed through a secured FTP site. Files are generated for print as PDF files or electronic transfer as CSV and XLS files. Campaigns have access only to their specific data set based on the parameters defined in the campaign setup module.
 
Billing Center Module
This manages the financial relationship between PDI and their customers. Customers have the option to purchase access to specific data or purchase unlimited use of the system. The system ensures that customers do not exceed the terms of their use agreement as well as provides two viable payment options.

User Administration Module

All access to the system is managed through role-based security. Depending on the access type purchased, customers are able to assign access rights to specific users. The system tracks activities by each user to provide a clear audit trail.
 
FRONT-END SYSTEMS:
 
The user interface is a browser-based application that includes the following:

Lookup Module

This allows customers to perform various searches on data they have purchased. Users can look up voters and polling locations on an ad-hoc basis or generate structured reports.

Select Builder Module

This module is the most sophisticated and complex component of the program. The interface simplifies complicated data queries, making them manageable for users. This aspect of the system is typically utilized by experienced users who are familiar with data queries and sophisticated reporting. The module consists of four separate components: The Select Builder Tools page helps build, coordinate, and manage data set selection. The Field Options page contains all available fields in a single page view. The Advanced Geographic Criteria builder provides analytical tools for selecting complex geographic criteria. The Advanced Flag Criteria builder allows users to control their proprietary flag data. Together these four elements make a powerful yet easy to use interface for building both simple and complex selects.

Data Input Module

While a campaign is operating it generates a significant amount of data that should be re-integrated into the data set. The system supports import from bar code scanning of list data as well as a standard file import process. This module complements the New Registrant Module.

New Registrant Module

Any new voters that are identified by the campaign are queued into the system and reintegrated with the PDI voter file so that these new voters can be engaged using the same tools and systems as for existing voters.

Database

Sieena and PDI worked very closely to develop a new database architecture that would support current and future business growth which includes detailed information for all registered voters in California. The database architecture was planned and created with scalability for future growth in mind. High reliability and security were also important considerations in the planning of the system.
 
BUSINESS BENEFITS

PDI has identified new revenue streams from existing customers that the system can support. Importantly, the new system provides PDI with the ability to expand their business geographically and sets the foundation for business expansion.
 
The new system is designed to meet the needs of PDI and their customer for the next six years. PDI and Sieena have established a multi-phased plan to deliver additional features and functionality that will serve to further differentiate PDI from their competition. Sieena ensured an extensible, scalable system through our use of proven development tools and industry best practices.
 
Equally important, Sieena has delivered a well documented system to provide for cost effective maintenance and low total cost of ownership.