VAN Integration: What Gets Pulled and Pushed

VAN Integration: What Gets Pulled and Pushed

VAN is a well known tool used by many relational organizing programs. This article will describe the information that is pushed and pulled between VAN and Empower. It’s important to note that within VAN there are two databases: MyVoters and MyCampaign. MyCampaign has a number of different names including MyWorkers, MyMembers, and EveryAction. Empower can push and pull information from both databases.

Pulling Data

For MyVoters, Empower pulls data when someone matches their contacts in Empower with VAN. This matching can be done either automatically or manually. The specific data that is pulled includes:

  • Location (Address)

  • DOB

  • VAN IDs (MyVoters VAN ID, MyCampaign VAN ID, DWID)

  • A VAN saved list - if you you connect a VAN saved list to target for a Call to Action


Pushing Data

Pushing data affects whether or not you’ll be able to see the information that you’ve put into Empower, reflected back in VAN. Pushing data won’t impact anything inside of Empower.   Empower pushes the following data to VAN:

  1. An activist code for any user or contact
    1. This will not get pushed if you upload contacts that already have a VAN ID
  2. Survey question responses
  3. Notes
  4. Dispositions 
    1. If you aren't seeing these in VAN, make sure that the following Contact Type IDs are enabled in your organization and for the Empower API key: phone (1), walk (2), text (37), social media (79), relational canvass (145)
    2. Dispositions are only pushed for relational, door-to-door, phone bank, and text bank calls to action. They will not be pushed for personal, open canvassing, or organizer to volunteer calls to action.
    3. The result code for relational calls to action dispositions is 14 ("yes") for completed, or 19 ("left message") for in progress.

Adjusting Your Push and Pull Settings

  • Click on the Organization on the left hand side of the screen.




  • Click Enable or Settings in the Voter File Integration section.


  • You will be able to set up your Push and Pull preferences with both MyVoters and MyCampaign.



  • A few notes on turning Push/Pull either on or off:

    • If pushing people is turned on, we will also push a new person to MyCampaigns/MyWorkers/MyMembers/EveryAction when a new person is created in Empower and that person doesn’t match an existing person in MyCampaigns

    • If Push/Pull is enabled for both MyVoters and MyCampaigns, Empower will pull from MyVoters

    • If MyVoters is disabled, pulling would work the same for MyCampaigns

 

In order to make a manual match, you will be searching against your VAN instance. The data in MyCampaign is visible to volunteers. Name and address will be available. 



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