Using the Action Tracker
This traditional-style training page covers important details about how to use CCL's Action Tracker, an online application that will log and display the actions CCL supporters are taking every day to build political will for climate action.
Note: To experience this content in an interactive style to help deepen your learning, click here.
What is the Action Tracker?
The Action Tracker is an application on CCL Community that enables CCL members to log and display actions and activities that build political will for action on climate change, using one of CCL’s five levers. An action can be in pursuit of either federal or state-level efforts.
Why was it developed?
Previously, many (but not all) actions were tracked using field reports. This system had significant disadvantages for volunteers:
- Volunteers couldn’t access field reports after submitting.
- Volunteers couldn’t edit or delete their own reports.
- Could only track progress through emails and spreadsheets.
- Only data about chapters -- no data about volunteer engagement.
What are the benefits of using the Action Tracker?
Benefits for volunteers
- Anyone can log actions.
- Logging actions is easier and more intuitive.
- It’s easy to receive feedback.
- Can coordinate actions across chapters or without a chapter.
- See what’s going on in your state.
- More action types provide more recognition.
Benefits for Group Leaders
- Eases the burden of having only one person be the action recorder.
- Provides real-time feedback without waiting.
- Makes it easier to identify engaged volunteers.
- Records meeting attendance and other chapter development activities.
Benefits for CCL
- Identifies engaged volunteers.
- Discovers whether training initiatives are effective.
- Builds understanding of what actions are most helpful.
- Provides motivation for volunteers to build more political will for climate action.
Action Tracker tutorial
The training video has live demos of how to use the Action Tracker, beginning at 10:45. Viewing these is one of the most effective ways to get up to speed on Action Tracker features and functions. These are the features covered in the demos:
- Accessing the Action Tracker
- Using the Chapter Actions Page
- Understanding the Action Dashboard
- Logging An Action
- Adding Participants
- Editing Actions
- Add Me Button
- Getting Help
What actions should we log?
If an action checks the three following boxes, log it:
- Builds political will for climate change
- Is consistent with CCL’s core values, and
- Is related to one of the levers of political will
Note: To be logged, an action can be in pursuit of either federal or state-level efforts to build political will for action on climate change. Furthermore, actions don’t need to mention CCL’s favored policy, the Energy Innovation Act, or CCL to be logged.
What types of actions are associated with each lever of political will?
Currently, each action type represents one of the levers of political will.
- Contact with Legislator: calling, emailing, writing letters, asking town hall questions, interacting with a legislator on social media, or a lobby meeting with a legislator or their staff.
- Media/Publication: submitted or published letters to the editors, op-eds, editorials, articles, and radio segments or TV broadcasts.
- Grassroots Outreach: organizing or participating in tabling, presentations, or other community outreach events.
- Grasstops Engagement: meetings with potential or current endorsers, or newspaper editorial boards.
- Chapter & Volunteer Development: attending regularly scheduled chapter meetings or other local chapter-related meetings. You can also track individual trainings here.
Why should we log our actions?
- When you log your actions you and your group can see how the work contributes to the success of your chapter, state and region.
- Your chapter will have a better ability to plan and assess its progress by reviewing the data presented on the action dashboard. Additionally, your chapter can also see which local volunteers are active in each action category, helping you identify experienced volunteers to help other volunteers take those actions.
- When you and your counterparts across the country document your work, it enables CCL to demonstrate your impact to the media, funders, and potential supporters including members of Congress.
Who logs an action?
- Usually, the person who completed or organized the action logs it, but Group Leaders can also log actions on behalf of others.
- Some local chapters may have designated a point person to log all actions, so please check with your local chapter’s Group Leader(s) or At-Large Group Leader(s).
What if I participated in a specific action but do not see my name or photo on the participant’s list?
- Click the “ Add Me” link underneath the list of participants.
- Note: for data security purposes, a person can not add themselves to a lobby meeting or legislator contact action.
How do I give feedback or report an issue?
Click the Send Feedback button in the bottom left corner of the Action Tracker screen.What kinds of social media actions count and how do I find the link for my action?
Effective interactions on social media vary by platform, but overall any action you take on any platform that can be identified as building climate action support and is aligned with CCL's levers of political will and core values can count as an action. For example, social media actions could vary from commenting on your member of Congress's posts on Facebook or tweeting about your own local chapter meeting, to tagging other members or creating an Instagram story. It's up to the individual who wants to track their own actions through the platform. To find the link for your post, follow the instructions below depending on your platform:- Twitter: Find your tweet (you may need to go to your profile), click on the tweet. Click the icon with the up arrow in the toolbar at the bottom of the tweet then click “Copy Link to Tweet."
- Facebook: Find your post. Click on the timestamp. It should open your post in it’s own page. Copy the link from your browser’s address bar.
- Instagram: Find your post. Click on the Share (paper airplane icon) toward the bottom of the post. Click Copy Link.
Who can see what on the activity dashboard?
- An individual volunteer sees their actions, their group’s actions, and an aggregated total of actions in their state and region for each category.
- State Coordinators can see all chapters in their state and regional totals.
- Regional Coordinators can see all chapters and states in their region and all-region totals.
How do I log Lobby Meeting notes in the Action Tracker and after they're filed why can't I see details?
- Lobby meeting notes will now be logged in CCL's Action Tracker. To log your team's meeting notes, coordinate with your Congressional Liaison and determine who will be logging them. . The questions that the tracker asks are the same prompts that the CCL Meeting Minutes Print-Out provides lobby teams ahead of time.
- Currently, only the lobby meeting date is displayed. In a future version of the Action Tracker, meeting details and minutes will be accessible to the person who submitted the meeting minutes and to the congressional liaison.
Are grasstops meetings logged in the Action Tracker and synced to the Grasstops Engagement Trackeror vice versa?
- No, they are not synced. Please record meetings with community leaders and influencers in the Action Tracker.
- At this time you will not see actions recorded in the Grasstops Engagement Tracker in the Action Tracker.
How do I change a print media action after it’s been entered?
If you submitted an LTE or op-ed action which has subsequently been published, go to Chapter Actions and filter for the "Media/Publication" action type to help locate it. Click "View/Edit" on the right side of the row.
Scroll down to “Publication Status” and check the box for “This article was published." Fill in the information requested: “When was it published?” and the “Link to Publication.” If you don’t have a link, fill in N/A instead. Ensure that your chapter name is correct under “Add from Chapter(s)” and if other volunteers wrote the piece with you, fill in their names under “Add CCL Volunteers.”
Are actions completed via online action tools, such as writing to Congress be automatically logged to the Action Tracker?
- Yes, with a slight delay. It can take up to 48 hours for calls to appear in the Action Tracker.
- It can take up to a week for actions completed via any of our CCL online action tools to appear in the Action Tracker.
- When someone who is not a CCL volunteer takes one of these actions, their action is still logged, but is currently assigned to CCL’s HQ chapter. IT is working on improving the visibility of these actions for local chapters.
When do I have to log calls manually using the Action Tracker?
If you are running a calling campaign that does not use one of CCL’s climate action tools, then you will need to log the calls yourself in the Action Tracker.
How does the Action Tracker differ from Field Reports?
While there are many improvements, the Action Tracker should feel similar to Field Reports.
Improvements include:
- Design. A modern and cleaner web app design that’s easier to navigate.
- Action Dashboard. The Action Tracker includes an action dashboard where actions are displayed graphically by month for your chapter, state, and region.
- Add multiple volunteers* to an action. The Action Tracker associates a specific action with one or more individuals and their chapter(s). CCL *volunteers can add themselves to actions that occurred in their chapter, like a chapter meeting.
- New action types. An expanded array of reportable actions include: submitting media for publication (not just getting published), meetings with community leaders or influencers, attending a chapter meeting, training, or participating in an action (attending a tabling event). Additional action types will be reportable in the future.
- Edit and Delete. People who log an action can edit or delete that action after submitting it. Group Leader(s) can edit or delete actions within their chapters.
Intro & Agenda
(from beginning)
(3:13)
What Are The New Benefits?
(6:23)
Tutorials: How Do I…?
(10:45)
Testimonials From Volunteers
(27:10)
Future Plans
(30:44)
- Alaina Coppa
- Bryan Hermsen
- Craig Thompson
View the Google Slides presentation.
Download the video.Intro & Agenda
(from beginning)
(3:13)
What Are The New Benefits?
(6:23)
Tutorials: How Do I…?
(10:45)
Testimonials From Volunteers
(27:10)
Future Plans
(30:44)
- Alaina Coppa
- Bryan Hermsen
- Craig Thompson
- Action Tracker
- Additional questions? Email actiontracker@citizensclimate.org