What is a field operation?

I thought I would try to put down in some detail what I think a field operation consists of from a campaign manager's standpoint. It is structured to reflect best practices of an electoral campaign, rather than trying to list functions needed. This outline describes a hybrid of traditional and cyber campaigns. However, my emphasis is on the field operation, which I define as the aspect of a campaign involving direct contact between campaign personnel and the public with two-way communication or highly targeted one-way communication. -Pat

1. Field Operational - field tasks directly address one or more specific campaign objectives
   1. Establish objective
      1. Set measurable goal (e.g. number of identified supporters needed to win election)
      2. Within what scope/target population? Who is eligible as a target?
   2. Supporter ID
      1. Targeting
         1. Systematic targeting
            1. Data mining (psycho-social profiling)
            2. Managed friend to friend
         2. Ad-hoc targeting
            1. Call or email your friends - no contact lists
      2. Canvassing
         1. Phone using owned target list (persistent contact tasks)
         2. Phone using phone bank (provide option to convert to a persistent contact task)
            1. Group/virtual
         3. Door knock
            1. Contact lists, precinct maps
            2. Individuals working independently or van loads
         4. Incidental on-the-street contact
      3. Response recording
         1. Distributed (Web)
         2. Centralized
            1. Keyboard
            2. Barcode
      4. Follow-up
         1. Send literature
         2. Deliver lawn sign
         3. Send pledge form
         4. Recruit
            1. Determine skills and interests
            2. Create account
            3. Find job
         5. Create follow-up task for staff
            1. Request for information
            2. Ride to polls request
            3. Potential recruit
            4. Meetup host
            5. House party host
            6. Etc.
         6. Etc.
   3. Get Out The Vote
      1. Day of election
         1. Poll sitting - track who has voted, recontact no-shows (up to three times)
            1. Rapid reporting from polls
               1. Paper reporting
                  1. Voter lists
                  2. Centralized data entry and generation of call lists
               2. Electronic reporting - cell phone
                  1. Voter lists
                  2. Data entry via cell phone interface
            2. Recontact
               1. Phone bank - centralized
               2. Phone bank - virtual
               3. Phone own contact list from SID phase
               4. Door knock
         2. No poll sitting - all supporters are recontacted one or more times during the day
            1. How many times? When?
            2. By whom?
               1. Own contact list from SID phase (same org as SID phase)
               2. New generated contact list (different org)
               3. Phone bank (centralized or virtual)
               4. Door knock
      2. Seventytwo hours out
         1. Own contact list from SID phase (same org as SID phase)
         2. New contact list (different org)
         3. Phone bank (centralized or virtual)
         4. Door knock
         5. Door hangers
         6. Email
      3. One week out
         1. Postal Mailings
         2. Own contact list from SID phase (same org as SID phase)
         3. New contact list (different org)
         4. Phone bank (centralized or virtual)
         5. Door knock
         6. Door hangers
         7. Email
         8. Etc.
2. Organizational
   1. Volunteer utilization - make sure all recruits are employed effectively
      1. Help wanted board
      2. Job wanted board
   2. Volunteer management
      1. Mentoring ("rule of 10")
      2. Phone tree-like structure
      3. Fault tolerant
      4. Flexible
      5. Provide situational awareness - succinct snapshot of your organization and its performance
3. Strategic
   1. Public online presence
      1. Web
         1. Information
         2. Recruit (sign up)
         3. Fundraise
         4. Build political community
            1. blogs
            2. forums
            3. scorums
            4. etc.
      2. Email - broadcast
         1. Action items
         2. Information items
      3. Listservs
   2. Restricted access online presence
      1. Web site
         1. Access to field ops functions
            1. Site management
               1. Import voter data
               2. Import volunteer data
               3. Manage content
               4. Manage accounts
            2. Operational portfolio
            3. Organizational portfolio
            4. Strategic
               1. Drill down
               2. Reporting
                  1. Numbers
                  2. Maps
         2. Provide operational resources (e.g. online voter registration information)
         3. Build volunteer community
            1. blogs
            2. forums
            3. scorums
            4. etc.
         4. Strategic information distribution
         5. Help wanted
      2. Broadcast email
      3. Listservs
   3. Event scheduling and management
   4. Media relations
   5. Direct mailing