Personalizing FiscalNote: Policy Trackers

• Introduction
• Discovery Alerts
• Streamlining Policy Document Updates
• Focusing On Your Assignment

Introduction

Most policy trackers using FiscalNote need to focus on just that: policy documents.  Getting alerted to new bills or future movement on policy documents of interest typically outweighs the need to get notified of a new hearing getting scheduled or a regulatory comment period getting extended.  Follow our tips to cut out the noise and streamline the information that matters to you: policy documents.

Discovery Alerts

As a policy tracker, one of the most common notifications you’ll receive is called a Discovery Alert Digest.  It contains new bills captured from Discovery Alerts, which are designed to automatically browse FiscalNote for new policy documents of interest.  They show which portion of the text prompted the alert, and which Discovery Alerts caught the match, even if more than one:

The default notification cycle is set to deliver updates daily.  We recommend keeping this option.  However, if your role requires you to respond quickly, change the delivery to Realtime, Hourly, or 4 hourly.  Head to Discovery Alerts via 'Alerts' from the navigation bar, then choose the Discovery Alert(s) that needs faster delivery.  Click the green Edit Discovery Alert tab on the right, and change the delivery via Options:

Note: Policy Alert Types (all U.S. bills, state regulations, international bills, etc.) will be separated for data cleanliness purposes.  Choosing 'All Discovery Alerts' will default to your last selection.

Log in to FiscalNote to review the new bills and/or regulations that you get alerted to via email.  When new policy documents are uncovered that require monitoring, add them to a related Issue.

*Click here to learn more about Discovery Alerts and Tracking New Policy Documents

Streamlining Policy Document Updates

No one likes email clutter.  When your role requires you to focus on policy updates, it can be especially frustrating to sift through emails of any other kind.  Adjust your Account Preferences in FiscalNote to help streamline policy updates, committee hearing notifications if necessary, and even what your colleagues are doing in FiscalNote, all according to your own daily routine. 

To find Account Preferences, open the 'My Account' dock, click Settings → Account Settings, then click Preferences on the far right:

The Default preference is set to deliver daily updates on the policy documents stored in all Issues, and hearing notifications hourly. It cannot be deleted.  It can, however, be adjusted. 

If yours seems incorrect, If you need to change hearing notifications to daily, or if you require faster updates on legislative movement, for example, hover over 'Default' and click the pencil icon that appears to the right: 

Adjust your settings accordingly.  Scroll down and click 'Submit' to save when done.  

*Click here to learn more about Issue notification preferences.

Focusing On Your Assignment

Many legislative and regulatory trackers using FiscalNote operate in teams, but have one or two specific assignments in which they take the lead. 

For example: Jenn and Larry work on the same Government Affairs team at a Vehicle Safety organization, but Jenn is the team lead for monitoring 'Speed Limit' legislation while Larry leads the effort for monitoring any 'Windshields' regulatory activity.

If you have a specific Issue assignment that requires your utmost attention, we recommend creating an additional Preference. 

Follow the Steps below to create an additional Preference for your most important needs:

1. Click the purple [+ Add] button below 'Account' in the sub-menu.
2. Give the Preference an easily identifiable Title.
3. Choose your Issue and/or specific Legislature assignment (if not all legislatures). 
4. Update the speed of policy updates for your assignment. 

In this example, Sam would change both 'Federal Regulations' and 'State Rules & Notices' to 4-Hourly: 

This new preference will now override the Default notification preferences for only the Issue you're in charge of monitoring.  You will continue to receive updates on Issues that other team members are monitoring at timeframes established by the Default preference.

Note: We are constantly rolling out updates and making improvements in the platform. Please help us keep the Help Center up to date by reporting any information that may need some updating at support@fiscalnote.com.