Personalizing FiscalNote: Lobbyists

• Introduction
• Sync Your Calendar
• Get Mobile Updates from Colleagues
• Streamline Hearing Notifications
• Prioritize Your Assignment

Introduction

When attending hearings, conferences, and engaging stakeholders, it’s important to get notified of important updates at times that work with your schedule. Follow our tips and personalize your account to streamline hearing updates and review your daily agenda -- both on-the-go and at your desk.

Sync Your Calendar

Whether your main responsibility is engaging stakeholders or monitoring hearings to stay on top of urgent developments, your calendar is likely your best friend.  As soon as you get a FiscalNote account, we recommend syncing the FiscalNote calendar with your own. 

Find the Calendar page by clicking Calendar under 'Notes and Resources' from the menu. 

A purple 'Sync to External Calendar' tab redirects you to 'Calendar Sync' under Account Settings, where instructions can be found to push FiscalNote Activity to your own calendar:

Important Session Dates and meetings scheduled in FiscalNote, past or future, will appear on your regular calendar:

With a synced calendar, you're set up to use all the resources at your disposal, no matter your location.  

*Click here to learn more about the Calendar Sync.

Get Mobile Updates from Colleagues

Lobbyists tend to require access to important information and updates from colleagues, all on-the-go.  We recommend immediately downloading the FiscalNote mobile app when you get a FiscalNote account.  It mirrors the desktop version and can be used like a mobile rolodex -- while on the way to meet with a key stakeholder, review details such as important notes from your last conversation.  You can also use it to receive updates from colleagues when they mention you in a Discussion Tool chat or add you to an Action. 

To enable mobile push notifications and receive updates from colleagues on-the-go, head to 'Notifications' via Account Settings:

Click the checkbox to ensure Notifications are allowed under 'Collaboration Features'.  Choose to also receive email updates if your messages from colleagues have been unread for 15 minutes or 1 hour.

• Click here to learn more about the FiscalNote iOS mobile app.
• Click here to learn more about Discussions.
• Click here to learn more about using Actions to track stakeholder engagements.

Streamline Hearing Notifications

As a lobbyist, hearing updates may get prioritized over monitoring specific legislative or regulatory updates.  If this is the case, we recommend adjusting your default Account Preference settings.  Find them by navigating to Preferences via Account Settings from the 'My Account' dock:

The Default preference will deliver updates on policy documents in all Issues daily and hearing notifications hourly. It cannot be deleted.  It can, however, be adjusted.  If you don't need to see legislative or regulatory updates as frequently as hearing updates and comment period extensions, for example, hover over 'Default' and click the pencil icon that appears to the right: 

Change Legislation and Regulation updates to 'Weekly'.  These settings will deliver updates to policy documents in all Issues your team is monitoring weekly, while providing timely updates to scheduled hearings and federal regulations comment periods.  Scroll down and click 'Submit' to save when done.

*Click here to learn more about Issue notification preferences.

Prioritize Your Assignment

Like your policy tracking peers, there may be one Issue or legislature in particular that you're responsible for.  This assignment may require you to stay on top of policy updates in a more timely manner than the other Issues and legislatures that your team is monitoring. 

In this scenario, create an additional preference.  Choose your Issue or legislature (if not all), and scroll down to click 'Submit' when done. 

This new preference will override the Default preference for only the Issue and/or Legislature selected.  If you've followed our tips for adjusting the Default preference, you are now set up to receive policy updates from other Issues that the team is monitoring weekly, policy updates for your assignment daily, and hourly hearing updates.

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.