The Position Report

Introduction
Video
What's Included
The How-To Steps
Benefits
The Position Report 1-Pager

Introduction

When tracking legislation to monitor potential risk and opportunity, either for your own organization or for a client, you're likely to hear the question "Which bills help us?" or "Which bills hurt us?", usually accompanied by "What are we doing about them?". FiscalNote helps you easily compile all of this information with The Position Report.

As bills are monitored, mark each with a Position once identified: Support, Monitor, or Oppose. FiscalNote collates all bills into these three groups for easy review in The Position Report. Any response efforts taken for these specific bills are shared with Actions.

Video

What's Included

Customizable Logo, Title & Summary
Reassure your audience that this policy report was curated just for them. Explain what's included and what details to pay special attention to.
Featured Bills by Last Status and Position Chart
Shows a breakdown of all bills cross-compared by Status and Position (Support, Monitor, Oppose).
Bills by State Heat Map
Share an at-a-glance view of where the largest concentration of policy is originating from.
All Team Actions Pie Chart
A visual breakdown of response effort by type, such as Phone Call, Meeting, Attended Hearing, etc.
All Team Actions
List of all response efforts taken, including details such as bill referenced and participants.
List of Bills by Position.
Your list of bills will default to being grouped by Issue. Change to 'by Position' for an easy view of all bills opposed, for example.

The How-To Steps

1.) Click Create Report from the collapsible menu on the left to get started:

2.) First, select all Organizational Issues in the Issue Filter. Then choose only 'Support', 'Monitor', and 'Oppose' from the Position Filter:

3.) Choose 'Select All' at the top of the bills queue:

This step ensures your report will populate with all bills your team is monitoring this session that have been marked with a Position, not just a select few.

Choosing 'Select All' also allows you to refresh this report in the future, capturing both updates to the bills previously included, as well as any new bills added to the report since it was last produced.

4.) Click Create Report on the top right, and choose Weekly Legislative Update:

*The Weekly Legislative Update is a template the FiscalNote team has prepared for you, giving you a head start in the Report creation process.

5.) Customize the report with a logo, title, and summary. The summary should tell the audience what the Report covers, and what details within to pay attention to:

6.) Make the Bills by State visualization a heat map:

*This gives your audience an at-a-glance view of where the largest concentration of policy documents is originating from, by legislature.

7.) Feature the Bills by Last Status and Position visualization with the Side-By-Side arrows. Use the Up and Down arrows to move the visualization to the top:

8.) Change how bills are listed from 'By Issue' to 'By Position'.

9.) Save when done. FiscalNote will store the finished product under Reports for you to access and share, whenever needed!

Benefits

Informative

FiscalNote's Position Report is typically the fastest and easiest way to inform your stakeholders of the policy landscape, specifically as it relates to potential risk or opportunity. All bills that present opportunity are typically marked Support, while those that present potential risk are marked Oppose. Your stakeholders can quickly understand where opportunity and risk exists, without question.

Refreshable:

No need to recreate the wheel! As is recommended for every Core 4 option, the Position Report uses 'Select All' above the bills queue in the Report builder (see step 3 above). This prompts FiscalNote to continue adding bills to the report as you add them to Issues, even after the report has been saved. Create the report once and just click refresh in the future to capture them all!

Most clients refresh the Legislation-Monitoring report on either a weekly or bi-weekly basis to review new bills, as well as any updates or changes to previously captured legislation.

Customizable:

Countless studies have shown that organizations go through great lengths to formulate even the smallest details of a public image, such as a logo. They are designed to evoke a reaction out of the viewer. Even if subliminal, customizing the report with a logo to make it seem as if it was curated specifically for your audience can have a big impact. A specific title and descriptive Summary further enhance the level of appreciation your readers will have.