The Priority Report

• Introduction
• What's Included
• The How-To Steps
• Benefits
• The Priority Report 1-Pager

Introduction

Whether the question pops up internally or a client asks for an update, most policy professionals have heard the question before: "Which bills do we need to pay special attention to?"  FiscalNote has the answer with the Priority Report. 

As bills are monitored, perform standard due diligence and estimate potential impact based on initial research.  If a new piece of legislation could have drastic consequences, good or bad, mark the Priority as High.  If the impact is low or inconsequential, mark the Priority as Low.  If unsure, mark as Monitor.  FiscalNote collates all bills into these three groups for easy review in The Priority Report.  

What's Included

1. 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.
   
   
2. Bills by State Heat Map
   Share an at-a-glance view of where the largest concentration of policy is originating from.
   
   
3. Bills by Issue and Priority Chart
   Shows a breakdown of all bills cross-compared by Issue and organizational Priority (High, Medium, Low, None).
   
   
4. All Team Actions Pie Chart
   A visual breakdown of response effort by type, such as Phone Call, Meeting, Attended Hearing, etc.
   
   
5. Bill by Status and Position
   Shows a breakdown of all bills cross-compared by Status and Position (Support, Monitor, Oppose).  
   
   
6. All Team Actions
   List of all response efforts taken, including details such as bill referenced and participants.
   
   
7. List of Bills by Priority.
   Your list of bills will default to being grouped by Issue.  Change to 'by Priority' for an easy view of high priority bills, 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 'High', 'Medium', and 'Low' from the Priority 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 Priority level, 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.) Add an extra visualization by clicking the Bar chart at the top.  Change to Bills by Issue and Priority and update the title to reflect the change:

8.) Rearrange the visualizations using the arrows until you reach a desired layout.  For the Priority Report, we recommend pairing the two bar charts together:

9.) Change how bills are listed from 'By Issue' to 'By Priority'. 

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

Benefits

Focused & Detailed

The Priority Report is the easiest way to answer the question "What are our most important bills?".  It allows you to focus on those identified as high priority, monitor the bills marked medium or low priority, and cut out the noise from all other legislation being monitored.

The added Bills by Priority visualization helps the reader understand how much immediate attention to legislation might be required.  For example, if this bar chart shows High Priority as having the largest concentration of bills, it's most likely urgent to formulate response strategies accordingly.

Refreshable:

No need to recreate the wheel!  As is recommended for every Core 4 option, the Priority 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.

Note: We are constantly rolling out updates and making improvements to 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.