Basic concepts
Election
GPT is election oriented, which means that if you register an account or create a candidate, it will be specific to an election. In the near future, it will be possible to link a candidate to several elections but right now it is not possible.
So, bear in mind that an administrator will set limits to what kind of changes a user can make to the application and data. A user will have these privileges for just one election-campaign.
Local authorities and constituencies
Local authorities are administrative entities, like cities, departments, regions, countries. In GPT, they are used to store various persistent data (like, initiatives regarding free software) and to give geographic privileges to a volunteer or coordinate actions on a local basis. They are however NOT directly attached to candidates and are independent of the election.
Constituencies are electoral entities and are used to attach candidates. Please note that even if in some cases a local authority and a constituency can represent the same entity, constituencies and local authority are not used to do the same thing. Also, constituencies are attached to local authorities.
Candidates
The very purpose of GPT being to gather signatures, we brought great detail on the candidates part. Every candidate has an entry in the database that is used to store its personal data and his decision regarding the pact.
The basic idea in the campaign is that every volunteer should "adopt" one ore more candidates and meet them in order to raise their awareness about Free Software and pertaining issues. In GPT, a volunteer can apply as the responsible of a candidate. The responsible of a candidate is the only volunteer (except for administrators and local responsibles) who can modify the entry of a candidate.
A volunteer can also create a candidate if it is not already in the database. Then, if the volunteer do not have a privilege on the local authority or constituency, the candidate has to be manually validated by an administrator or local responsible. Then, the candidate will be available for modification.
Creating an account
Most of GPT is accessible only to authenticated users. To authenticate, you must create an account first. Click on the Register link in the GPT interface and fill in all required fields.
Once you have validated the form, you will receive a confirmation mail with a key. This key is used to ensure your email is valid. Then, use the link provided in the mail to complete the registration of your account.
You are now ready to start contributing to the Free Software Pact!
Please note that if you forget your password and/or user name, you can still recover it by clicking on the Forget your password? link and ask for a new key allowing you to reset your password.
How to treat candidates
GPT is a collaborative platform, which means another person can work on the candidate that you are working on. So be as precise as you can regarding information you fill in a candidate entry. Most important, try to find phone numbers and contact informations so that we can later contact the candidate.
The most important part of GPT is to record how many candidates actually signed the pact. To do this, there are two ways to record the contacts and decisions of candidates.
Recording contacts
If you have a responsibility on the candidate, you can record contacts. To do this, you must edit the candidate and click on Add a contact action in the Contacts actions section.
The contact can be either a phone, mail or "real life" contact. You may now detail the contact and specify a date. Be as precise as you can. You can also set the contact as private, which means it can only be visible to the global administrators and yourself. Do this if there is sensitive information.
Recording the signature
The Decision regarding the xxx pact field (xxx being the name of the current election) records whether the candidate has signed the pact. This field has several possible values :
Not contacted : candidate has not been solicited yet (default)
Signed : candidate signed the pact, but no confirmation yet
Signed and confirmation letter/fax received : candidate signed the pact and we received a confirmation by fax and/or snail mail
Pending : candidate is considering signing the pact or contact pending
Will not sign : candidate will not sign the pact.
Very Important: a signature without a confirmation will NOT be counted. We NEED to receive a fax or a letter of the pact signed by the candidate, otherwise we cannot use it. So make sure either the candidate will send us the pact or you will do it yourself. You can find the coordinates of your local coordination on its website.
The privilege system
The privilege system reflects the collaborative nature of GPT. Everyone can apply for a responsibility at any level and the review of such request is peer-oriented. Any volunteer with a privilege on, say, a region, will be able to validate all requests pertaining to this region. There is an heritage in the privilege system, any privilege will give full privilege to all things pertaining to the privilege (i.e. with a privilege on a constituency, you can add/edit all candidates in the constituencies).
There are four different privileges types in GPT ;
global administrator privilege (grants access to the admin interface as well)
responsibility on a local authority
responsibility on a constituency
responsibility on a candidate
If you want to contribute to the project by coordinating all work in a particular constituency or local authority, you just have to apply to the coordination using the "Ask to join the responsibles of this constituency" button, you will receive an acknowledgment once the responsibles or administrators have validated your demand.
Problems?
If you encounter any problem in the use of GPT, please send a mail to gpt-support@gna.org.
How to contribute
Want to help us? Please read the dedicated page.