Legislative Tracking System

1
Legislative Tracking System
Community, Trade and Economic Development
Introductory Training
DRAFT

• ASD Business Systems

2
Introduction

• LegTrack is an easy and convenient way to follow
  the progress of legislation in the Washington
  State Legislature. It uses bill status
  information obtained directly from the
  Legislative Service Center (LSC) every two hours
  during session. This is essentially the same
  information as the Legislature publishes in the
  Daily Status Sheet.

3
Log in to LegTrack

1. Choose your agency from the drop-down list.
2. Enter your assigned user ID and password, then
   sign on.

4
LegTrack Tracking Workbench

1. This check indicates an active bill.
2. Search toolbar.
3. Control buttons.
4. Search results pane.
5. Select a row by clicking on the row indicator. A
   pointer in the shape of a hand with a finger will
   appear when you can select the bill. After you
   click the arrow, the row will turn blue
   indicating that it is selected. To open the bill
   click the row indicator an additional time.

3
1
2
4
5
5
Searching - Quick Search Toggle Buttons
Select the ALL toggle button to retrieve a list
of all activated bills. Select the BOOKMARKED
toggle button to retrieve your personal
bookmarked list of bills.
6
Searching Bill Number or Keyword
2
1

1. Enter either a bill number or a key word in this
   text box.
2. Click the SEARCH button or press the ENTER key to
   execute the search.

7
Administration Functions
8
Activating a Bill

• Activating a bill is the first step in the
  tracking process. Once a bill has been activated
  the agency can begin to collect agency specific
  data and do team collaboration. In most cases the
  user may want to first research and review a bill
  by directly linking to the LSC website before
  making a decision to activate it. Once the user
  has activated the bill, there are many more
  features available. Only administrators and
  members of the CTED Leadership Team can activate
  bills.

9
Activating a Bill - Review

1. Select the bill of interest by clicking the arrow
   once. Once selected, click the arrow again to
   take action on it.
2. To Review the Bill at the LSC website click the
   Continue button.

1
2
10
Activating a Bill LSC Site
A new window is opened and LegTrack automatically
navigates the user to the section of the LSC
website that contains information on the bill the
user has selected for review. Once the user has
completed their review they can close this window
and return to LegTrack.
11
Activating a Bill - Activate

1. Assuming the user wishes to activate the bill,
   they should change the radio button selection to
   ACTIVATE BILL.
2. Override any of the default activation tasks.
3. Every bill activated should be classified. This
   dialog allows the user to choose one
   classification. Once the bill review form opens,
   the user will have the option to add additional
   classifications.
4. Click the ACTIVATE button.

1
2
3
4
12
Deactivate Bills
Sometimes it will become necessary to deactivate
a bill. This should be done with caution because
when you deactivate a bill it deletes all of the
agency specific data and comments. Only users
with administrator privileges are allowed to
deactivate.
1

• Select the row indicator of the Bill you wish to
  deactivate. Click the DEACTIVATE button to
  deactivate the bill.
• To proceed, click the DEACTIVATE button.
• The DONT DEACTIVATE button will cancel the
  deactivation.

2
13
Review / Edit Data Screen
Opening a Bill on the Workbench brings you to the
Review / Edit Data Screen.
This screen allows the user to perform various
functions. In addition it allows the user to
link to other bills, and websites. The
information your agency is collecting about the
bill has been organized into a series of tabs.
Each of them is explained in this section.
14
Review / Edit Data - Buttons

1. If you make any changes to the bill data, you can
   press the SAVE button to save the changes into
   the database immediately. When you close or
   navigate to a new record, your changes are
   automatically saved.
2. Click the RELOAD button before pressing the SAVE
   button to discard any changes made to the bill
   and load the original saved record from the
   database.
3. Copy
4. Analysis

1
2
15
Review / Edit Data - Buttons

• 3. Clicking the COMPANION link button will
  toggle back and forth between the bill and its
  companion.
• 4. Clicking here will open a window that
  navigates the user to the LSC site for this bill.
  This is similar to the REVIEW option we
  discussed.
• 5. The PRINT button prints a detailed report for
  the selected bill.
• 6. The CLOSE button closes the REVIEW/EDIT screen
  and returns the user to the tracking workbench
  screen.

4
5
3
16
Review / Edit Data - Buttons

• 7. If OFM Fiscal Notes exist for this bill, they
  can be viewed by clicking the SEARCH OFM FISCAL
  NOTES link button. This will open a new window
  that navigates the user to fiscal notes for the
  selected bill.
• Note that there may be more than one version
  of a Fiscal note for different agencies. To view
  the version for your agency, click the button
  next to the version.

7
17
OFM Fiscal Note Example
18
Review / Edit Data Tabs
LegTrack automatically loads most of the data on
the BILL INFORMATION tab from the LSC database.
The fields that are bold labeled are maintained
by your agency.
19
Review / Edit Data Tabs
On the TEAM tab, all team members that are
assigned to track a Bill will be shown. All team
members added to the list will be automatically
added to the team member list for the companion
bill (if one exists). In addition, adding team
members to the bill will automatically bookmark
the bill for the team member. If the team member
is enabled for email notification, they will
receive a list of all of the newly activated
bills where they have been placed on the team
each day.
20
Review / Edit Data Tabs
All of the data on the WATCH tab is maintained by
your agency. The WATCH tab collects data about
stakeholders, bill type classifications, the
agencies position, priority and what action may
be needed. The associated RCWs for that bill
can also be viewed here.
21
Advanced Filter Apply Filter Screen
2
4
3
1

• The user may set up their own personal RCW Watch
  List.
• To use the Watch List in a filter check USE RCW
  WATCHLIST.
• 3. To add new RCWs to the watch list, press the
  ADD RCW TO LIST link button.
• To delete RCWs from the watch List press the
  delete button.
• To edit an RCW in the watch list, press the
  edit button.
• 4. Clicking the REPORT link button will generate
  the RCW watch list report.

22
RCW Report Example
23
Review / Edit Data Tabs
The HEARING Tab allows monitoring of the current
hearing schedule and a method for users to
historically track each instance of who attended
or monitored hearings.
24
Review / Edit Data Tabs
The NOTES tab is used to record opinions,
observations, and recommendations concerning the
bill you have selected. Anyone can enter
comments. These comments are visible to everyone
in your agency and cannot be altered except by
the comment originator. The comments are
automatically sent through email to other team
members or users who have bookmarked the bill and
have email notification turned on. Users with
instant email notification will receive the
message hourly otherwise it will be in their end
of day email. These comments can also be
included on reports.
25
Review / Edit Data Tabs
The MANAGER tab is only visible to team members
who have been granted management security by the
administrator. It works the same as the NOTES
tab.
26
Review / Edit Data Tabs
The STATUS tab shows a chronological history of
status changes. The status collection begins
from the date that the bill is activated. When
the status changes, team members and users who
have book marked the bill will be automatically
notified through email.
27
Review / Edit Data Tabs
The ANALYSIS tab contains hyperlinks to documents
that have been assembled by your agency and
associated with the bill. The documents are
associated with the bill by saving them to a
designated folder and prefixing the file name
with the bill number.
28
Non-LSC Bills (Z-Drafts)
The system allows users to put bills into the
system that do not exist in the LSC system.
These types of LegTrack bills will have a status
of Z-Draft. They will contain mostly the same
features and information as a regular LSC bill.
Your agency will populate the data elements that
are typically populated by LSC. The data entered
for one of these bills can be shifted to an LSC
bill when it enters the LSC system.
29
Non-LSC Bills (Z-Drafts) - Creating

1. Press the NEW button.
2. Give the ZDraft a bill number. It can have the
   same number as an LSC bill. The system will know
   the difference between the Z-Draft and the LSC
   bill.
3. Click the CREATE button.

1
2
3
30
Non-LSC Bills (Z-Drafts) - Editing
The Z-Draft is capable of collecting all of the
same information as the LSC Bill. The only
difference is you enter it manually rather than
LSC. The Review / Edit screen is used for this
purpose. For more information on the Review /
Edit screen, see that section of this manual.
2
1

• Your agency has the flexibility to choose how
  they will use the fields on this screen.
• 2. A Z-Draft can be shifted to an LSC tracked
  bill by using the COPY feature. You will notice
  that the COPY button is only enabled on a
  Z-Draft. This task can only be done by users
  with the Administrator security role.

31
Non-LSC Bills (Z-Drafts) - Editing
1
2
When copying a Z-Draft to a LSC Bill there are,
two general rules.

1. Text boxes that are maintained by your agency
   will be overwritten (i.e. expanded narrative).
2. The data in each of the data grid lists will not
   be overwritten. New items will be added to the
   list of the target bill.

32
Non-LSC Bills (Z-Drafts) Transferring to LSC
Bill

• Click the COPY button on the Review/ Edit Data
  Screen.
• Enter the target LSC bill that will receive the
  data from the Z-Draft version of the bill. The
  bill number must exist and be active in LegTrack.
  Click the CONTINUE button to proceed.
• The system will give you one chance to confirm
  your choice before completing the copy. There is
  no way to undo the results of a copy! Click the
  COPY button to proceed.
• You will receive a confirmation that the data
  was copied successfully. Press OK.

1
2
3
33
Non-LSC Bills (Z-Drafts) - Confirming
1
2

1. It is advised that the user confirms that the
   copy was successful by opening the Bill and
   reviewing the Review / Edit Data Form.
2. Take note that although different data may have
   been entered into fields such as the short and
   long title, they will not be overwritten because
   those fields are updated from the LSC site.

34
Reports

• LegTrack produces three types of printed reports.
  From the Workbench screen, search for an
  activated bill by keyword or bill number. Select
  the bill from the list of search results, then
  click on the Reports button.

A pop up window will appear with Reporting
options.
35
Detail Report
The detailed report contains a detailed summary
of all aspects of the Bill. We discussed this in
the REVIEW/EDIT Bill data section.
36
Detail Report
37
Executive Summary

• The executive summary report summarizes important
  information about several bills at once. The
  default version includes all bills you have
  bookmarked. You have the option of including all
  active bills, or using a filter to include only
  bills that meet customized criteria. Its
  important to note that the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
  report is for ACTIVE BILLS only. If a filter
  retrieves both ACTIVE INACTIVE bills, the
  INACTIVE bills will be omitted from the report.
  The default output is a PDF file but you also
  have the ability to export the report to
  Microsoft Word or Excel. Below we will discuss
  each of the options for this report.

38
Executive Summary
39
Hearing Schedule
The hearing schedule report displays the
published hearing schedule for activated bills
within a specified date range.
40
BA Roles
41
Hearing Schedule
42
Bill Analysis
In ANALYSIS mode, the user has the ability to do
Bill Analysis assignment, tracking, and
reporting. To create a Bill Analysis the user
must have the BA Agency Coordinator security role
assigned to them by an Administrator.
43
Bill Analysis Starting New

1. Search for a bill needing a bill analysis by
   entering a title or bill number. Remember the
   bill must be activated in order to create a bill
   analysis assignment.
2. Select and open the bill.
3. Click the ANALYSIS button to switch to ANALYSIS
   mode.

1
2
3
44
Bill Analysis - Creating

1. To begin you must enter a version identifier.
2. Click the CREATE button.
3. The new version of the bill analysis has been
   added to the Version drop down list. Each new
   version created for the bill will exist in this
   list.
4. While the status is DRAFT, no other user can see
   the ANALYSIS.

1
2
3
4
45
Bill Analysis - Assigning
1
2
Once the assignment takes place, the team members
will be notified via internet email and be
directed to the next step.

1. Optionally a comment can be entered which will
   appear in the log for team members to view.
2. Click the ASSIGN button to start the process

46
Bill Analysis Email Notifications
This email was sent to Brian Myhre who is the
division coordinator for the division 100 bill
analysis. Each person that was assigned to the
Bill Analysis will receive an email.

• Notice that the above emails contains a
  hyperlink. To act on the notification, the user
  simply clicks the hyperlink. When the user clicks
  the link, they will first be prompted to sign in.
  The user enters their password and clicks the
  SIGN IN button. Users will receive emails
  throughout each step of the process.

1
47
Bill Analysis Acknowledging

1. Initially Brian who is the division coordinator
   is assigned to do both the preparation and
   review. Brian can simply Acknowledge the
   assignment or reassign it.
2. In this example, Brian who is the division
   coordinator has assigned the bill analysis to
   Laura Watson for preparation. Kate Hiembach has
   been assigned to do the review.
3. An optional comment can be entered that will
   appear in the log for the other members of the
   bill analysis team too see.
4. The last step is to press ACKNOWLEDGE. This will
   notify Laura and the Agency Coordinator by email.

1
2
3
4
48
Practice
49
Bill Analysis Preparation

1. This pane on the left is a navigation and
   progress indicator. As each step is completed, a
   check mark will appear next to the step number.
   To jump to a specific step the user can click on
   the hyperlink and the wizard will go directly to
   that question.
2. To begin the interview, click the NEXT STEP link
   button.
3. Notice that after clicking the NEXT STEP link, we
   are now on question number one.
4. Answer each interview question as requested. The
   system will logically skip questions that are not
   applicable.

1
2
3
4
50
Bill Analysis Error Checking
The preparer is always required to complete the
error checking step prior to completing the
assignment and sending it to the reviewer. After
answering all of the questions, the following
screen will be displayed.

1. Click the NEXT STEP LINK
2. Notice that there are no errors.
3. Click the NEXT STEP LINK.

1
2
3
51
Bill Analysis Error Checking
If any of the questions in the Wizard are left
blank the system will show that it found a
potential error. It is not necessary to fix the
potential error. It is just to warn the user.
1

1. If the error needs to be fixed the user can press
   the Go link to be redirected to the error.
2. Notice that error checking has been invalidated
   again and needs to be run before returning this
   to the reviewer. Any change causes this error
   checking step to be reset. Run error check again
   by pressing the Error Checking link.

2
52
Bill Analysis Saving
If you are in the middle of working on an
Interview, meaning you have not printed or ran an
error check, and you will be leaving your desk
longer than 20 minutes you should save your work.
1
3

1. Click the SAVE link button to force the save
   operation to run.
2. If the save operation is successful, this message
   will be displayed.
3. You may also Click the CLOSE link button to exit
   without saving.

2
53
Bill Analysis Completing Preparation
After the error check is complete and the
preparer clicks next, they will be returned to
the BASIC INFORMATION screen. This is the step
that notifies the REVIEWER that the preparation
is complete and ready for their review.
1

• Optionally enter a comment that will be placed in
  the log for the reviewer.
• Click the COMPLETE button.
• A Bill Analysis completion notification will
  be sent out to the Reviewer with a link to review
  the Analysis.

2
54
Bill Analysis Returning
1
2
If the reviewer determines that a bill assignment
needs additional work completed they can easily
return it to the preparer.

1. Optionally enter a comment that will be placed
   into the log.
2. Click the RETURN button and the bill analysis
   assignment will be sent back to the preparer.

55
Bill Analysis Approve
1
At the division level, the assignment is approved
by the division coordinator. Once approved, the
assignment will no longer be in the division
coordinators work queue. The agency coordinator
will be notified.

• Kate clicks the APPROVE button.

56
Bill Analysis - Complete
1
All divisions must approve their bill analysis.
If any are not complete, the agency coordinator
cannot do the final completion.

• Click the complete button to finalize the bill
  analysis.

57
Bill Analysis Notes
1

1. Notice that a comment has been entered into the
   notes tab on the bill review form. This comment
   will be sent to all users that have the bill
   bookmarked in their end of day email or if they
   have it hot bookmarked it will be sent on the
   hourly update.

58
Bill Analysis Work Flow Diagram
The diagram below depicts the combined workflow
capabilities of the LegTrack system.
59
Practice
60
Bill Analysis Adding Divisions
Each analysis must have at least one division
assignment. The division is derived by selecting
a team member that is assigned to the division.
Typically the agency coordinator will assign the
bill analysis to a team member that performs the
function of the division coordinator.
1

1. Click the NEW DIVISION ANALYSIS link button at
   the bottom of the data grid. This will create a
   new entry in the data grid.
2. In this example, two divisions have been given
   assignments that are due on 1/15/05.

2
61
Bill Analysis Agency Rollup
1
Usually when there is more than one division
assignment, it is necessary to combine them into
a single agency rollup.

1. Notice that the Sam Wentz is responsible for the
   division 600 bill analysis and also the agency
   rollup. The CHECK in the column labeled AGENCY
   ANALYSIS is what separates the division and
   agency analysis.

62
Other Features

• Print
• View Com
• See Answers

63
Bill Analysis Printing
2
1
The default output for a bill analysis is PDF.
Options exist for printing to a Microsoft Word or
Excel file.

1. Click the PRINT link button.
2. To overwrite the output, choose the alternate
   medium from the drop down list.

64
Bill Analysis PDF Output
65
Bill Analysis - Research
1
Notice that the bill number, version, and
division id are enabled as a hyperlink. This
link will open a new window and direct you to the
LSC site for the associated bill.

• Click this link to access the bill information at
  the LSC site.

66
Bill Analysis Comments/Status Log

1. Click the VIEW COMMENTS AND STATUS LOG to see the
   historical record.

1
67
Bill Analysis - Overview
The overview displays the high level view of each
individual division assignment. Here the users
can see the status for each division. This is
especially useful for the agency coordinator or
the team member responsible for completing the
agency rollup.
1
2
3

1. Note that the division 100 bill analysis has been
   RECEIVED and assigned to Kate for review.
2. Note that the division 600 bill analysis has been
   assigned to Sam but he has not acknowledged it
   yet so the status is still ASSIGNED.
3. Clicking the blue arrow will bring you to the
   details of the bill analysis.

68
Bill Analysis Work Queue
Each team member involved in bill analysis
assignment processing has their own work queue.
This is how users know which assignments are
pending. The list may include work assigned to
you or work that you have assigned to another
user.
1

• Clicking WORK QUEUE gives a user their
  personalized list.
• Clicking ALL shows every bill analysis your
  agency has, at any status for the entire
  legislative session.
• To open a Bill Analysis select a row indicator.
  Once selected click an additional time.

2
69
Bill Analysis Searching
4
3
1
2

1. Enter a key word and any analysis for bills with
   the key word in the bill title will be listed.
2. For a title search be sure to select TITLE before
   searching.
3. For a bill number search be sure to select BILL
   NO before searching.
4. Click the SEARCH button or press enter.

70
Bill Analysis Advanced Filter

• To access the advanced filter options, click the
  filter button.
• Enter filter settings or select from the drop
  down list.
• Click Apply filter.
• The filter settings are applied and each bill
  analysis that matches your criteria is listed and
  will be displayed in the results pane of the Work
  Queue.

1
2
3
71
Bill Analysis Print Work Queue
A print feature exists for printing your work
queue or search results. The printed output
shows the details of each division analysis.
This is a useful feature for the agency
coordinator, and any team members responsible for
agency rollup analysis. This report shows them
the status across all other divisions responsible
for a division analysis.
72
Bill Analysis Deleting a Version
1
2
This is permanent! Note that only the BA
Coordinator role can do the delete operation. To
delete the bill analysis version, first select it.

1. Select the version from the drop down list.
2. Click the DELETE link button.

73
Bill Analysis Copy Version
This is a useful feature that works in a similar
fashion as the COPY THIS VERSION except it allows
the user to copy it to a completely independent
bill. It can only be run on a COMPLETED bill
analysis. Its great for copying the bill
analysis to a companion bill.
2
1

1. Select the SOURCE version you want to copy from
2. Click the COPY TO Link button to start the
   process.
3. Enter a bill number and version.
4. Click the copy button

3
4
74
Preparing Fiscal Notes
75
Miscellaneous Information
Due to increased demands on the web application
server, it has become important to enforce an
inactivity timeout period. Currently that
timeout is set to 20 minutes. Take note that
ACTIVITY is defined as clicking a button or a
link that performs an action that sends and
receives data to and from the web server.
When you see this message, simply click the OK
button. This simulates activity and resets the
timer to the beginning of a new interval
(currently 20 minutes). In the event that you
have left your machine and were not available to
click the OK button, when you return and do click
the button, timeout will take place and you will
be asked to SIGN INTO the system again. At least
you know that it has timed out, and you will not
do unnecessary work.
76
Q Drive/Hyperlinks
77
End of Training
Table of Contents

• Thank You for Using ASD Business Systems!
•  
•  
•  

77
78
Bookmark a Bill
You can Bookmark a bill from the workbench by
selecting the bill in the results pane and
pressing the bookmark button. The Bill must be
active.

• An alternate method of Bookmarking a bill is to
  open the bill and click on the Bill Information
  tab. Then click on the Bookmark checkbox.

79
E-mail Notifications

• Ordinarily, when you bookmark a bill you will
  receive automatic e-mail notifications whenever a
  bill changes status, or someone adds a new
  comment about that bill. The e-mail will arrive
  at the end of the day. All your LegTrack
  notifications will ordinarily come bundled in one
  e-mail each day. All staff listed as Team Members
  will get the same e-mail notifications.
• If a bill is of very high priority, you can
  request hourlye-mail notification of status
  changes and new comments. Click on the checkbox
  next to Instant E-Mail to activate.
• Please note that Hearing Schedule updates are
  sent hourly.

80
Browse a Group of Bills
Browsing will save you time. Instead of opening
one bill at a time, its easier to click the
BROWSE button and use the navigation controls on
the REVIEW/EDIT screen to review each bill record.
2
1

1. First search for the set of bills you want to
   browse. Remember that browsing is for examining
   activated bills. In the event that your search
   retrieves bills that are not activated, they will
   be excluded from the set of browse records.
2. Click the BROWSE button to open the REVIEW/EDIT
   form in browse mode.

81
Browse a Group of Bills
You will Browse records on the Review/Edit form.
We will review this in much more detail soon.
Move 1 record forward.
Move to the last record.
Current record indicator
Move 1 record back.
Move to the first record.
82
Advanced Filter
Advanced filtering allows users to specify more
criteria than title or bill number in their
searches. Multiple criteria can be combined into
a single search.
1

1. To access the advanced filter settings, click the
   FILTER button.

83
Advanced Filter Apply Filter Screen
3
1
2

1. The user may enter Filter criteria into text
   boxes, or choose values from the drop down lists.
2. The user may set a filter on multiple bill type
   classifications by simply holding down the CTRL
   key on the keyboard while clicking their
   selections with their mouse.
3. Press APPLY FILTER to execute the query and
   retrieve search results.

84
Filter Search Results
2
1

1. Notice that the FILTER ON message indicates that
   the search list has a filter applied.
2. Clicking either the ALL OR BOOKMARKED button
   removes your filter and sets the search list back
   to ALL bills or BOOKMARKED bills.