FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this web tool work?
The process is simple, really. After signing up for the web tool, you will be able to easily create an online form that will allow people to take action on an issue or a bill you are tracking. Because you’ve created an online form (which also has it’s own, unique web address, or URL), you will be able to direct people (using your own email list) to the online web form, where they can take action on the bill or issue you are tracking. Does that make sense?
Policy Portal makes it very simple for you to create an online web form. With an account, you’ll be allowed to create as many web forms as you like for as many different bills or issues that you like. Below are the steps to create a form:
1. Create an account by going to the “Register” section of this website.
2. Fill out the requested fields. Make up your own “username” and input your email address too.
3. Go to your email. Policy Portal will have sent you a password with which to login.
4. Click “Sign-In” at the top, right-hand corner of Hawaii Policy Portal.
5. Enter your “username” and the password that was sent to you (hint: you can “cut and paste” the password from the email that was sent to you)
6. Click on “My Profile” at the top, right-hand corner of Policy Portal. There, you can change your password to something you will remember. On the left, click “create a new action page” (choose from email advocacy, testimony, letter to editor, or petition) and fill out the form. After creating any action page, you’ll always be able to go to “My Profile” and edit the action pages to make changes & make it just the way you want.
Is my personal information safe?
Yes. We understand people’s sensitivity to keeping their information secure, and under no circumstances will we sell, trade, or give access to our clients’ information. We also use an industry standard secure gateway for account holders.
If I send an email to my list, how do people get to the “action page” I created for my bill/issue?
When you send out an email to your list, you can add a “link” to your Hawaii Policy Portal web form. There are a couple of ways to do this:
1. You can just type in the “URL” of the web form. For example, you could say, “take action
on this bill by clicking the following link: http://my.hawaiipolicyportal.org/bill/2/testimony/new
2. If you use a professional email broadcast tool, such as verticleresponse.com, then you can create a “hot link” or and make words become the link to your Policy Portal web form. For example, you could send an email that says “Take action by submitting testimony on your bill by clicking here” Now the words themselves are the “link” to the web form that you created earlier on the Policy Portal.
3. You can also add a picture to your email and make that a “hot link” as well, depending on
the capabilities of your email broadcast system.
If someone from my email list clicks on a link from one of my emails, goes to the web form for my bill, and then submits testimony using the web form, will the recipients of the testimony know that the testimony came from the Policy Ninja?
No, the recipients of the testimony will not know that it came from the Policy Ninja. It will appear to have come from the email address of the person who is submitting the testimony through the web form.