[U] Creating a Relationship History

All calls and meetings with external partners need to be added as relationship histories in Salesforce. Relationship histories should be added in real time, however at minimum they need to be added once per quarter. This is because several relationship history types are used for grant reporting and affiliate engagement tracking.

Before creating a relationship history, please verify that the people involved (contacts) and organizations are already in Salesforce. If they are not, please add them.

To add a new relationship history:

1. Navigate to the “relationship histories” tab and click “new”

2. Enter a descriptive title.

3. Select “activity type” from the dropdown

   1. Call = phone call

   2. Email = you can enter an email as a relationship history, but the preferred method is to link the email to the relevant page (see linking emails to Salesforce for instructions)

   3. Helpdesk = used to refer to milestone 21 of AV grant. As of 01/2022, used to track researcher engagement. Defined as any requests from affiliates or NA invited researchers and requests to affiliates and NA invited researchers from J-PAL staff. Can be calls, emails, or meetings. Even if one request resulted in multiple emails, calls, and meetings, please relate all emails to 1 relationship history and include all meeting notes in the Notes section.  

      2. Requests from researchers to J-PAL staff can include questions regarding RFP eligibility and/or fit, connections to other researchers and/or implementing partners, RCT development support/power calcs, writing requests (op-eds), and support for conference presentation materials. Some concrete examples below, though not exhaustive.

         1. help with slide developments for a non-J-PAL-sponsored event (if they were invited by J-PAL to present, it would be the next category)

         2. help with writing/ghost-writing op-eds that are not J-PAL branded or on J-PAL platforms, such as op-eds in NYT or the Hill

         3. power calculation questions

      3. Requests from J-PAL staff to researchers can include invitation to present at J-PAL events (ESP, RST, initiative convening, or external events) or contribution to J-PAL publication such as the State and Local Learning Agenda. In general, if you are asking researchers for help that is not matchmaking or peer reviews, it should be logged as a relationship history with the activity type “helpdesk.”

         1. Please write “Public Goods - xxx” in the title of the relationship history to distinguish this from requests from researchers, if the researchers accept and contribute. This means you may need to go back and revise the relationship history title after creating it. 

   4. Meeting = in person or virtual

   5. Milestone = used to log an achievement or key success such as placing an op-ed, policy influence/result from a funded project, etc. 

   6. Presentation=A presentation conducted by a researcher about work outside of J-PAL, and where J-PAL staff have not helped prepare slides. This will be rare. (Note: all presentations conducted by staff, by a researcher on behalf of J-PAL, or where staff have helped prepare slides/materials need to be entered as a campaign, NOT a relationship history). See example here. 

4. “Topic(s)” select all that apply

   1. Matchmaking = We report on matchmaking to funders so please enter these calls exactly as follows. Matchmaking calls must meet one of the following criteria:

      2. The first call with an external organization/implementing partner and a J-PAL staff member discussing study design (e.g. calls with innovation competition applicants.) Subsequent calls between J-PAL staff and the same external partner should only be recorded as a matchmaking call if the discussion involves a different program or evaluation idea.

      3. A call with an external organization/implementing partner AND a special invitee or affiliate. Subsequent calls with the same partner and special invitee/affiliate should only be recorded as a matchmaking call if the partnership has not yet been established.

      4. Please also specify what initiative the matchmaking was associated with (if applicable)

   2. Fundraising – Initiative = A call or meeting with a potential foundation/organization (not associated with funding we have already received – should be related to new or potential funding opportunities). This includes conversations where potential funds would not be used for initiatives.

   3. Funding – Core/Policy = A call or meeting with an existing donor/foundation that we have received funding from, where funds would be used as core funding or for policy work.

   4. Funding – Research = A call or meeting with an existing donor/foundation that we have received funding from, where funds would be used for research activities. 

   5. Policy lesson or evidence = a call or meeting with a small group or individual where evidence is shared.  For example:  CA governor’s office requested a call with J-PAL to share the evidence on tutoring; J-PAL team shares evidence from several policy insights on a call with a staffer from a Senator’s office; a funder requests (or accepts invitation) a call to learn about the evidence on a particular topic.  The policy issue/evidence topic will be used to capture evidence sharing that occurs with small groups or individuals.  Larger evidence sharing, through webinars or presentations should be entered as a policy outreach event (see below). 

   6. Please also tag North America under the Regions section 

5. “Organization involved” should be the organization you’re speaking to

   1. If the organization doesn’t appear as you type it in, click “+ new organization” to create an organization page. Please be very sure the page does not already exist so we don’t have duplicates!

6. Add the Date and Location. Both are optional but recommended.

7. Related projects and related publications are for calls about a particular project/publication. These should be included as applicable.

8. Policy & training update should be ticked if you’d like it included in a newsletter

9. Please make sure to include detailed Notes. You can link to where notes are saved but please indicate the file path and if the link is available to everyone for future reference.

10. Please add all Tags.  These tags may seem repetitive but it’s essential that you fill in as much information as applicable for relationships to properly pull into reports!

    1. Countries: Include the relevant country information

    2. Region: Include “North America” (MUST be included!!)

    3. Sectors: Please include sector information as applicable

    4. Initiative: Tag an initiative if it’s tied to a specific initiative(s)

    5. Related Regional Office(s): Include “North America” or other regional office (MUST be included!!)

    6. Implementing Office: Include only if J-PAL is an implementing office (ie an in-house study, an event we are running, etc), this tag will not be common

    7. Target Group: Include as relevant 

    8. Intervention Type: Include as relevant 

    9. Outcome of Interest: Include as relevant  

    10. Focus area: Please tag “homelessness” for all housing work, and “COVID-19” for any work related to COVID 

11. Save

12. Add attendees

Note: adding attendees is only possible after you have saved the relationship history. You can’t add attendees during the initial setup.

1. Go to the relationship history page and click the “attendees” tab at the top.

2. Click the “new” button and add each attendee separately. Add attendees: each attendee must be added separately. If the contacts on your call are not yet in Salesforce, you will need to go back and add them. Please add both J-PAL staff and external participants.

Best practices:

• If multiple J-PAL staff are on your call/meeting, designate one person to create the record in Salesforce. 

• Use Salesforce Lightning to import info directly from your email, but don’t forget to add attendees and relationship history tags! 

• Note that you can use the “Clone” button to make an initial copy of an existing relationship and then change the date (for example with weekly meetings with one organization). However, you must go back and add Attendees and Relationship History Tags so that it will get pulled into the appropriate reports (these do not transfer when you clone).