18F: Digital service delivery | Easy-to-use campaign data

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en-US"> <head>  <meta charset="utf-8" /> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />  <meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="True" /> <meta name="MobileOptimized" content="320" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />  <title>18F: Digital service delivery | Easy-to-use campaign data</title> <meta property="og:title" content="18F: Digital service delivery | Easy-to-use campaign data" /> <meta name="description" content="" /> <meta property="og:description" content="" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary" /> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@18F" /> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Easy-to-use campaign data" /> <meta name="twitter:description" content="" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <link rel="canonical" href="/our-work/fec-gov/" /> <meta property="og:url" content="/our-work/fec-gov/" /> <script async="" src=/assets/js/uswds-init.js></script>  <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/img/favicons/favicon-16x16.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/img/favicons/favicon-32x32.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="192x192" href="/img/favicons/favicon-192x192.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/img/favicons/favicon.svg"> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico" /> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/img/favicons/favicon-180x180.png">  <link href="https://unpkg.com/prismjs@1.20.0/themes/prism.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link rel="preload" as="style" href="/assets/styles/styles-UKMOJPRN.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/assets/styles/styles-UKMOJPRN.css" type="text/css" /> </head> <body class=" "> <a class="usa-skipnav" href="#main-content">Skip to main content</a> <div class="page-landing-page layout-demo "> <a class="usa-skipnav" href="#main-content">Skip to main content</a> <div class="usa-banner"> <div class="usa-accordion"> <section id="gov-banner-header-section" aria-label="USA Gov banner section header" class="usa-banner__header" > <div class="usa-banner__inner"> <div class="grid-col-auto"> <img src="/img/us_flag_small-VKjpzbKpq_.png" class="usa-banner__header-flag" alt="U.S. flag" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> </div> <div class="grid-col-fill tablet:grid-col-auto"> <p class="usa-banner__header-text"> An official website of the United States government </p> <p class="usa-banner__header-action" aria-hidden="true"> Here鈥檚 how you know </p> </div> <button class="usa-accordion__button usa-banner__button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="gov-banner" type="button" > <span class="usa-banner__button-text">Here's how you know</span> </button> </div> </section> <div class="usa-banner__content usa-accordion__content" id="gov-banner"> <div class="grid-row grid-gap-lg"> <div class="usa-banner__guidance tablet:grid-col-6"> <div class="usa-media-block__body"> <p> <strong>The .gov means it鈥檚 official.</strong> <br /> Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. 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They wanted to make it easier for anyone to use FEC data to learn how money flows through federal campaigns.</p> <h3 id="approach" tabindex="-1">Approach<a href="#approach" class="heading-permalink" aria-label="Permalink for this section"><svg class="usa-icon" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" role="img"><use xlink:href="#svg-link"></use></svg></a></h3> <ul> <li>One of our first steps was to improve access to the FEC鈥檚 data archives. We built and launched a public API (application programming interface). This API allowed users to access data in a predictable way.</li> <li>We then launched a public beta site (beta.fec.gov) and conducted research with users. Their feedback helped us build features we knew users wanted. Our iterative development process allowed us to continually improve the site and ship new features every two weeks.</li> </ul> <h3 id="outcomes" tabindex="-1">Outcomes<a href="#outcomes" class="heading-permalink" aria-label="Permalink for this section"><svg class="usa-icon" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" role="img"><use xlink:href="#svg-link"></use></svg></a></h3> <ul> <li>We worked closely with FEC teams to help them transform their whole approach to interacting with the public online.</li> <li>FEC saw the benefits of working iteratively and putting user needs first. They asked us to work with them to solve other problems, including: <ul> <li>Creating search tools so laws, regulations, and enforcement actions are easier to find and use</li> <li>Migrating confusing legacy content into a new structure so visitors can find the information they need</li> <li>Exploring how to update the online filing process to help political groups and candidates file the right forms</li> </ul> </li> </ul>  <div class="bg-primary-darker margin-top-6 padding-x-6 padding-top-6 padding-bottom-4"> <figure> <p class="large-quotemark large-quotemark--left margin-bottom-3">“</p> <blockquote class="font-sans-lg line-height-sans-4 margin-0 padding-0 text-white text-ls-05"> We engaged with 18F, and it was a game-changer for us. They came in and helped the IT team and business owners get involved in the agile development process. It changed our whole methodology. </blockquote> <figcaption class="font-sans-md line-height-sans-3 margin-top-3 text-white"> <strong>—Alec Palmer</strong>, FEC鈥檚 Chief Information Officer<br> <em class="font-sans-sm"></em> </figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="bg-primary-darker margin-top-6 padding-x-6 padding-top-6 padding-bottom-4"> <figure> <p class="large-quotemark large-quotemark--left margin-bottom-3">“</p> <blockquote class="font-sans-lg line-height-sans-4 margin-0 padding-0 text-white text-ls-05"> We didn鈥檛 know where to start, but in the end, we got so much more than a website. We had a complete culture change about how to do user-centered design and agile. </blockquote> <figcaption class="font-sans-md line-height-sans-3 margin-top-3 text-white"> <strong>—FEC product owner</strong><br> <em class="font-sans-sm"></em> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> <div class="tablet:grid-offset-1 tablet:grid-col-4 project-page__sidebar"> <div class="border-top-05-primary-dark padding-y-2 margin-top-1"> <div> <h3 class="font-sans-md text-bold margin-top-0">Agency partner</h3> <p>Federal Election Commission</p> </div> <div class="margin-top-4"> <h3 class="font-sans-md text-bold margin-bottom-1"> See our work </h3><p><a href="https://www.fec.gov/">Federal Election Commission website</a></p> </div> <div class="margin-top-4"> <h3 class="font-sans-md text-bold margin-bottom-1"> See the code on GitHub </h3> <ul class="usa-list usa-list--unstyled list-item-spacing-1"> <li><p><a href="https://github.com/fecgov/fec" class="usa-link usa-link--external" rel="noreferrer">General discussion forum</a></p> </li> <li><p><a href="https://github.com/fecgov/openfec" class="usa-link usa-link--external" rel="noreferrer">openFEC: RESTful API</a></p> </li> <li><p><a href="https://github.com/fecgov/fec-eregs" class="usa-link usa-link--external" rel="noreferrer">Code of Federal Regulations explorer</a></p> </li> <li><p><a href="https://github.com/fecgov/fec-cms" class="usa-link usa-link--external" rel="noreferrer">Content management system</a></p> </li> <li><p><a href="https://github.com/fecgov/fec-proxy" class="usa-link usa-link--external" rel="noreferrer">Proxy application</a></p> </li> <li><p><a href="https://github.com/fecgov/fec-infrastructure" class="usa-link usa-link--external" rel="noreferrer">Infrastructure management</a></p> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> <section class="usa-section"> <div class="grid-container"> <div class="grid-row margin-bottom-6"> <div class="tablet:grid-col-8"> <h2> Related blog posts </h2> </div> <div class="tablet:grid-col-4 flex-align-self-end margin-top-3 posts__see-all"> <a class="link-arrow-right" href="/tags/fec-gov//"> See all posts about this project <svg class="icon caret" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="444.819" height="444.819" viewBox="0 0 444.819 444.819" role="img" aria-hidden="true"> <title>Arrow right</title> <desc>Arrow pointing to the right</desc> <path fill="#046b99" d="M352.025 196.712L165.885 10.848C159.028 3.615 150.468 0 140.185 0s-18.84 3.62-25.696 10.848l-21.7 21.416c-7.045 7.043-10.567 15.604-10.567 25.692 0 9.897 3.52 18.56 10.566 25.98L231.544 222.41 92.785 361.168c-7.04 7.043-10.563 15.604-10.563 25.693 0 9.9 3.52 18.566 10.564 25.98l21.7 21.417c7.043 7.043 15.612 10.564 25.697 10.564 10.09 0 18.656-3.52 25.697-10.564L352.025 248.39c7.046-7.423 10.57-16.084 10.57-25.98.002-10.09-3.524-18.655-10.57-25.698z"/> </svg> </a> </div> </div> <ul class="grid-row grid-gap usa-list--unstyled"> <li class="grid-col-12 tablet:grid-col-6 tablet-lg:grid-col-4 margin-bottom-5 "> <a href="/2017/05/30/the-new-fec/" class="text-no-underline"> <h3 class="border-top-05 border-primary hover-primary-dark padding-top-3 margin-bottom-3 text-bold "> The new FEC.gov </h3> </a> Last week, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) unveiled their new website at FEC.gov. This new site is the result of a years-long collaboration with GSA鈥檚 18F and features completely revamped tools for exploring campaign finance data. </li> <li class="grid-col-12 tablet:grid-col-6 tablet-lg:grid-col-4 margin-bottom-5 "> <a href="/2017/01/17/life-changing-magic-writing-release-notes/" class="text-no-underline"> <h3 class="border-top-05 border-primary hover-primary-dark padding-top-3 margin-bottom-3 text-bold "> The life-changing magic of writing release notes </h3> </a> A key part of agile development is constantly shipping new features. With so many changes happening to the product, it can be hard to keep track of how the product is growing and improving. Release notes help keep everyone on the team in the know about what鈥檚 shipping, give a clear list of features to check, and help always frame our work in terms of the value it delivers to users. </li> <li class="grid-col-12 tablet:grid-col-6 tablet-lg:grid-col-4 margin-bottom-5 "> <a href="/2016/10/11/getting-the-most-juice-out-of-the-squeeze/" class="text-no-underline"> <h3 class="border-top-05 border-primary hover-primary-dark padding-top-3 margin-bottom-3 text-bold "> Get the most juice out of the squeeze </h3> </a> Through analytics and moderated sessions, we can learn what user goals are and enhance the platform to help them achieve those goals. By creating universal search across legal resources, people will be able to locate information more efficiently. This tool will allow them to better understand and comply with campaign finance laws, thus helping advance the FEC's mission. </li> </ul> </div> </section> </main> <footer> <div class="grid-container padding-y-6"> <hr class="hr-1-dark footer-hr-alignment"> <div class="grid-row grid-gap"> <div class="tablet:grid-col-3"> <img src="/img/18f-logo-60i14872OF.svg" class="maxw-5" alt="18F logo" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> <p> Work with us to plan successful projects, choose better vendors, build custom software, or learn how to work in new ways. </p> <a href="/contact/" class="usa-button an18f-button--dark" > Contact us </a> </div> <div class="tablet:grid-offset-1 tablet:grid-col-2"> <h2 class="font-heading-md text-medium margin-top-4 tablet:margin-top-0 margin-bottom-2 tablet:margin-bottom-4"> Pages </h2> <ul class="usa-list usa-list--unstyled font-sans-sm list-item-spacing-2"> <li><a href="/our-work/">Our work</a></li> <li><a href="/work-with-us/">Work with us</a></li> <li><a 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18F: Digital service delivery | Easy-to-use campaign data