Die LINKE
Wahlkampf-App
Right from the start, the Wahlkampf-App was under high time and expectation pressure. Results had to be available very quickly and yet the work had to be clean, with high data protection and data security requirements. ctrl.alt.coop was the right partner for this difficult starting position: efficient and uncomplicated, lean in the processes, reliable in the results and solution-oriented when things got complicated. We are grateful for the pleasant cooperation and satisfied with the very good result.
Susanne Lang
Project coordinator, die LINKE
Over the last year, we have worked together with Die LINKE in the conception and implementation of their current election campaign app (Wahlkampf-App).
Aim of the project
Die LINKE needed an application to coordinate the planing and realisation of their election campaign activities such as door to door campaigning, distribution of flyers, hanging up of posters, etc. A diverse set of users had to be considered: There were state association coordinators responsible for the planing of events; locally active users who helped during single events; and people potentially interested in activities organised by Die Linke in their neighbourhoods in the near future. Later, functionality was added to support future campaign planning.
Event details, desktop view
All events, mobile view
Challenges
Probably the biggest challenge in the project was to identify and implement these different use cases in the tight timeframe leading up to the German federal election in September 2021. To achieve this, we relied on an iterative process with short development cycles and close consultation with our partners from Die Linke. This allowed us to quickly determine which solutions were better suited for achieving the goals.
The complex rights management model posed another challenge: the different types of users should have access to different functionalities. Data protection and data economy were very important to us here. As far as possible, we tried not to collect any sensitive data, while still providing usable functionality for planning future campaigns.
Technology used
Due to the tight schedule and the diversity of users, use cases, and devices, we decided to implement the project as a progressive web app (PWA). Again, we relied on our standard tech stack and implemented a Django based backend and a Vuejs frontend. For the PWA wrapping, we relied on the Quasar framework. Since the Wahlkapmf-App is map-centric, we used mapbox here. For the charts in the evaluation section, we chose the open source vue library Apexcharts, because it offers many useful functionalities like zooming, interactive legends, or data export in different formats.
Process
As already mentioned, our basic project management relied on an iterative scrum process for verifying the alignment between design assumptions and actual user needs. Another key feature of the process was the implementation of extensive integration tests in the backend of the Wahlkampf-App.
License
The Wahlkampf-App is licensed under a free license , the source code can be viewed on gitlab . Contributions are welcome.
