You need to register an organization on adhocracy+. This is done in the following steps:

Step 1: Register an account for yourself at https://adhocracy.plus/accounts/signup. Please use an email address of an authorized representative of your organization.

Step 2: Download the data processing agreement (DPA) required under GDPR and fill in all text fields. The contract must be completed by an authorized representative of your organization and sent to us via email. A signature is not required.

Step 3: Contact us via start@adhocracy.plus and send us the following information:

• Your username on adhocracy+ and your email address,
• Name, location, and the URL to your organization's website,
• The completed data processing agreement (attachment).

Step 4: We will review your request and get back to you. Your organization will then be set up and your account will be activated as an initiator for the organization. Additional initiators can be added later. After we set up your organization, you can manage your projects through the dashboard.

Upon email request, we will set up an area for your organization, which will then be accessible via a URL following the pattern 'https://adhocracy.plus/yourorganization'. The use of all participation modules on the platform without limitation on the number of projects and users is included.

You are legally responsible for all content in your area and must accordingly provide an imprint, your own privacy policy, and terms of use for your area on adhocracy+. We reserve the right to block the organization in case of abuse or criminal activity.

More information can be found in the terms of use.

We enter into a data processing agreement because the function for inviting moderators and participants processes email addresses of people who may not yet be registered on adhocracy+. This is a standard contract that has been legally reviewed. We can only accommodate change requests for a service fee.

If you want to implement participation processes for one or more clients on adhocracy+, the respective clients must apply for their own independent organization on adhocracy+ with us. This is necessary because each organization is responsible for its own content and requires its own imprint, privacy policy, and terms of use. A separate data processing agreement must be concluded with each organization, which must be completed by an authorized representative of the organization and sent to us via email.

If you want to give other people permission to create and edit projects within your organization themselves, they must be added as initiators. They will then have unrestricted access to the user interface for project managers, the so-called dashboard.

To add additional initiators to an organization, please contact start@adhocracy.plus as an authorized person and provide us with the username/email address of the person. The person must already be registered with a user profile in order to register them as an initiator. The specified email address must be assigned to a user profile as the primary email address.

The organizations on adhocracy+ are themselves responsible for the content. This also means that each organization must ensure that its own terms of use, a privacy policy, and its own imprint are provided. In the settings, we have linked the legal information of the platform as a template. Ultimately, it is not us, but the organizations themselves that are responsible for the content and all information in the footer.

As a data processor, we cannot provide legal advice and are not authorized to do so. Each organization is responsible for the content itself - for this reason, there is also a graphic and spatial separation between the platform footer and the organization footer.

There is also the option to have legal information created via onwalt.de.

With the exception of the Interactive Event and Survey modules, participation on adhocracy.plus requires registration. It is deliberately designed to be low-threshold; with a freely selectable username and an email address. We made the decision for registration for the following reasons:

• Experience shows that the quality of participation is higher with registration.
• Only with registration is it possible to keep participants informed and to address them again in the process. This is very important for a sustainable participation culture.
• (Activating) moderation of participation is only possible with registration.
• The susceptibility to abuse (e.g., by bots) decreases significantly through registration.

Private projects are only visible to invited participants and are marked as private projects in the project overview on the organization page.

In the dashboard, you can see who has registered and which invitations are still pending. Only when the invitation is accepted can the person access the private project. Otherwise, an error message appears. In addition, the person must be logged in with a user profile that contains the same email address with which they were invited. By clicking on the cross next to the invitation, you can revoke the invitation and, if necessary, invite the person again. This is helpful if people can no longer find the invitation email.

We recommend sending a separate email to all participants, informing them of the need to accept the invitation and about the private project.

Brainstorming

Participants can share their own ideas and discuss the ideas of others.

• Example: What should we do about the garbage problem in the neighborhood?

Spatial Brainstorming

Participants can enter their own ideas on a map and discuss the ideas of others.

• Examples: Where in the neighborhood should carsharing points be set up? Where in the city is cycling too dangerous?

Idea Contest

In a first phase, participants can submit their own ideas and discuss the ideas of others. In a second phase, the ideas are rated (for/against).

• Example: Which projects should be funded in the next funding period? What should we do at the Christmas party?

Spatial Idea Contest

In a first phase, participants can enter their own ideas on a map and discuss the ideas of others. In a second phase, the ideas are rated (for/against).

• Examples: Who maintains the most beautiful tree bed and should receive the environmental award for it? Which sustainable project ideas in Germany should receive the Community Award?

Text Discussion

Participants can discuss a text you have previously added, paragraph by paragraph.

• Examples: What is your opinion on our proposal for a new mission statement? What is your opinion on this bill?

Poll

Participants can answer open-ended and multiple-choice questions and comment on the survey. Initiators can choose whether participants may answer the survey without prior registration. Learn more here.

• Examples: How satisfied are you with the city's mobility services? Which of the four developed slogans should be the new one?

Participatory Budgeting

Participants can enter their own proposals on a map and provide them with a budget. The ideas of others can be discussed and rated (for/against).

• Example: Which projects for the neighborhood or city should be financed with public funds?

Interactive Event

This module is intended for live events, both online and on-site. Participants of an event can ask their questions live online. Other participants can support the question. As a moderator, you can sort the questions based on support and affiliations.

• Example: What is your question for the speakers or panelists on stage?

Prioritisation

Participants can discuss and rate (for/against) ideas and topics set by initiators. Participants cannot add their own ideas and topics.

• Examples: What is your opinion on the four scenarios for traffic planning and which do you prefer? What is your opinion on these 10 principles for our association?

Debate Module

Participants can discuss one or more topics or questions that have been set. To structure the debate, responses are categorized and can be searched, sorted, and filtered.

• Examples: Should Tegel Airport be closed? Should our association strategically focus more on young people?

In the "Interactive Event" module, you must specify affiliations, which are freely selectable, e.g., "politician," "layperson," or "resident." Users must classify questions accordingly and select an affiliation. Questions can be filtered by affiliation and evaluated in the statistics.

We don't want the same people to always have the floor. The interactive event aims to make underrepresented groups visible during live discussions in order to consciously invite them into the discourse. This makes it easier for moderators to enable a balanced and equitable discussion. This makes your event even more inclusive!

In some modules (Idea Competition, Brainstorming, Prioritization, Interactive Event, Participatory Budgeting), categories can be defined by which contributions can be filtered. Categories are defined by initiators and must be selected by participants for their respective contributions. In the "Interactive Event" module, the categories are decisive for the displayed statistics.

The reporting function allows all participants to report problematic contributions. In which cases contributions should be deleted or edited is at the moderators' own discretion. However, the code of conduct provides a guideline by which contributions on the platform should be evaluated. The code of conduct can be found in §4 of the terms of use.

Project initiators can create a new project in the dashboard. You can find out exactly how this works here.

The dashboard helps initiators manage their organization and projects. Here you can make settings, create participation projects, send newsletters, and invite moderators. Additionally, a project can be duplicated or deleted in the dashboard.

Participants can discuss one or more topics or questions that have been set. To structure the debate, responses are categorized and can be searched, sorted, and filtered.

• Examples: Should Tegel Airport be closed? Should our association strategically focus more on young people?

Projects can be depublished at any time and are then no longer visible and accessible to participants. The depublish function can be used when a project is completed and should no longer be displayed, but you also don't want to delete it.

Depublished projects can also be easily republished.

Projects can be duplicated in the dashboard. To do this, click the arrow to the right of the "View/Preview" and "Edit" options and select "Duplicate."

When a project is duplicated, inserted titles, descriptions, images, selected map sections, and project settings are copied. The following information is not copied:

• Comments
• Created ideas
• Categories
• Characteristics
• Topics
• Affiliations
• Live stream
• Inserted text (Comment on Text module)

Project initiators have the option to display events that take place alongside online participation in the project (e.g., workshops, opening or closing events). When an event is entered (with title, date, time, and description, photos and links can be embedded), it appears on the timeline. Those who follow the project are notified about the event 3 days before it begins.

All contributions submitted in the project can be exported as an Excel spreadsheet. This table shows all contents of the contributions including usernames, number of ratings and comments, geodata for map modules, contents of moderation tools, etc. For clarity, there is a separate export for comments in addition to the export of ideas. After publishing the project, the "Export Excel" tab appears in the left navigation in the module settings.

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Users can follow projects. They then receive automatically generated email notifications when:

• A participation module starts
• A participation module ends (24 hours in advance)
• An event is upcoming (3 days in advance)

Additionally, project initiators can write newsletters to all followers. Users can check a box during registration or in their user account settings to indicate whether they want to receive such emails.

In addition to the "private" or "public" options, projects can also be set to "semi-public." Semi-public participation projects can be viewed by everyone, but only those who have been invited can actively participate. In the upper left corner of the project tile, the symbol of an eye appears rather than a lock, as is the case with private projects. This makes it clear whether a user can participate or not. Inviting users works the same as with private projects.

The images in the header or on the tile are - together with the title and brief description - the first eye-catcher, the showcase of the project. They appear on the organization page in a so-called project tile or in the header area of the project. Therefore, it is important to design these three elements in such a way that they arouse users' interest. We recommend selecting images/graphics without text. On the one hand, this can collide with the title and brief description, as these are overlaid on the image/graphic. On the other hand, the text cannot be read by screen readers and is therefore not accessible.

To ensure good resolution, images must have the following formats:

• Header image: at least 1300 pixels wide and 600 pixels high, max. 5 MB, as png, jpeg, or gif.
• Tile image: at least 500 pixels wide and 300 pixels high, max. 5 MB, as png, jpeg, or gif.

Don't forget to credit the image creators. They appear in the upper or lower right of the image.

The information tab provides information about the background and contact persons of a project. As a project initiator, you can include all information relevant to participation here, such as why the project was initiated and by whom, what the participation schedule looks like, and where further information can be found. For inquiries and comments, it makes sense to provide a contact person.

Initiators represent their organization on the platform and can create projects themselves and invite people to participate. They have unrestricted access to the user interface for project initiators, the so-called dashboard. There they can designate moderators on a project-by-project basis.

To add additional initiators to an organization, please contact us at start@adhocracy.plus. The person must already be registered with a user profile in order to register them as an initiator.

This module is intended for live events, both online and on-site. Participants of an event can ask their questions live online. Other participants can support the question. As a moderator, you can sort the questions based on support and affiliations.

• Example: What is your question for the speakers or panelists on stage?

In some modules (Brainstorming, Prioritization, Participatory Budgeting), labels can be predefined by initiators. Using these, participants can add information to their ideas, which are displayed as tags below the idea heading. Multiple selections are possible.

As an initiator, you have the option to select multiple languages in your organization's settings ("Edit organization"). If you select more than one language, the information about your organization can be displayed in multiple languages. This does not apply to project information or contributions/comments themselves. Languages can be added or removed again by clicking on (+) or (-).

In the "Interactive Event" module, you have the option to embed a livestream. To do this, simply click on "Livestream" in the left bar and then insert the URL of a video. It is easiest if the livestream is running on a video platform (Vimeo, YouTube).

The livestream is displayed above the submitted questions. This way, participants of an event can submit questions live to the moderator via adhocracy+ - regardless of whether they are on-site or not. This function simplifies the participation of people who cannot personally attend an event. In addition, questions can be tagged with affiliations.

In the 'Brainstorming with Map' and 'Idea Competition with Map' modules, initiators can define a map section within which ideas and contributions can be linked.

The map view can also be deactivated so that ideas and contributions are displayed as a list instead.

Moderators have the function of accompanying the discussion of a participation project. Moderators do not have access to the dashboard, but to their own moderation dashboard. Moderators can be invited by project initiators via the project settings (dashboard) via email.

Moderators are informed of each new contribution via email. They should at least ensure compliance with the code of conduct and delete or edit ideas and comments if necessary. Moderators receive notifications for reported contributions. Additionally, other moderation tools are available to moderators.

Via the "My Overview" page, moderators have access to the moderation dashboard in addition to the overview as users. The moderation dashboard is the interface for moderators. Here, all modules in which they assume the moderation role are displayed in a tile overview. In addition, the number of reported contributions, the total number of comments, and the remaining time for participation are displayed in the module tiles. By clicking on one of the module tiles, they access the comment overview. Here, all comments within the participation module are displayed. They can use the moderation tools to moderate participation and give feedback on the comments, highlight them, or block them. You can also filter the comment overview by reported, unread, or new comments. The reported comments are displayed with a note showing how many times they have been reported since their creation.

The following moderation tools are available to simplify moderation:

Feedback

Using the feedback function, moderators can assign a processing status to submitted ideas (will be implemented = green, under review = yellow, will not be implemented = red). This appears as a tag below the idea title. An official response to the idea can also be formulated. The sender of the feedback is the implementing organization.

Note

In modules where ideas are collected, moderators can attach a note to each idea. This is only visible to moderators or project initiators. Note contents are displayed in the export.

Report

Participants have the option to report inappropriate contributions. The persons registered as moderators receive a corresponding notification and can decide how to proceed with the reported contribution.

Moderation Comment

When moderators write a comment, it is marked as a moderation comment.

Block Comment

Comments that violate the code of conduct, are offensive, or contain hate speech can be blocked.

Delete Comment

Comments can be deleted. It is not possible to undo this.

Highlight Comment

Moderators can highlight comments that are particularly helpful in the discussion, for example because they contain important facts or central statements of the discussion or contribute to a good discussion culture.

Each project consists of project information and at least one of the 10 modules. These determine the content and participation options of the project. A project can have an unlimited number of modules. You can find an overview of the modules here.

A module can be deleted from a project if the project is depublished and it is not added to the project (the switch below the module "no longer display"). Then three small dots appear next to the module in the left navigation and the module can be deleted.

Organizations have the option to send newsletters or info emails. To receive a newsletter, users must follow the project AND check during registration or in their user account settings that they want to receive such emails. Newsletters can be created in the dashboard via the "Communication" tab. The newsletter has no-reply@adhocracy.plus as the sender; via the "Sender" field, an email address to which users can reply can be entered in addition to the name. The content of the newsletter consists of an adhocracy+ logo as well as a formattable text and optionally a photo and links.

1. Follow a project
2. Check the box in user account settings ("I would like to receive further information")
3. Receive newsletter

Tip: Draw users' attention to the follow function with a brief note in the information tab of a project. For project initiators, this has the advantage that you can reach more people via the newsletter and inform them about the project status or upcoming events.

For different activities within a project, participants can receive email notifications. When someone's own contribution is commented on or provided with a moderation comment, this participant receives an email. Participants only receive notifications regarding the participation period and events if they use the follow function. Moderators receive a notification for each submitted contribution and whenever a contribution is reported. Initiators receive notifications when a new project has been created in their organization.

Each participation module has one or more phases that must be defined in the settings. The phase is the duration of a module within a project, i.e., from when and until when participation is possible. For all modules, a phase must be defined; only for the idea competition must two phases be defined: the first for submitting ideas, and the second for evaluation. Phases are set in the module settings in the dashboard.

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If you want to involve only a specific group of participants, you can mark a participation project as private and invite participants by email address. This is ideal, for example, for participation within committees or organizations. Private projects are only visible to invited participants and are marked as private projects in the project overview on the organization page.

In the basic settings of the project, you can set your project to "private." As soon as the project is published, the menu item "Participants" appears in the left navigation in private projects. Participants can only be invited after the project has been published. Invited participants receive an automated email asking them to register on adhocracy.plus and join the project. In the dashboard, you can see who has registered and which invitations are still pending.

There is also the option to publish a project as semi-public.

The project short description is - together with the title and tile or header image - the first eye-catcher, the showcase of the project. They appear on the organization page in a so-called project tile or in the header area of the project. Therefore, it is important to design these three elements in such a way that they arouse users' interest. To ensure that the content and goals of projects are expressed concisely at this point, we have set the brief description to 250 characters.

When all mandatory fields in the project settings are filled in, the project can be published. A project can only be published when a module has been added to the project. It is then visible on the organization page, either to everyone for public projects or only to invited participants for private projects. If the project should not be visible for a period of time, it can be depublished.

of Users

To participate in projects, users must be registered on the platform (exceptions are the Interactive Event and Survey, with appropriate settings). This is possible on the homepage. For registration, a valid email address must be provided and a password must be set. Users also set their username during registration, which then also appears in comments. It is possible to specify a pseudonym as a username.

of Organizations

How you can register your own organization in a few steps is explained here.

The results tab should already provide information at the beginning of participation about what will happen with the results or when an evaluation of the process can be expected. Knowing this is important for participants and increases their motivation to participate. After participation is completed, you can inform about the results in the results tab. The results tab can be edited in the project settings under "Result."

Here you can also call for following the project.

Before you publish your project, you can view in the preview how the project will look for participants. This way you can directly see where information is still missing or where an error has crept in. If you are satisfied with how the project looks in the preview, it is probably ready for publication.

In the Prioritization and Debate modules, topics must be defined and entered in advance, on which participants can write contributions.

In the "Information" and "Result" tabs of a project as well as in the organization's background information, you have the option to embed a video via a URL. To do this, simply click on "Insert Media Embed" in the text editor and copy the URL of the desired video into the text field. It is easiest if the video has already been uploaded to a video platform (Vimeo, YouTube) and is linked.