Getting Started: The PAD Setup Guide

Created by Bianca Mounce, Modified on Tue, 6 Aug at 2:56 PM by Ben Deverman

Welcome! This article will walk you through getting started with your Progressive Action Database (PAD) account. Below are some resources to help you orient with the user interface and access other tools with your PAD account. For any questions that the resources below do not answer, please send them to help@techallies.org.

Getting Started with PAD and BigQuery - Video

Create a Login

We've created a PAD account for you through Google Cloud Identity, our identity management platform. Good news: it's a Google account, just like the one you already know and love.

Your CTA project ID, account ID, and password were provided to you by our team. If you haven't received these, or need help signing into your account, please send an email to help@techallies.org.

Setting up your Chrome Profile

For the best experience with CTA PAD, use the latest version of Google Chrome.

Download the latest Google Chrome

CTA recommends Chrome because it works best with the Google Cloud Platform. Additionally, CTA configures the browser with privacy and security, keeping your CTA PAD separate from your personal Google account. To get started:

Add a new profile in Chrome by opening up the browser, going to the Profiles menu, and clicking "Add Profile..."
When prompted, choose "Sync to your Google Account" to sign in and sync settings automatically from CTA.

Using Another Browser

If you proceed without creating a new profile or are using a different browser like Safari or Firefox, be aware that your new CTA Google account may not be the primary account in your browser. That's okay! The URL above will always bring you back to your CTA PAD–drag the blue pill above to your bookmarks bar!

Ready for More?

Check out Google Connected Sheets, the easiest way to import and export data from your PAD Users can import data in real-time from a sheet and even export data back for users without BigQuery access to analyze. Here’s how to get started: Using Connected Sheets | BigQuery | Google Cloud.
CTA can ingest and load data from many popular sources into your PAD. We’re integrated with vendors ranging from Facebook Ads and Salesforce to AWS S3 and Voter Files* from Catalist and TargetSmart. Just let us know what you’d like to see in your PAD at help@techallies.org.

* You must already have obtained a voter file license. If you’d like guidance on how to do this, let us know at help@techallies.org, and we can connect you to the right resource.