Support

In the My TargetSmart menu you will find a number of support resources:

  • Client Services: How to reach out for support, subscribe to updates
  • Latest News: Stay up to date with latest data and service offerings
  • Training sessions for making the most of TargetSmart’s services
  • FAQ: Frequently asked questions about TargetSmart’s data and services
  • System Status

Documentation

In the My TargetSmart menu you will find documentation resources:

  • User Guide: You’re reading it!
  • Quick Start and How To Guides: Content to get you started, published by our Client Services team
  • Data Dictionary: Explore our interactive data dictionary
  • Model Release Notes: In-depth descriptions of our predictive model scores

Data Dictionary


The Data Dictionary provides an interactive interface for exploring TargetSmart’s platform database. Select one or more data set components to be included in the tabular data dictionary display. Search, sort and export as needed.

Launch Data Dictionary

The following metadata is available:

  • Component name: The data set component name, e.g., Voterbase
  • Component description: A description of the data set component
  • Field: The actual database field/column name
  • Descriptive name: A more descriptive name for the field
  • Field Description: A longer description describing the purpose and usage of the field
  • Data Source: How TargetSmart sources the data
  • Min width: The minimum number of characters needed to store the field.
  • Max width: The minimum number of characters needed to store the field.
  • Component records: The total number of table rows for the associated data component.
  • Blank cnt: The number of field values that are empty/blank. This is national in scope but relevant only to the number of available records for the component, i.e., a this number is not incremented if the entire component row is unavailable for a voter.
  • Distinct values: The number of distinct field values available for the field. This is national in scope. This value is only available if there are 100 or fewer distinct field values. If available, users may click on the number to see a full categorical field value breakdown.
  • Min.: The numeric minimum value for this field. This is only available for fields that are always numeric. National in scope.
  • Max.: The numeric maximum value for this field. This is only available for fields that are always numeric. National in scope.
  • Std. Dev.: The numeric standard deviation for this field. This is only available for fields that are always numeric. National in scope. *
  • Analyzed SQL Type: Displays an appropriate SQL type for the field. This value is programmatically generated by analyzing all data fields. Note, that some fields may be typed as numeric which in practice would be treated as character strings, e.g., zip codes.

*Not available in the online data dictionary. Available in the offline pdf and Excel downloads.