Since continuing political committees “close out” at the end of every calendar year, there is some extra work to be done in January to prepare for another year of reporting. 

You will need to know the “cash on hand” balance from Line 18  of your December C-4 report. Please DO NOT use a beginning balance that does not match your bank balance. Doing this recreates any aggregation problems from previous years. Please contact PDC staff for guidance on correcting earlier reports.

 

Instructions for PACS using ORCA

Backup your current year data

First, make a backup of your campaign data from the current year and update your version of ORCA. To update your ORCA, go here. 

To create a backup:

  1. At the home screen of ORCA, click BACKUP CAMPAIGN DATA icon (or, at the main screen, click BACKUP button).
  2. Choose the campaign to be backed up then click OK
  3. Choose the location where you want to save the zip file you are creating
  4. Edit the “file name” field to remove the “*” then enter the name of the committee along with the current year, and add the date of the backup (Example: YourPAC2021 Backup 010122)
  5. Click Save

Create a campaign for the coming year

  1. Create a new committee using the Setup Wizard in ORCA. Choose the bubble next to the committee you want to create for the new year. Then click Next.
  2. Type in the new year with four digits. Example: 2022
  3. Click Setup
  4. In Carry Forward Cash, enter your beginning bank balance (should match the "cash on hand" from Line 18 of the December C-4) as carry forward cash. FILE>COMMITTEE INFORMATION>CARRY FORWARD CASH
  5. Click the green “plus” sign and enter the amount.
  6. In C-4 reporting periods, select the election in which your committee is participating (FILE>COMMITTEE INFORMATION>C4 REPORTING PERIODS)
  7. Check the committee's last C-1pc and file an amendment if any information has changed. A committee must update its registration electronically.  You may do so through the PDC web page here.  For instructions on how to access your committee’s account, please check the videos “How to get a Secure Access Washington Account” and “How to gain access to an existing committee.”  

Import your contacts

You can import your lists(s) of contacts from the previous year ORCA data into your newly created coming year ORCA campaign so you don’t have to re-type them. Your contacts are found by going to ACCOUNTS>CONTACTS>INDIVIDUALS. The import process will go smoothly if you don’t have any errors in your current list. In the current year campaign, use the “browse” button found in the bottom right corner of ACCOUNTS>CONTACTS>INDIVIDUALS (or the appropriate choice) to review your old year's list. Delete any empty lines you find in your list. Repeat this process for your couple contacts (ACCOUNTS>CONTACTS>COUPLES) making sure all your “couple” contacts have both an appropriate “couple name” and separate unique contact entries. Please review to ensure your "other" contacts, (ACCOUNTS>CONTACTS>OTHERS) are correct as well.

 

If you import contacts from the current year to the coming year and errors exist in the current year campaign, ORCA will halt the import process. If you import a second time it will import the entire list again, subsequently duplicating the names from the first attempt. You can delete the duplicates after the import process is successful or choose to start over by deleting the new year campaign and repeating steps 1-4 in the section above. 

  1. On ORCA home screen, click IMPORT AND EXPORT
  2. Click “IMPORT from another program or file”
  3. Click NEXT
  4. Click ORCA DATASET
  5. Click NEXT
  6. Select the closed campaign that has the names you wish to export FROM
  7. Click NEXT
  8. Double click the name of the new campaign committee you wish to import INTO
  9. Click NEXT
  10. Check items you wish to import
  11. Click IMPORT
  12. Click FINISH