Agenda preparation has never been easier. No longer does the workload have to fall on one person’s shoulders.
The agenda and its contents can be developed by a whole team of people, not just the meetings administrator.
For example, the person responsible for a specific item can submit via GAMUT all of the content needed for that agenda item.
In order for this workflow to be effective, your organization must decide WHO will be submitters of items, WHAT information is required for items submitted, to WHOM will they submit these items for approval and WHEN the items need to be submitted.
Once that is determined, the meetings administrator can give the access rights accordingly in the GAMUT’s User Administration.
GAMUT’s meeting module gives you the ability to facilitate the work flow of documents and data necessary to create your meeting agendas.
There are many advantages of using this workflow. One advantage is the elimination of redundant work by the meetings administrator. The other advantage is the accountability of the person who is responsible for that agenda item. If he or she is responsible for that meeting agenda item, then that person should be able to easily submit the information needed for that item for approval. The approver can always request further information if needed. Having good content in the agenda item can also shorten the time that this item is presented and can also serve as a searchable archive for that topic once the meeting is complete.
Because of these advantages, you will find that many people can (and probably will) be involved in developing materials and approving them for your agenda. Below are some examples.
The Meeting Administrator- This is the person who sets up the meetings, meeting templates, item templates and organizes and publishes the final agenda for a particular type of meeting. The Meeting Administrator will also typically be setting up the permissions for different Simbli users.
A Submitter– This person would submit agenda items for the meeting. A person could possibly be a submitter for one type or meeting, an approver for another type of meeting and have no specific meeting permissions for other types of meetings.
An Approver– This person would have the authority to approve items submitted by a submitter for a specific type of meeting.
Typical Work Flow A (Submitter Initiates Item)
A Meeting Administrator sets up a meeting (along with templates) and the users. The Submitter will fill out the Agenda item template for an item for a specific meeting and submit it to an Approver. The approver will receive an e-mail saying that an item has been submitted and requires approval. This approver can either approve the item, return it to the submitter with comments or reject the submission. An e-mail back to the submitter will go out along with the approver’s comments. This can go back and forth until the approver is satisfied with the item. Once it is approved, the meeting administrator can move this item onto the agenda. The meeting administrator can also edit this item if necessary.
Sample Scenario: Let’s say each board meeting always includes a financial report…and the monthly financial report is prepared by Bob Smith, who works in the Finance Department. Bob would be the Submitter. The CFO (and Bob’s supervisor), Mary Jones, might be the Approver and reviews the data Bob submitted before approving (or not) this information. Or…it may be in your district that the senior staff are the submitters and the Superintendent is the approver. You can set it up to correspond to how your district’s management requires.
Typical Work Flow B (Meeting Administrator Assigns Item to Submitter)
In either case, the items submitted will be in the Meeting Administrator’s Work In Progress so that he/she can see the status of all items.