User Guide. BoardDocs Pro. For Administrative Readers. Your Paperless Governance Solution

User Guide BoardDocs Pro For Administrative Readers Your Paperless Governance Solution

BoardDocs Pro For Administrative Readers 800-407-0141 http://www.boarddocs.com This user guide is intended for the exclusive use of BoardDocs customers and subscribers. The information contained in this document cannot be distributed, modified, reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of BoardDocs or Emerald Data Solutions, Inc. 2011 Emerald Data Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Last Update: June 28, 2011 ii

Table of Contents Fast Track...7 Chapter 1 Introduction...11 Welcome to BoardDocs...11 Using this Guide...12 Best Practices...12 Mac Users...12 Step-By-Step Instructions...12 Getting Help (Technical Support)...13 Technical Requirements...13 Browser Requirements...13 Computer Requirements...13 Other Software and Hardware Requirements...14 Chapter 2 Signing in to BoardDocs...15 Signing In...15 Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface...17 BoardDocs Header...17 Information Panels...18 Welcome Panel...19 Meetings Panel...20 Agenda Panel...21 Policies Panel (Optional)...22 Library Panel...23 Search Panel...24 Navigation and Viewing...25 Clicking in BoardDocs...26 Meeting Dashboard...26 Content Areas...26 Chapter 4 Using the Packet...27 Organization of Packet Information...27 3

Accessing Information from the Packet...28 Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas...31 Viewing Meeting Agendas...31 Viewing Assigned Strategic Goals...35 Viewing Attached Documents...37 Playing Audio Attachments...39 Chapter 6 Viewing Policies...41 Policy Organization...41 Policy Status...41 Accessing Policies from Within BoardDocs...42 Accessing Externally Hosted Policies...44 Chapter 7 Viewing Library Documents...45 Types of Library Documents...45 General...46 Events...46 Strategic Goals...46 Board Member Pages...47 Viewing Library Items...47 Chapter 8 Searching...49 Introduction to Searching in BoardDocs...49 Directed Searches...49 Searching Example:...49 Clearing Search Results...51 Advanced Searches...52 Searching Example:...52 Searching for Variants...53 META Searches...53 Searching Example:...54 General Search Tips...55 Narrowing your Searches...55 Using Quotes and Search Operators...55 4

Chapter 9 Printing...57 Printing from BoardDocs...57 Printing Agendas from the Meeting Dashboard...57 Printing an Agenda from the Agenda Panel...59 Printing Attachments...59 Printing Goal Reports...59 Chapter 10...61 Submitting Agenda Items...61 The Agenda Process...61 Email/Share Drive Method...62 Online Submission Method...63 Approval Trees...64 Submitter Facts...65 Submitting Agenda Items...65 Adding Attachments...71 Deleting Attachments...72 Content Editing Tools...72 Entering Text in Content Fields...75 Using Public Content Templates...75 Copying and Pasting Options...75 Tips for Copying and Pasting from Word into BoardDocs (HTML editors)...76 Numbered and Bulleted Lists...77 Placing Numbered or Bulleted Lists...77 Managing Indentations on Bulleted or Numbered Lists...77 Setting Numbered List Properties...78 Formatting with Tables...81 1. Pasting from Word...81 2. Pasting from Excel...81 3. Creating a Table Manually...81 Populating the Table with Information...83 Creating Sub-Levels in the Table...83 5

Setting Cell Properties...84 Helpful Table Tips...85 Hiding Borders and Gridlines...85 Chapter 11...87 Approving Agenda Items...87 Approver Facts...87 Reviewing, Approving or Rejecting Items...87 Index...89 Legal Notes...91 6

Fast Track Fast Track Signing In To BoardDocs 1. Enter your BoardDocs site address in the browser. 2. Enter your BoardDocs username. 3. Press the <TAB> key. 4. Enter your BoardDocs password. 5. Press the <ENTER> key or click the Sign In button. Viewing Upcoming Meetings 1. On the Welcome panel, under Current Meetings, click on the meeting you wish to view. 2. On the Meeting Dashboard that appears, click the View the Agenda button. 3. Click on an agenda item on the left side of the screen. Item details and content will appear on the right side of the screen. 4. Click on other agenda items as desired to view their details and content. Viewing Archived Meetings 1. On the Meetings panel, click on the divider bar for the year in which the meeting that you want to view was held, and then click on the desired meeting. 2. On the Meeting Dashboard that appears, click the View the Agenda button. 3. Click on an agenda item on the left side of the screen. Item details and content will display on the right side of the screen. 4. Click on other agenda items as desired to view their details and content. Viewing Policies (if used by your organization) 1. Click on the Policies tab. 2. Click on the drop down arrow next to the Book field to select the policy book to view. 3. Click on the desired section title to expand the section. 4. Click on the policy you want to view. Viewing Library Documents 1. Click on the Library tab. 2. Click on the type of document you want to view to expand the list. 3. Click on the document you want to view. 7

Fast Track - Agendas Searching Single Agendas 1. Select the meeting in which you want to search from the Meetings panel. 2. Click the View the Agenda button. 3. Click in the Search field located at the top of the agenda item list. 4. Enter the term or terms on which you want to base your search. 5. Press the <ENTER> key or click the Search tool (magnifying glass) to execute the search. Searching All Agendas 1. Click on the arrow symbol on the Meetings tab. 2. Select either Active or Draft depending on the type of meeting you want to search. 3. Click in the Search field located at the top of the meeting list. 4. Enter the term or terms on which you want to base your search. 5. Press the <ENTER> key or click the Search tool (magnifying glass) to execute the search. META Searching 1. Click on the Search tab. 2. Enable the META checkbox. 3. Click in the Search field near the top of the panel. 4. Enter the term or terms on which you want to base your search. 5. Press the <ENTER> key or click the Search button to execute the search. Print the Agenda from the Meeting Dashboard 1. Click on the meeting you want to print in the Meetings panel. 2. Click on the Print the Agenda button to display the print preview window. 3. Select the Simple Agenda, Detailed Agenda or Current Agenda Item tab to specify what you want to print. 4. Click the Print button in the lower-right corner of the print preview window. Print the Agenda from the Agenda Panel 1. Click on the meeting you want to print in the Meetings panel. 2. Click the View the Agenda button. 3. On the agenda tab, click on one of the print tools to display the print preview window. 4. Click on the Simple Agenda, Detailed Agenda or Current Agenda Item tab to specify what you want to print. 5. Click the Print button in the lower-right corner of the print preview window. 8

Chapter 1 Introduction Submitting Agenda Items 1. Click on the arrow symbol on the Meetings panel and choose My Agenda Items from the menu. 2. Click the Add New Item button (green button with a plus sign). 3. Choose the meeting to which you want to add the item from the Meeting drop down menu. 4. Choose the category to which you want to add the from the Category drop down menu. 5. Enter a subject for the item in the Subject field. 6. Choose who can access the item from the Access drop down menu. 7. Specify the agenda item type in the Type list. 8. Choose the appropriate approval tree from the Approval Tree drop down menu. 9. Add content to the three content fields as desired. 10. Attaching supporting documents to the agenda item by clicking the Browse button. 11. Click the Submit tool when you are ready to submit the item. Approving Agenda Items 1. Click on the arrow symbol on the Meetings panel and choose My Agenda Items from the menu. 2. Click on the item that you want to view in your My Agenda Items list. 3. Edit the item if desired by clicking the Edit tool (pencil icon). 4. Approve the item if desired by clicking on the Approve tool (green checkmark icon). 5. Reject the item if desired by clicking on the Reject tool (gear symbol with yellow triangle). 9

10 Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction Welcome to BoardDocs Welcome to BoardDocs, your paperless meeting solution! BoardDocs has been designed specifically for any governing body that wants to manage agendas in an easy-to-use online system. BoardDocs provides an advanced Web 2.0 interface with a comprehensive feature set to help organizations create and manage agendas, policies and library items, and make them available for viewing over the Internet. Your organization can also record votes, enter meeting minutes and display meeting information to your audience during your board meetings. BoardDocs allows designated administrators to load agenda items using advanced document workflow technology. Powerful BoardDocs servers use this information to create dynamic web sites for viewing by various stakeholders. Executive governing bodies can securely access important information on your BoardDocs site. Information is conveniently summarized with the ability to drill down to the minutest agenda detail. With its cloud computing foundation, BoardDocs can also help the public be fully engaged in the governance process by allowing direct access to public information from home computers. BoardDocs provides the ability to comply with state and local sunshine laws while allowing your organization to withhold certain information that should not be shared with the public. Tight access controls allow agenda publishers to designate documents for review by select types of users, including the governing body, internal administrative staff and the public. Once documents are published, designated information is presented to stakeholders in the proper format, and at the appropriate time. With BoardDocs, accessing past, current and future information on board, work or home computers is very simple. Supporting documents can be attached in virtually any format to allow stakeholders to review related documents wherever and whenever they have access to an Internet-connected computer. There has never been an easier or more powerful meeting technology! 11

Chapter 1 Introduction Using this Guide This user guide will serve as a comprehensive reference as you learn how to use BoardDocs to view your meeting agendas, library items and policies and submit items for inclusion on agendas. Following are some basic instructions to help you make effective use of this guide. Best Practices Best Practice: Text in gray boxes like this example highlights a best practice that will help you complete tasks in BoardDocs with greater efficiency and effectiveness. Mac Users BoardDocs can be used on both Macintosh (Mac) and PC computers. Throughout this user guide, you will see Mac-specific instructions in boxes like this. Step-By-Step Instructions Throughout this user guide, you will see sections with step-by-step instructions to assist you in completing certain BoardDocs-related tasks. Sections that contain step-by-step instructions will be shown with a bolded title and will often be accompanied by pictures with callouts that correspond to numbered steps. An example is shown below. To navigate to the Strategic Goals panel, perform the following steps: 1. Click on the arrow symbol on the Library tab. 2. Choose Strategic Goals from the menu that appears. 1 2 12

Chapter 1 Introduction Getting Help (Technical Support) The BoardDocs technical support staff is available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day to assist you with your support questions. You can contact our support department in one of two ways: For Immediate Assistance - 7 days a week, 24 hours a day: (800) 407-0141, option 1 (Toll free nationally) If a support representative is not immediately available to take your call, leave a message with a phone number and description of the nature of the issue. The on-call technical support representative will return your call within 1 hour. For questions that do not require an immediate response, such as situations in which you would simply like information about how a feature in BoardDocs works, email us at the following address: Support@BoardDocs.com After receiving your e-mail, we will contact you by phone or e-mail to help resolve your issue. Technical Requirements There is a small but very important set of technical minimums and requirements for all computers that will be used to access BoardDocs. A summary of technical requirements is included below. Browser Requirements BoardDocs has the following minimum browser requirements: FireFox version 3.6 or higher (recommended) Safari version 3 or higher Internet Explorer 7 or higher Computer Requirements CPU Minimum: 1.5 GHz Recommended: Intel P5 or better Video 1024 x 780 or better video resolution RAM Minimum: 1 GB Recommended: 2 GB 13

Chapter 1 Introduction Other Software and Hardware Requirements Adobe Reader 6.x or higher is required to view PDF attachments on a PC. PDF documents are viewable in the Preview window on Mac computers. Adobe Reader is also available for the Mac. 14

Chapter 2 Signing in to BoardDocs Chapter 2 Signing in to BoardDocs You can access BoardDocs on the Internet through a Web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. A custom URL (Web address) has been created for your organization s BoardDocs site. Your custom URL is shown below: Simply type this URL in the address field of your browser to access your BoardDocs site. On a Macintosh, enter the BoardDocs address for your organization in your browser s address field. The URL will be the same as for PC users. Signin In To sign in to BoardDocs, perform the following steps: 1. Open your browser program. 2. Enter your BoardDocs URL (Web address) in the browser window and press the <ENTER> key. A sample URL is shown in the image at right. 2 3. Once the BoardDocs Site Choice screen appears, choose Authenticate to display fields in which you can enter your user name and password. 3 15

Chapter 2 Signing in to BoardDocs 4. Click in the User name field and enter your BoardDocs user name. The user name IS NOT case sensitive. 5. Press the <TAB> key to advance to the Password field and enter your BoardDocs password. The password IS case sensitive. 6. Click on the Sign in button or press the <ENTER> key to authenticate and begin viewing information. 6 4 5 After signing in, the BoardDocs Welcome panel, similar to the one shown below, appears. Best Practice: Once you have navigated to the sign in page on your BoardDocs site, you should consider setting a bookmark or favorite in your browser for that site address to provide quick future access. 16

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface The BoardDocs interface is a modern, Web 2.0 layout. It consists of a series of easily navigable tabs, buttons, links and menus, all of which serve to provide quick access to various types of information. This chapter will familiarize you with the principal components of the BoardDocs interface. BoardDocs Header The narrow strip along the top of the BoardDocs window, known as the Header, includes a logo, customizable titles, and buttons that perform certain predefined functions. Your organization can customize the logo and titles on your BoardDocs site. Two additional functions are displayed in the upper right corner of the Header. These functions are described below. Home Log Out Serves as a navigation link by opening to the home page designated by your organization. Ends your viewing session, logs you out of BoardDocs, and presents you with a choice to enter the public site or authenticate again to resume viewing of the agenda packet, library items and policies. Best Practice: We strongly recommend that you log out when you finish your viewing session to help protect sensitive and confidential information on your BoardDocs site. 17

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Information Panels You can access information for agendas, policies, library items and other document types from panels on the BoardDocs interface. To navigate to a panel, simply click on the desired tab. In some instances, additional navigation options are available in a drop-down menu that you can access by clicking on the arrow symbol on the tab. The principal panels of the BoardDocs interface are described below. 18

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Welcome Panel The Welcome panel displays when you first sign in to your BoardDocs site and each time you click on the Welcome tab. On this panel, you can: Access upcoming meetings in the Current Meetings area. View the customized packet of information for administrative readers. Search for information contained in the packet. 19

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Meetings Panel The Meetings panel provides access to all past and future meeting agendas. On this panel, you can: View upcoming meetings in the Current Meetings area. View draft meetings as they are being created. Access agendas and minutes from all past meetings on a year-by-year basis by clicking on the appropriate divider bar for the desired year. Perform directed searches for information contained in your meeting agendas or attachments. 20

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Agenda Panel The Agenda panel appears when you select a meeting on the Meetings panel. On this panel, you can: Navigate within the agenda and view agenda item details. Open and view supporting documents that are attached to agenda items. Print the agenda. Perform directed searches for information contained in the agenda or its attachments. 21

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Policies Panel (Optional) The Policies panel provides access to the internal policy management features of BoardDocs. Alternatively, the tab can function as a link to the location where your policies are stored online, or the tab can be disabled entirely if your organization does not want to provide online access to your policies. If managing your policies in BoardDocs, the arrow symbol on the tab displays a menu in which you can navigate to policies in various lifecycle stages. On this panel, you can: Access policy books. View policies at various lifecycle stages, including policies that are under consideration, policies that are active and policies that have been retired. Perform directed searches for policy information. Access related policy information on the Internet through links in the policy detail area if provided. 22

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Library Panel The Library panel provides access to various types of reference documents that are stored in your BoardDocs library, including such items as press releases, news items, reports, newsletters, weekly updates, goals, events, explanation of terms, meeting guidelines or any other resource that might be valuable to have on hand as a reference for your meetings. The arrow symbol on the tab displays a menu in which you can navigate between library item types. On this panel, you can: View documents for board, administrative and public reference. View goals that can be linked to agenda items. View customized board member pages. View upcoming events and calendar entries. Perform directed searches for library items. 23

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Search Panel The Search panel provides you with the ability to perform global searches across all document types on your BoardDocs site. You can also perform META searches, which enables you to search public information on other BoardDocs subscriber sites for topics of interest to your organization. On this panel, you can: Search meetings, library documents, minutes, policies and attachments on your BoardDocs site. Perform META searches to display public agenda items, policies, library items and attachments from other BoardDocs subscriber sites. 24

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Navigation and Viewing The basic information structure is similar on each panel. You can view items on your BoardDocs site by clicking on them in the navigation area on the left side of the panel. Once selected, you can view the details and background information in the display area on the right side of the panel. For example, to view an agenda item, simply click on it in the navigation area on the left pane. The background information for the item displays on the right pane, as shown in the picture below. NAVIGATION VIEWING In some instances, such as with the packet area, active meetings list, policy section list and library categories list, the navigation area will provide access to expandable panels in which information may be stored according to category. You can view the information stored in a particular panel by clicking on its divider bar, as shown in the picture at right. 25

Chapter 3 The BoardDocs Interface Clicking in BoardDocs Left clicking is used throughout BoardDocs to select items for viewing. All actions in BoardDocs are performed with single mouse clicks. This guide will simply refer to this action as click or clicking. Meeting Dashboard The Meeting Dashboard displays when you click on a meeting on the Meetings panel or when you select a current meeting from the Welcome panel. The dashboard will display options to allow you to join a meeting if already in progress, view an agenda, print an agenda and view approved meeting minutes for past meetings. Content Areas Agenda and library items can have up to three content areas for access by public, administrative and executive viewers. As an administrative-level viewer, you will have access to two of the content areas for viewing (Administrative and Public), and all three content areas for items that you may be submitting directly to the agenda if using online submission. Content Areas 26

Chapter 4 Using the Packet Chapter 4 Using the Packet The packet is an important part of the BoardDocs interface and is central to how BoardDocs organizes and presents information. By designating agendas as current and by adding select library and policy items, document publishers for your organization can build targeted packets for each type of BoardDocs reader. Information stored in the packet is accessible directly from the Welcome panel. The packet can include: Current meetings Documents from the library Selected active policies Selected policies under consideration Event entries Strategic goals Board member pages with biographical and background information Organization of Packet Information The packet on the Welcome panel, when fully populated, typically contains a set of expandable panels with fixed labels, each of which is designed to display links to certain types of information. An example of a fully populated packet is shown below. 27

Chapter 4 Using the Packet Current agendas will be listed at the top of the packet. Depending on the types of documents that have been added, other expandable panels with the following titles may appear: Important Documents Displays items that have been added to the packet from the General library area. Select Policies Displays select active policies for reference purposes. Policies Under Consideration Displays select policies that the board has not yet formally approved. Upcoming Events Displays items that have been added to the packet from the Events library area. Board Goals Displays items that have been added to the packet from the Strategic Goals library area. Board Members Displays pages with Board member biographical information from the Board Members library area. Accessing Information from the Packet The packet provides a quick way for you to navigate to select information on your BoardDocs site that has been placed there expressly by your document publishers to help support your upcoming board meetings. Accessing information from the packet is very straightforward and simple. To view an item contained in the packet, simply expand the desired content panel and click on the item that you want to view. BoardDocs will navigate you directly to the item in the Meetings, Policies or Library panels, depending on where the information is stored. For example, assuming that your organization s document publisher has added an item from the General section of the library to the packet, you could perform the following steps to view it: 1. Click on the Important Documents divider bar in the packet to expand the panel. Items that appear in this panel originate from the General area of the library. 2. Click on the item that you wish to view. 1 2 28

Chapter 4 Using the Packet BoardDocs will navigate you directly to the item (a newsletter stored in the library in this example). The process for viewing other information in the packet is similar to the steps described above. 29

30 Chapter 4 Using the Packet

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas Viewing Meeting Agendas You can access agendas for viewing purposes either from the Current Meetings area in the packet if you want to view an upcoming meeting or from the Meetings panel if you want to view either upcoming meetings or past meetings stored in your archive. To access a meeting from the packet on the Welcome panel, perform the following steps: 1. In the Current Meetings area on the Welcome panel, click on the meeting that you want to view. The Meetings panel will display and the dashboard for the selected meeting will appear. 1 2. Click the View the Agenda button on the Meeting Dashboard. The Agenda panel will display. 2 31

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas 3. The dark bars in the navigation pane on the left side of the window are agenda item categories. The other titles in the list are individual agenda items. To view an agenda item, simply click on it in the navigation area on the left pane of the Agenda panel. The details and information associated with the item will display in the right pane. Details and information display here 3 4. To view content in the two content areas to which you will have access, simply scroll down using the scroll bar to the right of the document area. 4 32

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas To access a meeting from the Meetings panel, perform the following steps: 1. Click on the Meetings tab to access the Meetings panel if not already displayed. 2. On the Meetings Panel, click on the meeting that you want to view in the Current Meetings area (shown framed in the box below), or if you want to view an archived meeting instead, expand the desired year panel by clicking on its divider bar, as indicated by the numbered callout below. 1 2 3. Click on the meeting that you want to view. The dashboard for the selected meeting will display. 4. Click the View the Agenda button to display the agenda. 3 4 5. Follow steps 3-4 in the workflow starting on page 32 to view agenda items. 33

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas To access a draft meeting, perfom the following steps: 1. Access to draft meetings is controlled by your document pubisher. If your publisher has enabled administrative-level access to draft meetings, an arrow symbol will be visible on the Meetings tab (this is the default setting for administrative users). Click on the arrow symbol. 2. Choose Draft from the menu to navigate to the Draft Meetings panel. 1 2 3. Click on the meeting that you wish to view. 4. Click the View the Agenda button. 3 4 5. Follow steps 3-4 in the workflow starting on page 32 to view agenda items. 34

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas Viewing Assigned Strategic Goals To help your organization meet its objectives, BoardDocs provides an integrated set of features for creating and managing strategic goals. Your organization can leverage these tools to associate goals with agenda items to reflect all actions and discussions that have been held related to a particular goal, and then generate summary reports to monitor progress toward goal achievement. To view a goal that has been assigned to an agenda item, perform the following steps: 1. Click the link to the desired goal in the Agenda Item Details area of the agenda item. 1 2. When prompted, click the OK button to navigate to the goal. 2 35

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas 3. BoardDocs will display the selected goal from the Library panel, as shown below. If necessary, use the scroll bar to view the goal. See Chapter 7 Viewing Library Documents for more information. 3 4. To view the goal progress summary, scroll to the bottom of the page. The links in the goal progress summary provide navigation to agenda items to which the goal was assigned. 4 36

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas Viewing Attached Documents Supporting information will most often be included in your agenda items as attachments. While BoardDocs will support attachments in any digital format, most documents will be attached as PDF files. 1. Attachments may be added to each content area. To view an attachment, simply click on the desired attachment link. Depending on which browser you are using and the active settings in the browser, the document may open in a separate window or on a new tab in the browser. Items that have attachments will be marked with the attachment icon in the agenda navigation area, as shown framed by the box in the picture below. 1 37

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas 2. You can leave the document open for reference purposes if desired. When you are ready to dismiss the attachment, click the Close button on the browser window (or on the tab in which the attachment opened, if appropriate). 2 38

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas Playing Audio Attachments BoardDocs supports playback of audio files through an integrated MP3 audio player. If your document publisher has attached an MP3 file to an agenda item, an icon resembling a speaker will display next to the attachment link, as shown in the example below. To play an audio attachment, perform the following steps: 1. Navigate to and click on the attachment that you want to play. An integrated MP3 player will appear in the header area where indicated by the arrow in the picture below. 1 2. To pause the player, click the Pause button on the player control. 2 3. To resume playback, click the Play button on the player control. 3 39

Chapter 5 Viewing Agendas 4. To stop playback and dismiss the audio player, click the Stop button on the player control. 4 40

Chapter 6 Viewing Policies Chapter 6 Viewing Policies Your organization can manage policies directly from your BoardDocs site using a comprehensive set of policy management tools. Alternatively, if your organization is using a hosting service or is storing your policies on your website, the Policies tab in BoardDocs can be set up to link to the external location. This is managed through an option setting on your BoardDocs site. If your organization chooses to store its policies online within BoardDocs, they can be organized into searchable books and managed throughout their entire lifecycle. This chapter will introduce you to the methods and processes for accessing your policies from your BoardDocs site. Policy Organization If your organization has elected to manage policies internally within BoardDocs, policies will be structured as follows: Policies will be created in a book. Each book will be subdivided into sections. Multiple policies can be stored within each section. Policy Status With the BoardDocs policy feature, your organization has the option of maintaining several versions of the same policy at different lifecycle stages. An example is illustrated below: You may have an active version of the policy that all viewers can see. You may also have a copy of the policy with a status of Up for Revision that shows recommended additions and deletions. This copy would appear in the Under Consideration panel under the Policies tab. You may also be maintaining, for historical purposes, a retired version of the policy that shows the policy language prior to the last revisions. The arrow symbol on the Policies tab, which only displays if your organization is choosing to store and manage your policies within BoardDocs, displays a menu with three policy views: Active, Under Consideration and Retired. Each option displays a panel from which you can access policies at various lifecycle stages. 41

Chapter 6 Viewing Policies Accessing Policies from Within BoardDocs If your policies are being stored and managed within your BoardDocs site, you can follow the instructions below to gain access to them. To access internally-managed policies in BoardDocs, perform the following steps: 1. Click the arrow button on the Policies Tab to select the desired policy state. Note: Active is the default when you first enter your BoardDocs site. If you wish to view active policies, you can generally click directly on the tab instead of the arrow symbol to display them. 2. Select the desired policy status from the menu. 2 1 3. Choose the desired policy book from the Book menu. 4. Navigate to the desired section by clicking the appropriate divider bar. 3 4 42

Chapter 6 Viewing Policies 5. Select the policy that you want to view from the list. The details and information associated with the item will display on the right pane. Details and information display here 5 Note: Policy documents are limited to a single content area. 43

Chapter 6 Viewing Policies Accessing Externally Hosted Policies If your organization has elected to host policies on your website or is using a third-party hosting service, you can follow the instructions below to gain access to them. To access externally-hosted policies in BoardDocs, perform the following steps: 1. Click on the Policies tab. The policies will appear in a new browser window. 1 44

Chapter 7 Viewing Library Documents Chapter 7 Viewing Library Documents Your organization can store documents that may be used to support your board meetings in the BoardDocs library, which you can access by clicking on the Library tab. The library can be used to store just about any type of document your organization might want to have on hand as a reference, including: Media or press releases News items Reports Newsletters Weekly updates Goals Events Explanation of terms Meeting guidelines Any other resource Types of Library Documents There are four library types: General, Events, Strategic Goals and Board Members. As with policies, the arrow symbol in the Library tab displays a menu from which you can navigate to the various library types, as shown in the picture below. 45

Chapter 7 Viewing Library Documents A description of each library item type is included below. General General library items can contain documents, links, and any other type of descriptive information that your organization may want to store with the item. The General section is a location within the library for storage of any library item that doesn t fall into the Events, Strategic Goals or Board Member categories. Within the General library section, your organization can create categories in which various types of library documents can be stored. Each category will display as an expandable panel with a button bar on which you can click to view library documents that are stored therein. A few examples of some possible general document categories that your organization may wish to include are listed below: Events Press releases Weekly updates Newsletters Meeting guidelines Other categories The Events area is a location in which your organization can store documents used to inform the public, staff and board of upcoming events. As with general library items, your organization can organize events into categories that can be accessed from expandable panels by clicking on the button bars. A few examples of some possible event document categories that your organization may wish to include are listed below: Board events City events District events Athletic events Concerts Conferences Retreats Strategic Goals The Strategic Goals area is intended for storage of any goals related to your organization s strategic plan. As with other library item types, your organization can structure goals into categories that you can access from expandable panels by clicking on the button bars. A few examples of some possible strategic goal document categories that your organization may wish to include are listed below: Board goals Community goals District goals 5 year goals 46

Chapter 7 Viewing Library Documents Board Member Pages The Board Members area is intended for storage and display of background information about board members. Content can include the names of those who are currently serving, contact information, photographs, background information, attachments, links and any other pertinent information that your organization may wish to display about each board member. In addition to access from the library, viewers can access board member pages from the packet area on the Welcome panel. Viewing Library Items The process for viewing library items is similar to that for viewing other types of information in BoardDocs. To view library items, perform the following steps: 1. Click on the arrow symbol in the Library Tab to select the desired library item type. Note: General is the default when you first enter your BoardDocs site. If you wish to view general library items, you can generally click directly on the tab instead of the arrow symbol to access them. 2. Select the desired library type from the menu. 2 1 47

Chapter 7 Viewing Library Documents 3. Choose the library item category in which you want to view an item. Note: Categories are created, structured and managed by your organization s document publisher, so the information you see in your library will not look exactly like what is shown in the image below. 3 4. Select the library item that you want to view from the list. The details and information associated with the item will display on the right pane. Details and information display here 4 Note: Library items have the same three content areas as agenda items. As an administrative user, you will be able to see the Public and Administrative Content areas. You can use the scrollbar to the right of the document area to view the information in each content field. 48

Chapter 8 Searching Chapter 8 Searching Introduction to Searching in BoardDocs One of the most significant benefits of hosting your agendas and packets online is that the information that you store on your BoardDocs site can be fully searchable. This allows you to quickly find a wide variety of information using methods similar to other Web-based search engines. Depending on format, BoardDocs can even include attachments in the search results that it displays. BoardDocs provides you with two different ways to search. You can perform directed searches using the fields found on the Welcome, Meetings, Agenda, Policies and Library panels, or you perform more advanced global searches using the options found on the Search panel. You can even perform META searches to help you find information on other BoardDocs subscriber sites related to certain topics that are of interest to you. Search logic, in terms of how results are ordered, is based on the relevance of the hit, much like you would experience with other Web-based search engines. This chapter will introduce you to the BoardDocs search feature. Directed Searches Most of the panels within BoardDocs have their own Search fields. When you perform directed searches from one of these fields, you will see results based on the context in which you are performing your search. For example, if you initiate a search from the Welcome panel, BoardDocs will search all of the documents that you have placed in the packet. Conversely, if you initiate a search from the Meetings panel, BoardDocs will display search results from all of the active meeting agendas on your site. If you are performing a directed search, you will need to remember to navigate to the appropriate panel on which you wish to initiate your search prior to entering the desired search term(s). Search fields function in the same way on the Policies and Library panels. (Note: When you search for information on the Policies panel, you will first need to choose the desired policy book before initiating the search.) Searching Example: The example below shows how you might perform a directed search on the Active Meetings panel using the term attendance. 49

Chapter 8 Searching 1. Click on the Meetings tab to display active meetings. 2. Click in the Search field and enter the term attendance. 3. Click the Search tool (the tool resembling a magnifying glass) to begin your search, or press the <ENTER> key. BoardDocs will return a list of meetings that contain items that match the search criteria. 1 2 3 4. Click on the desired meeting to see the list of items containing the search term. A list of agenda items within the selected meeting that match your search will display. 4 5. Click on an agenda item listed in the search results to see details and view content. 5 6. To view search results for other meetings, click on the Meetings tab, and then repeat steps 4 and 5 above. 50

Chapter 8 Searching Clearing Search Results After performing your search, you can clear your search results to return to the default navigation views on each panel. To clear search results, perform the following steps: 1. On the Agenda panel, click on the red X on search results pane. The agenda list will reappear. 1 2. Click on the Meetings tab. 2 3. Click the red X on the search results pane to clear the list and return the meetings pane. 3 51

Chapter 8 Searching Advanced Searches The Search panel provides options for advanced searching that allow you to find results across your entire database, or that limit searching to just certain document types. Checkboxes near the top of the panel allow you to specify the types of documents to search. Searching Example: The example below shows how you might perform an advanced search from the Search panel using the term attendance. 1. Click on the Search tab. 2. Specify which document types you want to search by enabling or disabling appropriate check boxes. 3. Click in the Search field and type the word attendance. 4. Click on the Search button or press the <ENTER> key to initiate the search. 1 3 2 4 52

Chapter 8 Searching Search results will display as shown in the figure below. 5. Click on the desired item in the results list to view its content. Item details and content will appear on the right pane. 6. Click on the Go There button if you want to navigate to the full meeting, policy book, library category, etc. where the item is stored. 7. If you navigated away from the Search panel during the previous step, click on the Search tab again to view more results if desired. 7 6 5 Searching for Variants The Search panel will, by default, search for variants of your search terms. For example, searching for the word court will also return hits for the following variants: Courts Courting Courted META Searches META search performs a search of documents from organizations similar to yours that use BoardDocs and have elected to participate in META search. Only public agenda items, public documents, active policies and public library items will be included in search results from other BoardDocs subscriber sites. META search results typically include the following information. 53

Chapter 8 Searching Date the item was created Item title Subscriber name Name of the person who created the item Searching Example: The example below shows how you might perform a META search on the Search panel using the terms dress code. 1. Click on the Search tab. 2. Click in the Search field and type the words dress code. 3. Enable the META checkbox. 4. Click the Search button or press the <ENTER> key to initiate the search. Search results will display as shown in the picture below. When you click on an item in the results list, details and item content will appear on the right pane. 2 3 1 4 54

Chapter 8 Searching General Search Tips Following are some tips to help you perform more effective searches. Narrowing your Searches The more search terms you can use to narrow your search, the better. If you don t find what you are looking for, gradually remove search terms until you find the desired results. Using Quotes and Search Operators To search for an exact phrase, you can enclose your search term in quotes. For example, to search for the phrase student teacher agreement, you could enclose the term student teacher agreement in quotes. You can narrow results further using what are commonly referred to as operators, such as the words AND and OR. This is often referred to as a Boolean search. By default, BoardDocs searches using the AND operator, which serves to combine two or more search terms. To illustrate how this works, if you are searching for the terms dress code, this would be equivalent to you typing terms dress AND code. You should enclose the exact terms for which you wish to conduct your searches in quotes. Although BoardDocs does incorporate the AND operator in its default searches, you can make additional use of the AND operator whenever needed to combine search terms for more specific searches. The OR operator causes BoardDocs to search in an either/or format, meaning that a matching item can contain one term, both terms or multiple (if applicable) terms. For example, if you wanted to search for items that referenced the word holidays or the word vacations, you could type the terms holidays OR vacations in the search field, making sure that the exact terms for which you wish to conduct your searches are enclosed in quotes. Any item that contained one or both of the terms would be displayed as a match. Note: The word FIELD is reserved in BoardDocs. If you need to use it in a search, it must be enclosed in quotes. For example, to search on the terms field trip, you would enter the value as field trip (not field trip). 55

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Chapter 9 Printing Chapter 9 Printing Printing from BoardDocs BoardDocs is a full-featured, paperless meeting agenda solution. If you need to print an agenda, however, BoardDocs gives you the option to print a simple view, detailed view or single agenda item. When you initiate printing, BoardDocs can intelligently interpret what you are viewing and display appropriate choices based on that determination. This chapter will introduce you to the BoardDocs printing feature. Printing Agendas from the Meeting Dashboard You can print agendas from the meeting dashboard that displays when you select a meeting in the Meetings panel. When you click the Print the Agenda button on the dashboard, the Print Preview window displays with the three format options described below. Simple Agenda This option prints the category and agenda item titles in outline form. No additional content is included. Detailed Agenda This option prints category titles, agenda item titles and agenda item content as determined by the access privileges of the person who is printing the agenda. Current Agenda Item This option only prints the agenda item that you are currently viewing. 57

Chapter 9 Printing To print an agenda from the meeting dashboard, perform the following steps: 1. Click on the meeting you would like to print in either the Draft or Active meeting list. 2. Click the Print the Agenda button on the Meeting Dashboard. The Print Preview window will display. 1 2 3. Choose a print format by clicking on the desired tab. 4. Click the Print button in the lower right corner of the Print Preview window to print the agenda. 3 4 58

Chapter 9 Printing Depending on the type of computer that you are using, the standard Windows or Macintosh Print window will display in which you can choose a printer and adjust print settings. Printing an Agenda from the Agenda Panel If you are already viewing an agenda, you can print by clicking on the Print tool shown in the picture below. The Print Preview window opens with printing options identical to those described in the section above. 4 Printing Attachments If you are printing a detailed version of the agenda, the Print Preview window will display document links if the item contains attachments. You can click on one of the links to open the attached file in the Adobe PDF Reader or Preview window (if using a Macintosh), or in the program from which the document originated if the attachment is not a PDF file. Once opened, you can print the document from the program in which it opens. Printing Goal Reports The BoardDocs goal-tracking feature lets you print a report with a historical list of all agenda items to which the goal was assigned. To generate a goal report, perform the following steps: 1. From the desired goal in the Library, click the Print tool to display the Print Preview window (see image on next page). 59

Chapter 9 Printing 1 2. Click the Goal Progress Report tab to view a preview of the report. 3. Click the Print button to initiate printing. 2 3 60

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items The Agenda Process When using BoardDocs, the process for creating agendas and board packets is not all that different than the process your organization used when compiling paper agenda packets, except that everything is now done digitally. Following is a graphical representation of the paper packet creation process: Document Publisher The Document Publisher: Creates agendas Creates agenda packets Distributes packets Makes changes as needed Information for agenda items + supporting documents The old way of creating your meeting agendas required many steps and resources, including a lot of paper, many binders perhaps even custom binding and hours of time spent in front of a copy machine. The use of BoardDocs streamlines this process significantly. The agenda publisher (referred to as the document publisher in BoardDocs) still receives the information from the various departments within the organization. However, the information is submitted to the document publisher in electronic, rather than in hardcopy, format. The two methods for inputting agenda information into BoardDocs are described below. 61

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Email/Share Drive Method With the email/share drive method, the document publisher receives agenda item information and supporting documents by email or from a designated network folder, and then creates the agenda items directly in your organization s BoardDocs site using the online publishing tools. A representation of this method is shown in the figure below. Human Resources Finance Facilities Email information and documents or place on share drive Document Publisher Document publisher uses BoardDocs to create a draft agenda Draft Agenda BoardDocs Site Final or Active Agenda 62

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Online Submission Method With the online submission method, staff members who typically contribute information for inclusion on agendas can submit their own agenda items directly to your organization s BoardDocs site. Your organization can elect to have submitted agenda items go through an optional approval process with as many approvers as needed, or simply request that the agenda items be submitted to the document publisher for approval and final editing. While this method allows multiple users to submit information directly to the agenda, the document publisher always has the authority and access rights necessary to complete any agenda item or approval as needed. Larger organizations will often choose to use the online submission method due to geographically dispersed staff or the large number of people involved in contributing agenda content. A representation of this method is shown in the figure below. Human Resources Finance Facilities BoardDocs online agenda item submission Document Publisher Publisher manages agenda items with BoardDocs Document publisher uses BoardDocs to Create a draft agenda in which submitted items are placed Draft Agenda BoardDocs Site Final or Active Agenda Optional BoardDocs approval process 63

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Approval Trees If your organization will require approval of submitted agenda items in BoardDocs, you will need to select the appropriate approval tree when submitting your item. This will determine who will be able to review and approve the item prior to inclusion on the final agenda and in what order the approval will occur. A typical organization may have several approval trees. For example, there might be a designated approval channel for items from the Human Resources, Finance and Facilities departments within your organization, as illustrated in the figure below. When submitting your items, you can select the desired tree from a menu on the submission form. Final Agenda HR Approver 2 Finance Approver 2 Facilities Approver 2 HR Tree Finance Tree Facilities Tree HR Approver 1 Finance Approver 1 Facilities Approver 1 Submitter 64

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Submitter Facts Following is some information that will help you better understand the submitter role in BoardDocs. Submitters must be BoardDocs administrative users. Submitters can only submit items to DRAFT meetings that the document publisher has started in BoardDocs. Submitters can only edit agenda items that they have created. Submitters can create and manage their own agenda items from the My Agenda Items area, which they can access from the menu on the Meetings tab. Submitters can only edit agenda items until the first approver or document publisher has opened them. Submitters receive an email notification when an agenda item is rejected. The item will be returned to the submitter s My Agenda Items area. Submitting Agenda Items You can submit your agenda items through a simple online form. Prior to item submission, document publishers will create draft meetings with the appropriate categories. To submit agenda items, perform the following steps: 1. Click on the arrow symbol in the Meetings tab. 1 2. Choose My Agenda Items from the menu that appears. 2 3. Click the Add New Item tool (green button with a plus sign). A form will appear in which you can enter the agenda item information. 3 65

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items 4. Specify the draft meeting to which you want to assign the item by selecting it from the Meeting drop down menu. 4 5. Specify the category in which you want to place the item by selecting it from the Category drop down menu. 5 6. Enter the subject for the item in the Subject field. 6 66

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items 7. Specify whether or not the item will be seen by the public or maintained as private from the Access drop down menu. 7 8. Specify the agenda item type by activating the appropriate checkbox(s). 8 9. If you have selected either the Action or Action Consent agenda type, enter the recommended action in the Recommended Action field that appears. 9 10. If your organization will require approval for submitted items, select the appropriate approval tree from the Approval Tree drop down menu. 10 67

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items 11. Enter content in the three content areas as desired, or copy and paste content from a word processing document. 12. To attach supporting documents to a content area, click the Browse button below the desired content area and search for the file that you want to attach. See the Adding Attachments and Deleting Attachments workflows below for more information. 11 12 13. Click the Submit tool (tool resembling a gear with a green arrow) to submit the item immediately, or click the Save tool to save the item in your My Agenda Items area for future editing prior to submission. 13 If you have elected to save the item, it will display in your My Agenda Items area as a draft item until you are ready for further editing or submittal. 68

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items When you are ready to resume editing, you can click the Edit tool to display the agenda item fields, menus and content areas in which you can make necessary changes. After you have submitted the item, the meeting to which you have submitted it will display and a green checkmark will appear as an indicator that the item is now in the workflow process awaiting approval. Items in the workflow process will appear in the agenda as shown in the image at right. The agenda list on the left indicates the item s current workflow status, shows the submitter s name and indicates whose hands it is currently in for approval. The workflow information changes as the item moves from approver to approver. You can also click on the agenda item to display additional information. A Workflow section displays at the bottom of the agenda item in which you can view its current status. 69

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items If the approval tree includes multiple approvers, the workflow information will indicate a change in approver status once the initial approver has accepted the item. Once approval is complete, the agenda item displays in the agenda list without workflow information. However, a full workflow history is maintained at the bottom of the agenda item. Best Practice: When many people are adding agenda items, timely submission is very important. This helps to ensure that the agenda can be completed on time, which, in turn, will allow the board and public to have adequate time to view the agenda in advance of the meeting date. 70

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Adding Attachments You can attach files in each of the three content areas using the Browse button. To add an attachment to a content area, perform the following steps: 1. Click the Browse button under the desired content area. The File Upload dialog box will open. 2. Browse to the location of the file and doubleclick on the file to open. Or 1 Single-click on the file and then click the Open button. The file upload dialog box will close and the path of the file will appear in the field next to the Browse button. 2 71

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items 3. The file will automatically upload and an attachment link will display near the bottom of the content area. 3 Deleting Attachments To delete an attachment from a content area, perform the following steps: 1. Right-click on the attachment you want to delete (On the Mac: <CONTROL> click). 2. Choose Delete from the context menu that appears. 3. Click OK in the message window to confirm the deletion. 1 2 3 Content Editing Tools When submitting your agenda items, you can use the BoardDocs content editor to create, format and edit agenda item content. The features of the content editor are similar to those found in word processing programs like Microsoft Word, although significantly more basic. You can type content directly into the editor fields, or you can paste information into the fields from other software programs if desired. 72

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items If you have prior experience with a word processor or Web content editing program, many of the tools and their functions will seem familiar to you. However, since you will be creating and editing Web content in BoardDocs, there are a few formatting differences that you will need to take into account as you create your agenda items. After opening an agenda item for editing, you can access each of the three content areas to add appropriate background information and attachments. The content areas are identical in structure. A description of the editing tools displayed in the content areas is included below. Cut Copy Paste Cuts selected text/object. Copies selected text/object. Pastes selected text/object. When copying from Word, this button works exactly like the Paste from Word button, as does Ctrl+V. Paste as Plain Text Paste from Word Pastes selected text as plain text, without preserving formatting from the originating software program. Pastes selected text from Word, while preserving formatting from the Word. Works exactly like the Paste button, as does Ctrl+V. Erase Formatting Print Spell Check Spell Check as You Type Find Replace Erases formatting from an area of selected text. Prints the content area. Spell checks the content area only. Enables spell-check-as-you-type functionality, which underlines words not recognized in the spell check dictionary with a red line. Finds a word or phrase you provide. Finds text and allows replacement of a word or phrase to another word or phrase that you provide. 73

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Select All Remove Formatting Bold Italics Underline Strikethrough Subscript Superscript Number List Bulleted List Font Font Size Font Color Background Color Left Align Center Align Right Align Full Justify Create Link Unlink Anchor Insert Pictures Insert Table Selects everything in the content area. Removes formatting from a selected area. Bolds a selection. Italicizes a selection. Underlines a selection. Strikes through a selection. Adds subscripting to a selection. Adds superscripting to a selection. Creates a numbered list. Creates a bulleted list. Allows you to change the font. Allows you to change font size. Allows you to change font color. Allows you to place background highlighting behind selected text. Aligns selection left. Aligns selection center. Aligns selection right. Fully justifies a selection (justifies to both margins). Opens dialog box to create a link to an Internet site. Breaks a link to an Internet site. Allows you to place an anchor (bookmark) in the content area to which you can link from another location in the content area. Allows you to designate the location of a picture to include. The picture must be on the Internet and be able to be identified with a valid URL. Inserts a table structure. 74

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Insert Horizontal Rule Maximize/ Restore Show Blocks Display Source Code (HTML) Inserts a horizontal rule in the content area. Maximizes the content area to make it larger for easier editing. You can click the tool again to restore it to its original size. Shows formatted blocks of information in the content area. Displays the HTML source code for the content area. Entering Text in Content Fields In most cases, you may elect to simply type the text that you want displayed in each of the content fields, using the tools described above to format your text. This will ensure predictable and consistent formatting. Using Public Content Templates To prevent you from having to continually format new content in the Public Content area, your document publisher may elect to create a custom content template. This feature will help you format your public content with greater consistency and efficiency. Copying and Pasting Options You can use the Paste from Word tool, the Paste tool or the Ctrl+V keystroke (Mac: +V key) combination to paste formatted text directly from Word into a content area. Functionality is similar between the two options. However, there may be some subtle differences due to the way certain browsers allow clipboard access. When pasting content, BoardDocs will generally display the Paste dialog box shown below as an intermediate step. 75

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Instructions are included at the top of the dialog box to assist you in pasting the content. Text pasted from Word into a content area will have the following characteristics: Editor will attempt to translate the font from the imported text. Bolding, italicizing and underlining transfer to the content area. Bulleted and Numbered lists transfer to the content area. Tables transfer, provided they are actual tables and not constructs created by tabs that may have been used to align text. Note: You can use Control key combinations (Mac: key) to copy, cut and paste in BoardDocs. However, you may be asked if you want to allow your browser to access your clipboard when executing these key combinations. Answer Yes, and continue. Best Practice: : You can use the following Control key combinations in content areas while editing. CTRL + A CTRL + B CTRL + C CTRL + I CTRL + L CTRL + C CTRL + U CTRL + V CTRL + X CTRL + Y CTRL + Z Selects everything in the content area Bolds the selected text Copies the selected text to the clipboard Italicizes the selected text Opens the Link window Copies the selected text to the clipboard Underlines the selected text (or SHIFT + INSERT) Pastes data from the clipboard (or SHIFT + DELETE) Cuts the highlighted area (or CTRL + SHIFT + Z) Initiates the redo function Initiates the undo function Best Practice: Information that you copy and paste from Microsoft Word includes a significant amount of Microsoft-specific formatting information that Web editors cannot use. Because it is often so extensive, this information can overwhelm the content area, causing the data to not save and/or be displayed. BoardDocs identifies the critical components of selected text and pastes only what is needed from a document. Tips for Copying and Pasting from Word into BoardDocs (HTML editors) Word provides a proprietary formatting feature called "styles." The HTML code behind the scenes in Web Editors doesn't store the font/size selections, but only a reference to what they should be in Word. When you copy/paste text formatted with Word styles into another editor, those references get broken because they do not exist, which can result in mismatched fonts and font sizes throughout the document. To reduce the possibility of this happening, we recommend that you do not use styles in Word for information that you intend to import into BoardDocs. Instead, format by selecting the text, and then manually choosing the desired font, size and other properties from the menus in Word. 76

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Numbered and Bulleted Lists The Numbered and Bulleted List tools allow you to easily organize and format lists of information for placement in content areas. You can set list properties using options found a context menu that appears when you right click on a list in one of the three content areas. Placing Numbered or Bulleted Lists Numbered or bulleted lists are very simple to incorporate within BoardDocs content areas, and the procedure for placing them is identical. You can use them whenever you have need to present information in list format. To place a bulleted or numbered list, perform the following steps: 1. Click in the desired content area. 2. Click the Insert/Remove Numbered List or Insert/Remove Bulleted List tools. A number or bullet will appear depending on which tool you selected. 3. Type the first line of text, and press the <ENTER> key. 4. Repeat this process to add other lines. 2 1 3 4 Managing Indentations on Bulleted or Numbered Lists If you are creating bulleted or numbered lists, you can use the <SHIFT+ENTER> keystroke to add a line break while maintaining the indentation. To manage indentations on lists as shown in the example below, perform the steps shown in red text below: 77

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Setting Numbered List Properties After creating a numbered list, you can modify its properties to determine its starting point and format. 78

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items To set numbered list properties, perform the following steps: 1. Right-click on the numbered list. 2. Select Numbered List Properties from the menu that appears. 1 2 The Numbered List Properties dialog box appears in which you can change the numbered list type. 3. To continue the numbering from a previous list, enter the number from which you want to resume in the Start field if desired. 4. Click the arrow button in the Type menu and choose a numbering type from the list if desired. 3 4 5. Click the OK button. 5 79

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items To set bulleted list properties, perform the following steps: 1. Right-click on the bulleted list. 2. Select Bulleted List Properties from the menu that appears. 1 2 The Bulleted List Properties dialog box appears in which you can change the bullet type. 3. Click the arrow button in the Type menu and choose a bullet type from the list if desired. 4. Click the OK button. 3 4 80

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Formatting with Tables Publishing items for the Web is different than what you would normally experience when using a word processor since you cannot use TAB or multiple SPACE characters for alignment. So from time to time, you may need to use tables to create neatly organized columns of data or allow for more precise formatting of items with outline-like levels, such as policies, or special formatting needs, like an article you would like to present in two columns in a format similar to a newspaper. The three methods for placing tables into your BoardDocs content area are described below. 1. Pasting from Word If you already have a table populated with data in Word, you can simply copy and paste it into the BoardDocs content editor. However, it must be a structured table, not just columns of data separated by tabs, spaces, or varied margins/indentations. 2. Pasting from Excel You can copy columns of data from Excel and paste them in the BoardDocs content editor to automatically create a table. Additionally, you can copy columns of data from Word into Excel for additional formatting, and then into the content editor to create a table if desired. 3. Creating a Table Manually You can also create a table from directly within the BoardDocs content editor. To create a table manually, perform the following steps: 1. Click the table tool on the content editor s tool bar. The Table Properties window will open. 1 81

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items 2. Specify the number of rows and columns in the Rows and Columns fields. 3. Enter a width for the table in the Width field. 4. Specify the units (percent or pixels) by clicking arrow button on the drop-down menu to the right of the Width field. 2 5 3 4 5. Specify the width of the border in the Border field. Widths are expressed in pixels. 6. Click the OK button to complete the task. (Note: the position of the OK button may be different than what is shown in the figure at right depending on which browser or operating system you are using). 6 Best Practice: When setting a width for a table, you can choose whether or not you want the table to be sized according to a percentage or value expressed in pixels, which are a series of dots used to display an image on a screen. If you choose percent from the option menu, the table is sized as a percentage of the width of the content area. For example, if you have set the width to 100 and the unit setting to percent, the table will fill the entire width of the content area. When the BoardDocs browser window is resized, the table will adjust dynamically to reflect 100 percent of the resized content area. This is also beneficial when accounting for the variety of potential display settings of your viewing audience. If, on the other hand, you choose pixels from the option menu, the width of the table will be set to a fixed size (measured in pixels) according to the value that you have entered in the Width field. When you resize the browser window, the table will maintain its fixed size. Note: If the fixed size is too large for the window, scroll bars are not automatically generated and parts of the table may be cut off from view. Typically, a fixed size table should only be used for narrow width tables. 82

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Populating the Table with Information To add annotation to the table, place your cursor in the cell in which you would like text to appear, and then type or paste your text. Web table columns size themselves dynamically as you add text to cells. If you add content to cells within each column, the table will automatically space each column. Alternatively, you can assign a fixed size to each column by specifying the width of one of the cells in the column (see Setting Cell Properties below). If the text is already in a Word document or email, you can copy and paste the whole selection of text just below (or above) the table, highlight sections of text that you pasted, and then drag and drop the text into individual table cells. Creating Sub-Levels in the Table After you have created the table, BoardDocs lets you subdivide it further into additional cells if desired. To create sub-levels within a table, perform the following steps: 1. Right-click on the cell you want to modify. 2. Choose Cell from the context menu that appears. 3. Choose Split Cell Horizontally from the submenu that appears. 1 2 3 83

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Setting Cell Properties You can set individual cell properties that govern appearance, sizing and justification as desired. To set cell properties, perform the following steps: 1. In the table, select the individual cell or highlight all cells you want to change. 2. Right-click on the cell you want to modify or on one of the cells you have selected. 3. Choose Cell from the context menu that appears. 4. Choose Cell Properties from the submenu that appears. 2 1 3 4 The Cell Properties dialog box will appear. In this box, you can perform a variety of tasks, such as: Set Vertical Alignment to Top ~ Middle ~ Bottom ~ Baseline Set Horizontal Alignment to Left ~ Center ~ Right Set cell/row/column Width or Height based on pixels or percentage of table size Set Background or Border Colors 5. Change the cell properties as desired. 5 6. Click the OK button when finished to preserve your changes. (Note: the position of the OK button may be different than what is shown in the figure at right depending on which browser or operating system you are using). 6 84

Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items Helpful Table Tips When using tables for documents that span many pages, you may exceed the capacity of the editor s content area. To avoid this potential problem, you should use rows as sparingly as possible when there is a large amount of data to store in your tables. To help address this issue, look for adjacent rows that could be combined into a single row, with a carriage return to separate data. Hiding Borders and Gridlines When using tables to create columns of text, you may wish to hide the table border and the grids between table cells. To hide borders and gridlines, perform the following steps: 1. Right-click on a cell. 2. Select Table Properties from the context menu that appears. 1 2 3. Set the value in the Border size field to 0. 4. Click the OK button. 3 4 85

86 Chapter 10 Submitting Agenda Items

Chapter 11 Approving Agenda Items Chapter 11 Approving Agenda Items Administrative users can also be designated as approvers. Once an item has been submitted, an email is sent to the first approver in the designated approval tree indicating that an item is awaiting approval. The approver can review, approve or reject the item, and if desired, edit the item. Approver Facts Following is some information that will help you better understand the approver role in BoardDocs. Approvers must be BoardDocs administrative users AND must also be assigned to the approver role in BoardDocs. Approvers can view agenda items waiting for approval from the My Agenda Items area, which they can access from the menu on the Meetings tab. Approvers can edit, approve and reject the agenda items that are submitted to them. Approvers can also be submitters. Approvers receive an email notification when an agenda item is waiting for approval in their queue. Reviewing, Approving or Rejecting Items The simple process for reviewing, approving or rejecting agenda items is described below. To review, approve or reject an item, perform the following steps: 1. Click on the arrow symbol on the Meetings tab. 1 2. Choose My Agenda Items from the menu that appears to view the items that have been submitted to you for approval. 2 87

Chapter 11 Approving Agenda Items 3. Items in your my Agenda Items area will display with a yellow symbol indicating that the item needs your attention. Click on the item to view it. 3 4. To edit the item, click the Edit tool on the right panel. The fields, menus and content areas will display so you can make desired edits. (See Chapter 10 for information on how to use the editing tools.) 4 5. To approve the item, click the Approve tool (green checkmark). The item will advance to the next approver and will be removed from your My Agenda Items area. 5 6. To reject the item, click the Reject tool (gear symbol with a yellow triangle on it). The item will be sent back to the original submitter. Note: The approver can edit the item by changing formatting, modifying content or adding notes prior to rejection to provide the submitter with instructions for correction purposes. 6 88