A board portal for governments (often called meeting management software) is a critical technology that allows public sector organizations to streamline their operations, improve effectiveness, simplify complex procedural and administrative tasks, boost transparency, and encourage public engagement.
With so much at stake, it’s vital to research your options when selecting a board portal vendor. Different vendors will offer different capabilities and configurations, so you need to consider what will be the best fit for your organization.
Here are five critical features to consider when you’re in the market for a new board portal for governments.
What Is a Board Portal?
A board portal or meeting management software is a solution that streamlines various tasks for the local government and other governmental organizations. The platform will generally have modules, features, tools, integrations, and other capabilities that streamline tasks and deliverables before, during, and after the meeting.
A board portal provides an end-to-end meeting management solution for organizations to improve efficiency, simplify all meeting formats (remote, in-person, or hybrid), and engage the public.
Board Portal for Governments: 5 Must-Have Features
Managing various aspects of the local government can be seamless if you invest in the right tools. Below are the must-have board portal features to help you achieve your goals effectively.
1. Meeting Manager
This feature gets everyone on the same page before, during, and after meetings.
Meeting Manager is the fundamental core of eScribe’s meeting management software. But it doesn’t stop there! You can scale by adding more modules to meet your organization’s specific needs. Here are some of the benefits of implementing a Meeting Manager solution:
- Create optimized agenda, minutes, and action lists.
- Seamlessly hold in-person, virtual, and hybrid meetings.
- Access multiple configurable templates and workflows.
- Streamline and automate tasks before, during, and after meetings.
- Follow up with meeting minutes and agendas.
- Access a report center for essential stats on your meetings.
- Conduct votes electronically.
eScribe promotes efficiency throughout the meeting lifecycle with user-friendly solutions for tablet and smartphone users. These tools can improve your workflows and help you achieve your organization’s goals more easily.
2. Citizen Engagement
Everything a local government does should be focused on improving the community. Therefore, maintaining simple and efficient avenues for public engagement and meeting participation is crucial. With citizen engagement features and modules, the right meeting management software can make this task easy and effective.
Here are just a few of the benefits of choosing a board portal with robust citizen engagement features:
- Effective citizen engagement that supports community development today and in the future.
- Improved transparency and access to what’s going on in local government.
- Easy citizen access to webcasts, reports, recordings, etc.
- Simple avenues for citizen engagement, like requests to speak and public comments.
Make sure all voices in your community have the opportunity to be heard where it really matters. With citizen engagement features, this daunting and sometimes complicated task becomes simple and streamlined for citizens and local governments.
3. Report Manager
A report manager is an online management tool that delivers simple tasks such as managing reports, templates, submission, automated approvals, security enhancement, and other administrative tasks. It provides comprehensive and efficient workflows before, during, and after meetings.
You can easily manage reporting deadlines, track the status of the reports, and collaboratively edit documents. A report manager also allows you to populate meeting agendas, motions, and minutes in real-time, automatically.
4. Webcasting
Webcasting features allow you to capture and share both live and archival videos on your organization’s website. This allows you to expand opportunities for participation by providing an easy solution for participants who wish to join remotely. Additionally, a webcasting tool helps you boost transparency and encourage citizens and other stakeholders to easily stay up to date with the latest items covered in your meetings.
A quality webcasting tool comes with unlimited storage and automatically records meeting timestamps so you can match up video content with meeting minutes. eScribe offers an easy-to-use webcasting feature that includes these specs and more.
5. Public Comments
Public commenting capabilities open up an avenue for effective and simple citizen engagement and participation. When selecting a board portal for governments, be sure to select a vendor that provides these capabilities. You’ll be able to receive comments from citizens before, during, and after meetings. You can also publish these comments for general viewing.
Features like this are a simple and impactful way to boost transparency in your government organization. Therefore, public comments and other engagement features are a must-have.
Enhance Your Board Portal Governance with eScribe Solutions
eScribe provides a well-rounded, end-to-end meeting management solution for public sector organizations, including local governments. With its module-based service model, you can start with just the basics and add modules and capabilities as you see fit for your organization. eScribe grows with you, so it’s always at the right scale for your needs.
Streamlining government meeting processes is easy with eScribe. With an intuitive platform and stellar customer service to answer all of your questions, it’s a surefire way to make things easier and more effective for both governments and citizens.
Learn more about the importance of implementing a paperless board portal for governments or schedule a demo today to see eScribe in action.
