Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution BasicsMJnuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Overview MinuteTraq is a comprehensive software package that tracks Resolutions, Agendas, Minutes, Public Hearings, Legal Notices, Communications and other documents. The program provides full-text searching of Resolutions, Minutes and Documents as well as field-based searches on all record types. MinuteTraq implements department level security of your documents and provides a sophisticated approval process and change tracking system whereby the resolutions may be shared with other departments and sponsors while changes made are logged by the system. Connecting You must connect to you Agency by entering in your User name, Password and Agency Name. The Agency name is assigned to you by your administrator or when you sign-up with the hosted services. To connect to your server using SSL Encryption click on the lock image To save your password and automatically connect when the program start check the Auto-Connect checkbox on the bottom. Connect Passed Agency Ted TownBoa~d [] Auto-Correct on St~t Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 plVl Page 1 of 13 MinuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics The Main Window Quick Find ~ c~ ~o ~ ~ ~ L~ ~ ~Window ~ .... rent Record Details Resolution ~o~ ~Oa~M 8~To_ Toolbar - The standard toolbar allows you to launch common commands Current Toolbar - The current toolbar presents buttons for the current window quick Find - Allows you to enter a Resolution ID, # or Search Text to open quickly quick Links - Shortcuts to common resolution searches Recent Documents - Lists the current user's recently opened and saved documents Current Record Details - Displays extra information about the currently record Formatting Toolbar - Provides text formatting commands Window Tabs - Each open window and record displays as a new tab Main Window - The main window is where the current window displays Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 2 of 13 MJnuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Start a New Resolution Click the New button on the toolbar and you will be prompted to select a template to start with, For now choose the Blank Template. Later, you will be able to setup your own templates for your departments to create new resolution with default wording and formatting. Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 3 of 13 MJnuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Basic Information x ~ D e~ Field Description Short Name Short descriptive name to easily identify the resolution. The short name is displayed on all the search forms. Limit 50 characters. Department The department that is initiating the Resolution. [nitiator The initiator of the resolution (from the Tnitiating Department) Meeting The target meeting that you want the Resolution to be presented. The meeting must already be setup. Sponsors A list of the board members that are sponsoring the resolution. Type any part of the board member name and tab out of the field. Use commas to add multiple sponsors. Category The Category defines several defaults including the departments that will need to approve the resolution; weather a public hearing and legal notices are created. Project Projects are an alternate way to group Resolutions and can be setup globally. Functional The functional category is another way of classifying a Resolution and should be Category general and easily understood by the public. This field will be used for tracking. Full Title The full title is the long formal version of the Resolution title. [t is used in the actual documents produced, but is not displayed on the screens. Limit 500 chars. Body The Body of the resolution Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PH Page 4 of 13 MJnuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Resolutions always start in a Draft status. Draft resolutions can only be viewed or edited by the Tnitiating department. After saving the resolution you get the Resolution i'D #. ~Ofa# Financial Impact The financial impact may be required by your agency. If it is you will be forced to enter a financial impact statement before submitting the resolution. Click the optional section link: © Click here to inser~the Finenciel Impact. I And then the Financial Impact section will expand on the page: Financial Impact ~ Beach P~e~e~v~o~ eccou~ by $15,~ I I I 1° 2. 3. 4. The description field is required. If there is no fiscal impact you could use "None" there. If there is then you can enter in the pertinent information describing impact. Check the Budget Affected checkbox and the table appears. To add multiple budget lines click the green plus sign to the right of the table. The Source column provides a drop down of your agencies account names or/and numbers. The Amount column can be positive or negative amounts. In the case of budget transfers, you could have a positive amount for one account and then a negative amount on a second line with another account. Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 5 of 13 MinuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Submitting the Resolution 1. After its been saved you can click the "Submit" button on the toolbar. 2. If the Resolution Due Date has passed then you are given a warning. 3. The Status of the Resolution is changed from Draft to Submitted. The ResoK~ion Due Date has pest on the tan~at mee~lr~, Are you sure you wen~ to ~ the Reso~? 4. After it has been submitted, MinuteTraq automatically composes an email for you and it will be sent to: (1) the Initiator, (2) the approving departments, (3) the Sponsors. * Notice that the email lists all the sponsors and departments along with the summary information and the Resolution ID. ~o~uSolve.cc (~,c~tora~,r~t) ¥ Resolution has been subm~ed and needs approval fi'om: Patrick Heaney, Town Attorney, Title: Beach B~dm~ Bid Nonce Depatlment: General SerVices Meeting: Monday, April 26, 2004 7:30 PM Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 6 of 13 MinuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Approving Resolution When you receive an email about a resolution that needs to be approved you can use the Resolution ID to open the document. Simply enter the ID # in the Quick Find and hit enter. When you open a resolution as an approver, the Approval button appears on the toolbar. Click it to open the Approval form. Notice at the bottom of the form there is a complete list of the sponsors or departments that need to approve the resolution. The status is indicated by the image next to the name, > Question Hark - Unapproved > Green Check - Approved > Red Minus - Rejected zf you have the ability to approve for multiple departments or sponsors then choose the department or sponsor that you are approving for. Simply click the Approve button and your approval will be recorded, To Reject the resolution simply fill in a comment and click the Reject button. Notice that icon changes when you approve or reject the resolution. Upd~ed 12/5/2004 10:58 PM by Da;yi eeds $5,000 m~e lunding, - 12/5/04 10:58 P,.. Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 plVl Page 7 of 13 MinuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics When you reject a resolution an email is automatically created (see the next page). The email is sent to the Initiator, Preparer, approving departments and sponsors. The body of the email includes the comment you input on the rejection. Deryl~Com~uSo~ve.cc (mat,o~or~,r~) v To: ~l~a~y~H~otons, corn Subject: IReso~ution Re]ected,, 10~ 1; 8each BuiJd~ 8~1Not~ce The Resolution has been Rejec~d by Patnck I-Iemaey: Needs $5.000 more f~nding. Title: Beach Bmlding Bid Notice Department General ser~ces Category: Bidding Meelmg: Monday, April 26, 2004 7:30 PM The last 3 comments (including your rejection comment) on a Resolution are displayed on the warning bar of the main Resolution screen along with the date and the users initials. Proje~ ~Optional) ~.~ R eiec~d Also note that the status of the resolution is updated from Submitted to Rejected. If the approvals are reset then it will go back to Submitted. C~ck hereto imse~t the Reso~ufio~ Link Click here to irmert the Re~e~ced Rejected resolutions are not in a final status. If the user really wishes to abandon the resolution then they must choose Abandon from the Resolution toolbar. Then the status will be changed to Abandoned and will be considered final. Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 8 of 13 MinuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Tracking Changes Because the resolution was rejected then initiating department will get the rejection email and should go into the resolution and fix the problem. In this example we need to increase the budget amount from 15,000 to 20,000... so we edit the financial impact statement: After a resolution has been submitted any changes to the resolution will be tracked with a comment log. When the user pushes the save button they are prompted with the "Resolution Tracking Changes" dialog. The first field required is the "Save Reason". Your agency can setup and customize the list of save reasons. The default list is: Major Change Minor Changes Spelling Mistake When you choose a reason you should notice that the checkbox options below the comment field CreWed t ~/2004 @ 11 ;OB PM by Oa~¢ 81owes automatically change based on the setup of the reason code. You have the ability to override these options but it is noted in the comment log that you overrode the defaults. In this example we chose "Major Change" and entered a comment stating that we "increased the budget amount by $5,000." After you click OK the changes are saved and... Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 9 of 13 MinuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics The approvals go back to "Unapproved' (noted with the question mark). And, the Revision # got incremented to "A' And, an email was composed alerting the sponsors and departments that the change was made and that they need to re- approve the resolution. Da~¥J~oCornC~D:~e.cc (rnaiL op~on~ne,r~) v ?he 1~.esolution has been modred for: 1V[.ajor Ch~e ~ased bu~e~d ~o~ by $fi,O00 ~ ~prov~s ~ve be~ reset so ~s Reso~on ~ need to be re~proved T~e: Beth B~ Bid No~ce D~ent: ~ S~ces ~ee~: Monday, ~ 26, 20~ 7:30 PM Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 10 of i3 MinuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Approved & Scheduled Once all the departments and sponsors have given their approval the status of the Resolution goes from Submitted to Approved. ~ T~ ~lc~n~ 12/5/04 11:11 PI~I b~ Dali 81owe~ ~ P~ Hear~ 12J5/04 11:11 PM b~ D~r~l Blowe~ At this point the resolution becomes automatically visible to the Clerks office in the Agenda Wizard. [f the clerk chooses to use the auto-fill option the resolution will automatically be added to the agenda. As soon as the Clerk adds the Resolution to the Agenda the status of the Resolution changes from Approved to Scheduled. ~Schedubd This is an indication to you that the Resolution TS on the agenda, if you do a search and you see the status as submitted, approved or rejected you know it has not made it to the Agenda. If you see that the status is scheduled then you know it is on the agenda. Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 11 of 13 HJnuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Approval Process Flowchart Resolutions Now any of the selected sponsors, [ ~ Draft ~-~ their acting sponsors OR users from the Approving Departments can ~ ~ ~view, edit, make cor~ents, approve or reject the Resolution. ~ Rejected ~-J coClick the Approwl button ~iewing a Resolution and you can "Approve" or "Reject" the resolution while lea~ng a mment for the Initiator to see. I -~ ' ~ ~;~ Tabled ~ Scheduled Resolution 2004-9 Clerk can in ~ote information on the Final Statuses ~ Abandoned ] Adop,ed meeting Minutes. ~ Approved ~ ~/~ Post Adopfion Statuses ~nce the Resoluti~ is ~I A~ v ~-1~7 E '-...~.-1---~ .~ Replaced. Appro~d, it will be ~sible to ~ ~ ~ ... . the T°wn Cle~ t° in~ude °n I ~e Resolution was linked to~ / ~ ~e Agenda and Minutem ~ ~ other Resolutions then once it ~ ~ ~ is adopted the status ofthe ~ ~ed Resolution is updated. ~ Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PM Page 12 of 13 MinuteTraq 2005 Resolution Basics Resolution Status Definitions Status I Description I Actions Active Statuses Any new Resolution starts in the Draft Status. Draft resolutions are only Submit ~ Draft visible to users in the initiating department viewing or editing. for This Delete stage is for conceptualizing. Abandon When a user from the initiating department "Submits" the resolution (by Approve Submitted pressing the Submit button), it becomes visible to any user from the Reject ~i~ reviewing departments (selected from the Category), sponsors or acting Abandon sponsors. Once a Resolution is Submitted it can no longer be deleted. One of the approving departments or sponsors has rejected the resolution * as it is. The resolution stays rejected until it is changed and then Approve ~ Rejected approved, if the Resolution can not be approved the initiating department Abandon can Abandon it. When all of the approving departments and sponsors have all given their Reject ~-~ Approved the Resolution becomes "Approved" and now becomes visible to Abandon approval, Town Clerk for the Agenda. Add to Agenda ~ Once the Town Clerk adds the Resolution to an Agenda then the Resolution Add to Minutes ~ Scheduled is considered "Scheduled". [n~)ut Vote [nfo When the Town Clerk inputs the vote information on the Minutes and there Add to Agenda ~ Tabled is a vote to TabJe the Resolution then it becomes "Tabled". When a Add to Minutes Resolution is Tabled it may appear on future Agendas and Minutes. input Vote [nfo Final Statuses The initiating department can choose to "Abandon" any Resolution up until it has been ~'~ Abandoned scheduled. Abandoned is almost equivalent to deleting except a the resolution there is record of it. ~ When the initiator or sponsor Withdraws a resolution at a meeting, the Town Clerk inputs on Withdrawn the Minutes that the Resolution was withdrawn and it is no longer an active Resolution. Jif a motion to adopt the Resolution was defeated then the status is updated when the Town ~ Defeated Clerk inputs the vote information on the Minutes. ~ if a motion to adopt the Resolution was adopted then the status is updated when the Town Adopted Clerk inputs the vote information on the Minutes. Post Adoption Statuses When a Resolution is "Amending" another Resolution (via the Resolution Linking feature) and l~l~ Amended the amending Resolution is adopted then the status of the Resolution it is to is updated linked to Amended. When a Resolution is "Replacing" another Resolution (via the Resolution Linking feature) and ~ Replaced the replacing Resolution is adopted then the status of the Resolution it is linked to is updated to Replaced. When a Resolution is "Rescinding" another Resolution (via the Resolution Linking feature) and ~ Rescinded the rescinding Resolution is adopted then the status of the to updated Resolution it is linked is to Rescinded. Last Update: December 6, 2004 2:02 PH Page 13 of 13