The meeting pack is the 'one stop shop' where all the papers needed by the governors/trustees for a meeting can be seen in one place with easy access to view and add comments/approvals. It is also the place to mark attendance and to download the PDF into one 'smart' PDF.
From a governor/trustee perspective this is very simple but for the person creating the pack (often the clerk) there are several options to consider.
The Meeting Pack (Calendar Event) contains the information about the date/time and location of the meeting, other useful information (eg ZOOM link), which board or committee the meeting is for (needed for attendance reporting) and most importantly the papers for the meeting.
The Meeting Pack contains a series of 'links' - one for each meeting paper and all in the correct sequence to match the agenda.
The GVO Meeting pack concept is that the meeting contains the basic title, date and time information and then a series of 'links' to files stored in folders in the GVO - from a Governor/Trustee viewpoint where the documents are stored is not important as it all comes together in the meeting pack. This structure is needed such that each and every document has the ability to have a fully documented set of comments/questions and approvals. This is invaluable 'evidence' of strong governance.
The format of the pack as seen by the governor/trustee can be seen below...
Each agenda paper can be a simple file, a document requiring approval, a 'page' (a collection of documents), a policy, a discussion or even a link to an external website or a GVO folder. Each item can be in a different folder. Any papers that are 'restricted access' are highlighted if the user cannot access them.
The current number of 'comments' and 'approvals' for each item is also visible. More description below...
Each of the 'links' in the pack points to a document stored somewhere in the GVO and this is where there are options for the clerk and board to consider - each has advantages and disadvantages.
The choice of where to each of the papers should be stored is a local decision and one that can be changed - the good news is that if a paper is subsequently 'moved' in the GVO then the meeting pack 'link' still works. The other good news is that adding the documents to specific document type folders has been made MUCH easier with the latest version of the GVO Meeting Pack (2023).
The three options for how to store the documents used by the pack are ...
Option 1 - store ALL the documents for each meeting in a specific (dated) meeting folder. This may seem to be the quickest and easiest method BUT the downside is that finding documents in future is more difficult and you need to recall which meeting the paper was presented at.
Option 2 - store common documents (Agendas, Minutes, HT Reports etc) in document type specific folders and the rest in a single 'Others' folder for each meeting. This means that finding all the Agendas or Minutes or HT reports in future is easier but all the files stored in 'others' are harder to trace. This method does require a small amount of extra work when the documents are added to the GVO but the benefit may well outweigh the extra few seconds needed.
Option 3 - all documents are stored in specific named folders - so all agendas, minutes, budget reports, HT reports, policies, visit reports etc have a folder where they live - just like a public library. There is a small amount of extra work needed to ensure documents are added to the correct folders but the future benefits will be higher.
Often a 'hybrid' between option 2 & 3 can be a good compromise.
The good news is that adding the files to specific folders (options 2 or 3) has been made very easy with the latest version of the meeting pack feature in GVO (May 2023) and so the extra work to use Option 3 is not so great.
Please see the help page about how to create the meeting pack using the new (2023) meeting pack feature.