AIMS and ECP Final Version

START

Creating an Electronic Committee Meeting Pack

A 'how-to' guide for Committee staff

Fullscreen

Home button

Where you see a green box or a red box please click for further information.

Open the guide in fullscreen mode by clicking on the 'expand' symbol in the bottom right corner:

If you're unsure where the interactive elements on a page are, click on the grey button in the top right corner to highlight every interactive element on a particular page:

Click on green interactive buttons to open windows or links with extra information:

Hover over red information markers to view a tooltip that contains extra information:

red box

green box

Return to the start, by clicking on the 'Home' button in the top right corner at any time:

Progress from one step to the next by using the back and forward arrows:

This is an interactive guide that contains clickable elements to help aid your understanding and learning.

How to use this guide

Hover over me for extra information.

First Steps

Before using any of the systems (AIMS, SharePoint and ECP) that are needed to create an electronic committee meeting pack, it is important that the agenda and the documents for the meeting are prepared and stacked in advance. All documents for the meeting pack should be saved to the relevant meeting folder on the Committee S:Drive as they are received. Good document management will help you build the pack. Consider the following issues:

Using PDF

Naming documents

Agenda

Introduction

There are three separate processes that must be completed to successfully create an electronic committee meeting pack.

Populating the Electronic Committee Pack system and delivering the completed pack

Uploading the documents that are needed for the meeting to SharePoint

Adding the details of the meeting to the Assembly Information Management System

ECP

AIMS

SharePoint

These guides will provide step-by-step details on each of the three processes.

START

1: Adding meeting details on AIMS

A 'how-to' guide for Committee staff

AIMS

What is AIMS?The Assembly Information Management System (AIMS) is a database that records and publishes information on MLAs and the procedural business of the Assembly. This includes information about committees such as its membership, meetings, visits and events. What is it used for?The information is published on the Assembly Business Diary which is available on the Assembly website. Hansard, Ushering and Catering Services all rely on this source of information. Committees use AIMS to record and publish details about their weekly meetings.How do I get details of my Committee meeting onto AIMS?The next slides will provide information on how to add Committee meeting information to AIMS.

Click this logo on your desktop, if not there contact: helpdeskemail@niassembly.gov.uk

Committee meeting are split into separate sessions, each session will have an item of business. This video explains how to build the agenda on AIMS (with indicative times) and then it will be possible to create items of business.

What is a session?

Indicative timings

Adding meeting sessions

Step 1

What is an Item of Business?

What is Committee Business?

Adding an item of business

Step 2

Press play to watch a short video on how to add an item of business

Once sessions have been added, it is possible to add items of business.Most Committee meetings will generally begin and end with standard items of business. These are recorded in AIMS as a single item of Business called 'Committee Business'.

Step 3

Creating new items of business

This video shows how to create a new item of business.It is important to search for an Item of Business before creating a new item, to ensure that the statistical information produced at the end of the mandate is accurate.

Step 4

This video shows how to request Hansard services and how the names of witnesses for evidence sessions are added.The Clerk will advise which briefings should be covered by Hansard.

Requesting Hansard and adding witness names

What is Hansard?

Step 5

It is important to check the accuracy of witness information - Witnesses may have attended a previous committee meeting using a different job title or representing a different organisation.

Changing witness details

To add a new organisation

To change/add witness details

Step 6

The name of the Chairperson and Committee Clerk should display automatically. Contact the CAMS officeif these details are incorrect.Check that there have been no changes on the 'View Meeting' tab.If changes are required, click the 'Edit' button to select from drop down list.

Check Clerk and Chairperson details

Step 7

Following a committee meeting AIMS should be updated as follows:

Post meeting actions on AIMS

update with accurate session times

confirm attendance

Close off items of business

START

2: Uploading documents to SharePoint

A 'how-to' guide for Committee staff

Introduction

SharePoint is used to create a library of documents that are to be included in the electronic Committee meeting pack. The items of business that have been created in AIMS appear as folders in SharePoint. This section we will look at getting documents into these items of business folders.

Items of business are now listed in agenda as folders

Step 1

SharePoint will only accept PDF documents, therefore all documents required for the meeting pack must be saved to the Committee S: drive as a PDF document.link to merging PDF documents (PDF, 2 pages 152kb)If the link doesn't open for you automatically, right click on it and select "Save link as..." todownload the document to your deviceWhen the document has been saved, open Sharepoint by clicking on the desktop icon(contact IT Helpdesk if you do not have access to SharePoint)

Ensure all documents are saved as PDF

Step 2

Uploading documents to SharePoint

Click play to watch a short video on how to uploaddocuments to SharePoint.

Step 2 continued

Once the document is saved in thecorrect Item of Business, repeat the process for the other documents needed for the pack.

Uploading documents to SharePoint

3

2

1

1. Document (double check naming)

2. Green symbol indicating a new document

3. Item of Business where new document has been saved to

Step 3

Editing document details

If a document has been uploaded to the wrong Item of Business it can easily be moved.To make changes to a document title, you will have to delete the document from Sharepoint and resave the pdf with the amended title before re-uploading it to Sharepoint.Do not make any changes to a document and itsItem of Business once a pack has been created.If you need to use a document again in another meeting pack, it is better to upload it again to avoid creating a dead link in the new pack.

Play the video to see how this is done

Thank you for completing this part of the guide

Lesson on SharePoint completed!

START

3: Populating and delivering the meeting pack on ECP

A 'how-to' guide for Committee staff

Step 1

This is the ECP home screen.You can see that Meeting Agenda Items have been populated with documents through SharePoint.On the ECP home screen there is a Manage Agenda option, this will allow you to select agenda items and include mandatory agenda items.You can see all documents allocated to each agenda item, by choosing Documents on left hand side. Documents can be moved, re-ordered or deleted (if necessary).

Manage Meeting Agenda

Step 2

When you choose the Manage Agenda Items option on the ECP home screen, you can choose the required agenda items for the meeting pack (including the mandatory items) and if they are to be held in public or closed session. (Screen shot shows this window)Tick ALL agenda items that apply to your meeting and select the correct session.Then click UPDATE.You will then return to the ECP home screen.

Selecting Agenda Items

Step 3

Now that the Agenda Items are confirmed, the order may need to be amended to reflect the running order of your meeting. Again this can be done by choosing the Order Agenda option on the ECP home screen.Use the blue arrows to move items up and down. When you are content click Update.You will then return to the ECP home screen.

Re-ordering Agenda Items

Step 4

There are a number of other actions possible when you choose the Manage Agenda option on the ECP home screen.You could be required to add notes for the agenda item, delete documents for the agenda item or add protective markings for any added documents. Choose these options accordingly:

Additional Actions under Manage Agenda

Step 5

When all documents are included and in the correct order you can now create a DRAFT meeting pack.Click Create Packs on the left hand side of the screen, then Draft Pack. You need to ensure that the meeting date is correct and that the box is ticked to include witnesses for agenda items in the pack. You may create as many draft packs as you require. This draft pack should be checked by the team.When the team is content with the draft pack, you should click request sign off. ECP will send an automatic email to the Clerk with instruction to sign off the pack. You will receive an email when this is done. This will allow you to move to the next step of delivering your pack to Committee Members.

Creating a Draft Meeting Pack

Creating a Tabled Papersack

Step 6

When you choose the Deliver packs option on the ECP home screen, you can see that all Committee Members have been ticked by default. When you are content that all Members are included you can now Deliver Pack .Committee staff will receive an email for each member to indicate if the main pack has been delivered or not.Members will receive an email to their Assembly email addresses (or other nominated address) this email will contain details of how to access their pack.

Delivering the Meeting Pack

Creating a Tabled Papersack

Step 7

Occasionally, after the main pack has been delivered there may be further papers for the meeting. These are collated and delivered in a Tabled Papers pack. The process of uploading and allocating tabled papers is the same as main papers. Once ready, click Create Packs then choose Tabled Papers. A pack will display on screen which can be checked before delivery to Members. There is no automated sign-off to the Clerk for a tabled pack. A tabled pack is delivered in the same manner as the main pack.Further papers can be added at any stageright up to start of meeting. More than one tabled pack can be created - each one updated as more items are added.

Creating a Tabled Pack

Creating a Tabled Paperspack

Further information and guidance can be found on the Committee Staff Guide Online

Well Done - All lessons completed!

You will have to allocate timings to each session on AIMS. These will appear on the Business Diary as a guide to when each agenda item will be taken. Timings are always indicative as agenda items may be taken earlier or later, at the Committee's discretion.The indicative timings for each session will be agreed with the Clerk when the agenda for the meeting is finalised. As a general rule, unless you are aware of any items of Committee Business that may be of particular interest and may take longer, allow 10 minutes each for the two Committee Business Sessions.Indicative timings on AIMS will need to be revised after the meeting to reflect the actual time taken.

Timings

The Electronic Committee Pack is built around the meeting agenda. When the meeting agenda has been agreed with the Clerk, you can start to populate AIMS. Bear in mind that the agenda can change at any stage, and that any changes will have to be reflected in AIMS.You will require a number of details for each agenda item before beginning to populate AIMS (eg witness names, documents required, indicative timings etc.), although these can be added/edited later. It may be helpful to create an agenda document that holds all the relevant details for the meeting, so that you will have them to hand when creating the pack.Download an example of a Health Committee meeting agenda (PDF, 1 page, 164KB)If the link doesn't open for you automatically, right click on it and select "Save link as..." to download the document to your deviceNote that agenda items are referred to as 'Items of Business' on AIMS. You will need to add each item on your agenda as an item of business.

The committee team will have recorded times of sessions throughout the meeting, using this record change each one in turn.

Enter accurate session times

The session times entered when the meeting first went onto AIMS were only approximate times. These now need to be corrected to accurate times.

TIP: Start with the last session and work backwards, ensuring no gaps in times

It is useful to give some thought as to how documents are named when saving them to the S: Drive. Ideally you should try to use the name that you want displayed on the pack, as this will avoid having to change it at a later stage.Refer to any naming conventions that your Committee has adopted.Bear in mind there are restrictions on the number and type of characters permitted by SharePoint.Download ECP guidance (pdf, 49 pages, 2.66mb)Refer to section 1.2If link doesn't open for you automatically, right click on it and select "Save link as..." to download the document to your device

If you are sure that an item of business has concluded and will not be returned to it will need to be allocated an end date.Double click the relevant item in the Item of Business list and enter meeting date in end date column.

Close off items of business

Documents must be saved as PDFs before they are uploaded to SharePoint. It is sometimes useful to merge documents (correspondence responses, SR s etc.). Check if your Committee Clerk prefers to merge certain documents or insert them individually.Instructions on how to merge documents in PDFill (PDF, 2 pages, 153KB)

If link doesn't open for you automatically, right click on it and select "Save link as..." to download the document to your device

The Official Report of the Northern Ireland Assembly, also known as Hansard, is the authoritative record of the proceedings of the Assembly. The Official Report is a substantially verbatim transcript of the proceedings; it records what was said as well as what was decided.Hansard Services to Committees is covered by an agreed protocol:link to Hansard page If the link doesn't open for you automatically, right click on it and select "Save link as..." to download the document to your device.Some examples of sessions Hansard would normally include are:

• Budget Briefings
• Oral Evidence Sessions
• Pre-Legislative Stage Scrunity
• Committee Stage of Bills
• Evidence Sessions which may be published

For each session where a witness attended there is a tickbox for "attended".If the witness attended, ensure it is ticked.This is the same for Ministers, Members and staff.

Tick off who attended

In the "People" section of AIMS (along left side of screen) - select a witness to view their details:

• You can change a witness role by editing the details (see screenshot).
• If a job title has changed it is best to put an end date in for their previous role (use today’s date); this will allow you to enter a new job title (use today’s date.

If witness is not currently listed in the "People" section of AIMS:

• Choose "new external" from top of page.
• You will be prompted to search for the witness first.

• If the witness does not appear you will then get an option to create "new external".
• Fill out all fields as prompted and SAVE.

Agenda items are referred to as 'items of business' on AIMS. Each item of business will have name and a descriptor. You will need to add each item on your agenda as an item of business, unless already appearing as an item of business. The exception is those agenda items covered by the single item known as 'Committee Business'. If the Committee has already considered the agenda item the details will already be stored on the AIMS database.

Items of business

Each meeting will have a number of sessions. You can add as many sessions as you like. However you do not need a session for each item on the agenda. It is necessary to add at least 3 sessions for each meeting, to account for Committee Business at the beginning and end of each meeting along with the rest of your agenda. Committee Business includes: Minutes; Apologies; Matters Arising; Correspondence; Chair’s Business; Any Other Business; and Date Time and Place of Next Meeting.Each session will be either Public or Closed. The Clerk will advise on this when the meeting agenda is drawn up.

Adding Sessions

Double click the relevant item in the Item of Business list and enter the meeting date.

Close off items of business

If you are sure that an item of business has concluded and will not be returned to it will need to be allocated an end date.

Committee Business is the name given to agenda items that occur regularly at the beginning and end of each normal committee meeting. Therefore the first and last items of business added to each meeting should be Committee Business.The first Item of Buisness covers four agenda items that occur at the beginning of every normal meeting: Apologies, Draft Minutes, Matters Arising and Chairperson's Business.The last item of Committee Business covers four agenda items that occur at the end of every normal meeting: Correspondence, Forward Work Programme, Any Other Business and Date, Time and Place of Next Meeting.

Committee Business

In the "Organisations" section of AIMS (along left side of screen)

• Choose "Organisations" (along top of screen)
• Choose "New Organisation"

In a similar manner to amending the witness you will be prompted to search for the organisation first:

• Enter organisation name in top field (watch for abbreviations or anacronyms)
• Should it not appear you will then get an option to "add new"
• Complete all fields, using today's date as the start date, populate all fields and hit SAVE

For each session where a witness attended there is a tickbox for "attended".If the witness attended, ensure it is ticked.This is the same for Ministers, Members and staff.

Tick off who attended