CAIRO: Document Handling

Documents are of course at the heart of the system. Every meeting has documents associated with it. Committees can also have their own documents, independent of specific meetings. Documents can be linked to other documents.

Documents are stored in a document library and you "Check-Out" and "Check-In" documents when you wish to work on them.

Documents are normally created and modified using Microsoft Word, but you can also use other tools. Any type of file can be stored, including pictures, web pages and other material.

The basic flow of working on documents is:

1) Create a document. This automatically creates a blank template for you to work on. The document is linked to a meeting or committee when you create it. The document is also "check-out" of the library - so others know you are working on it.

2) Check In a document. When you have finished working on a document it is "Checked In" to the library - this tells others you have finished working on the document for the time being.

3) Check Out a Document. If you need to go back and work further on a document it must be "Checked-Out" first.

4) Change Document Status. When you first create a document it is marked as "Work In Progress". When you have finished editing the document and it is ready for members you can mark it as "Draft". Then, when the appropriate committee has reviewed and agreed it you mark it as "Approved".

5) OK the Document for the Web. Documents are taken directly from the internal system and are published on the public web site - but of course only documents which are ready for publication can be taken. When you mark a document as "OK for Web" then it tells the webmaster that they can take the document to the public web site.

6) Circulate Documents. Documents need to be sent to the members of a committee (and maybe other members and users). You can circulate documents by email or by printing - or a combination of both. The system knows which members should normally receive a document for a particular committee.

There are also some special options:

7) Confidential Documents. Some documents are confidential and are not published on the public web site and not available to ordinary users of the system.

8) Add Existing Files. You may have files already created, or sent to you by another user - you can add these files to the system directly without having to create and check-in a new document.

See also: