How CouncilPapers is set up for your council

What happens before you log in

Before your login is created, CouncilPapers gathers your council's core information via an onboarding survey. This covers your council's name, contact details, address, office hours, and other identity information that appears on your public portal.

Once that information has been entered, the system sends you a welcome email. Following the link in that email lets you set your password and gives you access to the system.

What is already configured when you first log in

When you log in for the first time, the following will already be in place:

• Your council's core identity — name, address and contact details, as provided during setup
• A Full Council committee, which is also designated as your council's adopting committee

You do not need to set any of these up yourself. If any of the pre-configured details are incorrect, you can update them under Council in the left-hand menu.

What you need to add before your first meeting

Two things are required before you can create a meeting. Until both exist, the Add Meeting option stays disabled and tells you what is still needed:

• A venue — where your council meets (Council → Meeting Venues). You can add more than one.
• A council cycle — the period your meetings fall within, usually your current election period (Council → Council Cycles). A meeting must fall within a cycle.

What you can add when it suits

These aren't required to create your first meeting, so they can wait:

• Councillors — all current councillors, added individually or imported from a spreadsheet. Assign wards/parties first if your council uses them.
• Additional committees — any committees beyond Full Council (Planning, Finance, and so on).
• Committee membership — which councillors sit on which committees.
• Default meeting content — the standard agenda items that appear automatically when you create a new meeting for each committee.

For the bigger picture, see First steps: what to expect; the Onboarding checklist takes you through these tasks in order.