First steps: what to expect

Welcome to CouncilPapers. This page gives you the whole picture — what happens when your council is first set up, the few things you need to do before you can run a meeting, and what can wait until later. It is the map; the Onboarding checklist and the Getting started panel on your dashboard are the turn-by-turn directions.

The short version

Getting to your first meeting is three moves:

1. We create your council for you — with its Full Council committee and your login already in place.
2. You add two things: a venue (where you meet) and a council cycle (the period your meetings fall within). These are the only things required before you can create a meeting.
3. You create your first meeting — then build its agenda, publish it, and later record the minutes.

Everything else — more committees, your councillors, wards and parties — is helpful but not required to get going, so don't feel you have to set up the whole council before you start.

What is already done for you

When your login is created, these are already in place:

• Your council's core identity — name, contact details and the information that appears on your public pages.
• A Full Council committee, set as your council's approving (adopting) committee.
• Your clerk login — you set your own password from the welcome email.

If any of the pre-filled details are wrong, you can change them under Council in the left-hand menu at any time.

What you need to add before your first meeting

Just two things — and the system will guide you to them. Until both exist, the Add Meeting option is disabled (with a prompt telling you what is missing), so you can't get stuck:

• A venue — Council → Meeting Venues → Add Venue. The place your council meets. You can add more than one.
• A council cycle — Council → Council Cycles → Add. A cycle groups your meetings together, usually matching your current election period (for example 2023–2027). A meeting must fall within a cycle.

Once a venue and a cycle are in place, Create your first meeting unlocks on your dashboard.

Worth doing, but not required yet

You can create a meeting without any of these and add them whenever it suits — but they make your first meeting feel complete:

• Councillors — add them under People → Councillors, one at a time, or Import Councillors from a spreadsheet if you have a list to hand.
• Wards and parties — only if your council uses them (most parish and town councils don't need parties). Set them up first, under Council, so you can assign councillors to them.
• More committees — any committees beyond Full Council (Planning, Finance, and so on). You already have Full Council, so this can wait.

Where it takes you

Creating a meeting is the start of the normal rhythm you'll use from then on:

1. Create a meeting for a committee, at a venue, on a date within your cycle.
2. Build the agenda — add the items and any papers.
3. Publish the agenda so councillors and the public can see it.
4. After the meeting, record the minutes and publish them.

From that point you're simply repeating the cycle for each meeting — and the dashboard swaps its Getting started panel for your live meetings view.

If you'd like a hand

You don't have to do any of this alone. If anything is unclear, or you'd like us to walk you through adding your venue, cycle and first meeting, just get in touch — we're happy to help you get the first one set up.