Matters requiring Action (the action sheet)

What this is

After a meeting, there are usually tasks to carry out following the resolutions - letters to write, enquiries to make, decisions to put into effect. NALC's Local Councils Explained recommends keeping an action sheet (sometimes called matters that need action): a record of each task arising from a resolution, who is responsible for it, and when it is due, which the clerk can follow up and diarise.

CouncilPapers builds this in. A Matter requiring Action is a single task arising from an agenda item's minutes, allocated to one or more staff or councillors, with a priority, a due date and a status. All of a council's matters together make up its Action Sheet.

Where you'll find it

The same matters appear in three places, each suited to a different job:

Priority and status

Each matter carries a priority to help everyone focus on what is most pressing:

And a status showing how far along it is:

A matter with a due date in the past that is not yet Completed or Cancelled is flagged Overdue and its row is highlighted.

Raising a matter from the minutes

The quickest way to raise a matter is while you are writing the minute for the item it arises from.

1. Open the item for editing on the minutes page - click Edit Entry beneath the item (see Writing minutes).
2. Below the minute form you'll see the Matters requiring Action card.
3. In New matter, type a short title describing the task - for example, "Write to the highways team about the blocked drain".
4. Add any detail in the box below - the relevant resolution, or a note of what is needed. This is optional.
5. Under Allocated to, select one or more staff or councillors. Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on a Mac) to select more than one.
6. Set the Priority (Medium by default) and, if there is a deadline, a Due date.
7. Click Add matter.

The matter appears in the list at the top of the card straight away. You can carry on writing the minute - adding a matter does not save or disturb your minute text, and it does not commit the minutes.

Tip - raise the matter against the item whose resolution it comes from. The item's title and meeting are recorded with the matter, so it always carries a reference back to the decision that gave rise to it.

Updating a matter from the minutes

Each matter already raised against the item is listed with its priority, who it's allocated to, its due date and its status. From here you can:

• Change the status using the dropdown in the Status column - for example, set it to Completed once the task is done. The change is saved immediately.
• Edit the matter in full - click Edit to open it on the Action Sheet (in a new tab), where you can change the title, detail, allocation, priority and due date.

The Action Sheet

Go to Council → Action Sheet for the council-wide view of every matter, whichever item or meeting it arose from. This is the clerk's tool for following matters up.

The list shows each matter's priority, title, who it's allocated to, what it arose from, when it was created, its due date and status, with overdue matters highlighted. Use the controls at the top to shape the view:

• Allocated to - show only the matters for one person. This is also how a member of staff, who does not use the councillor app, can see their own tasks.
• Meeting - show only the matters arising from one meeting.
• Status - show only Open, In progress, Completed or Cancelled matters, or choose Outstanding to show everything not yet completed or cancelled.
• Priority - show only matters of one priority.
• Overdue only - show only matters past their due date.
• Sort by - order by due date or by the date each matter was created, oldest or newest first.
• Group by - break the list into sections by status, responsible person or priority. Grouping by responsible person lists a matter under each person it is allocated to; when you have also filtered to one person, you see just their section, with any colleagues shown as shared with.

Click Filter to apply, or Reset to clear.

Creating a PDF to circulate

Once you have the view you want - for example, one person's outstanding actions - click Create PDF. This produces a PDF of exactly the list on screen, with the same filters, sorting and grouping, which you can save, print or email to the person responsible. If any matter arose from a confidential item, the PDF marks it and carries a "do not publish" notice, so take the usual care before sending it on.

Adding or editing a matter here

Click Add Matter to raise one directly on the sheet - useful for a task that does not arise from a specific agenda item. Matters added this way have no linked item; everything else works the same.

Click a matter's title to open it for editing. The Arising from box at the top shows the item and meeting it came from (for reference - it cannot be changed here). You can edit the title, detail, allocation, priority, status and due date, and setting the status to Completed records the completion date. Use Delete to remove a matter you raised in error.

What councillors see

A councillor who has been allocated a matter sees it in the councillor app under My Actions. The view is always read-only - councillors cannot change a matter.

By default each councillor sees only the matters allocated to them, but they can switch to an All actions view showing everything on the council's action sheet, so they can see what the whole council is working on. To protect work in progress, another person's matter only appears in that view once the minutes it arose from have been published - a matter tied to a meeting whose minutes are still in draft stays private to the person allocated it until then.

My Actions lists each matter with its priority, due date and status, and flags any that are overdue. Councillors can filter by committee and status, sort by priority or date, open a matter to read its full detail, and follow a link back to the meeting it arose from. The relevant matters also appear against the item on the meeting page once the minutes have been published.

Good practice

• Raise matters as you write the minutes, while the detail is fresh.
• Allocate every matter to someone, and give those with a deadline a due date so the Overdue flag can do its job.
• Review the Action Sheet before preparing the next agenda, and follow up anything still Open or Overdue - this is the "diarise and follow up" step NALC describes.