Creating Meetings

4.3 To Create Meeting Minutes

The following steps are used to create new Meeting Minutes for a Job:

  • In the drop down navigation menu, click on IPM Document Control > Meeting Minutes
  • Select the Job you want to create the Meeting Minutes for from the drop down menu (once you have done this, all other screens will automatically select this Job)
  • Click on New IPM Meeting Minutes
  • This will open the New Meeting Minute Form
  • The Job name is automatically filled in for you according to what you selected from the drop down menu
  • If this is the first set of Meeting Minutes for that Job, the number will be automatically assigned as job number-0001. If there are previous Minutes for the Job, IPM will automatically assign the next sequential number to your Minutes (this can be edited if you wish)
  • Enter the Start and End Dates and Times by clicking on the Calendar and selecting from the drop down menu
  • Enter the Date and Time of the Next meeting (if applicable)
  • Enter the Purpose of the meeting
  • Select a Meeting Type from the drop down menu
  • Click on in the Meeting Organizer field and select the name of the person organizing the meeting
  • Enter a Location
  • If you wish for a reminder email about the meeting to be sent to all the attendees, check Generate Reminders
  • Click Save to gain access to the other components of the Meeting Minutes in the top ribbon menu

To Add Meeting Items

Once you have saved the General Information of the Meeting Minutes, you can add items to them.

  • Click on MM Items in the drop down menu of the Meeting Minutes form
  • Click on Add New IPM MM Item. This will bring up the New MM Item form
  • The Meeting Minutes field will automatically fill for you
  • If this is the first Item, the item Number will appear in the following format: Meeting Minutes Number-001. If there are already items added to the Minutes, IPM will automatically input the next number in the sequence, for example: Meeting Minutes Number-002.
  • The Open Date will auto fill to today’s date, but you can change this to the date the item was opened at the meeting by clicking on the calendar
  • Enter a Subject that the item relates to, for example Lighting or Drainage
  • Click on in the Responsible field and select the name of the person responsible for the item
  • Enter a Description of the Item and what action is required from the person responsible
  • Enter a Due Date by clicking on the calendar
  • The Urgency level will default to High, but you can change this by clicking on the drop down arrow
  • Select the Topic the item relates to from the drop down menu
  • You can assign the item to a Spec. Section by clicking on and selecting the appropriate one
  • If an Item is still outstanding, click No in the closed section
  • If the item has been resolved, click Yes in the closed section and enter a date it was Closed on
  • Click Save and Close if this is the last item to add, or Save and New to add further items
  • All the items for the meeting will now appear in the MM Items section of the Meeting Minutes form

To Add MM Attendees

IPM allows you to add attendees to the meeting, whether they actually attended the meeting or not. This can be useful to provide a list of invitees and apologies, as well as a contact list for whom to send the Meeting Minutes to.

  • Click on MM Attendees in the drop down menu of the Meeting Minutes form OR on the Attendees table to the right of the main MM form
  • If you wish to add multiple attendees to your Meeting Minutes, you can use the Multi-Select tool by clicking on IPM Multi-Select
  • If you wish to only add one attendee, you can do so individually by clicking on Add New IPM MM Attendee
  • This will bring up the New MM Attendee form
  • Click on in the Attendee field and select the person’s name
  • If the person attended the meeting, check the Attended field
  • You can select a Recipient Type for any correspondence with this Attendee by selecting from the drop down menu
  • Add any Comments
  • Click Save and Close if this is the last Attendee, or Save and New if there are further Attendees to add
  • All the Attendees for the meeting will now appear in the MM Attendees section of the Meeting Minutes form

Once all Components of the Meeting Minutes have been added, click Save and Close to close the New Meeting Minutes form. The Meeting Minutes you have created will now appear in the table in the Meeting Minutes section.

 

To Create a Series of Meeting Minutes

Often in Project Management, a meeting will not be a standalone occurrence, but rather one in a series of meetings pertaining to a particular aspect of the Job. A meeting will often recap the items from the previous meeting, and some meeting items will continue to be discussed over a series of meetings until they are resolved. IPM enables you to create new Meeting Minutes, as shown in the previous section, or copy Minutes from previous meetings to roll-over existing data to the copied set of minutes.

When you copy a set of Meeting Minutes in IPM, all Unclosed items will be transferred to the new set of Meeting Minutes and any items that are marked Closed will not copy. On the old set of Meeting Minutes, any items that are copied over will automatically be closed and the Transferred To field in the item will be filled in to show you which new set of Minutes they have been copied to. On the new set of Meeting Minutes, any Items that have been copied over with automatically have the old Meeting Minutes in the Originated From field, so that you can keep track of items.

 

You can use the following procedure to copy Meeting Minutes:

  • In the drop down navigation menu, click on IPM Document Control > Meeting Minutes
  • Select the Job you want to copy the Meeting Minutes for from the drop down menu
  • All the Meeting Minutes already created for that job will appear in the table
  • Make sure the meeting Minutes you want to copy are highlighted in blue by clicking on them
  • Note: Before copying the Meeting Minutes, you may wish to double check that all MM Items not being copied over to the new set of Minutes are marked as Closed
  • Click Copy Meeting Minutes in the top menu
  • This will bring up a Meeting Minutes form with all the copied information in a new set of Minutes, with a new Meeting Number
  • You can edit any information you need to, so that the copied Meeting Minutes reflect the details of the new meeting
  • You can add new Items and Attendees to the copied Minutes via the MM Items and MM Attendees tabs
  • Click Save and Close

 

To Create Meeting Minutes Templates

The Copy Meeting Minutes function can also be used to set up Meeting Minute Templates. You might like to do this at the beginning of a Job so that as the job progresses, you only need to copy Minutes from the template for each of the meetings.

To set up a Meeting Minute template:

  • In the drop down navigation menu, click on IPM Document Control > Meeting Minutes
  • Select the Job you want to create the Meeting Minutes for from the drop down menu
  • Click on New IPM Meeting Minutes
  • Add all the required information to your template, along with any extra information that will be needed in all subsequent Meeting Minutes
  • Click Save and Close if this is the only template you are creating, or Save and New if you want to create more
  • All your templates will now appear in the Meeting Minutes table
  • When you are ready to use your template, make sure it is highlighted in blue by clicking on it
  • Click Copy Meeting Minutes in the top menu
  • Add any information not contained in template
  • Click Save and Close

 

To View Meeting Minutes

You can view all the components of your Meeting Minutes as they are stored in IPM, and IPM also enables you to preview your Meeting Minutes in PDF format to see how they will appear to the receiver once they are sent or printed out. All of these require you to follow these steps first:

  • In the drop down navigation menu, click on IPM Document Control > Meeting Minutes
  • All Meeting Minutes created for the selected Job will appear in the table

To View in IPM

  • Double click on the Meeting Minutes you wish to view
  • The Meeting Minutes will open in a new window and you can view all the components by clicking on each of the options in the drop down menu

To Preview the Meeting Minutes

  • Make sure the Meeting Minutes you wish to view are highlighted in blue by clicking on them
  • Click on Preview in the top menu
  • The Report Viewer will open and display the Meeting Minutes as they would look in a PDF

Note: As this is simply a preview, you cannot Save or Print the Meeting Minutes from this view. In order to do this, you must create the actual PDF file first. See the next item below.

 

To Create as a PDF and Print

  • Make sure the Meeting Minutes you wish to view are highlighted in blue by clicking on them
  • Click on Create PDF in the top menu
  • The PDF box will open and you can choose to Open or Save the PDF (if you choose save, open the PDF once it has been saved in your desired location)
  • The Meeting Minutes will open as a PDF file
  • Click on the Print icon in the top menu