Birmingham City University, with a student body of 24,000 from 80 different countries, is a large and diverse institution that prides itself on promoting academic excellence through its philosophy of placing students’ needs and aspirations at the heart of everything it does.
Helen Matthews, Assistant University Secretary, talks about how Convene has helped Birmingham City University with their move towards sustainability.
Seeking Out a Board Solution
Helen recounts their thought process in looking for a board solution for sustainability, “We were not really influenced by any green initiatives by the university, but we had been toying with the idea for a long time. Our move towards a sustainable and effective board solution was in part driven by five of our younger and considerably more tech savvy board members who viewed paper copies as a thing of the past.”
“We had been using SharePoint, however this did not prove to be a workable solution for us. In conjunction with our IT department, we undertook a board effectiveness survey which further strengthened the case for moving towards a paperless solution,” she states on the need for their organization to go paperless.
She then talked about their deliberation process, “We then invited three providers in for demonstrations of their board solution. Among them, Convene was already a strong contender as it had sparked our interest when we first saw it exhibited at the AUA conference. From the demonstration alone, we found Convene to be very user friendly and designed by someone who fully understands how committees operate.”
The Meeting Process Before Convene
Helen recounts past expenses that factored into their decision, “Our mailing and photocopying costs were high. For example, our November board pack was between 700 and 800 pages and they had to be photocopied 26 times in color. There was the added disadvantage of having to copy any late papers which ate into valued time. With Convene the process is so much quicker. We only had implemented Convene in November 2018, but we are incredibly enthusiastic about its functionality, and we often find ourselves discovering new features over and above the ones we already know. We can’t imagine going back to copying again!”
Users of Convene
She states that, “Convene is used by the board and five to six sub committees, its subsidiary companies and the internal executive group. We are very keen to use Convene to its full potential, so we are considering a future roll out across the academic board. Our chair actually doesn’t use Convene as of yet, so we do find Convene’s print option useful when we need to produce a paper pack.”
Security Features
Regarding security features, Helen notes that, “Convene allows us to easily decide who has access to particular papers. We had a recent board offsite that included a presentation containing sensitive material. We were able to securely put this on Convene, and only allowed access to those who required it.”
Feedback from Admin Staff
For Helen, the feedback from their admin staff were extremely positive. Comments such as “I can’t imagine how we worked without Convene,” “If you follow instructions properly, you’d have a hard job to go wrong with Convene”. “Convene is very simple and easy to use from a user point of view” were just some of the few examples that their staff said. For her, these are always wonderful to hear!
Highlights of Convene
She then talked about the highlights of Convene, “We particularly like the Review Room. Before Convene, our draft minutes were circulated on email, but now we simply place them in the Review Room. The minutes and associated comments are now instantly available on one document.”
She also added, “The Document Library is also a vital feature since it allows us to put all our governance documents into one space; making it easy for people to access exactly what they need. The Resolution function is another key attribute. We use the written resolution to show that people had voted themselves prior to a meeting; even if they could not be present at the time.”
Helen notes that they have received glowing user feedback surrounding Convenes’ range of functionalities in this area, including the ability to build agendas, to see who has read the papers, and when late papers are to be added.
Training Sessions
She says that, “Our Account Manager delivered a full day’s training for our department, with a separate briefing session for our IT project management team and a dry run of two meetings. We were emailed clear and concise follow up information to all of our governors. The effectiveness of the training meant that everyone here was fully up to speed from the outset. Additionally, we haven’t had a need to request further training support because Convene is so intuitive and easy to follow.”
Helen even notes that, “When we met another university contact at a recent Association of Higher Education event, we shared our contagious Convene enthusiasm, and arranged to meet with them and share information about the solution and all it has to offer”
Going Paperless
Helen emphasizes that, “Change of this nature can be daunting, and many of us stick with what we know even if there is a more effective way. Because our board was on side, the Convene process was relatively smooth. As a team, we worked together to achieve the transition, with IT looking after the procurement side. I can say that we really liked working with Convene!”