Boards App

Note - this app is still under development and is expected to be available by early 2026. The feature list below may change.

The BranchCMS Boards app will enable the management of boards, board members, vacancies, and board applications, and display them on the public website. 

The app will help track members' terms based on the characteristics of the board seats.

There will be three versions of this app:

• Basic - this will be limited to managing only basic board and meeting information.
• Plus - automatically integrate the meetings into a separate Calendar app so they can also be shown on a site-wide calendar.
• Premium - this will include the Basic and Plus functionality, as well as the ability to manage board members, vacancies, and board applications.

Pricing

Basic: $20 / month

Plus: $40 / month

Premium: $200 / month

Public website

This is what people can see as they browse the public website. 

Basic Features

• App pages include:
  • The main app page can include a list of boards, each with a link to the board detail page.
  • Board detail page.
  • The meetings list page shows all upcoming and past meetings. This will be similar to calendar event list pages.
  • Meeting detail page.
• Each board has its own page, which is good for SEO and usability. 
• Board pages will include the meetings, meeting agenda, minutes, and other related documents (like audio or video files/links). This will make it easier to see upcoming and past meetings for a single board. When you're viewing a board page, you can see the upcoming meetings for that board, as well as the agenda and other documents for that meeting.
• The app can generate a page for each meeting to show its full details and all documents.
• All board meetings can also be viewed on one page.
• Boards can have custom attributes so that you can store and display custom information that the default installation doesn't include.
• Meetings can have custom attributes so that you can store and display custom information that the default installation doesn't include. For example, you can add custom attributes to display an image slideshow from the meeting.

Plus Features

• Board meetings can be integrated with a Calendar app so they appear on a site-wide calendar. (We are still working out the details of how this will work, but it will be automatic.)

Premium Features

• Board members can be shown on the individual board pages.
• Each board member can have a page showing their information. A website developer can configure what shows on the page. Not all information from the administration for a board member has to show on this page.
• Vacancies can be listed and applied for. The app automatically tracks vacant positions when a board member's term expires or they are removed.
• Individuals can apply for a board even if there isn't a vacancy.
• The application forms for vacancies can be customized. The form data will be used to build the individual's profile in the app. The form can include conditional logic to show fields based on the board being applied for.
• Users can create an account and edit their own account information.
• You can decide whether applicants must create an account before applying.

Administration

Basic and Plus Features

Boards (Basic and Plus)

• View the list of boards.
• Add, edit, and delete boards and the board details.

Meetings (Basic and Plus)

• View, add, edit, and delete meetings. The meeting is assigned to a single board. 
• Attach agenda, minutes, video links, and other information to each meeting.

Premium Features

Boards (Premium)

• When viewing the list of boards, you can see if the board has any current vacancies or upcoming board member term expirations.
• Define the number of seats and seat types that each board must have (i.e., a board seat must be a Mechanical Inspector, or another seat must be a licensed electrician).
• Set the term limits (i.e., how long a member serves in their position. You can override the default term limits if desired.)
• The app will automatically track vacancies based on board member expiration, unfilled seats, or when a board member is manually removed. You will not have to manually create a vacancy.
• Support for sub-committees.

Board Members (Premium)

• Add, edit, and delete people. You can manually assign people to one or more boards.
• When a person submits a new application, the applicant will show in the list of people.
• Re-appoint members if they are eligible or when their term expires. If they expire and aren't appointed, then they will go into inactive members.
• Export all people as a CSV file.
• Member information shows
  • Name, details
  • Application
  • Qualifications
  • Seat number/letter
  • Appointment Information:
    • Appointment (which board)
    • Office role (member, chair, etc.)
    • Seat name and seat description
• Filter people by board or if they are assigned to a board.
• Search people by name, board, and other attributes.
• When viewing people, you can sort by name, date submitted, email address, phone number, board, and status.
• Send an email to a person. The email will be logged and visible when viewing the person's profile. You can set up and configure email templates to standardize emails. If a template is used, then the email template will be included in the log.
• Bulk-send an email to all board members whose terms are expiring. This is not an automatic email. It would be triggered by an admin.

Applications (Premium)

• View submitted applications for people who have not yet been assigned to a board.
• Automatically merge multiple applications for a person into one record. The identifiers for a person will be a combination of their name and email address. This can be enabled or disabled in the Settings. You can also manually merge duplicate records and choose which fields to merge.
• Search applications for specific attributes. The attributes map to the fields in the application form.
• Filter or search applications by board(s) applied to, status, date created, and whether appointed to a board.
• When viewing applications, you can sort by name, date submitted, email address, phone number, board, and status.
• Export applications as a CSV file.
• View and print individual applications. A print template will be used to download the attached resumes.
• View and print individual applications. A print template will be used to display the application in a format that you need. Download the attached resumes.
• View "packet" information as printable views so that you can "print as a PDF". Later versions may include PDF generation to streamline this. The information can include:
  • Summary of board information
  • Applicant information. You can choose to get a redacted version (i.e., without email, phone numbers, home address, or other identifiable information.)
  • Board information with the roster. You can choose to get a redacted version.
• Email notifications will be sent to one or more administrators when a new application is submitted. That email can be customized (subject, the "from" name and email, and the email content)
• View and edit the application form that people can fill out. Form fields can be customized. The fields are used to fill in the individual's profile within the app.
• Create conditional fields that show based on the board that is being applied for.

Attendance (Premium)

• Log the attendance for board members for a specific meeting.
• Export reports on attendance for a board.

Reports (Premium)

The app will have different reports that you can view and print.

• Vacancies - see how many vacancies there are, what boards they are in, and how long they have been open.
• Unassigned members.
• Roster list across all boards or filtered by board.

Settings (Premium)

You will be able to configure some app behaviors, such as:

• Whether to automatically expire terms.
• Whether to automatically expire terms.
• Default term periods (i.e., how long a member serves)
• Set how long before a term expires to show that a board has an expiring seat. For example, show expiring seats 30, 45, or 60 days out.
• Whether to remove unanswered questions when exporting an application.
• Whether to automatically merge duplicate submissions and what attributes to use to determine unique records (i.e., name and email).