Please note: A PDF version of this guide is available for download at the bottom of the article.

This manual describes the Meetings features and functionality in the iRIS™ system.

Note that while the screenshots shown in this manual are taken from specific iRIS™ modules (e.g., COI, IRB, etc.), the Meetings functionality discussed here is consistent across all modules where Meetings is in use.

Meeting Manager

The Meeting Manager page, accessed via the Meeting Manager link in the main workspace menu ([Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Manager link, see screenshot below), is a tool that enables review board administrators to view meeting agendas, set meeting attendance, and generate meeting documents.

Access to this menu item is controlled via rights assignment in the Role Access matrix under Review Board Administration. See the Conflict of Interest – Review Board Administration manual for more information.

The Meeting Manager page lists all meetings defined in the system for the current review board. By default, meetings are listed in descending order from most recent to oldest meeting date.

Use the Item Search Filters section at the upper left-side of the page to filter the list of meetings by date. Enter a date range in the Display Meeting(s) Between field by either using the calendar widget provided or manually entering the date, then click the Find … button to apply filter criteria. Click the Reset Filters button to clear filter criteria.

By default the date range will always populate with the current date as the starting point.

The columns of the meeting display table are described as follows:

Open — click the icon in this column to open the meeting minutes processing area for the corresponding meeting date, described in detail in the “Meeting Agenda and Minutes Processing” section and shown in the screenshot below

Committee — name of the board committee to which the corresponding meeting is assigned

Meeting Date — date on which the meeting is scheduled

Start Time — time at which the meeting is scheduled to begin

Agenda State — the status of the agenda; status may be either “Draft” or “Finalized”

Notify Reviewers — if set to “Enabled”, all applicable email notifications are created and sent to designated reviewers when the agenda is finalized, alerting them to a submission review assignment; if set to “Disabled”, email notifications are not sent when the agenda is finalized

Date Draft Published Minutes Sent for Comments — date a published draft version of the minutes was emailed to board members for review

Date Final Published Minutes Approved by Committee — date the final, published minutes were approved by the committee; in cases where a motion to approve a previous month’s minutes is added to a meeting, the date the applicable minutes are approved is captured in this column

Date Final Published Minutes Sent to the Meeting Attendees — date when a final copy of the minutes is sent to meeting attendees; note that sending a final copy of minutes to attendees is optional, and in that case this column remains blank

Availability — click this icon to open the Meeting Availability page (see the “Meeting Availability” section of this manual for more information)

Edit/View Reviews & Minutes — depending on the status of the meeting minutes for a meeting date, a View Draft Minutes, View Finalized Minutes, and/or a Submissions Review button(s) populate in this column

Scheduling a Meeting

To schedule a meeting, navigate to the Meeting Manager page ([Module] > Meeting Manager) and click the Meeting Schedule button at the upper right.

The Setup Board Meeting Dates page opens, as shown below.

Recurring meeting patterns are listed in the upper table. Individual meeting dates, whether automatically scheduled as part of a recurring pattern or scheduled manually, are listed in the lower table. Recurring meeting patterns can be created to automatically schedule meetings up to 12 months in advance.  

Note: Only meetings that have not yet occurred are listed on this page.

Recurring Meetings

iRIS™ enables the configuration of recurring meetings via the Review Board Meeting Dates page, accessible by navigating to the [Module] > Meeting Manager > Meeting Schedule link.

Add a Recurring Meeting

To create a recurring meeting, click the Add a New Reccurring button at the upper right of the Review Board Meeting Dates page (shown below).

The Setup Board Meeting Recurring Pattern page opens, as shown below.

The recurring meeting pattern may be configured with the following fields:

Recurring Pattern Name — name of this pattern

Start Date — click the calendar widget and navigate to the date from which the recurring pattern should take effect; note that this need not be the day of the first meeting

Start Time and End Time — enter planned meeting start and end times

Meeting Type — select the applicable review board committee name from the list

Meeting Location — enter the intended meeting location

Comments — click this icon to open a text editor for entry of any desired comments about the recurring meeting record

Change Recurrence Pattern — select either a “Weekly” or “Monthly” pattern type, then specify the desired pattern details (shown below)

Monthly Pattern:

Weekly Pattern:

Once all recurring pattern details have been entered, click the Save Meeting Schedule button on the upper right of the page.

The Setup Board Meeting Recurring Pattern page closes, the recurring pattern is saved to the list, and the system generates 12 months’ worth of meeting dates based on the pattern.

Edit a Recurring Meeting

Existing recurring patterns can be revised by clicking the icon in the Edit column of the recurring pattern list on the Review Board Meeting Dates page.

The Setup Board Meeting Recurring Pattern page opens, as shown below.

The recurring meeting pattern may be revised using the following fields:

Recurring Pattern Name — name of this pattern

Start Date — click the calendar widget and navigate to the date from which the recurring pattern should take effect; note that this need not be the day of the first meeting

Start Time and End Time — enter planned meeting start and end times

Meeting Type — select the applicable review board committee name from the list

Meeting Location — enter the intended meeting location

Comments — click this icon to open a text editor for entry of any desired comments about the recurring meeting record

Change Recurrence Pattern — select either a “Weekly” or “Monthly” pattern type, then specify the desired pattern details (shown below)

Monthly Pattern:

Weekly Pattern:

Once all recurring pattern details have been revised as desired, click the Save Meeting Schedule button on the upper right of the page. The edited meeting pattern will display on the Review Board Meeting Dates page.

Note: Editing a recurring meeting pattern does not update the details of meetings that have already been generated based on the existing pattern. These must be individually revised via the applicable icon in the Edit column of the list of individual meeting dates as shown below.

Delete a Recurring Meeting

Existing recurring patterns can be deleted by clicking the applicable icon in the Delete column of the recurring pattern list.

The following confirmation window opens.

Click CANCEL to cancel the operation and close the confirmation window.

Click CONFIRM to continue with the deletion and close the confirmation window. The meeting pattern is deleted from the list.

Note: Deleting a meeting pattern does not delete meetings that have already been generated based on the existing pattern. These must be individually deleted via the applicable icon in the Delete column of the list of individual meeting dates.

Non-Recurring Meetings

iRIS™ enables the configuration of non-recurring, one-time meetings via the Review Board Meeting Dates page, accessible by navigating to the [Module] > Meeting Manager > Meeting Schedule link.

Add a Non-Recurring Meeting

To create a new, non-recurring meeting first click the Add a New Meeting button at the center right of the Setup Board Meeting Dates page.

The following add panel opens.

Enter details of the new meeting as follows:

Meeting Date — use the calendar widget to select the date on which the meeting will take place

Start Time and End Time — enter the meeting’s start and end times

Meeting Type — select the applicable review board committee name from the list

Meeting Location — enter the intended meeting location

Comments — click this icon to open a text editor for entry of any desired comments about the meeting record

Click the Save Meeting Schedule button. The add panel closes and the new meeting is saved to the list.

Edit a Non-Recurring Meeting

Existing meetings can be revised by clicking the icon in the Edit column of the meeting list, as shown in the screenshot below.

The following add panel opens.

Revise details of the new meeting as follows:

Meeting Date — use the calendar widget to select the date on which the meeting will take place

Start Time and End Time — enter the meeting’s start and end times

Meeting Type — select the applicable review board committee name from the list

Meeting Location — enter the intended meeting location

Comments — click this icon to open a text editor for entry of any desired comments about the meeting record

Click the Save Meeting Schedule button. The add panel closes and the revised meeting is saved to the list.

Delete a Non-Recurring Meeting

Existing meetings can be deleted by clicking the icon in the Delete column of the meeting list as shown below.

The following confirmation window opens.

Click CANCEL to cancel the operation and close the confirmation window.

Click CONFIRM to continue with the deletion and close the confirmation window. The meeting record is deleted from the list.

Meeting Agenda and Minutes Processing

At the time a meeting is held or shortly thereafter, meeting agenda and meeting minute documents may be generated and published via the Meeting Manager page.

To access this functionality, navigate to Meeting Manager and click the icon in the Open column for the applicable meeting.

The Meeting Minutes from [date] page opens, as shown below.

From this page the meeting agenda, expedite report (if enabled), and the meeting minutes may be viewed, edited, published, and sent.

Viewing Meeting Agenda

Click the Click to Open the Meeting Agenda link to open the meeting agenda.

The Meeting Agenda is opened for review and/or revision, as shown below.

See the Meeting Agenda section of this manual for more information about working with the Meeting Agenda. Click the Back button to return to the meeting’s document processing page.

Enabling Reviewer Notifications

Change Enable Reviewer Notifications from “No” to “Yes” in order to notify reviewers of their review assignments for the corresponding meeting date; note that assigned reviewers immediately receive an email notification and homepage task as soon as this option is set.

The value of this field is displayed in the meeting table on the main Meeting Manager page.

Processing the Meeting Agenda and Expedite Report

This section details the process of generating and publishing an agenda document and expedite report for a meeting.

Finalizing the Meeting

The first step in meeting agenda document processing is to finalize the meeting, as this functionality is unavailable while the meeting is in “Draft” status. This is done by clicking the Finalize Meeting button.

Doing so will change the meeting’s status to “Finalized” and refresh the page accordingly.

Notice the following changes to the page now that the meeting has been finalized:

The Finalize button has changed to Revert to Draft. Clicking this button will return the meeting to a “Draft” status.

The Generate tiles for the Agenda Document and Expedite Report sections have been activated.

Generating a Document

To generate either an Agenda Document or an Expedite Report, click the appropriate Generate tile.

Doing so will update the page to display the following.

Notice that three new tiles have been activated for the Meeting Agenda Document: Check-Out, Edit, and Publish.

The functionality of these tiles is described below.

Checking-Out a Document

A meeting agenda document may be checked-out by a user for editing on their local system. This is done by clicking the Check-Out tile as shown below.

Note: This functionality is not available for Expedite Reports.

Clicking this tile will open the following confirmation window.

Clicking CANCEL cancels the check-out and closes the window.

Clicking CONFIRM proceeds with the document check-out and downloads a copy of the document to the user’s machine.

Notice that while an agenda document is checked out, all processing tiles for that document are deactivated except for the Check-In tile. Also notice the bottom of the screen where the downloaded agenda document is displayed (the exact appearance of the downloaded document will depend on the web browser being used).

Checking-In a Document

To check back in an agenda document, simply click the Agenda is Currently Checked Out check-in tile.

Clicking this tile opens the following document upload window.

Select the edited agenda document file and click Save selected file to check in the document.

The Meeting Minutes page will refresh with the agenda document processing tiles reactivated.

The meeting documents may be checked-out any number of times before being published.

Editing a Document

Click the Edit tile to edit the agenda document or expedite report within the browser.

The user will be redirected to an online text editor allowing them to make modfiications to the generated document.

Click the Insert Template Language button to pull in any desired pre-configured section(s) of boilerplate text.

A popup window containing a list of available boilerplate sections opens. Click the desired item to insert it into the text editor in the cursor’s location.

Clicking Insert Template Language closes the popup window and inserts the chosen boilerplate language into the cursor location in the document.

Click the Save Change button at the top right of the page to save changes, then click the Back button to close the text editor.

There is no limit to the number of times a meeting document may be edited before being published.

Publishing a Document

Once a document has been generated and edited, it may be published to the system. This is done by clicking the Publish tile for the appropriate document.

The Meeting Minutes page will refresh with the Send tile activated.

Publishing a document locks that document to further generation or editing, as seen by the deactivated tiles in the screenshot above.

Unpublishing a Document

To edit or regenerate a published document, the document must be unpublished.

Notice that once a document is published, the Publish tile changes to read “Click to Unpublish Agenda Document”. Clicking this tile will unpublish the document.

This will refresh the Meeting Minutes page to show the following.

The document has returned to its pre-published state, with the Generate, Check-Out, and Edit tiles activated and the Send tile deactivated.

Click the Publish tile to publish the document again.

Sending a Document

Meeting documents may only be sent once they have been published. Shown below is an example of a published agenda document.

Click the Send tile to send the document to select meeting attendees. This will redirect the user to the following page.

All members of the committee associated to this meeting are listed on this Meeting Agenda Document Recipients page. In the example above, the meeting is associated to the “Conflict of Interest Assistant” committee, which contains five board members.

Each of these board members may be selected to receive the meeting agenda document using the checkbox column to the left of their names.

Additional users may be added to the recipient list through the use of two methods: adding from the user directory or adding manually.

Adding Recipients from the System Directory

Click the Add recipient from directory button to send the meeting document to an iRIS™ user outside of the meeting committee. This will open the following page.

Use the Last Name, First Name, and by Department filters to select one or more recipients from the iRIS™ user directory.

Use the provided checkbox column and Save Selected User(s) button to select multiple users, or the icon to select a single user. The selected recipients will then populate in the Additional Recipients table as shown below.

Adding Recipients Manually

Meeting documents may also be emailed to users that do not have an iRIS™ account. This is done by clicking the Add recipient manually button, which opens the following screen.

Click the Add A Recipient button. A new row will populate in the display table allowing users to define the name and email address of the non-iRIS™ personnel.

Once the desired users have been added, click the Save and Return button to save them to the meeting document routing list.

For each additional recipient, a text box is provided to clarify the user’s association to the meeting.

Once all desired recipients have been added and selected, click Send to selected recipients to send the meeting document.

Viewing a Document

Published documents are converted to a PDF in iRIS™. This final PDF version is viewable on the Meeting Minutes page via the icon as shown in the screenshot below.

Clicking this icon opens a second browser window displaying the PDF version of the document.

From here the document may be downloaded and/or printed.

Processing the Meeting Minutes

Similar to the meeting agenda document and the expedite report, the meeting minutes may also be generated, published, and sent to board members. This process is detailed in the following sections.

Generating Meeting Minutes

The first step to meeting minutes processing is generating the minutes.

It is crucial to note that minutes may only be generated once a meeting date has passed. If the meeting has not yet taken place, the meeting minutes processing tiles will be locked as shown in the screenshot below.

Once the meeting date has passed, the Generate tile will be activated.

To generate the minutes from the meeting simply click the Generate tile. This will activate four additional processing tiles.

Checking-Out the Minutes

The meeting minutes may be checked-out by a user for editing on their local system. This is done by clicking the Check-Out tile as shown below.

Clicking this tile will open the following confirmation window.

Clicking CANCEL cancels the check-out and closes the window.

Clicking CONFIRM proceeds with the check-out and downloads a copy of the minutes to the user’s machine.

Notice that while the meeting minutes are checked out, all processing tiles are deactivated except for the Minutes is Currently Checked Out tile. Also notice the bottom of the screen where the downloaded minutes document is displayed (this screenshot was taken using the Google Chrome browser).

Checking-In the Minutes

To check back in the meeting minutes, simply click the Minutes is Currently Checked Out check-in tile.

Clicking this tile opens the following document upload window.

Select the edited meeting minutes file and click Save selected file to check in the updated minutes. The Meeting Minutes page will refresh with the meeting minutes processing tiles reactivated.

The meeting minutes may be checked out any number of times before being published as the final version.

Editing the Minutes

Click the Edit tile to edit the meeting minutes within the browser.

The user will be redirected to an online text editor allowing them to make modifications to the generated minutes document.

Click the Insert Template Language button to pull in any desired pre-configured section(s) of boilerplate text.

A popup window containing a list of available boilerplate sections opens. Click the desired item to insert it into the text editor in the cursor’s location.

Clicking Insert Template Language closes the popup window and inserts the chosen boilerplate language into the cursor location in the minutes document.

Click the Save Change button at the top right of the page to save changes, then click the Back button to close the text editor.

There is no limit to the number of times the meeting minutes may be edited before being published as the final version.

Publishing a Draft Version of the Minutes

Publishing meeting minutes in iRIS™ is a two-step process. First, a draft version of the minutes may be published and sent to board members. Next, the meeting may be further edited and eventually published again as a final version. This final version may also be sent to users.

Note: Publishing a draft version of the minutes is an optional step and may not make sense depending on an institution’s specific workflow.

To publish a draft version of the minutes, click the first Publish tile.

This will update the page to show the following additional fields.

These fields are described in the following two sections.

Date Minutes Sent for Comments

This field displays the date that the draft minutes were sent to board members for comments. Initially after publishing, this field is blank. Once the draft minutes are sent, it will auto-populate with the date that the minutes were sent. This date can be further modified as desired. Once a date is entered here it will be displayed on the main Meeting Manager page as shown below.

Do you want to route the minutes for approval?

This field is used to route the draft minutes to board members for approval. The field defaults to “No”. Selecting “Yes” will show a Click here to generate the routing list link.

Clicking this link opens the Meeting Minutes Routing Selection List page, shown below.

Displayed on this page is basic meeting information as well as a user signoff staging table. As users are added to the routing list, they will populate in this table. Once all desired recipients have been selected, the Have you completed your selection of required routings field can be set to “Yes” and the routing list can be saved.

The columns of this staging table are described as follows:

Order Number – order that the minutes are routed; user with the lowest order number receives the minutes first

Name – name of the user that will receive the minutes

Signoff –  if the logged-in user has been added to the staging table, the icon in this column will be clickable, enabling that user to complete the minutes signoff directly from this page

Approved – indicates if the minutes have been approved or denied; “Yes” indicates approval and “No” indicates denial; if the minutes have not yet been reviewed by that specific user, this column will be blank

Include Signature – when set to “Yes”, the routing recipient is required to provide an electronic signature when completing their signoff; when set to “No” the reviewer may sign off on the minutes without including an electronic signature

Date Received – date that the user receives the routed minutes

Date Completed – date that the user completes their review and signoff of the minutes

Comments – displays any comments left by the user during their review

Users may be added to this signoff staging table via two methods: review board routing and non-review routing.

Review Board Routing

To route the draft minutes to review board members, click the Add Review Board Routing button.

Doing so will populate the user signoff table with a new row, as shown below.

Select a board member to receive the draft version of the minutes using the Name dropdown and then complete the rest of the column fields accordingly.

Non-Review Board Routing

iRIS™ users that are not members of the review board in question may be added to the routing list by clicking the Add Non-Review Board Routing button. This will open the follow user selection page.

Here the system user directory may be searched for the desired routing recipient. A filter box is included to aid users in narrowing their search, either by full or partial Last Name or First Name, by Department, or by any combination of the three. The search results will display in the user selection table as shown below.

Click the checkmark icon in the Select User column to add a user to the distribution list. Use the Check for Multiple checkbox column to add multiple users. Click the Save Selected User(s) button once the desired selections have been made. The selected user(s) are added to signoff staging table, as shown in the screenshot below.

Once added to the staging table, the user record may be edited as if it was added via Review Board Routing. Clicking the Name dropdown menu will display the review board members as well as the non-review board member that was added.

Deleting Routing Recipients

To delete users form the signoff staging table, select the desired user(s) via the checkbox column on the far left side of the table and click the Delete Selected Routing(s) button.

Saving the Routing List

Once the desired recipients have been selected, the routing list must be saved by clicking Save Routing List.

Note that the Have you completed your selection of required routings? field must be set to “Yes” in order for the save to be successful.

After saving the routing list, the draft version of the minutes will be dispatched to the selected recipients, beginning with the lowest order number. Notice that the signoff routing table will update to show a Date Received for each recipient, and that the “routing complete” radio button and Include Signature column have been greyed-out.

As the recipient(s) complete their review(s), the Approved, Date Completed, and Comments columns will populate accordingly.

Back on the Meeting Minutes from [date] page, the “route minutes” field updates to reflect the status of the routing (shown below).

Note that once the routing list is saved, the yes/no radio button becomes read-only.

Modifying the Routing List

The routing list may be modified by clicking the link provided in the Do you want to route the minutes for approval? field on the Meeting Minutes from [date] page.

This link opens to the following routing list page.

Additional recipients may be added by clicking either Add Review Board Routing or Add Non-Review Board Routing and then following the procedures outlined in the previous sections. Notice that the Have you completed your selection of required routings? field is locked to “Yes”, so Save Routing List may be clicked directly.

Users may be deleted from the signoff routing list by selecting the desired records using the far left checkbox column and then clicking Delete Selected Routing(s).

Meeting Minutes Signoff Task

Any user included in the draft minutes signoff routing list receives an RB Meeting Minutes Routing Signoff task on their homepage, as shown below.

Opening this task takes the user to the following screen, where they can view a PDF version of the draft meeting minutes.

On the left-hand side of the page, basic meeting information is displayed along with several fields that enable the user to complete their review. After reading through the provided PDF, they will use these left side fields to either approve or deny the draft meeting minutes.

The minutes can be approved by selecting “Approve” in the Do you Approve or Deny these meeting minutes? dropdown menu. If a signature was required for this specific user, additional fields will populate enabling the user to enter their iRIS™ credentials. This will act as the electronic signature.

To deny the minutes, select the “Deny” option in the Do you Approve or Deny these meeting minutes? dropdown menu.

Throughout the review, comments may be added with the Click here to add comments link and accompanying popup window.

Once the review outcome has been selected and all desired comments have been added, the minutes review can be completed by clicking the Save Meeting Minute Review button. Doing so will update the routing status of the minutes back on the Meeting Minutes from [date] page according to the response(s) from the reviewer(s).

If all routing recipients approve the minutes, the meeting minutes routing link will update to show that the draft routing was approved.

If one or more reviewers have not signed off on the minutes and no reviewers have denied the minutes, the routing link will display that the routing is still in progress.

If one or more reviewers deny the draft minutes, the routing link will show that the draft routing has been denied, regardless of whether all recipients have completed their review or not.

Detailed information about the draft routing status can be viewed by clicking on the routing link, which opens the following page.

Notice that once users have completed their review, a date populates in the Date Completed column.

Also note that if a user denies the minutes, an icon populates in the Approved column of the routing table. Clicking this icon opens a Microsoft Word document displaying all changes that were suggested by the reviewer, if any.

Note that publishing draft minutes does not lock the minutes document against editing, meaning that if the minutes were denied, the requested changes can be applied and re-routed without needing to regenerate the minutes. However, note that in order to route the updated document, the draft minutes must be unpublished and then published again.

Sending the Draft Version of the Minutes

Once the draft meeting minutes are published, the Send tile is activated, allowing the meeting coordinator to send a copy of the minutes to members of the meeting. The minutes are sent as a PDF attachment to a system-generated email.

Clicking this tile opens the Draft Meeting Minutes Document Recipients page.

From here the recipients of the draft meeting minutes may be selected. Recipients may be added manually or selected from either the committee member list or system directory.

Selecting Meeting Members

The minutes may be sent to meeting members using the provided committee member list.

This table lists all users that belong to the committee in question. Any member that was marked present for the meeting is automatically checked in this list. Additional committee members can be added by simply checking the box to the left of each desired recipient.

Selecting Recipients from System Directory

The minutes may also be sent to users that are not members of the meeting or the committee. This can be done by clicking the Add recipient from directory button as shown below.

Doing so will redirect the user to the Search User Directory page.

Here any user defined in iRIS™ can be selected as a recipient of the meeting minutes. Results can be narrowed by full or partial Last Name or First Name, by Department, or by any combination of the three.

Use the checkbox column at the far left of the table to select multiple recipients. Click the Select icon to add a single user.

All users added from the system directory populate in the Additional Recipients table as shown below.

Selecting Recipients Manually

Non-iRIS™ personnel may also be added as recipients of the meeting minutes. This is done by clicking the Add recipient manually button, which opens the Meeting Minutes Additional recipients page shown below.

The provided staging table lists all non-iRIS™ recipients that have been added. Click Add A Recipient to add a new recipient. This populates a new row in the staging table as shown below.

Both a name and a valid email address must be defined for each non-iRIS™ recipient in order for the meeting minutes to be sent successfully. Click Save And Return once all desired manual recipients have been added and defined.

All manually-added recipients populate in the Additional Recipients table.

Sending the Draft Minutes

Once all recipients have been selected, the meeting minutes may be sent by clicking Send to selected recipients.

Publishing the Final Version of the Minutes

Click the second Publish tile to publish a finalized version of the minutes.

Publishing the final minutes generates a PDF version of the document and locks it against editing. This PDF can then be routed for approval and sent as an email attachment to the meeting members.

Note that minutes published as final must be unpublished before they can be checked out for further revisions.

Once the final minutes are published, the Meeting Minutes from [date] page updates to show three additional fields.

These fields are described in the following three sections.

Date Final Minutes Approved by Committee

This field displays the date that the final routed minutes were approved by the meeting members.

Initially after publishing, this field is blank. Once the final minutes are routed and all recipients have approved them, it will auto-populate with the date that the last member completed their review. This date can be further modified as desired using the built-in calendar widget and clicking the Set button.

If one or more recipients denied the minutes, this field will not populate.

Once a date is entered here it will be displayed on the main Meeting Manager page as shown below.

Date Final Minutes Sent to the Meeting Attendees

This field displays the date that the final minutes were sent to the meeting attendees and any other selected recipients.

Initially after publishing, this field is blank. Once the final minutes are sent, it will auto-populate with the date that the minutes were sent. This date can be further modified as desired using the built-in calendar widget and clicking the Set button.

Once a date is entered here it will be displayed on the main Meeting Manager page as shown below.

Do you want to route the final version of minutes for approval?

This field is used to route the final minutes to board members (and any other desired recipients) for approval. The field defaults to “No”. Selecting “Yes” will show a Click here to generate the routing list link.

Clicking this link opens the Meeting Minutes Routing Selection List page, shown below.

Displayed on this page is basic meeting information as well as a user signoff staging table. As users are added to the routing list, they will populate in this table. Once all desired recipients have been selected, the Have you completed your selection of required routings field can be set to “Yes” and the routing list can be saved.

The columns of this staging table are described as follows:

Order Number – order that the minutes are routed; user with the lowest order number receives the minutes first

Name – name of the user that will receive the minutes

Signoff –  if the logged-in user has been added to the staging table, the icon in this column will be clickable, enabling that user to complete the minutes signoff directly from this page

Approved – indicates if the minutes have been approved or denied; “Yes” indicates approval and “No” indicates denial; if the minutes have not yet been reviewed by that specific user, this column will be blank

Include Signature – when set to “Yes”, the routing recipient is required to provide an electronic signature when completing their signoff; when set to “No” the reviewer may sign off on the minutes without including an electronic signature

Date Received – date that the user receives the routed minutes

Date Completed – date that the user completes their review and signoff of the minutes

Comments – displays any comments left by the user during their review

Users may be added to this signoff staging table via two methods: review board routing and non-review routing.

Review Board Routing

To route the final minutes to review board members, click the Add Review Board Routing button.

Doing so will populate the user signoff table with a new row, as shown below.

Select a board member to receive the final version of the minutes using the Name dropdown and then complete the rest of the column fields accordingly.

Non-Review Board Routing

iRIS™ users that are not members of the review board in question may be added to the routing list by clicking the Add Non-Review Board Routing button. This will open the follow user selection page.

Here the system user directory may be searched for the desired routing recipient. A filter box is included to aid users in narrowing their search, either by full or partial Last Name or First Name, by Department, or by any combination of the three. The search results will display in the user selection table as shown below.

Click the checkmark icon in the Select User column to add a user to the distribution list. Use the Check for Multiple checkbox column to add multiple users. Click the Save Selected User(s) button once the desired selections have been made. The selected user(s) are added to signoff staging table, as shown in the screenshot below.

Once added to the staging table, the user record may be edited as if it was added via Review Board Routing. Clicking the Name dropdown menu will display the review board members as well as the non-review board member that was added.

Deleting Routing Recipients

To delete users from the signoff staging table, select the desired user(s) via the checkbox column on the far left side of the table and click the Delete Selected Routing(s) button.

Saving the Routing List

Once the desired recipients have been selected, the routing list must be saved by clicking Save Routing List.

Note that the Have you completed your selection of required routings? field must be set to “Yes” in order for the save to be successful.

After saving the routing list, the final version of the minutes will be dispatched to the selected recipients, beginning with the lowest order number. Notice that the signoff routing table will update to show a Date Received for each recipient, and that the “routing complete” radio button and Include Signature column are disabled.

As the recipient(s) complete their review(s), the Approved, Date Completed, and Comments columns will populate accordingly.

Back on the Meeting Minutes from [date] page, the “route minutes” field updates to reflect the status of the routing (shown below).

Note that once the routing list is saved, the yes/no radio button becomes read-only.

Modifying the Routing List

The routing list may be modified by clicking the link provided in the Do you want to route the final version of minutes for approval? field on the Meeting Minutes from [date] page.

This link opens to the following routing list page.

Additional recipients may be added by clicking either Add Review Board Routing or Add Non-Review Board Routing and then following the procedures outlined in the previous sections. Notice that the Have you completed your selection of required routings? field is locked to “Yes”, so Save Routing List may be clicked directly.

Users may be deleted from the signoff routing list by selecting the desired records using the far left checkbox column and then clicking Delete Selected Routing(s).

Meeting Minutes Signoff Task

Any user included in the final minutes signoff routing list receives an RB Meeting Minutes Routing Signoff task on their homepage, as shown below.

Opening this task takes the user to the following screen, where they can view a PDF version of the final meeting minutes.

On the left-hand side of the page, basic meeting information is displayed along with several fields that enable the user to complete their review. After reading through the provided PDF, they will use these left-side fields to either approve or deny the final meeting minutes.

The minutes can be approved by selecting “Approve” in the Do you Approve or Deny these meeting minutes? dropdown menu. If a signature was required for this specific user, additional fields will populate enabling the user to enter their iRIS™ credentials. This will act as the electronic signature.

To deny the minutes, select the “Deny” option in the Do you Approve or Deny these meeting minutes? dropdown menu.

Throughout the review, comments may be added with the Click here to add comments link and accompanying popup window.

Once the review outcome has been selected and all desired comments have been added, the minutes review can be completed by clicking the Save Meeting Minute Review button.

Doing so will update the routing status of the minutes back on the Meeting Minutes from [date] page according to the response(s) from the reviewer(s).

If all routing recipients approve the minutes, the meeting minutes routing link will update to show that the final routing was approved.

If one or more reviewers have not signed off on the minutes and no reviewers have denied the minutes, the routing link will display that the routing is still in progress.

If one or more reviewers deny the minutes, the routing link will show that the final routing has been denied, regardless of whether all recipients have completed their review or not.

Detailed information about the final routing status can be viewed by clicking on the routing link, which opens the following page.

Notice that once users have completed their review, a date populates in the Date Completed column.

Also note that if a user denies the minutes, an icon populates in the Approved column of the routing table. Clicking this icon opens a Microsoft Word document displaying all changes that were suggested by the reviewer, if any.

Sending the Final Version of the Minutes

Once the final meeting minutes are published, the Send tile is activated, allowing the meeting coordinator to send a copy of the minutes to members of the meeting. The minutes are sent as a PDF attachment to a system-generated email.

Clicking this tile opens the Final Meeting Minutes Document Recipients page.

From here the recipients of the final meeting minutes may be selected. Recipients may be added manually or selected from either the committee member list or system directory.

Selecting Meeting Members

The minutes may be sent to meeting members using the provided committee member list.

This table lists all users that belong to the committee in question. Any member that was marked present for the meeting is automatically checked in this list. Additional committee members can be added by simply checking the box to the left of each desired recipient.

Selecting Recipients from System Directory

The minutes may also be sent to users that are not members of the meeting or the committee. This can be done by clicking the Add recipient from directory button as shown below.

Doing so will redirect the user to the Search User Directory page.

Here any user defined in iRIS™ can be selected as a recipient of the meeting minutes. Three filter fields are provided to aid in the user search. Results can be narrowed by full or partial Last Name or First Name, by Department, or by any combination of the three.

Use the checkbox column at the far left of the table to select multiple recipients. Click the Select icon to add a single user.

All users added from the system directory populate in the Additional Recipients table as shown below.

Selecting Recipients Manually

Non-iRIS™ personnel may also be added as recipients of the meeting minutes. This is done by clicking the Add recipient manually button, which opens the Meeting Minutes Additional recipients page shown below.

The provided staging table lists all non-iRIS™ recipients that have been added. Click Add A Recipient to add a new recipient. This populates a new row in the staging table as shown below.

Both a name and a valid email address must be entered for each non-iRIS™ recipient in order for the meeting minutes to be sent successfully. Click Save And Return once all desired manual recipients have been added.

All manually-added recipients populate in the Additional Recipients table.

Sending the Final Minutes

Once all recipients have been selected, the meeting minutes may be sent by clicking Send to selected recipients.

Viewing the Minutes

Once the draft or final version of the meeting minutes is published, iRIS™ converts it into a PDF format. This final PDF version is viewable on the Meeting Minutes page via the icon as shown in the screenshot below.

Clicking this icon opens a second browser window displaying the PDF version of the minutes.

From here the minutes may be downloaded and/or printed.

Meeting Agenda

Meeting details can be viewed by date on the Meeting Agenda page ([Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Agenda link, see screenshot below).

The Meeting Agenda page for the next upcoming meeting opens by default.

Review board Coordinators or Administrators use this page to prepare for upcoming meetings. Other users may access the page to view submissions placed on a particular meeting date. Roles can be setup to have read/write access to this page via Setup Role Access in Review Board Administration.

Use the left and right pointing green arrows on either side of the selected meeting date to page through past and future meeting dates, respectively.

Meeting details shown to the left of the selected meeting date include:

Agenda State – displays “Draft” if the agenda template is still in setup mode, “Finalized” if the agenda is ready for the meeting

Reviewer Notifications – displays “Enabled” if reviewers for conflict matches assigned to the selected meeting date have been notified of their assignments, “Disabled” if reviewers have not yet been notified

Items to be reviewed at [committee name] Meeting – items to be reviewed at the selected meeting

A left hand sidebar menu provides access to Meeting Attendance, Call to Order, Old Business, New Business, Miscellaneous, Closing Comments, Meeting Motions and Review Documents tabs, as shown below.

Details of these tabs are provided in the following manual subsections.

Meeting Attendance

Meeting attendance is tracked on the Board Meeting Attendance page (accessed via [Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Agenda > Meeting Attendance tab link). The page lists all available members and staff of the review board. Selected user profile details are shown for each member (see screenshot below).

Note that alternate board member records include a drop down list field in the Voting Member Name column for selection of the associated, primary board member name.

Attendance details are initially empty and are typically entered the day of the meeting. To mark a user present for the meeting, select the checkbox in the Present column for the applicable user.

Click the Click here to modify the guest list link (above the guest table, see screenshot above) to add any guests who are present at the meeting. The Board Meeting – [date] Guest list page opens, as shown below. This page lists any guests added to the meeting.

To add a meeting guest who is an iRIS™ system user, click the Search User button. As shown below, the Search User Directory page opens for lookup and selection of the applicable user.

Enter the desired search criteria and click the Find button.

In the results list, click the icon in the Select User column to add that user to the guest list. To add multiple users from the results list, select the applicable checkboxes in the Check for Multiple column and click the Save Selected User(s) button.

To add a meeting guest who is not a user in the iRIS™ system, click the Add Meeting Guest button. An add panel opens, as shown below.

Enter the Guest Name, select his or her Specialty, enter his or her Affiliation and click the Save Guest Info button to save the record.

As shown below, the guest is added to the guest table.

If a guest is added in error, click the icon in the Delete column to delete that guest from the list.

When guest list changes are complete, click the Back button to return to the Board Meeting Attendance page. As shown below, the guest list is added to the attendance list for the meeting.

After entering attendance for the meeting, click the Save Changes button to save changes and return to the Meeting Agenda page.

As shown below, the Meeting Attendance tab area is updated with attendance details.  

Note that the meeting attendance can be modified any time before the Meeting Minutes are published for the meeting.

Call to Order, Old and New Business, Miscellaneous and Closing Comments

The Call to Order, Old Business, New Business, Miscellaneous and Closing Comments tabs (accessed via [Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Agenda > [tab name]) allow for entry of remarks in a text editor.

Text entries can be made in these areas prior to or during the meeting and can be pulled into the Meeting Minutes template using Merge Codes (see the Using Merge Codes in Document Templates section of this manual for more information about working with Merge Codes).

Click the applicable tab link (Call to Order, Old Business, New Business, Miscellaneous or Closing Comments ) to open a rich text editor popup window, as shown above. Enter the desired text and click the Apply button to save the entry, close the popup, and return to the Meeting Agenda page. In the example below, entries have been made in all five (5) tabs.

Meeting Motions

The Meeting Motions tab (accessed via [Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Agenda > Meeting Motions tab link) is used to capture non-COI motions being put to a vote, board member votes on motions, and approval of previous meeting minutes. Note that the meeting attendance must be set before voting can take place.

The first time this page is accessed, the table of motions is empty. Click the Add a New Motion button to add a motion.

A text editor opens for entry of the motion text, as shown below.

Manually enter or copy and paste in the desired motion language, then click the Save button. The text editor closes and the motion is added, along with fields to indicate how members voted.

Recall that attendance must be entered before voting can take place. If attendance has been entered, the list of members present is displayed as shown above and votes can be entered. If attendance has not been entered, the message shown below is displayed.

To complete a non-anonymous vote tally, for each member, click in the Vote drop down list and click an item in the list to select it. Enter any desired Comments for each member. Click the Save All Changes button when all vote information is complete to save the votes.

If the system is configured for anonymous voting the vote panel appears like the screenshot below, without member names.

To complete an anonymous vote tally, enter the number of members in each Vote Type category in the Number text fields, as well as any desired Comments for each Vote Type. Click the Save the Vote Summary button when all vote information is complete to save the votes.

Approve Minutes from a Prior Meeting

Click the Add Minutes Approval button (shown in screenshot below) to approve minutes from a previous meeting.

A new screen displays containing a list of previous meeting minutes. Only minutes from past meetings in which the minutes were generated and published are listed here. Dates are not listed for meetings in which no minutes were generated and published.

Click the applicable View Finalized Minutes button to open a PDF of the published minutes in a separate window.

Specify a meeting by selecting the applicable checkbox in the Select Meeting column, then click the Save Selected Minutes for Member Approval button.

The approval panel closes and a motion is added with the motion text, “Meeting Minutes Approval for the [committee name] meeting held on [meeting date]”. Member votes are entered in the same manner as for a new motion.

After all meeting motions are added and the corresponding votes entered, motion summaries display on the Meeting Agenda page to the right of the Meeting Motions tab as shown below.

The motion summary does not display member names, only a total number of votes for each voting category is shown.

Review Documents

Any documents that are not directly associated to a submission can be uploaded to the Meeting Agenda page and opened during the meeting for review via the Review Documents tab (accessed via [Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Agenda > Review Documents tab link).

Clicking this link opens the Board Meeting Agenda Documents page, as shown below. The table is empty if no documents have been added. Click the Add a New Document button.

An add panel opens. Enter the Title and an optional Description of the document.

Click the Upload button to open an upload dialog box, as shown below.

Navigate to the desired file and click the Save Selected File button to upload the file. Click the Cancel button to cancel and close the upload dialog box.

When the upload is complete, a document icon displays to the left of the Description field. If a file is uploaded in error, click the Upload button again and navigate to the correct file to select it. Click the Save Document button to save any changes and close the upload page.

The attachment appears in the Review Documents table.

Meeting Start and End Times, Meeting Chair

Actual Meeting Start Time, Meeting End Time, and Meeting Chair are entered on the Meeting Agenda page (accessed via [Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Agenda link) beneath the Review Documents section (see screenshot below).

Enter the actual Meeting Start Time and Meeting End Time values in those fields and select “AM” or “PM” for each. Note that these two fields can be used as Merge Codes in the Meeting Minutes template. See the Using Merge Codes in Document Templates section of this manual for more information about working with Merge Codes.

Click in the Meeting Chair field and click to select the applicable name from the drop down list of board members and staff.

Click the Save Changes button at the top right of the Meeting Agenda page to save the agenda information.

Conflict Matches Assigned to the Meeting

Any conflict match that is assigned to the meeting date populates at the bottom of the Meeting Agenda page (accessed via [Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Agenda link).

Conflict matches appear in one of two groups: Conflicts Assigned to Meeting or Expedited or Administratively assigned to Meeting.

The Conflicts Assigned to Meeting group populates with matches that were placed on the meeting for full board review.

The Expedited or Administratively assigned to Meeting group populates with matches that were assigned the “Expedite” or “Process Administratively” review process and then added to the meeting under the “Outcome” tab of the Conflict Match processing area. Items added to a meeting can be re-ordered by assigning desired order numbers in the Order column. Click the Save Changes button to save the re-ordered list.

Users assigned to the role of Coordinator or Administrator can process a match by clicking the corresponding icon in the Open column. See the Conflict of Interest – Match Processing manual for more information about match processing.

Users assigned the role of Board Member can complete a member checklist and view match details for a match by clicking the corresponding icon in the Open column.

Meeting Minutes

The Meeting Minutes link ([Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Minutes link, see screenshot below) provides access to the Meeting Minutes Archive page.

The Meeting Minutes Archive page includes a link for each board meeting held, in order from most recent to oldest.

If the meeting minutes have been generated and a draft version has been published, an active View Draft Minutes button populates in that meeting’s record. Click the button to view a PDF version of the draft minutes document.

If the meeting minutes have been generated and a finalized version has been published, an active View Finalized Minutes button populates in that meeting’s record. Click the button to view a PDF version of the final minutes document.

If the meeting minutes have not yet been published, neither buttons are active for that specific meeting.

Click the icon in the Open column to open the agenda for a particular meeting.

The meeting agenda will open as shown below.

Meeting Availability

The Meeting Availability link ([Module] > Meeting Management > Meeting Availability link, see screenshot below) provides access to the Board Meeting Availability page.

The Board Meeting Availability page enables users to indicate their availability for any future board meetings.

When the logged in user is a system administrator, each meeting date appears on a separate page (shown below).

The names of each board member are displayed in the Members Name column at the left. To the right are columns for Will be Present, Will Not be Present and Available for Review.

The system administrator can set each member’s availability for the meeting date shown at the top of the page by selecting a response in either the Will be Present or Will Not be Present column. When a member is marked as Will Not be Present for the meeting, that user’s name is also flagged as such on the Board Meeting Attendance page as “May not be present” (see screenshots below).

The system administrator can also indicate whether or not each member is available to review documents by selecting either “Yes” or “No” in the Available for Review column.

When this option is set to “No”, the board member cannot be assigned as a reviewer for a submission that has been associated to the corresponding meeting date.

When the logged in user is not a system administrator, the Board Meeting Availability page appears as shown below. In this case, the user is only allowed to set their own availability for upcoming meetings.

In addition to the same three columns as those shown to a system administrator, the page shown to the non-admin user includes a View Calendar column. Clicking the icon shown in that column opens a new browser window showing a calendar view of the month of the meeting, as shown below.

Note that the calendar is informational only, it is not possible to schedule meetings or events directly from this window. Click the Close button to close the calendar.

Click the Save the availability button to save meeting availability settings.

Using Merge Codes in Document Templates

To insert a Merge Code in a document template, place the cursor in the text editor where the corresponding data value is to appear, then click the Insert Merge Code button to open the Merge Codes pick list.

NOTE: screenshots and examples in this section are primarily taken from the Animal Resource Center (ARC) module, but functionality and features described in this section are the same for other modules.

The Insert Data Merge Code popup window displays. Scroll down to the sections of the list labeled for ARC and select the desired Merge Code. In this example, the Merge Code for “Order Number” is selected.

Click the Cancel button to close the popup without inserting the Merge Code.

Click the OK button to insert the Merge Code. The selected Merge Code is inserted in the template at the cursor location.

In the screenshot below, Merge Codes for “Vendor Name”, “Order Number”, “Date Received”, “Order - Number of Females”, “Order - Number of Males”, “Receive – Number of Females”, “Receive – Number of Males”, and “Order – Order Date” are inserted.

Click the Save Template button to save changes.

Merge Code List

Depending on the user’s data access rights and the institution’s Review Board Administration settings, the Merge Code list can include system data from the following categories:

Most of the Merge Codes in the picklist are grouped under category titles. As shown in the screenshot below, category titles are offset by dashed lines. Selectable Merge Code items are indicated by blue boxes.

Category titles are not Merge Codes and cannot be inserted in a template. If a title item is selected and the OK button is clicked, an error popup window displays.

Merge Codes Applicable to Meetings

Categories and Merge Codes from the list that are most applicable to meetings are summarized in the table below.