Corporate Secretary FAQ
Quick answers to common questions faced by corporate secretaries using Boardwise.
How do I change someone's role?
You can change both organization roles and group roles.
Changing Organization Role
- Go to People and find the person
- Click on their name to view their profile
- Click Edit
- Under Organization Access, select the new level (Admin, Member, or Guest)
- Click Save
The person receives a notification about their role change.
Changing Board or Committee Role
- Go to People and select the person
- Click Edit
- Find the membership in the Board & Committee Memberships section
- Select the new role from the dropdown (for example Chair, Secretary, Member, Observer, or Staff)
- Click Save
Note: Chair, Senior Vice Chair, Executive Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Immediate Past Chair can each be held by only one person at a time per group. A group can have several Vice Chairs. See Assigning Board and Committee Roles for every role and what it allows.
Can I send meeting materials to only some attendees?
Yes. Each meeting attendee has an access level that controls what they can see:
- Full Access - Can view all meeting documents and the agenda
- Agenda Only - Can see the meeting agenda but cannot view or download attached documents
To set access levels:
- Open the meeting and click Edit
- In the attendees list, click the document icon next to each attendee to toggle between Full and Agenda Only access
- Save your changes
This is useful when you need to include someone in the meeting invitation but restrict their access to sensitive documents.
What happens when I close a meeting?
When the meeting ends, click Close Meeting on the Run Meeting screen. Closing the meeting marks it as held and keeps the record as it stood at the end:
- The meeting is marked Meeting Closed
- Boardwise records which version of each document was part of the meeting
- The meeting's details and agenda can no longer be changed, and no further meeting notices can be sent
- The minutes you download are no longer stamped DRAFT
- Attendees can still open the meeting and its materials for reference
Closing a meeting cannot be undone, so close it only once the meeting is over.
See Managing Meetings for how a meeting moves from draft to closed.
How do I add an external advisor or guest?
External advisors who need access to specific committees without organization-wide visibility should be set up with a Guest role plus committee membership:
- Go to People and click Add Person
- Enter their name and email
- Set their Organizational Role to Guest - this limits their base access to organization-wide content
- In the Board & Committee Memberships section, click Add Board/Committee Membership
- Select the committee they should access
- Choose an appropriate group role (usually Member or Observer)
- Check Send invitation email to send their welcome email
- Click Save
The advisor will have full access to their assigned committee's meetings and documents while being unable to see general organization documents or the people directory.
For one-time meeting presenters who only need access to a single meeting, simply add them as an attendee when editing the meeting. Their access automatically expires 30 days after the meeting ends.
Can I undo sending an announcement?
No, announcements cannot be recalled once sent. Attendees receive the notification immediately when you announce a meeting.
However, you can:
- Edit the meeting to update details - attendees will see the current information when they view the meeting
- Cancel the meeting if it should not happen - this sends cancellation notifications to all attendees
- Revert to Draft to hide the meeting from attendees, though they will have already received the initial announcement
Before announcing, use the Draft state to prepare meetings thoroughly. You can preview the meeting details and attendee list while in Draft without sending any notifications.
How do I track who has viewed documents?
Boardwise tracks document engagement through the Meeting Analytics feature:
- Open the meeting
- Click the Manage dropdown and select Analytics
The analytics dashboard shows:
- Document engagement percentage - what portion of attendees have viewed at least one document
- Per-document readership - for each document, see who has read it and who has not
- Individual attendee engagement - see each person's document views, time spent, and annotations
- Last activity - when each attendee last accessed the meeting materials
For each document, you can expand the details to see:
- Have read - people who viewed the document, with view counts and timestamps
- Have not read - people who have not viewed the document, grouped by their RSVP status
This helps you follow up with confirmed attendees who have not reviewed the materials before the meeting.
What is the difference between Guest and Member roles?
These are the two most common organization roles, and they differ significantly in access:
Member Role
Members have standard access appropriate for board members and committee participants:
- View the document library and organization-wide documents
- Access the people directory
- Attend meetings they are invited to
- View meeting minutes
- Approve documents when approval is requested
Members cannot schedule meetings, manage documents, or invite others.
Guest Role
Guests have limited access designed for external participants:
- Can only see basic organization information
- Cannot view the document library
- Cannot access the people directory
- Cannot see meeting minutes unless invited to that specific meeting
Guests are typically paired with committee membership to grant access to specific areas. For example, an external legal advisor might be a Guest at the organization level but have Member status on the Audit Committee.
When to use each:
| Scenario | Recommended Role |
|---|---|
| Board member | Member |
| Committee member who is not on the board | Member |
| External advisor on a committee | Guest + Committee membership |
| One-time meeting presenter | Meeting invitation only |
| Assistant who prepares meetings with you | Admin |
| Chief executive or staff who attend but do not vote | Member + Staff role on the board |
How do I handle board member turnover?
Boardwise provides several options for managing member transitions:
When a Member's Term Ends
- Go to People and select the member
- Click Edit
- Set an End Date on their organizational role - access automatically ends on this date
- For board/committee memberships, set end dates on each affiliation
- Click Save
The historical record of their participation is preserved, but they lose access after the end date.
Immediate Departure
For members who need immediate access removal:
- Go to People and select the member
- Click Edit
- Choose one of these options:
- Archive - Removes from the directory and active lists, preserves all historical records, can be restored later
- Block Access - Immediately prevents login while preserving records (use for security concerns)
- Remove Affiliations - End all board and committee memberships
Adding a Replacement
- Add the new member via People > Add Person
- Assign their organizational role and board/committee memberships
- Set appropriate start dates if they begin in the future
- Send their invitation
Tip: Set end dates proactively when you know a member's term limit. Boardwise automatically handles the transition on the specified date.
Can I duplicate a meeting as a template?
Boardwise does not currently have a dedicated meeting template or duplication feature. When creating recurring meetings with similar structures:
- Create a new meeting
- Copy and paste agenda text from a previous meeting if desired
- Board/committee members are automatically added as attendees when you select the group
- Add any additional documents or details
For regular meeting series (monthly board meetings, quarterly committee meetings), each meeting maintains its own agenda, documents, and attendance records.
How do I export meeting materials?
You can download all documents from a meeting as a single ZIP file:
- Open the meeting
- Click Download All in the documents section
This creates a ZIP file containing all documents attached to the meeting, which you can save locally or share outside of Boardwise.
Each file in the ZIP is named after the document's name in Boardwise. If two documents have the same name, both are included and the second is numbered, for example "Minutes.pdf" and "Minutes (2).pdf". A few characters that Windows does not allow in file names, such as ":" and "?", are replaced with "_".
Individual documents can be downloaded by clicking the download icon on any document.
For meeting packets that need to be printed or shared externally, the Download All feature provides a convenient way to collect all materials at once.