Decision Time Meetings Reviews

Making Governance So Much Easier

Comments: Installing DecisionTime has been a revelation. We planned to phase it in over one School term, but the Governors found it so easy to use we were able to switch over early. The front end is simple to use, but it offers all the functionality we need. We are already finding ourselves adjusting and modernising our board processes in response to the product. Board papers can be made available to Board Members as they are finished with packs not being held up in their entirety waiting for that last report. The team at DecisionTime are unfailingly helpful, responding quickly to queries and keeping in touch with regular reviews after implementation.

Pros:

This product is intuitive and easy to use for both organisers and meeting attendees. It is reliable, with no problems accessing it, and secure. New Board Members can be trained in half an hour . Action points can be tracked through the task facility. The customer service is second-to-none.

Cons:

There is some lack of flexibility around how you make meetings visible to Board members not due to attend and roll out board member changes to all future meeting attendee lists (we plan our annual schedule 18 months ahead) - but DecisionTime are working on the solutions!

Easy to use system with great customer support

Comments: From both a meeting organiser and attendee perspective, I've found the sytem easy to use. The ability to view meeting papers offline is also very useful.

Pros:

The system is so intuitive, we have found little or no training is needed for new users.

Cons:

It took us a while to figure out how to get our Excel spreadsheets uploaded to Decision Time correctly. The spreadsheet would load, but not be legible. We have resolved that now though by modifying our spreadsheets.

Seamless implementation of Decision Time

Comments: After using Decision Time for a couple of months, we are extremely pleased with the experience we have had so far. It is far superior to our previous system; easier to use, good end user experience and great working relationship with Decision Time.

Pros:

• Easy to use. • Quick and seamless implementation. • Straightforward Active Directory Integration setup. • Great support from the Decision Time team. • Decision Time are easy to work with and take feedback onboard.

Cons:

One slight disadvantage is that it can be quite time-consuming managing both Groups and Committees separately. If these were managed together, it would reduce the overhead of having to add members to Groups then additionally to Committees.

Decision time

Comments: Decision time gives the ability to store and search back through previous papers which is useful. Users are able to quickly access papers and the note function has proved really useful giving us a whole new way of working, cutting down on meeting time as questions are asked and raised prior to meetings.

Pros:

I like the presentation and the ease of setting agendas. The ability to drag and drop papers in means that its super fast and having the ability to move the agenda around is great.

Cons:

A search function within the resource section would be useful. Sometimes notes are missed if users forget to send a notification to the report owner so it would be good to have this done automatically.

Simple, easy to use and effective

Comments: It has been a huge admin relief.
Its an easy to use piece of software that keeps everything in one place.
You can add and take things away quickly.
you can set permissions which helps with confidential items
Board members and staff have picked up using it straight away.

Pros:

The implementation went very well, it was very easy to set up individuals and areas needed. it is visually very good to look and at and very easy to navigate around. the ease of adding papers and taking them away. having permissions to allow Board members or staff to see some papers and not others

Cons:

We had a couple of things we wanted adding like a discussion option for an item but the support team were great and were able to implement this for us.

Streamline system for management of Board meetings and papers

Pros:

The product allows users to collaborate, discuss and approve specified papers in advance of meetings, allowing more time at the meeting for strategic discussion on the more important items. # From an administrator aspect, the papers are very easy to put together and we're looking forward to exploring and using the minutes feature which should save us a lot of time.

Cons:

None at the moment. A notifications section when somebody has commented on a paper may be useful.

Effective Managment and Support of Management Meeting with Partner Universities in China

Comments: The China Joint Colleges Office [CJCO] provides administrative services to University College Dublin’s three Joint Colleges in China: Beijing Dublin International College (BDIC), Chang'an Dublin International College of Transportation (CDIC), and Guangzhou Dublin International College of Life Sciences & Technology (GDIC) The Covid situation and our inability to meet face to face means that it is more important to have regular formal meetings with colleagues in Xi’an, Beijing, and Guangzhou. By necessity, these meetings must follow a more focused/structured format and they need to be documented efficiently. The Decision Time meeting management system has transformed our approach to all component of the meeting process. The CJCO team have experienced immediate benefits from this transformation including but not limited to:
• Improved effectiveness and reduced the time for preparing and running meetings.
• Better engagement and more information for better decisions.
• Strong focus on making, recording and distributing meeting decisions and follow-up tasks.

Pros:

Excellent customer service and training ensured that we were using Decision Time effectively - right from the beginning of the trial The ease of creating, editing, and updating Agenda Templates for our various committees underpins the speedy preparation of meeting agendas. The auto-renumber facility for agenda items allows total flexibility in structuring or formatting meetings. The immediate linkage between agenda items and associated briefing documents has transformed the way in which committee members engage / participate in meetings. Attendees are better prepared and they are exchanging notes / clarifying issues in advance of the meetings. As a result, discussion time is reduced and more focus is given to decision making and to the assignment of follow up tasks. Decision Time "imposes" an intuitive structured flow to our meetings that has dramatically eased the administrative burden of organising / supporting meetings and recording / documenting meeting decisions / outcomes / actions, etc.

Cons:

Minor concerns about the formatting of word documents generated when downloading meeting outcomes have been flagged with Decision Time. They are making efforts to provide meeting organisers with greater control over the format of meeting outcome documents generated by Decision Time.

Highly Recommend Decision Time Meetings

Comments: Top Class. Excellent product that I would highly recommend. Significant savings in terms of time and cost in the administration of meetings.

Pros:

How easy it is to use for the user and the functionality, flexibility and time saving aspects of the software for the administrator. I have found the Decision Time meetings module to be very effective and efficient in terms of how we now prepare for our monthly Council and committee meetings. The software allows for meetings agendas and supporting documentation to be made available to attendees at the touch of button and even if changes have to be made to the agenda, it is effortless. I would highly recommend this product for meetings administration.

Cons:

There are no specific issues that I dislike and the back up service from the Decision Time technical team is excellent as they are always following up with regard to improvements that can be made to the software so any issues that arise from an operational aspect are picked up by them and they nearly always find a solution or any working on a solution to the issue.

Decision Time Meetings

Comments: Decision Time Meetings has been hugely successful for us, avoiding the use of huge amounts of paper and generally helping to move a slightly older profile of director into a more tech-friendly mindset. We have significantly reduced a substantial postage costs and reduced the time in copying and collating papers. The Decision Time help-desk has responded vey promptly, patiently and helpfully on the few occasions when required. We have had regular calls with the team to feed back our experience and learn about new developments. In the short time we have had the system we have had one or two great updates covering the format and content.

Pros:

It is very easy to use, both as a meeting organiser and participant. It really is intuitive - the briefest of training and 15 out of 16 of our Directors moved from the old paper-based system to working on laptops or tablets (there is always one!).

Cons:

The difference between 'Groups' and 'Committees' in the Administration menu takes a bit of getting used to but getting it right is important or you begin to doubt whether the people you want to have access actually have it.

DecisionTime transformed my working life

Comments: Before we introduced DecisionTime, as the person responsible for producing, collating and distributing board and committee meeting papers, I regularly ended up working in the office alone late at night in a battle to get papers printed, bound and ready to be posted out. This was a very long-winded and often frustrating experience, particularly if there were any errors or last minute changes. And of course photocopiers know when the pressure is on and choose the worst possible moment to play up. Now the whole process is immeasurably more efficient, cost-effective and easy to manage, and my stress levels have reduced significantly. The system is very user-friendly, easy to learn, and the DT team are continually making adjustments and improvements. We have saved a huge amount of paper, not to mention ink, postage and time. Papers can be easily and quickly uploaded, attendees are notified by email and can access agenda and reports securely via their own devices, and can download the entire pack if they need to as a single pdf. Being able to access agendas and papers from anywhere with an internet connection is great. Our trustees use their own emails to log in, meaning they don't need dedicated charity emails and so don't end up having to monitor multiple accounts (many are involved in several different organisations). As the system is secure we don't have to worry about data protection issues and confidentiality is easily maintained.

Pros:

The massive positive impact in terms of saving time in the preparation and secure distribution of trustee meeting papers.

Cons:

No real cons, other than some trustees not embracing the system due to their general approach to using technology!

Excellent Product

Pros:

Decision Time is so easy to use, and extremely trainable to new users. Our meetings are easier to organise and run much smoother because our Members can access the papers so much more efficiently. Decision Time has never let us down and the developing features make it a pleasure to use.

Cons:

Genuinely, there are no cons for us. It is such a good product.

Decision Time Meetings

Comments: This software has made the management of meetings much simpler for our team of clerks and Decision Time have worked with us to set up access in a way that supports our working practices.

Pros:

This software allows meeting attendees to annotate papers whilst working online but access downloaded meeting packs offline if there is no WiFi signal available.

Cons:

The software restricts the types of documents that can be uploaded to pdf only. The reason for this is the additional software which has been added to allow the annotation of agenda packs. Whilst at first it seemed inconvenient - it is fairly simple to workaround and the added value of being able to make personal notes is well worth this particular restriction.

Heritage Council Review

Comments: I am very satisfied with this software package. It is vert suitable for what we need to hold successful meetings.

Pros:

It is very user friendly and makes the circulation of papers for meetings much easier. Also since everting is in the one place its easy if I need to look at paper for previous meetings. I also like the help i get if there is some part of the package that we don't know how to do. [SENSITIVE CONTENT] and her team have always been really helpful and approachable.

Cons:

There is nothing I dislike about it. nothing at all .

Review of Decision Time

Comments: Decision Time is an excellent tool which both the Hospital Board and Executive are now using. It is both secure and allows the user to interact with the relevant papers the same way as if the papers were in hardcopy. The system itself is intuitive and quick to set up. This is particularly important to the Mater Group as a charitable group with limited resources.

Finally, the Decision Time team are excellent. They are responsive and work with you which is hugely beneficial. They are receptive to all feedback and always return an email and call. Their customer service is excellent and both the system and team come highly recommended.

Pros:

The system assists with tracking compliance and actions. Given the current level of regulation and governance it is imperative that organisations have a tool to demonstrate compliance and that all relevant documents and updates are easily found and searchable for both board members and senior executives.

Cons:

Nothing comes to mind. At a push, being able to copy and paste from other sites might be useful but does introduce IT risks.

Decision Time review

Comments: I have always found the support team to be available whenever I need their support and they really understand the software inside out. I can only describe this experience as being positive. The team are always working to improve it so it just gets better.

Pros:

This software is simple, intuitive and efficient. Once I've trained Board members and colleagues on how to use it I rarely receive further enquiries. People seem to grasp how to use it quickly. As a meeting organiser I like the fact that I can upload documents as I receive them. Last minute documents can be quickly uploaded and the order of papers can be easily rearranged.

Cons:

I haven't really got any issues with the software at all.

Decision Time benefits arrived even quicker than expected!

Comments: We had already been considering investing in a dedicated meeting and collaboration app for our board and committees before Covid-19 forced our usual face-to-face meetings to become virtual. Given our experience and the amount of time we've been able to save in preparing for meetings, and following up afterwards, we're kicking ourselves that we didn't discover Decision Time earlier!

Pros:

The ease with which this application was deployed and admins / organisers / users trained was very impressive. We use almost every feature available, which have been chosen with care and the interface built to allow users who might not interact very often with this type of technology to easily find their meetings, navigate the agenda and annotate embedded documents. In Covid-19 induced lockdowns, embedding the video conference call settings in a meeting introduction meant that users only have to open one application on whatever device they have to hand in order to be productive.

Cons:

There's almost nothing I don't like about this software! Decision TIme have been very positive in seeking feedback on the app and suggestions for improvement in future releases. Any teething difficulties we experienced in navigating our first few meetings were quickly dealt with by their excellent support team.

A great product

Comments: Decision Time has saved the College the cost of printing and posting and the hours required to print!!
Documents can be shared securely and quickly and distributed to just those that you select as being able to view - GDPR compliant.
Papers can be updated easily and the Governors always therefore have the most up to date information available to them.
Helpdesk service is quick and efficient

Pros:

Ease of Use Stability of product Easy to train users Administration of the system is simple, quick and straightforward

Cons:

nothing - any queries that I have had with functionality have been resolved and amendments made if applicable

The gift of time

Pros:

Easy to use and intuitive. The time we save as administrators using this system is wonderful and the ease of updating papers if anything changes is extremely useful.

Cons:

Before the recent update it did feel a little clunky reading papers, being able to scroll through is much better.

Decision Time Meetings

Comments: In the past our Board reports were accessed through SharePoint or were posted to members. Printing so much paper was time consuming and not very secure. SharePoint was less time consuming but several members found it difficult to access their reports and this led to confusion at meetings. Since introducing Decision Time Meetings we have found that members are able to access their reports easily and therefore prepare well in advance of meetings. Users find the document library really beneficial.

Pros:

The software is extremely user friendly and intuitive.

Cons:

To be perfectly honest there is nothing we dislike about the software.

From Paper to Digital

Comments: The meetings run very efficiently as the Papers are presented well, there is no looking though voluminous amounts of paperwork. I have no hesitation in recommending it for administrators and end users.

Pros:

Switching to Decision Time eliminated the need for printing Board Papers. therefore reducing costs dramatically. It saves on time and resources. Overall a more effective method of producing Board papers. It is user friendly for the Administrator and end user and the layout is excellent.

Cons:

I cannot fault a system that delivers so effectively.

Paperless Meetings

Comments: The Agency transitioned over to paperless meetings seamlessly through the use of Decision Time. There have been no issues in facilitating meetings online, and this tool has created really strong efficiencies. It has become even more valuable to have in place during the pandemic and has allowed the Agency to operate in a business as usual setting.

Pros:

Agenda and Papers view is easy to follow, and the administration is very user friendly. The search function is hugely useful. The responsiveness to feedback is very encouraging and a strong effort is made to update features based on feedback provided.

Cons:

Some times the screen size is not great as it depends on the hardware you are using to view meeting materials. But this can be remedied with the right support.

Excellent Product

Comments: The software has saved us time in the administration and distribution of Agenda papers. Paperwork is easily updated from a variety of devices.

Pros:

Value for Money, ease of navigation, good communication and friendly staff, regular reviews and updates, secure access for confidential documents, more productive meetings, easy preparation prior to meetings.

Cons:

To be honest, we have not encountered any major issues over the last 2 years. A minor issue would be having to create pdf versions of documents to upload onto Decision Time.

Decision Time review

Pros:

It has streamlined the meetings preparation process making it faster and easier and has allowed us to bring an end to producing paper copies of reports and agendas for meetings.

Cons:

Do not have any issues with the software in the time I have been using it

Decision Time Meetings review

Pros:

The software was user friendly, the offline functionality was a great addition to assist our Service.

Cons:

No features I feel are missing. I do believe there is consideration to hold virtual meetings, this was be of great resource to our Service

Satisfied Customer

Comments: It just adds so much value to our meetings and helps us concentrate on the important issues we have to address. The product also allow meeting participants to come fully prepared to a meeting.

Pros:

Very easy to use. Safe and secure product for highly confidential and sensitive information. Help run our meetings and make them a lot more productive.

Cons:

Nothing that I can think of except that we should have purchased it sooner.