Sherpany Board Meeting Governance Workflow Training Course

Course overview

Board and committee meetings often lose governance value before the meeting starts: papers arrive late, agendas do not distinguish decision items from information items, actions have no accountable owner, and approved minutes cannot be traced back to evidence. For governance professionals and senior leaders, the issue is not simply using a board portal; it is designing a controlled workflow that gives directors timely information, records challenge and decisions accurately, and protects confidential material throughout its lifecycle.

This course teaches participants to configure and operate a Sherpany-based board meeting workflow from annual planning through post-meeting action monitoring. Participants learn to build agenda templates, set paper deadlines and approval stages, organise secure board packs, assign access permissions, manage meeting tasks, capture decisions and minutes, and report on overdue actions. The course connects Sherpany features to practical governance controls, including decision traceability, information classification, retention expectations, and the respective responsibilities of the chair, company secretary, meeting owner, and contributors.

Delivery combines instructor-led governance clinics with hands-on work in a Sherpany training environment. Participants work through a realistic board-cycle case involving late papers, a confidential acquisition proposal, conflicts of interest, and action slippage. They leave with a completed Board Meeting Governance Workflow Pack: a configured meeting template, RACI matrix, agenda and paper timetable, access-control model, minutes template, action tracker, and implementation plan that can be adapted for their organisation.

The course is particularly valuable for company secretaries, governance managers, executive assistants supporting boards, and leaders responsible for improving board and committee discipline without adding unnecessary administrative burden.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Configure a Sherpany meeting template with agenda sections, paper deadlines, meeting roles, and approval checkpoints
• Design a board-paper workflow using RACI assignments, version control, quality checks, and escalation rules
• Apply Sherpany access permissions to protect confidential agenda items, documents, and committee materials
• Build a decision-oriented agenda that separates approval, discussion, information, and consent items
• Capture minutes, resolutions, and decision rationales in a traceable post-meeting record
• Create accountable action registers with named owners, due dates, status rules, and escalation triggers
• Map a board meeting lifecycle against ISO 37000 governance principles and internal control requirements
• Produce a Board Meeting Governance Workflow Pack for implementation in the participant's organisation

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Company Secretaries — who must coordinate compliant board processes and maintain an authoritative governance record
• Governance Managers — who design meeting controls, committee procedures, and decision-traceability standards
• Board Administrators — who prepare board packs, manage deadlines, and support directors before and after meetings
• Executive Assistants to CEOs or Board Chairs — who coordinate high-stakes agendas and confidential meeting logistics
• General Counsel and Legal Operations Managers — who need defensible records of resolutions, approvals, and conflicts management
• Committee Chairs and Senior Executives — who want meetings to produce clearer decisions and disciplined follow-through

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand the basic purpose of boards or formal committees, including agendas, board papers, minutes, resolutions, actions, and confidentiality obligations. Experience supporting, attending, or administering at least several leadership, board, risk, audit, or investment committee meetings is recommended. Participants should be comfortable working with web-based document platforms and Microsoft Office files. Prior Sherpany experience is not required; the course introduces the relevant workspace, meeting, document, and task features from first use. No legal qualification, coding knowledge, system-administration background, or prior governance certification is required.

Training methodology

An instructor leads short governance briefings followed by guided configuration in a Sherpany training workspace. Participants analyse examples of weak agendas, late board papers, ambiguous minutes, and unowned actions, then rebuild them using defined workflow controls. Small groups take the roles of chair, company secretary, paper owner, director, and committee administrator to test permissions, approvals, and escalations. Each day closes with a practical build activity, and the final session converts completed templates into an organisation-specific implementation plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Board governance workflow foundations

• Board and committee meeting lifecycle from annual calendar to action closure
• Roles of the chair, company secretary, paper owner, director, and meeting administrator
• Decision rights, delegated authority, and consent agenda principles
• ISO 37000 governance principles for effective oversight and accountability
• Sherpany workspace navigation and meeting-area structure
• Agenda item classification for approval, discussion, information, and noting
• Meeting governance RACI matrix and control-point design

Workshop: Participants map a current or case-study board meeting process and produce a RACI-based workflow map with identified control gaps.

Day 2: Planning agendas and board papers in Sherpany

• Annual board calendar and recurring committee meeting templates
• Sherpany agenda creation, section ordering, and item ownership
• Board-paper submission timetable and publication milestones
• Paper quality criteria for recommendations, decisions, risks, and financial implications
• Document upload, replacement, and version-management practices
• Pre-read approval workflow and late-paper escalation rules
• Board-pack completeness checks before director distribution

Workshop: Participants configure a Sherpany meeting template and produce a timed agenda and paper-submission schedule for a quarterly board meeting.

Day 3: Confidentiality, access, and director readiness

• Information classification for restricted, confidential, and routine board materials
• Sherpany role-based access permissions for boards and committees
• Managing confidential agenda items and need-to-know distribution
• Conflict-of-interest declarations and recusals in meeting preparation
• Director annotations, reading status, and pre-meeting questions
• GDPR considerations for personal data in board papers and minutes
• Secure document handling, retention, and controlled export practices

Workshop: Participants apply a permissions model to a simulated acquisition agenda and produce an access-control matrix covering directors, advisers, and administrators.

Day 4: Running meetings and creating the decision record

• Chair-led agenda discipline and time allocation for decision items
• Recording attendance, quorum, apologies, and declarations of interest
• Minute-taking methods for resolutions, challenge, rationale, and dissent
• Capturing formal decisions and delegated approvals in Sherpany
• Action creation with owners, due dates, evidence, and status definitions
• Post-meeting minutes review, approval, and controlled publication
• Linking agenda papers, decisions, minutes, and actions for traceability

Workshop: Participants conduct a simulated board meeting and produce a decision log, draft minutes, and accountable action register in the training workspace.

Day 5: Assurance, reporting, and implementation

• Action-ageing reports and overdue-action escalation routines
• Meeting effectiveness measures for paper timeliness, attendance, and action closure
• Board and committee workflow audit trail requirements
• Exception reporting for late papers, access changes, and unapproved minutes
• Workflow controls for risk, audit, remuneration, and investment committees
• Sherpany adoption plan, user guidance, and operating procedures
• Ninety-day implementation roadmap and governance ownership model

Workshop: Participants assemble and present their Board Meeting Governance Workflow Pack, including a 90-day implementation roadmap and measures of success.

Tools & standards covered

Sherpany Boardroom, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, ISO 37000

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions