Overview
The File Manager uses the common Windows File Explorer utility to provide you quick access to View, Open, Copy and potentially Delete files within your Group and Media Folders. IT IS IMPORTANT that you understand the concepts of Groups, Configurations, Meetings, & Agendas before you work with these files directly. You can visit documents via the links below to better understand these concepts.
Within the Group Files area, you will see separate folders for Agendas, Configurations, and Meetings. Within these folders will be the files you’ve created for each of these. Configuration and Agenda folders will contain the specific Group Configurations you’ve established AND specific Agendas (one for each unique meeting you’ve created). The Meeting folder contains individual folders automatically created and named for each Meeting/Agenda you create. Each meeting folder will contain Logs and Results folders for each named meeting you conduct AND the final Vote Screen JPGs for these meetings (if you have selected to have these saved in the chosen configuration file).
Details / Sequence of Events
Sign-In to the Meeting Manager App. When on the Home / Select Group screen, Select and Load any one of your meetings, but DON’T Start the meeting. Rather, select the 3-bar (hamburger) menu icon on the top left of the screen to open the Main Navigation Menu as shown below:
Navigate to the Main Menu File Manager area and select Group Files. A screen like the sample below will open:
The OpenMeeting Folder Structure on the Meeting Manager PC
At this time, it is important to understand the Folder Structure, as well as the contents of these folders, as you view the Group and Media Files shown on the screen above.
The Group Files Folder
The OpenMeeting Folder structure is organized as follows, using an example of 3 Groups (however, you may only have one group; G001). Every item listed below is a separate FOLDER on the Mtg Mgr PC.
- C: / OpenMeeting
- Meeting Manager
- G001 (i.e., The County Board Group)
- Agendas
- Configurations
- Meetings
- G002 (i.e., The Public Works Group)
- Agendas
- Configurations
- Meetings
- G003 (i.e, The Public Health Group)
- Agendas
- Configurations
- Meetings
- G001 (i.e., The County Board Group)
- Meeting Manager
Following is what this structure looks like on a PC in Windows Explorer, but remember that you may only have one Group, where this example shows three Groups:
Each Group Folder will always have three Folders named Agendas, Configurations & Meetings.
The Agendas Folder
In the Group Files folder, select the Agendas Folder. This folder contains all Agendas that you’ve created and named whenever you do a new Meeting Setup. When selecting the Agendas Folder a screen like the following will open. As you review, Select Back (to view the previous screen you were last on) or Select Reset Path (to view the initial Group Files folder).
You will see the specific file names you gave each Agenda that you created during the Meeting Setup stage. Agenda file names always end in “.oma”. We recommend naming your Agendas with a date of the Meeting FIRST as part of the file name. This way your meetings will always sort / list for you in date order as shown above. However, you may name them using any naming convention with wish, as long as the extension is always “.oma”.
NOTE that in the above example, we’ve created County Board Regular and County Board Special TEMPLATE agendas. Assuming your agendas follow a specific pre-defined order and format, you may wish to create these initial Template agendas. You can then use these agendas when creating each new meeting Agenda and then immediately save them as the new Agenda Date / Name, then making the changes needed for that specific meeting. Also above, you will see that we have agendas for both Regular and Special meetings by date. Your special meetings could also be named (for example) Personnel, Planning, Budget, etc., IF your Board (or partial committees of the Board) meet outside of regular meetings to discuss any other specific topics.
The Configurations Folder
In the Group Files folder, select the Configurations Folder. This folder contains all the meeting Configurations that you’ve created and named when you initially set-up your configurations. Configurations contain the meeting members, and various rules for the different kind of meetings you may be establishing. When selecting the Configurations Folder a screen like the following will open. As you review, Select Back (to view the previous screen you were last on) or Select Reset Path (to view the initial Group Files folder).
You will see the specific file names you gave each Configuration that you created during the Meeting Setup stage. Configuration file names always end in “.omc”. We recommend naming your Configurations with a unique name to specify which type of meeting it is used for. However, you may name them using any naming convention with wish, as long as the extension is always “.omc”.
NOTE in the above example, that we’ve created various configuration files (when doing Meeting Setup) for different types of meetings with different members and perhaps different rules. Thus, you see configurations for County Board Regular, but also for Budget, Personnel, and Planning which may be sub-committee meetings. Normally, these are established once during initial setup and are used continually (without many changes) when you create new meetings for each of these sub-committees.
The Meetings Folder
In the Group Files folder, select the Meetings Folder. This folder contains all the Meetings (combination of Configurations & Agendas) that you’ve created and named whenever you do a new Meeting Setup on the Home / Select Group Meeting Manager Main Menu. When selecting the Meetings Folder a screen like the following will open. As you review, Select Back (to view the previous screen you were last on) or Select Reset Path (to view the initial Group Files folder).
You will see specific & unique folders for every meeting you created on the Main Menu Home / Select Group / Meeting Setup screens. These folders will be named the same as the Agenda File names you used for each unique meeting you created. Within these folders will be the Results (minutes) files, all vote result screens (as .jpg picture files) and the meeting log file used for OMT troubleshooting (if necessary).
NOTE: IT IS VERY IMPORTANT that any & every meeting you hold be created specifically on the Main Menu Home / Select Group & Meeting Setup screens. These meeting Folders (i.e., above) are automatically created via that process of creating meetings and are named based on the Agenda File Name you provide. IF you don’t establish your meetings via that process, these folders will NOT be created and your meeting logs, results/minutes and vote screens WILL NOT BE PROPERLY SAVED (and thus, won’t be available to you after the meeting concludes).
Select any one of the unique meeting folders that you see in the above screen. For example, we’ve selected the 2022-02-21 REG Board meeting folder and the following screen will appear showing Log and Results Folders.
The Logs Folder
The Log Folder is primarily used for OMC troubleshooting (if needed) and you generally won’t need to use this folder.
The Results (Minutes) Folder
The Results Folder is where all the meeting details (minutes and vote tallies) as well as .jpg image files of all public display vote screens for this particular meeting are saved. These are important for you to understand and to retrieve when preparing your final minutes for approvals and publication.
Select the Results Folder
For this example below, please assume we had a Regular Board meeting on 3/23/2022, thus our meeting Results Folder will have been 2022-03-23 REG Board as shown on the screen below.
The screen above is showing the contents of the Results Folder for a meeting (highlighted) conducted on 03/23/2022 starting at 08:08 PM.
The following explains the two file types you will always see in the meeting folders (a Text File and various .JPG Image Files). In this example:
2022-03-23-08-04.txt (Text Document) – This is the Results (or Minutes) File which is highlighted above. It is a Text File that you can open and edit OR copy / paste from to MS-Word or any other document type. It is used to complete your detailed- minutes, as it contains every attendance action, discussion action, motions, seconds, amendments, item votes by member and any clerk notes. It also contains timestamps of every action beginning with opening the meeting, through meeting adjournment. The file naming structure uses a time stamp to signify the Date & Time this meeting was started.
Select/Open this TXT File to open and view the detailed Results (minutes) of your meeting. You can view a detailed description of the contents of the Meeting Results Text File by visiting the following document link.
- Access Minutes & Vote Results
2022-03-23-080523-Approval of Agenda.jpg – This (and every other .JPG file shown above using the Agenda Item Name) are the Vote Screen images exactly as they public saw them after each item vote was finalized. These images can be used in any way you wish (i.e., sized smaller and placed directly into your minutes, placed on your website with minutes, or sent to anyone wishing to have these images). The file naming structure uses a time stamp to signify the Date, Time & Agenda Item Name for each agenda item that required a roll-call voting action.
Select/Open any one of these .jpg image files and you will see the actual vote results as displayed on the Public Display during the meeting. You can view a sample of the Vote Result .JPG file by visiting the following document link.
- Access Minutes & Vote Results
IMPORTANT NOTE: Meeting Results are saved for every meeting you Load and Run. Thus, IF you conducted conducted one or several practice / set-up meetings (to make sure everything was ready for the actual live meeting), you may have RESULTS and VOTE Screen files in this folder with earlier time stamps than the actual meeting (perhaps days ahead). You may wish to view and perhaps delete these practice files (just prior to the real / live meeting) using the File Manager / Group Files / Meetings menu options explained above.
However, you should never delete the results of actual legislative meetings that were formally conducted.
The Media Files Folder
Select Media Files in the File Manager area of the main Meeting Manager Menu. This folder contains all icons and logos that you will use throughout the System. When selecting the Media Files option, a screen like the following will open. As you review, Select Back (to view the previous screen you were last on) or Select Reset Path (to view the initial Group Files folder).
This folder contains image files you will utilize for Members (actual pictures or icons) along with device icons such as Lecterns, Microphones and Cameras where they may be appropriate to show on the Discussion Manager and Public Display. These are setup (or linked) via the Configuration Setup process explained in the Meeting Settings section of this documentation. For Example, in Meeting Settings – Roster Setup you are asked to link each Member with an image file (which often is an actual picture of the member). Circled on the top of the sample screen above is the folder location you would use to link these.
You may use actual picture files of your members (recommended) or generic icons, like the ones above which will come standard as part of your OMT setup and training. Your logo files will also be contained here and will be set up for you during initial training by the OMT implementation team.
The Sounds Folder
The Sounds Folder shown above will be automatically included as part of your setup. It contains the standard alerts sounds (for public speaker timing) that will be used as defaults. You may change these to any sounds (.wav files) you wish to use.
For help and understanding how to use different sounds (.wav files) please contact OMT Support to walk you through the process, as it is often unique for each specific customer.
You may also add any folders you wish to this area, like the Other Media folder that was added here. For example, you may wish to create additional folders to contain different image files for meeting configurations such as Sub-Committee Meetings which may have different members and may use different logos or other icons for their meetings. You can create separate folders here to organize those images, so they are not confused with your main Board or Council meeting images in the root folder.
Notes / Special Situations
Once again, it is important that you understand the concepts of Groups, Meetings, Agendas & Configurations and that you create every meeting you will formally conduct by using the Home / Select Group and Meeting Setup functions via the Meeting Manager Main Menu. In this way, all the meeting details will be created and saved properly. Please view the following links if you need more understanding of Groups, Configurations, Meetings & Agendas:
Also, it may be helpful to view more detail about the contents of the Meeting RESULTS Files. To do so, view the following document link:
- Access Minutes and Vote Results
If you are having any issues that are not successfully addressed above, or you are not successful signing into Meeting Manager, please call OpenMeeting Customer Support at 320.249.0555.
