technology and documents access

Question

our parish has pop3 emails that can be deleted by 3 people clerk nor do we use share point or one drive to share documents , also there is no central contact lists for trades or suppliers and clerks diary is paper so if lost we are lost does any one us a simple system such as office 365 that works well for a small council

Answer 1

Rather an all encompassing question I am afraid. At its most basic your PC should supply the clerk with a laptop with which they carry out and record all PC business. What that is of course for the council to decide and specify. As to back ups cloud storage isn't the only answer just usually the easiest for the users. Nothing wrong with an external hard disk. Both should be password protected and the password lodged with say the chair so that the council laptop ( used by the clerk) can be accessed by other than the clerk. Kiss ( keep it simple stupid!) is always a good solution in these sorts of cases

Comments

yes we provide lao toop and office 365 but clerk refuses to use in a way that would help councillors a very strange attitude especially when doing so would free up her time

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Unfortunately, sometimes people see admitting that they do not understand what is required or that they need assistance to understand or how to do something is ingrained early in life. Finding what is causing the apparent reluctance should be the pathway to solving the problem.

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i suspect she will not admit a lack of knowledge we owned a finacial services business and always praised a memebr of staff for knowing and accepting that they did no have the skill sets to deal with an issue  this saves time protects clients , and removes stress our cerk will not accept it

Answer 2

Reading this with your earlier post, what documents do you think you're missing?  Why is the clerk's diary significant?

Comments

she uses only a paper diary so if it is lost or damaged we have no contingency plan to ensure any work scheduled is carried out  the chairman doe s not have access to the lsist of contractors so the only way we can ask for work is via the clerk if she is not ill or on holiday a cloud based diary copied from her diary or even printed from say out look and an address book to which at least the chair has access would help ealeviate such problems  so far as documents are concerned a simple example the clerk has not put in place a data retention policy at all yet we have insurance for litigation by say a user of the playground i suspect such a policy would insiist on access to such records that we don not hold in effect the insurance could be void or limited
i can accept that her staff file and wages should be kept with say the chairman but everything else needs to be stored soemwherew  and available to councillors an example is discussion re a vaillage hall which is key to our community  sorry i am dyslexic

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I think this is micro management in the extreme and unnecessary in my opinion.   When a course of action is agreed at a meeting, it would be quite reasonable to expect your clerk to report on progress at the next meeting and even sometimes to provide a timesheet but you should expect your clerk to be capable to managing his or her time to achieve the objectives set including working around annual leave commitments.  If a clerk is unwell for an extended period, most councils would consider engaging a locum for example.   Most councils would ask that the clerk provide access to electronic records etc. via a password provided in a sealed envelope held by the Chair to be accessed if/when the clerk is incapacitated.  As an individual, councillors cannot place orders or commit the council to a contract (check your financial regulations and standing orders).
The council is responsible for ensuring you have policies and procedures in place, albeit that I would expect the Clerk to advise and perhaps provide drafts for consideration.  Failure to do so (with a couple of exceptions) will not invalidate your insurance and your insurance certainly won't be invalidated by failure to produce a document retention policy much of which would be dictated by law rather than the will of the council.
The Good Councillors Guide, available on the NALC website, might be a good starting point to identify what your responsibilities as a councillor are.

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diary is in part she uses paper diary and put notes on it when jobs are due such as health and safety play ground equipment safety checks she refuses to let any one else have sight or knowledge so if she is on holiday ill or leaves we are without a paddle hence i feel chair should have access to an on line diary and task which clerk can have a paper copy if needed