How to Create a Tool for Organizing Check-in Meetings in Your Company? Part 3
Building a Meeting Management Tool in Coda.io: A Step-by-Step Guide
In this post, we’ll continue from the previous two posts and dive into creating meeting management tool using Coda.io. This module will streamline your check-in meetings, automate essential tasks, and enhance overall team productivity.
Step 1: Defining the Document Structure
Based on the structure outlined in my previous post, I begin by creating the necessary documents in Coda.io to house the various views of the system.
Step 2: Setting Up Each View
With the information architecture prepared earlier, I proceed to create each view, carefully placing the key elements needed to make the tool functional and user-friendly.
View 1: Main Check-In Meeting View
The main view contains all the essential details about the meeting:
- Meeting Schedule: Information about when the meeting typically takes place.
- Meeting Purpose: A brief description of the meeting’s main objective.
- Agenda: A basic agenda to automate checklist creation for each meeting.
- Attendees: A list of participants, which automates meeting notifications.
I’ve also included links to important sub-pages for improved navigation within the tool.
View 2: Agenda Items
This view features a table where each meeting participant can submit the points they wish to discuss.
A link to the form is automatically sent to participants at a scheduled time, requiring only the content of the discussion point. All other details, like the creation date and the person submitting, are automatically filled in.
View 3: Meeting Checklist
Arguably the most crucial view in the entire tool, the Meeting Checklist is where the actual meeting takes place. It begins with a “Start Meeting” button that generates a full list of discussion points and creates an entry in the report table.
For each point, there are two possible actions:
- Mark as Discussed: Closes the point with no follow-up task.
- Create Task: Generates a task for points that require further action.
During the meeting, new points can be added easily via a text box and an “Add” button beneath the checklist.
A table of tasks created during the meeting is also included, where minimal information must be provided for each task:
- Task Description: What needs to be done.
- Deadline: When the task should be completed.
- Assigned Person: Who is responsible for the task (this field remains manual to allow flexibility in assigning tasks).
At the end of the meeting, the “End Meeting” button generates a summary and automatically carries forward any unresolved points to the next meeting’s agenda.
View 4: To-Do List
Tasks generated during the meeting are organized in the To-Do List tab. Each team member can filter this list to see only the tasks assigned to them. This view includes several automations:
- Task Reminders: Informing the assigned person of an upcoming task deadline.
- Automatic Status Updates: automatic change of task status depending on the set task progress.
- Clean-Up: The list is automatically updated by hidingcompleted tasks to keep the view clear.
Additionally, a comprehensive view of all defined tasks is available for further verification if needed.
View 5: Meeting Reports
Generating reports from meetings that have taken place in the past is an important option of the entire tool. Thanks to the use of an appropriate connection between the discussed items and the created tasks, we are able to check whether all the tasks created within a given meeting have already been performed and completed.
We can see such a first verification already in the meeting table. Depending on the use of the tool, it is possible to leave here a view of only those meetings in which tasks are not yet completed, or leave a list of all meetings and group them by date, week or month.
The whole system is prepared in such a way that it is possible to define an unlimited number of meetings within one day. Thanks to the use of an individual ID for each meeting, the points defined on the same day will be assigned to the corresponding meeting
Conclusion
The module is now fully functional, but there’s room for further enhancements with additional automations. The next step will be to verify the entire process, ensuring it aligns with the automation and the newly added elements.
