Orange County NC Website
3 <br />Option 3: Automated Agenda via Sire's AgendaPlus <br />This option would be a solution automating the agenda process, from production, to <br />review, to distribution, to archiving, using Sire's AgendaPlus product. <br />This product, in use in several North Carolina counties and municipalities, provides <br />mechanisms for-template based abstract authoring, workflow- processing for review, <br />automated agenda assembiy and publishing. The product has been researched by the <br />evaluation team, as well as a group of staff members wha frequently author abstracts. <br />The Sire product mef the requirements set for the by the evaluation team and was deemed <br />viable by the authoring group. <br />It should be noted tiie authoring group believed the Sire product was adequate for their <br />needs and was deemed the more efficient product to use and the preferred choice for <br />authoring. AgendaPlus was deemed the more mature product and- had more useful. <br />features, including delegation controls (for use when staff needed for review stages are <br />out of the office), and inline commenting. <br />Estimated implementation costs for Sire's Agenda Plus: $90,000-. <br />Hardware Options <br />For any, of the three options listed, Commissioners may individually, or collectively, <br />prefer tablet devices such as Apple iPads or Lenovo ThinkPad tablets for use in <br />reviewing and referencing agendas before and during meetings. These tablet devices <br />have several advantages over traditional laptop computers. They are considerably lighter <br />than laptops, owing to their smaller screens, miniaturized components and lack of a <br />keyboard. This smaller size makes them less. intrusive when conducting meetings, while <br />their touch screen makes them easier and more intuitive to use. <br />The disadvantage of tablet devices is that their small screens often are inadequate for <br />showing large documents, Iengthy passages of text and multiple images. Further, the lack <br />of a physical keyboard compels the user to utilize ascreen-based keyboard, which is <br />more prone to typographic errors while taking up significant screen real estate. <br />