Feature Availability
Unless you have requested to be upgraded, Minute Match is not available to customers who customised their shell minutes export templates prior to 1 November 2025. If you would like to upgrade this is available free of charge - just contact us.
Introduction
boardcycle's minutes automation lets you create shell minutes at the click of a button.
Minute Match is a powerful feature within this that allows you to fully or almost fully pre-write large sections of your shell minutes to a high degree of accuracy and using consistent drafting.
This article explains how Minute Match works, the types of meeting items that will be matched by Minute Match, as well as what happens if Minute Match does not identify a match.
How Minute Match works
Minute Match works by analysing the names of items included in your agenda to see if they match commonly used item names. If a match is found, Minute Match will automatically include drafting in your shell minutes that correspond to that type of item.
What drafting is included?
The drafting that will be included in your shell minutes will be:
if you customised your shell minutes export templates to include specific drafting, that drafting (in most cases, you will have been provided a link to a specific help article for your organisation that sets that specific drafting out); or
otherwise, boardcycle's standard drafting as shown below.
What items does Minute Match work for?
Minute Match works for a range of commonly used meeting items as set out below.
Item categories and description | Examples of item names that will be matched | boardcycle standard drafting |
Quorum An item that notes the meeting satisfies the forum's quorum rules and acknowledges any apologies. | Quorum Quorum & Apologies Attendance Attendance and Apologies Welcome Meeting Opening | The {presenter title} noted that a quorum of Members of the {forum} was present and DECLARED the meeting open at [{meeting start time}] {timezone}. |
Apologies An item that acknowledges any apologies. Note: intended to be used as an alternative to a Quorum item. | Apologies Apologies Received Director Apologies | The {presenter title} noted that {name} was an apology for the meeting. |
Acknowledgement of Country Acknowledgement of Australian Traditional Owners. | Acknowledgement of Country
Note: "Welcome to Country" will not match as this is a different item presented by a Traditional Owner. | The {presenter title} acknowledged the Traditional Owners of the land on which the {forum} was meeting and paid respect to Elders past and present. |
Minutes Approval of minutes of past meetings. | Minutes Approval of Minutes Minutes of 17 November Minutes of Previous Meetings | The {forum} RESOLVED to APPROVE the minutes of its meeting[s] held on [insert dates] and TO AUTHORISE the {presenter title} to sign those minutes as true and correct. |
Action Items Review of the status of actions from past meetings. | Anything
Action items drafting is triggered by the existence of a special Action Items item in your meeting as explained in this article. | The {forum} NOTED the status of the action items from its previous meetings, including that each of the items was closed, would be addressed at this meeting, or was scheduled to be addressed at subsequent meetings. |
Disclosure of Interests Disclosure of any new directors' interests or actual or potential conflicts | Disclosure of Interests Conflicts of Interest Register Directors' Interests Declaration of Interests | The {forum} NOTED the Disclosure of Interests Register and that there had been no new disclosures. |
Private Session with CEO A private part of the meeting where the forum discusses matters with the CEO only. | Private Session with the CEO In-Camera Session with the Chief Executive Closed Session - Executive Director Closed discussion with the Managing Director | A private session of the {forum} was held with the Chief Executive Officer. The discussion included:
|
Private Session with CFO A private part of the meeting where the forum discusses matters with the CFO only. | Private Session with the CFO In-Camera Session with the Chief Financial Officer Closed Session - Chief Finance Officer Closed discussion with the CFO | A private session of the {forum} was held with the Chief Financial Officer. The discussion included:
|
Private Session with Chief People Officer | Private Session with the CPO In-Camera Session with the Chief HR Officer Closed Session - CHRO Closed discussion with the Chief Human Resources Officer | A private session of the {forum} was held with the Chief People Officer. The discussion included:
|
Private Session with the Auditor A private part of the meeting where the forum discusses matters with the Auditor only. | Private Session with the Auditor In-Camera Session with KPMG Closed Session - Deloitte Closed discussion with EY | A private session of the {forum} was held with the Company’s auditor. The discussion included:
|
Private Session of non-executive directors | Private Session of NEDs In-Camera Session - Non-Executive Directors Closed Session - Non-Exec Directors Closed discussion (N.E.Ds) | A private session of Non-Executive Directors was held. The discussion included:
|
Private Session | Private Session In-Camera Session Closed Session Private Discussion of the Board Private Discussion of the Committee | A private session of the {forum} was held. The discussion included:
|
Other Business An opportunity, usually at the end of the meeting, for participants to raise anything they wish to discuss. | Other Business | There was no other business. |
Worth knowing: there are many permutations of our standard drafting
For many items, the exact drafting boardcycle will include in your shell minutes will vary slightly from what is set out above based on how you have set up the item in boardcycle. For example, if you have an item called "Apologies" but have not specified any apologies for the meeting, boardcycle will replace the drafting set out above with "There were no apologies."
What happens if Minute Match does not identify a match?
If Minute Match does not identify a match to one of the item categories listed above, then boardcycle will identify that item as a 'general item of business'.
Minutes for general items of business are still pre-written, but rather than the drafting relating to specific item categories, the drafting is determined by a range of factors related to how you have set up the item including:
the item name
whether the item has a paper
whether the item appears to be a regular report (e.g. CEO Report, CFO Report, Safety Report, etc)
the action assigned to the item (i.e. Approval, Recommendation, Discussion, Noting)
whether you have included a Proposed Resolution for the item.
For general items of business, your shell minutes will include consistent drafting that reflects the nature of the item and leaves space for you to capture the discussion that occurs during the meeting.
What if I want to change pre-written content in my shell minutes?
Shell minutes are delivered to you in .docx (Word) format and are fully editable in the same way that you would edit any such file - so it is always possible to adjust, move, delete or replace content included in your shell minutes automatically if circumstances require.