Færdselsstyrelsen has accelerated digital meeting production

For almost three years, the Danish Road Safety Agency has used FirstAgenda Management and FirstAgenda Prepare to produce agendas and meeting minutes. This has made it easier to manage meeting preparation - and at the same time, meeting participants have gathered all their meeting preparation in one place. 

Back in 2022, Application Manager, Henriette Spang, along with the rest of the Danish Road Safety Agency, decided to say goodbye to their manual meeting processes. They needed more efficient and automated handling of their meeting production. According to Henriette Spang, it was a major requirement that they could interact with the Danish Road Safety Agency's EDRM system, WorkZone, and therefore they chose FirstAgenda, where they chose the Management and Prepare modules. 

"When we were looking for a tool to manage meeting production, it was important that the tool could talk to our other systems. With FirstAgenda Management , we can sit directly in our EDRM system, WorkZone, and prepare and report the items to the agenda collectors. The agenda collectors can then fine-tune the agenda before releasing the agenda to the meeting participants with a single click."

Everything in one place

Before the Danish Road Safety Agency implemented FirstAgenda as their primary meeting tool, much of the meeting preparation was done manually. Agendas were gathered and sent out as PDFs via emails to the meeting participants. Today, meeting participants are automatically notified when their agenda is ready in FirstAgenda Prepare. According to Henriette Spang, this is a great benefit for the meeting participants, who always have the latest version of the agenda available.

"Before we got FirstAgenda Prepare, the meeting material was sent out via email. If changes had to be made, we had to send out a new email, which often caused a lot of confusion among the meeting participants as to which agenda was the latest. Today, they have their meeting materials in one place and always have the latest version of the agenda available."

- Henriette Spang, Application Manager, Færdselsstyrelsen

It also allows meeting participants to search across meetings. According to Henriette Spang, this makes it easy for meeting participants if they are looking for a specific decision, for example.

"Our meeting participants are generally very enthusiastic about FirstAgenda Prepare. Here they have a clear overview of their agendas, notes, markups and if they have shared comments with any of the other meeting participants. In addition, they also have the option to search across the meeting material. This means they don't need to contact a secretary if they are looking for a specific decision, for example. It's all in the same system." 

Safety first and foremost

According to Henriette Spang, not only has it become easier for meeting participants, but it has also become easier for agenda compilers to publish agendas and minutes. Where previously long mailing lists were needed, they only need to publish in one place, which not only eases the practical workload, but also contributes to increased security. 

"When our agenda collectors need to release meeting material, they only need to do it in one place. Not only do they not have to deal with a lot of email correspondence, we also ensure that our data remains in our EDRM system. So when we have to hand over to the National Archives, we have our data."

- Henriette Spang, Application Manager, Færdselsstyrelsen

Close collaboration with FirstAgenda

One of the requirements when Henriette Spang and Færdselsstyrelsen were looking for a meeting solution was easily accessible and Danish-speaking support. According to Henriette Spang, this has very much been the case with FirstAgenda. She experiences a high level of both competent and accommodating support when she occasionally encounters technical challenges. 

"I've always found the support to be very welcoming - both on the phone and if we write via email. They are extremely helpful and always go the extra mile to get us to the finish line, and we just generally have a really good working relationship." 

In general, Henriette Spang experiences a close and trusting relationship with FirstAgenda. She emphasizes that their experiences and needs are continuously followed up on, but also that they are involved in the actual development of the solution. 

"I think we have a really good contact with FirstAgenda. We are continuously informed as soon as there are new product updates, and we hold a number of status meetings where we have the opportunity to share our experiences with the solution. In this way, we also help generate ideas and are thus involved in the actual development of FirstAgenda's products, which I think is great"

- Henriette Spang, Application Manager, Færdselsstyrelsen