Board portal


A board portal is collaborative software that allows board of directors to securely access board documents and collaborate with other board members electronically.

History

The passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has placed significant legal and financial responsibility on the board of directors to ensure that they fulfill their fiduciary duty to stockholders and has driven many companies to increase the number of outside, independent directors on the board. Consequently, this has led to more frequent meetings, increased information review, and increased communications between meetings. The purpose of a board portal is to securely support board communications and board workflows. The "Read Receipt" of documents by the directors is often a legal record that external auditors require.

Features of a Board Portal

A board portal can be a custom-built, in-house application, an off-the-shelf, commercial application that is deployed by IT, or a subscription-based, software as a service. Board portals provide the following features:
Board portal software has a role to play in supporting the information sharing, decision making, risk management and accountability that comes with good governance. Governance software provides a single platform for managing board and committee meetings, risk, decision making and other governance-related activities. It provides an overview of governance throughout the organization and its shareholders, helping identify issues and drive improvement.