Board packs and papers
Agendas, board packs, strategy papers and minutes are prepared as PDF, DOCX and PPTX files, and the Document Engine processes them in those formats.
Watermarking for board and leadership material
Papers prepared for a board or a leadership team are read by a small, known group, often before a decision is made public. Invisproof issues each member an individual copy with an invisible watermark, so that a paper found outside that group can be identified.
Board material and its recipients
Directors, officers and advisers
The recipients are few and known by name: directors, executive officers, the company secretary and the outside advisers who attend for a single item.
The period before disclosure
Much of this material concerns results, appointments and transactions that remain confidential until the organization announces them.
An individual copy for each member
Invisproof issues every recipient a copy of their own and records its issue. The watermark each copy carries is not noticeable when the papers are read.
The process for board material
Watermark
Before a meeting, the Document Engine prepares an individual copy of each paper for every director, officer and adviser on the distribution list.
Distribute
Members read their copies in the secure viewer in the browser, or receive them in the original format where the organization permits a copy to be saved.
Identify
If a board paper is later found outside its intended audience, an investigation compares it with the copies issued and identifies the copy it came from.
Occasions in a board's calendar
A board pack is circulated to every director some days before a meeting, and it remains in their hands afterwards.
- Agendas, papers and presentations
- An individual copy for each director
- Reading in the secure viewer or offline
The audit, remuneration and nomination committees receive papers that are restricted to a few members of the board.
- Audit findings and auditors' reports
- Remuneration proposals
- Copies limited to the committee's members
Proposals for an acquisition, a disposal or a change of strategy are put to the board before any announcement.
- Strategy papers and proposals
- Copies for the advisers who attend
- A record of each copy issued
Draft results and senior appointments are seen by the board before they are made public.
- Draft results and annual reports
- Succession and appointment papers
- Material held until the announcement
Controls for board material
Documents read in the browser
A document is read in the secure viewer in a browser, with nothing to download and nothing to install. The organization decides which documents are read only in this way.
Copies in the original format
Where the organization permits it, a recipient saves a copy in its original format. The copy opens in the usual applications, can be read offline and keeps its watermark.
Recipients inside and outside
Members of the organization sign in with their accounts. Recipients outside it need no account, and open a file with a passcode or a one-time code sent to their email address.
Investigation of a found copy
A file found outside its intended audience is submitted for investigation, which compares it with the copies issued and states the probability that it came from a given copy.
- Nothing to download
- Nothing to install
- Decided file by file
- Original format
- Usual applications
- Offline viewing
- Watermark retained
- Sign-in for members
- Passcode
- One-time code by email
- No account for outside recipients
- Any found file submitted
- Compared with the copies issued
- Probability stated
- Decision left to the organization
What a board and its secretariat gain
Sensitive papers can be circulated to the whole board in good time. Because each copy remains accountable, there is less reason to withhold material until the meeting itself.
When a paper appears where it should not, the question of its origin is settled by an investigation of the copy itself, and the board is not left to conjecture.
A finding concerns one copy. Members who handled their own papers properly are not left under a suspicion that would otherwise fall on the whole board.
Questions about board material
Will directors notice that their copies are individual?
No. The watermark is invisible and is not noticeable when a paper is read. Each copy keeps the format of the original and opens in the same applications.
Do directors need to install anything?
No. Papers are opened in the secure viewer in a browser, with nothing to download and nothing to install. Members of the organization sign in with their accounts, and outside advisers open a paper with a passcode or a one-time code sent to their email address.
Can board papers be read offline, for example when travelling?
Yes, where the organization permits it. A copy saved to a computer or drive can be read offline and keeps its watermark. The organization decides, file by file, whether a copy may be saved.
Can Invisproof's own staff read board papers?
No. Files are held in encrypted form, and Invisproof's staff cannot open them.
Related use cases and solutions
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Financial results, press releases and launch material, issued as an individual copy to each recipient before publication.
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Research, deal documents and investor reports, issued by banks, funds and advisers as an individual copy to each recipient.
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Drafts, advice and disclosure documents, issued by law firms and legal departments as an individual copy to each recipient.
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Invisproof is provided to organizations by approval.