SDSU SENATE: Manage Referrals, Action & Reporting
How Do Issues Become Referrals?
Senate business and issues come to the attention of Senate Leaders in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to: a
resolution for the Senate to take a specific action, University Administration requests the Senate takes action, Senate
Officers find an issue during the course of work, an issue is emailed to one of the officers or to sena[email protected]. Issues
brought to the attention of Senate Officers are documented and reviewed by the leadership collaboratively. Part of the
initial review will include a review of existing referral items already open. if the issue overlaps with an existing referral,
the new information may be added to an existing referral. The Senate Chair, while considering the input of the officers,
decides which items will become official Senate referrals.
How Are Referrals Created?
Once this decision is made to create an official Senate referral, the Senate Vice Chair will draft an official Referral Letter
and send it to the appropriate committee. Each Letter has:
● A Referral Title (e.g. 21/22_18: Clarification about
What Constitutes a College/Major Academic Unit) that
clearly identifies the issue and the academic year the
issue was referred.
● Identification of the Lead Committee: only one
committee will be identified in each referral letter. This
committee leads review of the issue, and manages
collaboration with other committees, programs,
individuals, offices, etc.
● A Referral Description: context and suggestions (as
appropriate), identification of related documents or
links to relevant policy file sections, and identification
of any known or recommended collaborators.
Once the letter is sent, the Senate Vice Chair:
● Creates a Referral Card in Trello (web-based
collaborative project management tool), which is used
to manage Senate Referrals.
● Attaches a copy of the Referral Letter to the card.
● Adds the current Committee Chair to the card.
Trello: Access
At the start of the year, new Committee Chairs or Senate Officers will be sent an invite to join the Referral Chart Board
Working Group. If you have not received this email, you can always submit a Senate Help Ticket from the Senate Website.
At this time, only Senate Officers and Committee Chairs have access to the Referral Chart in Trello. However, the Vice
Chair presents a summary of all active referrals to the Senate at each meeting.
Last Updated: August 2022
1
Trello: Terminology & Managing Referral Cards
A. WORKSPACE: The Workspace we work
in is “SDSU University Senate.”
B. BOARD: There are multiple “boards” in
the Senate Workspace. The Senate
Officers use these boards to manage the
work of the Senate. Board “2 -
REFERRAL CHART SDSU Senate” is the
board that organizes all of the referrals.
When non-officers are invited to work
on referrals, they are added to this
board only.
C. LIST: On the board, each committee has
a “List” filled with their referral items.
Lists for Standing Committees (titles in
ALL CAPS) appear first (alphabetically),
and then the Other Committees and
Councils (alphabetically).
D. CARD: One card = one referral.
E. REFERRAL/CARD TITLE: On each card
there will be a number (e.g. 22/23_05)
and then a Title. The number tells us
what academic year the referral was
issued, and in what order. The title listed
on the card should match the title on
the Referral Letter sent to the
committee.
F. START DATE: The date the Referral
Letter was issued.
G. LABEL: Describes who is responsible for
action related to the referral and/or the
status of the referral item. See the
image for a key for the labels available
in the Referral Chart Board. Users can click on the label to expand
(display the full label) or click the label to minimize (hide the words to
only display the color.
H. DESCRIPTION: The description is often the content of the referral letter,
but it may include additional references, or details.
I. INITIATOR: Describes the persons, offices, committees, etc. that raised
the issue that has become a referral.
J. COLLABORATOR: Describes other committees, programs, offices,
administrators, faculty, etc. that the Lead Committee is asked to
collaborate with as they address the referral issue.
Last Updated: August 2022
2
K. CHECKLIST / WORKFLOW: Each referral
card has the same checklist that
describes the 9 basic steps in the
referral workflow from deliberation >
referral letter > committee work >
SEC/Senate > Action Memo > Policy File
Update. This area also offers a
percentage (%) of completion indicator.
L. ACTIVITY: At the bottom of each card is
an area that records new comments,
and displays all activity made in the card
since it was opened. There is a button
that says “Show Details” which will
show the activity history on the card (it
can be a lot). Once you click that button,
the language on the button becomes
“Hide Details.” You can toggle between
displays per your preference.
M. COMMENT: The committee chair and
Senate Officers use this section to
provide updates, add attachments,
provide feedback, and more. Only
members of the workspace can
comment.
NOTE: If a Committee Chair emails a Senate
Officer an update on a referral item, the team
may add the update, and any materials provided
with it, to the Referral Card. Senate Officers
might also direct the Committee Chair to update
Trello in lieu of an email.
Trello: Monthly Referrals Reporting
During each Senate Executive Committee (SEC) and Senate meeting, the Vice Chair will make available a list of active
referrals by committee, including their progress (stage of engagement), and answer any questions from the Senate body
in relation to active referrals.
Trello: Archiving Senate Referral Items & Annual Reporting
Once a referral has progressed through the workflow/checklist to a point where the process stops (e.g., item isn’t moved
forward, item doesn’t pass, a final information item or report is provided to Senate related to the item, item is approved
by the President and update is made in the policy file), the Vice Chair, Secretary or Analyst will update the labels on the
Referral Card and move it to the archive board. At the end of each year, the Senate Leaders will provide a report that
summarizes all of the referral activity for the year and a record of that will be preserved in the Senate Record.
Last Updated: August 2022
3
Trello: Dos & Donts for Committee Chairs
DOs
DONTs
Provide updates and documents related to your work
on the referred item as regularly as possible.
Comment on another committee’s card uniess
solicited to do so.
When you insert a link to a Google Doc, please make
sure what you are linking to has the share setting
“Anyone at SDSU can View” or else some may not be
able to open the linked document.
Do not add new cards or lists or labels - only Senate
Officers do this. If you want to develop a new
referral, please email that to the Senate Chair or
Secretary or [email protected].
Remove the pink “In Committee” label when the
committee has completed its part, or add a red
“Urgent” label if appropriate.
Do not add or remove labels except as described in
the DOs section.
Tag relevant officers or other committee chairs you’d
like to review/comment in the comment section using
the “@” symbol.
Do not edit any list title, card titles, description,
label descriptions, card descriptions, start date, or
initiator(s).
If there is a new collaborator on an issue, feel free to
add the name in any empty Collaborator field.
Do not invite other people outside of the Senate
Officers or Committee Chairs group to be members
or guests in Trello. If you have a critical need, check
in with the officers.
Add relevant attachments to the Referral Card.
Do not enter more than one collaborator per field.
Review email notifications from Trello – make sure
Trello is not sending messages to your spam folder.
Do not create or add any custom fields.
Click the “Watch” button (to the right of the
checklist) to get notified of changes/updates.
Do not delete any attachments or comments or
content from the Referral Card.
Be sure to add the incoming chair before you sign off
at the end of an academic year.
Last Updated: August 2022
4
