Forums is ASABE's secure platform for conducting committee work. Most committees, sections, communities, and ad hoc groups have a forum, depending on the group’s scope and workload. Forums offers several useful features:
- Messaging/Listserve
- Balloting tool
- Document library
- Committee membership list
After logging in to the ASABE website, select Forums in the site header or footer. You will automatically be directed to a list of your Forums. You will have access only to the committees and groups on which you hold current membership; know when your term expires and request renewal to avoid interruptions to access. Click on a committee/group name to find messages, ballots, documents, and a membership list.
For a step-by-step guide to accessing ASABE Forums click here. Contact Jean Walsh for assistance.
Using the Tools
Messaging
Click on the Committee title see to find an archive of previous emails and threads. From the upper menu, select Messages to start a new thread. You can also generate a message from your own email program, using the @forums.asabe.org address prefix unique to your group, which is displayed at the top of the committee's page. The image below shows the prefix for the K-12 Outreach committee, E-05/1. Notice the hyphens used to separate elements of the address:
The email address for the committee E-05/1 would thus be asabe-e-05-1@forums.asabe.org.
By default, replying to an email sent via Forums will distribute the response to the entire committee. To reply to an individual, select Forward and enter the recipient's address manually.
The Message tool can only be used by active members of a committee for communication within that group: Forums will not allow individuals to email committees to which they do not belong, even if the correct address is used.
The Message tool automatically archives messages—a useful resource if you wish to find a specific email quickly. Email attachments are also captured in the archives.
Ballots
Although available to all groups, the Ballots tool is particularly useful for standards development. Select the Ballots button on your committee forum to access your open ballots. Ballots will often include attachments, and these can be opened and viewed, or downloaded for review offline.
Upon login, users of ASABE's website will find an Open Ballots notification on their homepage. Red flags indicate ballots on which the user has not taken action; follow the links to Forums to review materials and submit ballots. On both the homepage and the Forums page, red flags will turn to green once ballots have been submitted. This indicator remains as long as the ballot is active and allows you to access the ballot at any time to review responses from other committee members or to amend your ballot.
Step-by-Step Guide
Library
Forums also provides a repository for committee documents, such as bylaws and large files that exceed email limits. These can be opened and downloaded for your convenience.
For security reasons, documents can be uploaded only by ASABE staff, who are always happy to assist. When new documents are uploaded to the forum, you may receive an email notification from ASABE staff.
Step-by-Step Guide
Committee Membership Lists
Forums offers a quick way to see the current members of your committee: Simply click on the Members button.
The list will not display contact information. Access to member information is a benefit of ASABE membership. ASABE members who are logged in can obtain contact information through the main portion of the website: How to Access Rosters.