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Governance software for UK councils and public bodies

Less paperwork. More democracy.

Astech builds CMIS and the tools around it: committee, meeting and election software trusted by more than 60 UK councils. Build agenda packs in minutes, publish decisions with confidence and give members paperless meetings they’ll actually use.

Book a 30-minute demo Explore the products

“The help and support from Astech can’t be faulted. If there’s ever a query you just pick up the phone.”

Ian Myers, Senior Committee Officer, Essex County Council
  • ISO 27001-certified hosting
  • WCAG 2.1 AA public sites
  • Available through G-Cloud

Trusted by councils, authorities and public bodies including

  • Birmingham City Council
  • Essex County Council
  • Royal Borough of Greenwich
  • The Electoral Commission
  • West Midlands Fire Service
  • Midlothian Council
  • Dudley Council
  • Hull City Council
  • East Suffolk Council
  • Sandwell Council

Why councils switch

Democracy shouldn’t depend on the photocopier.

Every committee cycle, democratic services teams stitch together dozens of documents, chase late reports, renumber pages after every change and print packs that are out of date before they arrive. The publication deadline doesn’t move. Your software should take the strain.

The old way The Astech way

Merging 30 Word documents into one pack at 10pm

Drag, drop and compile a numbered, bookmarked pack in minutes

Reprinting everything for one late amendment

Update once, and every member’s app refreshes automatically

Registers of interest on spreadsheets and scanned forms

Councillors declare online, with a full audit trail

Publishing papers by hand and hoping they’re accessible

Publish straight to a WCAG 2.1 AA website that matches your own

Election night results on a whiteboard and a spreadsheet

Live results, maps and media feeds, updated as each count is declared

One family of products

Five squares. Five ways to run better meetings.

Each square in the Astech mark stands for a product built for a different part of public life, from the committee room to the count. Use one on its own, or join them up.

CMIS · Committee management

The complete governance platform for councils and authorities.

Run the whole decision-making cycle in one place: forward plans, report workflows, agendas, minutes, decisions and call-in, all published to an accessible public website that matches your own.

  • Drag-and-drop agenda builder and pack compiler
  • Report workflows with approvals and a full audit trail
  • Decisions, call-in, digests and forward plans
  • Members’ profiles, attendance and register of interests
  • e-Petitions, consultations and subscriptions
  • MyCMIS paperless app with offline access and in-app voting

Best for county, district, unitary, metropolitan and London borough councils, fire and rescue authorities and other public bodies.

Book a CMIS demo Explore CMIS

CMISlite · For town and parish councils

Big-council governance, sized for town and parish councils.

Give your clerk their evenings back. CMISlite compiles meeting packs in minutes, keeps members’ details and declarations in one place, and works in any browser or on the MyCMIS app.

  • Meeting packs built in minutes with drag and drop
  • Members’ profiles, interests, gifts and hospitality
  • Full control over confidential and restricted items
  • One licence for your whole council, with no hidden costs
  • Most users are up and running within 30 minutes

Best for town and parish councils and smaller public bodies.

Book a CMISlite demo Explore CMISlite

Register of Interests · Transparency

Let the sunlight in. Councillors declare online; you stay compliant.

Replace paper forms and spreadsheets with a self-service portal for every councillor, one central record for your monitoring officer and a published register the public can actually find.

  • Councillors update their own declarations, any time
  • Configurable question sets, approvals and email notifications
  • Full audit trail of past and current submissions
  • Download parish clerk contacts and distribution lists

East Suffolk Council uses it to manage declarations for around 1,300 parish, town and district councillors.

Book a demo Explore Register of Interests

Election Visualiser · Election night

Election night, live, on every screen.

Publish results the moment they’re declared, with interactive maps, automatic swing calculations and media feeds that keep the press, candidates and public up to date without anyone retyping a number.

  • Real-time results with automatic turnout and swing
  • Interactive maps and tracked contests
  • Media feeds and data exports for the press
  • Parliamentary, county, district, unitary and mayoral elections
  • Standalone or integrated with CMIS, for one election or annually

“The Astech team worked closely with our democratic and ICT teams to ensure the night delivered a seamless experience.” Richard Barker, Head of ICT Operations, Hull City Council

Book a demo Explore Election Visualiser

Congresso · For every other boardroom

Meetings made easy, for boards, trustees and teams.

Nearly three decades of local government know-how, distilled into simple, cloud-based agenda and minutes software for charities, boards and businesses of any size.

  • Agendas built in six simple steps
  • Minutes, actions and attendance in one place
  • End-to-end encryption and granular permissions
  • Your branding and your templates
  • Plans from £540 a year

Best for boards of trustees, charities, finance and governance committees, and businesses.

Book a Congresso demo Visit Congresso

The difference, in numbers

Small team. Serious results.

building software for the public sector
Since 1997
UK councils use CMIS to run their meetings
60+
less time preparing agendas at Essex County Council
50%
a year saved on printing at Essex, from one module
£7k+
councillors manage their declarations online in East Suffolk
1,300

Essex and East Suffolk figures as reported by the councils in published case studies.

How it works

From first draft to final decision, in one place.

CMIS follows a meeting through its whole life, so nothing gets retyped, re-sent or lost between the report author, the committee room and the public record.

  1. 01 · Before the meeting

    Prepare without the panic

    • Schedule meetings and invite members
    • Route reports through approval workflows
    • Build agendas with drag and drop
    • Compile and circulate packs, including late changes

  2. 02 · In the room

    Meet without the paper

    • Navigate papers on any device, even offline
    • Annotate privately with highlights and notes
    • Record attendance and take live minutes
    • Vote on items in the MyCMIS app

  3. 03 · After the vote

    Publish without the chasing

    • Generate and distribute minutes
    • Track actions, decisions and call-in
    • Publish to your website automatically
    • Keep a searchable archive for officers, members and the public

Savings calculator

What is paper costing your council?

Move the sliders to match a typical year. We’ll estimate what going paperless with CMIS could give back, based on the results Essex County Council reported.

Estimates only. Printing is costed at 5p a page for paper, toner and print-room time, before couriers or postage. Time saved assumes the 50% cut in agenda preparation that Essex reported.

120
120
12
5

Printing you could stop paying for

£8,640

a year

Officer time back

300 hrs

a year, about 8 working weeks

Pages no longer printed

172,800

a year

Get a tailored estimate for your council

Customer stories

Don’t take our word for it.

From county halls to parish clerks, here’s what happens when the paper goes.

Case study · Essex County Council

Half the time on agendas, and £7,000 a year saved, from one module.

Essex replaced an in-house system with CMIS in 2010, choosing it because it could be shaped around their own workflows. When they added Agenda Builder, the democratic services team cut agenda preparation time by at least half and reduced printing costs by more than £7,000 a year. Astech also imported more than ten years of archive, so officers, members and the public search one record.

Read the full case study
  • 50%less time preparing agendas
  • 20 hrssaved in an average month
  • £7,000+saved a year on printing
  • 10+ yrsof archive imported

“I no longer take paper copies of agendas to meetings. I can annotate documents on the app, insert notes and highlight sections of reports on my iPad.”

Steve GriffithsDemocratic Services Manager, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Using CMIS since 2004.

“Having an online solution saves us having to post out paperwork to each councillor, and then scan in and publish the returns.”

Kelly WigleyProject Manager, East Suffolk Council

“CMISlite has helped us take the vital first steps towards ‘digital by default’ council meetings… saving hours of an officer’s time when creating agenda and minute documents.”

Ian CooperDeputy Mayor, Shipston Town Council

“The commitment shown to continually support and develop the product based on user feedback via the CMIS user group will ensure that the product will always meet the e-government needs of authorities.”

West Midlands Fire ServiceCMIS customer case study

Why Astech

Built for the public sector. Backed by people you can call.

  • Nearly 30 years in local government

    We’ve worked alongside democratic services teams since 1997. CMIS is shaped by its user group and designed around legislation, not a sales script.

  • A team that picks up the phone

    A UK helpdesk, a dedicated account manager and a two-hour response for critical issues. Training is onsite or online, whichever suits you.

  • Secure by design

    Hosted in ISO 27001-certified data centres, with single sign-on, two-factor authentication, document-level permissions and remote wipe for the app.

  • Accessible by default

    Public-facing sites built to WCAG 2.1 AA and styled to match your corporate website, so residents get one seamless experience.

  • Open, not locked in

    An open API, integrations with webcasting and video-conferencing systems, and your data in standard formats such as XML and CSV whenever you need it.

  • Simple to buy

    Buy through G-Cloud or direct. Licences cover your whole organisation, so adding a user never means finding a new budget line.

Switching to Astech

Moving is easier than you think.

Start with a 30-minute call
  1. 1

    Talk it through

    A 30-minute call about how your committee cycle works today and what you’d change.

  2. 2

    See it with your meetings

    A tailored demo built around your own committees, templates and workflows.

  3. 3

    We set it up and move you in

    We configure CMIS around your processes and import your archive. Essex brought over ten years of papers with them.

  4. 4

    Train, launch, relax

    Onsite or online training for officers and members. The MyCMIS app is ready to use in minutes.

FAQs

Questions we’re often asked.

Can’t see yours? Call our Banbury team on 01608 665566 or email info@astech.co.uk.

Do councillors need to install anything?

No. CMIS runs in any modern web browser, so there’s nothing to install or maintain. Members who want paperless meetings can use the MyCMIS app on iPad, Android and Windows tablets, with offline access for when the Wi-Fi drops.

Can you move our existing agendas, minutes and decisions across?

Yes. We import historical papers as part of setup, so officers, members and the public keep one searchable archive. Essex County Council brought more than ten years of documents into CMIS.

Will we have to change the way we work?

As little as possible. CMIS is modular and configurable, so you can start with the parts you need, such as the agenda builder, and shape workflows around your constitution rather than the other way round.

How secure is it?

CMIS is hosted in ISO 27001-certified data centres and supports single sign-on, two-factor authentication and granular permissions down to individual documents. Restricted and exempt items stay restricted, and app data can be wiped remotely.

Is it accessible?

Public-facing CMIS websites are built to WCAG 2.1 AA, tested with tools such as Siteimprove and WAVE, and styled to match your own website.

How do we buy it?

You can buy CMIS through the G-Cloud framework or direct from us. Licences cover your organisation rather than individual seats. Book a demo and we’ll give you a clear quote.

We’re a small town or parish council. Is CMIS too much for us?

That’s what CMISlite is for: the same core tools at a size and price that suit smaller councils. Most users are up and running within 30 minutes.

We’re not a council. Is there something for us?

Yes. Congresso brings the same thinking to boards, trustees, charities and businesses, with plans from £540 a year.

What support do you provide?

Our UK helpdesk is open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, with phone and email support, a two-hour response for critical issues and a dedicated account manager. There’s also an online help system and customer forum.

Book a demo

See your next agenda built in minutes.

Book a 30-minute demo with our Banbury team. We’ll walk through your committee cycle, show you the tools that fit and give you an honest view of what you could save. No hard sell.

  • A walkthrough built around your own meetings
  • A tailored savings estimate for your organisation
  • A clear quote, through G-Cloud or direct

Prefer to talk?

01608 665566 info@astech.co.uk

Existing customer? Contact customer support

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