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Module 1 · Foundations · Lesson 3 of 13 · 3 minutes to prepare

Work from an iPad or phone at the capitol

You can answer a question from a hearing room on an iPad without hunting through a desktop-shaped screen.

Open QuorumQuorum Help CenterFormal training in Quorum School

The BMS scenario

You're in a statehouse hallway between meetings and need the bill, the stance and the note — now.

When to use it

Travel days, hearings and capitol visits.

Why it matters

The moment you're asked BMS's position live, in a hearing room or a hallway, is exactly when a slow, desktop-shaped screen costs you credibility. Mobile readiness has to be tested before that moment, not during it.

Before you start

  • Your iPad or phone signed in to Quorum before you travel — not in the hallway.
  • The sheet or dashboard you'll need saved and named, so it is one tap away.

Field guide

Home screen / add-to-device shortcut
Add it before travel — doing this for the first time in a hearing room wastes the minutes you needed.
Column selection on the mobile sheet view
Keep it to bill, status, stance, owner. Every extra column is a reason to scroll sideways under time pressure.
Session persistence / stay signed in
Confirm the login holds overnight before travel day, since a forced re-login in the field can cost you SSO round-trip time you don't have.

If your situation is different

  • If you're covering a hearing in a state with poor venue wifi or cell signal, pre-load the specific bill profiles you expect to need so they're cached, and write notes to a local note first if the record won't save live.
  • If someone else on the team is taking the live notes and you're just watching, agree beforehand who owns writing to the bill record, so the same testimony doesn't get duplicated by two people.
  • If you need to update a stance live based on testimony, confirm you personally have edit rights on that field before the hearing, not during it — check with your Quorum admin ahead of time.

Step by step

Steps describe the general Quorum workflow. What your seat shows depends on the BMS subscription — check with your Quorum admin if a control isn't there.

  1. 1

    Prepare the view before you travel

    Build a compact sheet or dashboard for the trip — the bills, states and officials on the agenda — so you're not filtering one-handed.

    Do this in Quorum

    1. 1.1Sign in on the device the day before and confirm the session holds.
    2. 1.2Open the two views you'll actually use and let them load once.
    3. 1.3Add Quorum to your device home screen so it opens without the browser chrome.

    You know it worked when: Quorum opens signed-in from the home screen icon.

  2. 2

    Bookmark it on the device

    Save the dashboard link to your iPad or phone home screen and sign in once before you leave.

    Do this in Quorum

    1. 2.1Reduce the sheet to the few columns that matter on a small screen: bill, status, stance, owner.
    2. 2.2Save that column set as its own view rather than reformatting on the day.
    3. 2.3Confirm it renders without horizontal scrolling on the device.

    You know it worked when: The mobile view fits the screen with no sideways scroll.

  3. 3

    Read from the bill profile

    The profile carries summary, status and your stance note in one place, which is what you need in a hallway conversation.

    Do this in Quorum

    1. 3.1Practice the one action you'll need live — usually updating a stance or adding a note.
    2. 3.2Do it once on the device so you know where the control sits.
    3. 3.3Time it — if a stance update takes more than a few taps, trim the view further.

    You know it worked when: You updated a test record on the device successfully.

  4. 4

    Capture outcomes the same day

    Add the note or stance update while you're still on site; detail decays fast between meetings.

    Do this in Quorum

    1. 4.1Capture notes into the bill record on the device rather than a separate notes app.
    2. 4.2If connectivity is poor, write the note the moment you have signal, while the detail is fresh.
    3. 4.3Sync back with your sheet once you're back on wifi and confirm the note landed on the right bill.

    You know it worked when: The note is on the bill record, not in a separate app.

Common mistakes

  • Testing mobile access for the first time in the hearing room.

    Fix: Do the full dry run — sign-in, view, one edit — the day before.

  • Using the full desktop column set on a small screen.

    Fix: Build and save a trimmed mobile-specific view ahead of time.

  • Writing hearing notes in a separate notes app 'to move over later'.

    Fix: Write directly into the bill record when possible; 'later' rarely happens before the detail is lost.

  • Assuming connectivity will hold for the whole hearing.

    Fix: Capture the note the moment you have signal rather than waiting for a stable connection.

Prompts to run in Quincy, inside Quorum

Quincy is the agentic layer in Quorum — it works on your live data. Copy a prompt into Quincy after you log in. If you want the steps explained first, ask the site guide.

  • "Give me a one-paragraph refresher on this bill's status before I walk into the hearing."
  • "Turn these three rough notes into a clean bill-record entry."
Open Quincy in Quorum

Practice it now

  1. 1) Run a five-minute dry run on the device: open the sheet, find one bill, change its stance, add a note.
Open Quorum and try it

Done looks like this

  • A mobile-shaped view saved and tested before you need it.
  • Notes land on the bill record the same day.

When to stop and ask

If the mobile view is missing an edit control you rely on at your desk, or SSO won't hold a session on your device, raise it with a Quorum admin or the BMS account team (Michael Fuentes, michael.fuentes@quorum.us) before the day you need it.