#arkcasefoia

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

E-DISCOVERY AND FOIA: WHY FOIA AGENCIES NEED E-DISCOVERY SOFTWARE INTEGRATION?

This is an excerpt from E-DISCOVERY AND FOIA: WHY FOIA AGENCIES NEED E-DISCOVERY SOFTWARE INTEGRATION?

WHAT IS FOIA?

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), also known as Public Records and FOI, represents the civil right of access to records held by the Government.

The Act defines what agency records are subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures, and defines the 9 exemptions to the statute:

1.     Information that is classified to protect national security.

2.     Information related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency.

3.     Information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law.

4.     Trade secrets or commercial or financial information that is confidential or privileged.

5.     Privileged communications within or between agencies.

6.     Information that, if disclosed, would invade another individual’s personal privacy.

7.     Information compiled for law enforcement purposes that:

o    Could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,

o    Would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication,

o    Could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,

o    Could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source,

o    Would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions. Or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law,

o    Could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.

8.     Information that concerns the supervision of financial institutions.

9.     Geological information on wells.

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

ELIMINATING FOIA BOTTLENECKS WITH MODERN FOIA SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

This is an excerpt from Armedia.com

Manual processes of handling FOIA requests is both labor-intensive and time-consuming. Searching and reviewing documents to identify the material in the classification guidelines is a difficult and complex process. And, proper document marking can take up to several weeks. The truth is that managing, searching, and sharing documents efficiently costs the government money and time. These inefficiencies result in an inability to respond to FOIA requests in time, increased time spent on searching and accessing relevant data, and can jeopardize government compliance.

Armedia’s FOIA Software Solution helps government agencies eliminate FOIA bottlenecks and find and access the data they need quickly and cost-effectively. Our FOIA Software Solution provides automatic generation of compound term metadata and significantly improves access to unstructured data. With a wide range of tools for searching, metadata generation, and classification, agencies that seek to reduce costs, access to unstructured data, and facilitate the management, can now achieve significant improvements.

FOIA CHALLENGES THAT GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ARE FACING

As we’ve mentioned before, the challenge of managing, searching, finding, and sharing information on time costs the government money and time. Some of the issues regarding these challenges include:

Information retrieval in files, document management systems, and e-mail servers at the local level lowers the quality of information in the FOIA response.

The items that are still open after 20 days, increase the average cost of processing.

Inability to satisfy stakeholder and citizen requirements in a timely manner places additional burdens on the employees to meet the increasing information access requests of different constituents.

Responding to FOIA requests on time and ensuring government compliance is a complex and costly process. The classification/declassification process is usually inefficient and requires fairly big human resources and escalating costs for managing.

As the FOIA requests increase in volume, the government agencies are facing escalating costs for managing and integrating information and large backlogs of FOIA requests.

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

FOIA RECORDS REQUEST: 10 PRACTICES TO IMPROVE YOUR FOIA PROCESSES

This is an excerpt taken from Armedia.com 

With large-scale repetitive processes like FOIA requests management, it makes perfect sense to try and optimize the workflow as much as possible

Even a minor process improvement can mean avoiding tons of unneeded repetitive work.

Here are some of the best practices to improve your FOIA records request processes. Even if you apply one improvement to your workflow, the amount of avoided repetitive work can be enormous.

1.       PUT MORE INFORMATION ONLINE

Enabling the public to self-serve with more information online is the best way to fight increases in information release requests. Many agencies, such as the EPA, have used this practice to make whole categories of requests unnecessary.

That saved them millions of dollars in workload related expenses.

Now, you might be saying to yourself, “But the majority of our requests are for very particular documents that only one would want.”

Well, that may be true for most of the requests. But even if only 10% of your requests are for records you will release proactively, that’s still a considerable amount of time saved for your agency and for the public.

1.       TRACK THE NUMBER OF REQUESTS YOU GET

You would be startled to know just how many agencies are a bit behind on this or are not tracking agency-wide.

Ask yourself this:

“Could I easily and quickly discover the number of FOIA records request my whole agency, including all the departments, received this past year?”

If the answer is no, then you are putting yourself at serious legal risk. Also, you will not be able to determine how you can improve the FOIA records request processes for your staff and the public.

But that’s why Armedia is here to help you out. With Armedia FOIA request management solution, all requesters receive a tracking number by which they can very easily track the number of requests they get. The solution also notifies requesters of the track in which the request is placed.

Moreover, notifications allow for an easily accessible option for you to view the assigned tasks and finish your work.

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

Overcoming FOIA Backlogs With A Proper FOIA Request Management Solution

More proactive information disclosure and higher transparency are the current needs of federal agencies responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Complying with the FOIA is the essential way in which the government agencies serve US democracy. But, the reality is that complying these regulations is extremely expensive and time-consuming.

1. EASILY DETERMINE IF DOCUMENTS MEET THE NEEDS OF THE FOIA REQUEST

Government agencies can use automated FOIA request solutions to determine more easily if all the documents meet the needs of the request. Furthermore, government agencies need to be able to manage FOIA requests on an annual basis. Utilizing FOIA software solution will not only help them in streamlining the whole process internally but also in reporting outside entities.

ArkCase FOIA software solution has capabilities for document production, processing, and recordkeeping which enable users to:

·         Considerably reducing the time for searching and photocopying,

·         Download, email, or batch print after redacting documents,

·         Save redacted record collections for future requests.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Government agencies are rapidly beginning to take advantage of automated FOIA software solutions and are showing exceedingly positive results.

Some agencies have concerns that adopting a FOIA software solution will mean throwing their currently established processes and starting from scratch. To avoid such a radical step, some of the government agencies are going to vendors asking for completely customized FOIA workflows. And some of them are implementing solutions built just for a specific purpose such as document redaction. Most solutions that only offer reduction do not offer document repository and a web-based solution, and they don’t offer eFOIA solutions.

This is where Armedia steps in with ArkCase FOIA request management solution. Armedia has partnered with ArkCase, Ephesoft, Alfresco, Amazon Web Services, and Snowbound and has managed to successfully deliver an automated FOIA/PA case management solution that is highly configurable, scalable, and compliant.

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

FOIA SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS – AUTOMATE YOUR FOIA REQUESTS WITH ARMEDIA’S FOIA AUTOMATION MODULE

This is an excerpt from Armedia.com

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which supports release of information (ROI) gives citizens the right to request access to undisclosed information, managed by the government. Citizens are becoming more aware of their rights and are increasingly using FOIA to get more information about government actions that affect them. On the other hand, the government can’t keep pace with the flood of FOIA requests.

FOIA organizations are lagging behind a constantly growing and challenging workload. While almost every part of government has implemented some workflow automation, the changing demands and increasing complexity of the FOIA have led to lapses in effectively processing requests.

Every agency that handles FOIA requests wants to build a system that will support its primary tasks and improve the entire organization’s performance. Every year the number of FOIA requests increases together with the FOIA backlog. An effective solution for organizations to handle this backlog is automation of FOIA requests.

HOW WILL FOIA REQUEST MANAGEMENT SOLUTION HELP ORGANIZATIONS?

FOIA is all about taking information and making it available to citizens, ensuring that the information is safe for publishing, and then granting access to those who requested this information. A software solution to handle all these tasks should promote efficiency and collaboration within the organization. Here’s a short list:

·         Automating FOIA requests will help organizations throw away the black marker and white tape, and respond to requests more efficiently and quickly.

·         Organizations will have a more systematic way of organizing information and can minimize challenges while searching and accessing large volumes of records in different systems.

·         Organizations will be able to meet legislated deadlines and improve their accuracy and timely reporting.

·         Employees will be able to do much more with the same resources, reduce the backlog and provide better service to the citizens.

Having an automated solution for managing FOIA requests will help your organization minimize manual redaction, speed up requests handling, collaborate in more effective ways and facilitate citizen self-service.

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

WHY FOIA PROFESSIONALS SHOULD CARE ABOUT DOD 5015 COMPLIANCE

This is an excerpt taken from Armedia.com

The UC Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems addressed the growing need for more efficient Records Management in 2003, reporting:

“The world’s total yearly production of print, film, optical, and magnetic content would require roughly 1.5 billion gigabytes of storage. This is the equivalent of 250 megabytes per person for each man, woman, and child on earth… Over 96% of business information is in digital format, 1% is on paper and that 70% is never printed.”

In 2013,  15 years later, Seeking Alpha published a blog post in which they claim that since 2015, 90% of the world’s data has been generated:

“That year [2015], the digital universe, i.e., the reservoir of data created and copied, totaled less than 10 zettabytes – that would be 10, followed by 21 zeros. By 2020, it is expected to grow more than four times to 44 zettabytes. Just five years after that, it could reach 180 zettabytes”.

I don’t know about you, but I found this information startling.

And as the numbers show, year after year, effective records management becomes even more critical.

Government agencies are one of the largest contributors to the growth of records in the US.  In addition, most of the data that government agencies create are governed by at least one data-handling legislation. This kind of complexity brings agencies to a point of having to rely on records management software.

Furthermore, things get even more complex because some of the government records should be released in the public as per the Freedom of Information Act. Then the records management system should enable the FOIA agencies to quickly, easily and legally release certain documents that can be released, while being able to do a needed redaction of that document before it is released to the requestor.

So, if you are the one in charge of choosing a records management solution for your FOIA agency, DoD 5015 compliant software is a good starting point.

Let’s shed some light on what DoD 5015 really is and why FOIA agencies need a DoD 5015 compliant software.

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

CHEAP, EXPENSIVE, OPTIMAL: HOW TO FIND A RELIABLE, COST-EFFECTIVE FOIA SOFTWARE SOLUTION

This is an excerpt taken from Armedia.com

We all know that price is not always the indicator of quality, and yet, we still tend to make rash judgments based solely on the price tag of a product. You have probably been in a situation like this: looking at the product name, and jumping to the bottom line, and skipping all the Features list. That’s how we end up buying cheap solutions that in the end, get us paying twice.

The world of FOIA Software Solutions is no different. Organizations, led by the acceptable asking price and crafty marketing tricks end up buying an FOIA Software Solution that will prove to be painfully expensive in the long run.

As someone who has been in the industry for almost two decades, the best software purchasing advice I can give is: Don’t look at the price tag before you spend considerable time looking at the quality of the solution. Let me expand on this a bit.

TO CHEAP OR NOT TO CHEAP: WHERE DOES QUALITY RESIDE?

It never ceases to amaze me just how many people buy so many things, and the reason for purchase is “because it’s cheap.” Buyer’s Remorse is probably the flip side of this reason.

Most people end up realizing that something cheap that doesn’t do the job is actually an expense. A wasted chunk of cash.

Expensive FOIA Software Solutions, or any other solution for that matter, don’t always deliver a service proportional to the paid amount of money.

Very often, we end up paying for the name of the company, instead of the product. Good for the company. Bad for us the buyers.

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

ARKCASE FOIA SOFTWARE SOLUTION: THE RELIABLE, COMPLIANT SOLUTION FOR FOIA AGENCIES

This is an excerpt taken from Armedia.com 

Balancing the public’s right to information with the need for cybersecurity is a difficult job. But, modern technology and standardized workflows can make this a reliable process.

Our team at Armedia knows how important cyber-security is, and with our 15 years of experience in the industry, our team knows how to be a leader in the game.

Trying to help FOIA agencies to increase transparency, without crossing the thin line between transparency and security, we’ve partnered with ArkCase to build the ArkCase FOIA solution. In my humble opinion, this is perhaps the top-range modern FOIA Software Solution.

In collaboration with industry leaders like ArkCase, Alfresco, AWS, Ephesoft etc. we provide customized, robust FOIA Software Solution with the following features:

Customized processes/procedures/controls. This customization prevents those unintentional cyber-threats we talked about. This way each employee will know when and what to do in the process, reducing time, effort, human errors, and data leakage.

Federated and advanced search. This feature allows employees to easily search through the documents for a specific keyword and key phrase. This way, your employees can easily find needed information and respond to the FOIA requests much faster.

Security and access controls. Armedia has collaborated with Alfresco, the only open-source and DoD 5015 compliant data management platform. This means that with the ArkCase FOIA Software Solution, FOIA agencies don’t need to worry about data security. We have built-in security measures that will stop any prying eyes from ever seeing something that’s not supposed to go public.

One interface for communication. Unlike the old e-mail systems for communication that outdated solutions use, the ArkCase FOIA Software Solution uses one interface for communication with both colleagues/departments/organizations and requesters. This feature dramatically contributes to the prevention of cyber attacks and data leakage.

Centralized database. The centralized database of this FOIA Software Solution allows great storage and easy access to all data in one single place. Armedia uses AWS Cloud for secure data storage so every FOIA agency can be sure their data is safely stored and can be accessed whenever needed, only by authorized people.

All these features add up to a modern FOIA Software Solution that helps FOIA agencies protect themselves from cyber attacks while at the same time improve their performance and productivity.