#reliablefoiasoftware

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

THE 4 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OLD VS MODERN FOIA SOFTWARE SOLUTION

This is an excerpt from Armedia.com

Does your government agency have a difficult time keeping pace with responding to FOIA requests? That is likely due to having an old instead of a modern FOIA software solution. The FOIA Project made a study where they submitted an FOIA request to 21 different federal agencies to determine response rates. Two months after they submitted the requests, only seven government agencies responded adequately by providing records.

Federal agencies are as well inefficient when it comes to handling their records. It can be tough for federal agencies to find the particular records because they are flooded with electronic data. To make things even worse, they not only are continuously producing and collecting data, but also plenty of them must retain everything in continuity. So, there’s plenty to sort through when an FOIA request knocks on the door.

It stands to reason that government agencies need a modern FOIA software solutions to deal with the FOIA deluge. Here are a few differences between an old vs modern FOIA software solution and how it can help.

1.     PRE-COLLECTION ANALYTICS

Having a modern FOIA software solution for your government agency that provides pre-collection analytics is highly beneficial. They allow the agencies to estimate the breadth of an FOIA request immediately through keywords and other advanced searching, which in turn limits the amount of data that has to be extracted from the given repository to fulfill the request.

2.     PRE-REDACTION AND DOCUMENT REPOSITORY

A modern FOIA software solution that can pre-redact data is highly beneficial. Most of the data that the government agencies are redacting is PII (Personally Identifiable Information) and can be found in the exact location for many FOIA requests. An automated tool that aids in locating records and redacts exempt material automatically is also beneficial for every FOIA agency.

[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]

THE RIGHT FOIA SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION TO MANAGE PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS – 15 KEY FEATURES

This is an excerpt from Armedia.com

Today, agencies are actively looking for the right software management solution in order to increase the rate and quality for responding to public records requests. Back then, agencies used basic web forms, fillable PDF’s, and even faxed requests. As solutions, such as Armedia FOIA Software Management Solution, come to market it is essential to understand what features are a must-have. Check out the 15 key features that you should look for in a software management solution.

 FOIA SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION: PLATFORM

The technology that runs the application is critical. It is what determines if the tool will keep up with the modern developments and your environment and if it will become a part of your daily operations or a severe thorn in your side.

 1. CLOUD-BASED

Modern FOIA software solutions should be cloud-based because they better support the way users consume technology and simplify the access to information. Our Armedia cloud-based solutions are way more secure, easier to manage, and have more frequent enhancements than ordinary, local solutions.

 2. COMPLIANT

The solution you choose should be compliant in three ways:

·         Functionality to support local and national legislation

·         Security certifications such as SOC II Type II

·         Cloud infrastructure

Armedia is compliant in all these ways.

3. LOW MAINTENANCE AND EASY SETUP

If the solution requires a lot of effort and provides poor customer service, it will eventually cause more headaches than benefits. Low maintenance has much to do with how the solution is set up and supported, and who is doing it. Armedia FOIA software management solution has a comprehensive dashboard with a point-and-click user interface (no coding required). So your vendor should be able to set up our solution promptly and have a path for customizations that do not include extensive projects.

[thelegalcasemanagement-blog]

HOW A MODERN FOIA SOFTWARE SOLUTION CAN SOLVE THE OVERWORKED STAFF PROBLEM

This is an excerpt taken from Armedia.com

Are you looking for ways to solve the overworked staff problem in your department? Sure, each and every agency wants to increase the effectiveness of their staff and the maturity of their department. However, only a few companies understand the core of the problem. That’s where our Armedia modern FOIA software solution comes in, to help you understand and solve the problem.

Perhaps you’re thinking,

“I don’t need a new solution. I don’t need software. I just need more, better staff.”

No, your agency does not need more, better staff. It needs increased efficiency in their productivity. We will now explain in detail how can you achieve that through a modern FOIA software solution.

ARMEDIA AS A MODERN FOIA SOFTWARE SOLUTION

Armedia’s modern FOIA software solution delivers better staff outcomes at a lower cost and with more significant productivity – by as much as 40 percent. It will save your agency staff members a lot of time, and you will have satisfied citizens. Here’s how.

[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]

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.