Customer Service: The Web
After a year of development, OGIS launched a new web site and case management system in November 2011. The web site and OGIS Access System together help OGIS manage cases, allow OGIS customers to submit online requests for assistance and check the status of their requests, and provide requesters and agencies with tools and tips for navigating the FOIA process.
The project launch represents several milestones for OGIS:
- The case management system manages more effectively and efficiently
the requests for assistance that FOIA requesters and agencies
bring to OGIS. - The system’s built-in workflows and document repositories
streamline and increase the transparency of OGIS’s work. - The system is among the first generation of Federal Government
online services operating in the data cloud.
The system’s design is aimed at improving service to customers: requesters and agencies. The system allows OGIS staff to securely log into its nonpublic side to manage cases and update the web site. The web site features materials and resources designed to help requester and agency constituents with the most frequently used items in the OGIS Toolbox.
Some of the web site’s features are
- A searchable library of FOIA terms and concepts
- An online submission process for requesters and agencies to
request OGIS assistance - Customers’ ability to review in real-time the status of OGIS cases
- Capability to engage with the public on ways to improve FOIA
- The OGIS Blog: The FOIA Ombudsman: Information and Advice
The case management system can be accessed on OGIS’s web site.
Through its parent agency, the National Archives, OGIS also began partnering with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Commerce to help build a multiagency FOIA portal to automate FOIA processing and reporting, store FOIA requests and responses in a repository, and allow requesters to track the status of requests. The project is being built by leveraging the infrastructure of regulations.gov, which is being re-tooled to handle FOIA requests. More partners are welcome.
