The document describes Richland County, South Carolina's implementation of an OnBase FOIA tracking solution. Key points: - OnBase was implemented to track Freedom of Information Act requests across 29 county departments and over 80 users in a centralized, digital system. - Previously, FOIA requests were managed manually through separate emails between departments, resulting in untimely and incomplete responses. - The OnBase solution integrates with the county's 311 call center software. FOIA requests are created in 311, routed to departments through OnBase, and departments upload responsive documents. - OnBase workflows and queues manage the FOIA lifecycle from initial request to final response. Dashboards provide visibility into requests'

1. Bhanu Korremula, Richland County, SC
Richland County OnBase FOIA Tracking

2. Agenda
1. Introduction
2. Richland County’s OnBase
FOIA Tracking Solution
3. Questions
#CommunityLIVE

3. OnBase FOIA Tracking Overview
• FOIA(Freedom of Information Act) Tracking
• FOIA Act is great for government transparency and citizen
engagement
• Solution for 29+ departments and 80+ users
• FOIA Requests are sent to all the departments and responses
tracked in OnBase
• Departments upload the documents to OnBase
• OnBase workflow enforces that the right documents are collected

4. 311 Call Center and FOIA Requests
• Challenges of Meeting FOIA Requests (before solution)
• Send FOIA requests manually to 29+ departments
• About 80+ users can respond with separate emails
• Manual tracking of department responses and documents
• Manual tracking of the inter departmental and citizen
communication
• Lots of paper work to keep up with manually
• Not timely and incomplete responses can lead to lawsuits

5. FOIA Solution diagram
#CommunityLIVE
Citizen files
for FOIA
Request
Create a OnBase DIP file using
SSIS Package
OnBase FOIA Tracking form is
created, keywords populated
311 Call Center uses OnBase
Unity client to send FOIA
Requests to 29 departments
Departments respond and
upload documents in OnBase
Outlook Integration
Update 311 CallCenter Software
using KMWebApp (Custom web
application)
311 runs OnBase Dashboard
reports
Create FOIA Requests in 311
Call Center Software
311 Call Center sends
documents to Legal dept. Legal
does redactions in OnBase
311 Call Center sends
requested documents to Citizen

6. 311 Call Center and FOIA Requests
• How the Solution Works (connecting OnBase and 311)
• OnBase DIP file of FOIA Request is created by SSIS package
• OnBase reads the DIP file creates FOIA Tracking form and updates
the keywords
• OnBase Workflow has two life cycles FOIA lifecycle and
Department lifecycle
• 311 users launch OnBase Unity client and then send/track FOIA
Request to 29+ departments
• Departments respond and upload the documents

7. 311 FOIA Life Cycle

8. FOIA Department Life Cycle

9. OnBase FOIA Tracking Queues
• OMB-FOIA-New Request Queue: FOIA Request enters this queue after the DIP Process. 311 employees review, send acknowledgement to the
requestor and send it out to all departments
• OMB-FOIA-Hold for Department Response: FOIA Request stays in this queue till all departments respond
• OMB-FOIA-Dept Response: Departments respond with Yes, No, Need Additional and Need Clarification to the FOIA Request. Departments use
OnBase Outlook integration to respond. This queue is load balanced and each departments only sees FOIA Requests for the their department
• OMB-FOIA-Missing Response: If the departments do not respond after 3 attempts FOIA Request is moved to this queue
• OMB-Ready for Processing: FOIA Request enters this queue after all departments have responded and then the fee information is sent to the
requestor
• OMB-Hold for Requestor Response: FOIA Request enters this queue after fee information is sent to the requester and stays until the payment is
received
• OMB-FOIA-Dept Document Gathering: Departments upload documents to OnBase in this queue
• OMB-FOIA-Dept Hold for Document Gathering: After all departments have completed uploading the documents 311 employee sends the FOIA
Request for legal review
• OMB-FOIA-Legal Review: FOIA Request is reviewed and redacted by legal department. Legal decides to release or not to release documents
• OMB-FOIA-Fulfillment: Ombudsman delivers the documents to requester
• OMB-FOIA-Exit Queue: FOIA Request enters this queue when the processing is complete and stays for 30 days and drops off

10. OnBase FOIA Queues and Workflow

11. Departments Response
• Departments respond in OnBase
outlook integration
• Departments respond with yes,
no, need clarification or need
additional time

12. Documents upload
• Departments upload documents to OnBase using outlook
integration

13. Legal Department Process
• Legal does redactions and document modifications in OnBase Unity
Client

14. OnBase Dashboards
• OnBase Unity dashboards are awesome information radiators
• Help users to identify departments that are not responding and FOIA requests that
need attention
• Drill down dashboards were created
• Different types of dashboards that were created
• FOIA Missing Response Report
• FOIA Active Requests Summary Report
• FOIA 10 Days To Respond Report
• FOIA 20 Days To Respond Report
• FOIA 30 Days To Provide Documents Report
• FOIA 35 Days To Provide Documents Report

15. Missing Response Report

16. FOIA 10 Days to Respond Report

17. FOIA Active Requests Summary Report

18. Lessons learned
• Create active directory groups for the each department
• When users log into the unity client or outlook OnBase integration
their user names and groups are automatically created in OnBase
configuration
• Have detailed implementation plans
• Have custom programs to change the configuration files to point users
to different environments DEV or PROD as needed
• Training of users is very important
• Use dashboards to show movement throughout the queues

19. Questions?

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