The Problem

In early 2011, the Government and Public Affairs (GPA) Department in San Antonio became responsible for the City’s Open Records Request (ORR) process. The volume of requests for documents received by San Antonio has increased by more than 600% over the last 5 years as the general public has demanded more transparency from their governments.

The Solution

San Antonio implemented GovQA’s Compliance Suite to facilitate the processing of ORR organization-wide. Despite the increase in request volume, San Antonio has decreased the average number of days to complete ORR from 24 days in 2012 to just 8 days in 2017. To date, the Office of the Attorney General in Texas has not assessed any penalties against San Antonio for failure to properly respond to an Open Records Request.

A process built around GovQA’s Compliance Suite allows San Antonio to efficiently manage the over 500 Public Records Requests received across all departments on a daily basis. Automated workflow rules assign requests based on information provided by a requester. Staff members receive automatic reminders as request due dates approach, ensuring no requests slip through the cracks without proper response. Staff in various departments communicate and collaborate with each other using tools within the GovQA Compliance Suite.