U.S. Department of Transportation · Government · Washington, DC · 22 weeks
Data governance framework deployed across 6 regional offices
A federal transportation agency struggled with a 34-day average response time for FOIA requests because data was scattered across six regional offices without a central catalog. We created a governance framework and centralized data catalog, cutting response times to 8 days and preventing $1.2 million in yearly penalties for late replies.
Challenge
The agency handled 2,400 FOIA requests a year but took 34 days on average to respond, far beyond the 20-day legal limit. The main issue was data scattered across six regional offices without a central catalog. Staff had to manually contact each office and compile records by hand. This inefficient process cost the agency $1.2 million in penalties last year.
Approach
We created a centralized data catalog covering all data assets from six regional offices. We automated classification based on FOIA sensitivity and retention rules. Next, we developed a FOIA response workflow that used this catalog to find relevant records and send them directly to the right regional custodians for review.
Outcome
FOIA response times fell from 34 days to 8 days in three months after deployment. This stopped $1.2 million in yearly penalties. By centralizing the data catalog, we cut storage costs by $340,000 annually by uncovering and removing 18TB of duplicate data.
How We Put Together a Data Catalog That Nailed Every FOIA Requirement
FOIA requests used to be a total headache because the data was scattered everywhere. So, we rolled up our sleeves and created a central catalog that organized and labeled every piece of data. After that, the FOIA team could find what they needed in minutes instead of hours. It cut their response times way down.
We put together a simple tool that sorts data by how sensitive it is. No more guessing games. It gets the job done right every single time.
We dove into three years of FOIA request data and whipped up a model to catch sensitive info. The coolest thing? What used to eat up hours to review now happens in seconds.
We chopped out 18TB of duplicate data and sped the system up big time.
So, we took a deep dive into their catalog and uncovered a massive 18TB of duplicate data spread across six regional offices. That was a significant finding. All that redundant data was burning through $340K a year just on storage fees. The kicker? We slashed those costs without dragging out some huge, complicated plan.
Results
- 34 days to 8 days FOIA response time
- $1.2M Annual penalties eliminated
- 2,400 Annual FOIA requests handled
- $340K Annual storage savings
We were spending $1.2 million a year on FOIA penalties because we couldn’t find our data fast enough. Thinklytics set up a catalog that maps out where all our data lives. Now, we’re getting responses back in about 8 days on average.