JustFOIA has made processing public records requests so easy. Before I used an Excel spreadsheet and my calendar to track my public records requests. JustFOIA keeps everything in one place. I've seen an uptick in requests for emails. The software's PST extractor tool makes uploading and reviewing emails a breeze. It easily removes duplicate emails, and I am easily able to search the email for keywords instead of reading each email like I used to. My response time for requests has been drastically reduced. I can also easily delegate searches to other staff members. The email templates have made responding to requests simple. I also love the ability to run a quick report to update my leaders on public records requests. Last but not least, the team at JustFOIA is amazing! Each person I interacted with each step of the way was helpful and friendly. Ashley set up our portal and form. She also trained us on how to use the software. She is the BEST! She was patient, kind, and very responsive. I was quick to answer any questions we had. If she didn't know the answer, she found it and communicated every step of the way. She even answered the questions we didn't know to ask. She made implementation so easy and provided a training template that I could use with my team. After our training period, Ashley left us in Cameron's capable hands. I haven't had to reach out to Cameron very often, but he is quick to reply and understanding. He doesn't make me feel dumb when I ask a stupid question. The care and responsiveness we've received the entire team has made us feel like we are their only client. I would highly recommend JustFOIA as it is an amazing product with amazing people behind it!

We needed a one-stop shop for PRA processing, a hub where all PRAs lived, where staff had the capabilities to review, redact, retain, and release records, correspond with each other, correspond with the requester, and have all the backup documentation of the who, what, when, where, and how in case something ever came up, if someone wasn’t satisfied, if someone didn’t get their records, if someone said they didn’t get communicated with; we had it all at our fingertips with JustFOIA. Not only did we need a one-stop shop for PRA processing, we needed a team that could train us from the ground up to utilize this program in the most efficient way possible; JustFOIA was able to walk through our dreadful process, break it down, and connect the dots without causing chaos; in our history at San Marcos, we have never had such a successful program rollout where everyone felt they had the training, they had the access, and they had the ability to dive in. JustFOIA made the transition successful with their support. From Murray to Ashley, to Kit, Cameron, and Chris, we have had nothing but unreasonably amazing service and support to the point that there are times that I wish things would mess up more, so I had an excuse to reach out and catch up because they’ve been wonderful people to walk this journey with. We went from releasing general PRAs at the 10-day mark to consistently releasing these records in 3 days, because our staff isn’t spending days on end going through the process to ensure every little email is sent, record is uploaded in one place, communicated in another, and so forth. We have seen an absurd amount of public-use from the portal, so consider that our PRAs seem to have tripled and yet we are consistently releasing records quickly and efficiently; we often get kudos from our repeat requesters about how much they love the portal, how user friendly it is, and how it doesn’t compare to some of the other platforms that other cities are using.

The two best features for our municipality is the fact that more than one individual can work on a request at one time and the PST extractor that helps us identify and pull duplicate emails. Hundreds of hours of work will be saved annually.