Intake (Advanced Access)

Once a FOIA request is received, the Intake step begins. During this phase, the agency reviews the request and decides if it passes FOIA submission policies (perfection). The agency assigns a category to further define the request and provides a first response to the request submitter. If applicable, fees are also collected during this phase.

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Intake details for the coordinator

FOIA agencies review and process requests through the RelativityOne FOIA environment. To access the environment, log in to RelativityOne and click FOIA in the sidebar menu.

The RelativityOne FOIA landing page displays a dashboard, followed by a list of active requests. Click the Request ID to open the request details and FOIA workflow steps.

The Request Details screen displays information that the requester submitted. There is also a Case Summary, an AI-driven analysis of the case narrative. The Case Summary block does not appear when there are insufficient details for analysis.

Request coordinators confirm that FOIA requests meet all required policies and, once complete, mark them as perfected to move the request to the search stage.

Intake sub-steps

There are two sub-steps for Intake: Evaluation and Confirm Perfection.

Evaluation

Click Evaluation to open the modal. The modal displays all of the uncompleted sub-steps. Completed sub-steps are not displayed in the modal.

Fee Category Decision

The requester assigned a fee category to their request. Their options were:

• Commercial
• Educational or scientific
• Media
• Other

During evaluation, you can agree or disagree with the requester's selection. If you disagree, you must reassign the category to one of the remaining options.

Steps:

1. Select either Agree or Disagree.
2. If you select Disagree, select a new Fee Category.
3. Use the Notes on Decision box to add any comments for future reference.

Fee Waiver

If the requester asked for a fee waiver, review their justification, then either grant, moot, or deny the waiver.

Steps:

1. Click Grant, Moot, or Deny for your decision. A moot decision means the fee waiver does not apply to the request.
2. Use the Notes on Decision box to add any comments for future reference.

Expedited Processing

If the requester asked for expedited processing, review their justification, then either grant, moot, or deny the waiver.

Steps:

1. Click Grant, Moot, or Deny for your decision. A moot decision means expedited processing does not apply to the request.
2. Use the Notes on Decision box to add any comments for future reference.

Processing Track Assignment

Track assignment is the expected effort and urgency required to complete the request.

Steps:

1. Select a Processing Track option.
   • Simple—minimal effort; small amount of records.
   • Complex—requires significant time or resources to complete the request. Complex requests generally consist of a larger number of records, multiple offices, sensitive data, or urgent public interest.
   • Expedited—takes priority over other requests. There must be a compelling need for expedited requests.
2. Use the Notes on Decision box to add any comments for future reference.

First Party

You can change the requester's first party request entry. If marked yes, the requester is the individual named in the records or is authorized to represent the individual named in the records.

Steps:

1. Select Yes or No for Is this a First Party Request?
2. Use the Notes on Decision box to add any comments for future reference.

Search Manager

In this section, you will assign the request to the appropriate office, group, or person responsible for reviewing or processing or the request. When you select an option, additional fields will appear that you will use to further define the assignment.

Steps:

1. Select an Assignment Type.
   • Office—use this option to assign the processing to an office or organization.
     • Office—select an office or organization from the drop-down menu.
     • User (Optional)—select a user from the drop-down menu. Users are filtered based on the office you select.
   • Group—use this option to assign the processing to a predefined group.
     • Group—select a group from the drop-down menu.
   • User—use this option to assign the processing to a single user.
     • User—select a user from the drop-down menu.
2. Click Assign.

Save your entries

Now that you have completed the evaluation steps, select Save at the bottom of the modal to commit your responses and return to the Intake screen.

Note now, the progress bar buttons on the Intake screen are now green, indicating you have successfully completed the steps.

Confirm Perfection

Perfection means all of the components of the request have been met according to policy and the request can be routed to the office responsible for researching documents. Click Confirm Perfection to get started. The Confirm Perfection modal opens.

1. Is the request reasonably described?—Select Yes or No. You must enter a reason if you select No. You cannot perfect the request if you select No.
2. Is the request made in accordance with the Agency's regulations?—Select Yes or No. You must enter a reason if you select No. You cannot perfect the request if you select No.
3. If you answered yes to both questions, click Confirm Perfection to open the Acknowledgment Letter - Processing template. Follow the acknowledgment letter steps below.
4. If you answered no to either question, click Not Perfected to open the Acknowledgment Letter - Additional Information Required template. Jump to the Additional Information Required template.

Acknowledgment Letter - Processing

Use this email template to customize a response to the requester, letting them know their request is being processed.

The template contains prompts that you can use to customize your email, along with merged fields that pulled data directly from the existing record. You can use the template as is or edit it to suit your specific need.

You can edit email templates to customize them for your agency. See Letter Template Management for details.

• <***ABC***>—indicates data that you must provide. Replace the prompt with content specific to your request.
• [ABC]—indicates merged content that is pulled directly from the preexisting record. Relativity will populate these prompts for you.

Steps:

1. Complete the following fields:
   • To—Relativity auto-populates this field for you. You can add additional email addresses as well.
   • CC—the email addresses of any other users receiving a copy of the email.
   • Email Template—Relativity provides a default template that includes merged fields, or fields that are populated with details from the original request. Merged fields are contained in brackets with the field name. For example [ASSIGNED_TO]. You can also change the email template to another Relativity-provided template, or a custom template if your Relativity administrator created one. See Letter Template Management for more information on custom templates. You can also edit the email content to further customize it to fit your needs.
   • Subject—the subject line for your email.
2. Edit the email content as needed, replacing any <***PLACEHOLDER***> blocks with your own wording. The bracketed [BRACKET_BLOCK] blocks represent merged fields where Relativity replaces them with details from the request as the email is generated. You do not need to address any of these blocks. You can remove blocks by selecting and deleting them. Just below the email template is a placeholder count that lets you know how many placeholder blocks need attention. Use the keyboard commands shown to move from one placeholder to another.
   
3. Add any attachments for the reviewer.
4. Click Preview Email Content.
5. Click Confirm and Send to send the email. If you need to make changes, use the back button to return to the template. Note that you cannot recall the email after it's sent.

Acknowledgment Letter - Additional Information Required

Use this template to customize a response to the requester letting them know additional information is required to process the request.

The template contains prompts that you can use to customize your email, along with merged fields that pulled data directly from the existing record. You can use the template as is or edit it to suit your specific need.

You can edit templates to customize them for your agency. See Letter Template Management for details.

• <***ABC***>—indicates data that you must provide. Replace the prompt with content specific to your request.
• [ABC]—indicates merged content that is pulled directly from the preexisting record. Relativity will populate these prompts for you.

Steps:

1. Complete the following fields:
   • To—Relativity auto-populates this field for you. You can add additional email addresses as well.
   • CC—the email addresses of any other users receiving a copy of the email.
   • Email Template—Relativity provides a default template that includes merged fields, or fields that are populated with details from the original request. Merged fields are contained in brackets with the field name. For example [ASSIGNED_TO]. You can also change the email template to another Relativity-provided template, or a custom template if your Relativity administrator created one. See Letter Template Management for more information on custom templates. You can also edit the email content to further customize it to fit your needs.
   • Subject—the subject line for your email.
2. Edit the email content as needed, replacing any <***PLACEHOLDER***> blocks with your own wording. The bracketed [BRACKET_BLOCK] blocks represent merged fields where Relativity replaces them with details from the request as the email is generated. You do not need to address any of these blocks. You can remove blocks by selecting and deleting them. Just below the email template is a placeholder count that lets you know how many placeholder blocks need attention. Use the keyboard commands shown to move from one placeholder to another.
   
3. Add any attachments for the reviewer.
4. Click Preview Email Content.
5. Click Confirm and Send to send the email. If you need to make changes, use the back button to return to the template. Note that you cannot recall the email after it's sent.

The progress buttons now reflect the perfection step progress. Use the Back button at the top of the screen to return to the RelativityOne FOIA portal. Note now, the Perfection status is now Perfected.

At this point, Intake is complete and the workflow moves to the Search step.