Case Study: City of Ithaca reduces FOIL processing time by 35% and saves 7,000 hours with Laserfiche

How the City of Ithaca Automated Information Requests

Laserfiche worked with the City of Ithaca, NY, which was struggling to process more than 600 annual Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests under a paper-based system that often missed state-mandated response deadlines and consumed large amounts of staff time. The manual process required days to notify departments, weeks to compile records, and repeated effort when the same records were requested again.

By deploying Laserfiche Forms, Workflow and Records Management, the city automated online FOIL submissions, email notifications, department routing, collaborative document collection, attorney review/redaction, and automated archiving with retention schedules. The automation cut average FOIL processing time by 35%, saved about 7,000 staff hours in the first year, provided 24/7 public access to request forms and searchable records via WebLink, and ensured consistent compliance with state timelines.

City of Ithaca

Julie Holcomb

City Clerk