Case Study: Essex County College achieves streamlined, digital OPRA request processing with NextRequest

How this public New Jersey College is modernizing their OPRA process

Essex County College, a public community college in Newark, New Jersey, needed to modernize its Open Public Records Act (OPRA) process. Records Custodian Bianca Toliver handled roughly 50 requests a year, but growing complexity—manual email intake, manual tracking and redactions, difficulty processing PST files, and fragmented communications across departments—made the process inefficient. After reviewing more than five solutions, the college selected NextRequest’s public records software to digitize and centralize request management.

NextRequest implemented a digital records-request platform that automated tracking, consolidated communications, and streamlined retrieval of documents and PSTs, helping prevent missed emails and reduce manual work. As a result of adopting NextRequest, Essex County College processed 19 records, downloaded 37 documents, and generated 8 alerts while establishing a more data-driven, efficient OPRA workflow.

Essex County College

Bianca Toliver

Records Custodian