Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests are proving to be a resource-intensive activity in the public accountability of a growing number of governments and public institutions. One of the most challenging aspects of being on the receiving end of a FOI request is that queries can be very large and involved, comprising several questions, sub-questions and requests for extremely detailed and potentially sensitive information. They can be for any information on any aspect of public servants’ professional work. And just to make the challenge a little harder, there is often a tight time limit to respond to requests, with each request comprising dozens of individual questions.

Link Explorer has proved to be a particularly good tool for finding information buried deep within databases in response to FOI requests, and we have solutions designed specifically for the purpose. An important part of the FOI Act is that some information is too sensitive for public consumption, for example information on children or victims of crime. Our solution makes sure that only eligible information, and only the information requested, is returned to the requester.

Items discovered using Link Explorer can be exported to Excel for further analysis if necessary, and finally information can be presented graphically or in tables drawn direct from Excel or Link Explorer.

Link Explorer is a priceless tool for dealing with requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, speeding up the response time and producing precise results from deep within complex databases.