1.Please could you inform us what system(s) your authority uses to handle information requests? For clarity that includes FOI, EIR, CAFCAS, etc. requests for information, as well as SARs/GDPR requests and also complaints handling.
ICASEWORK
2. Please provide the name of the vendor and country or origin of the software.
ICASEWORK is a multi national company.
a. Name of the system(s) where there is a brand name that differs from the company name.
Please see the previous response
.b. Do you use system(s) that are internally developed and maintained by your development staff rather than purchased
No
c. Amount paid approximately (split into a. set up and b. ongoing costs)
The annual cost for 01/04/2018 to 31/03/2019 is £9,000
d. Date of end of contract with the present supplier(s).
Licenses are renewed annually.
e. Is the system running in house on your servers or is it provided SaaS (‘Software as a Service’ i.e. hosted externally on a supplier’s servers)
Externally hosted.
3. What did you pay for system(s)?
a. Set up
b. Ongoing (please state if per year or per month)
The annual cost for 01/04/2018 to 31/03/2019 is £9,000
4. How many requests did you receive in each of 2016, 2017 & 2018
2016 = Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests = 1563
2017 = Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests = 1446
2018 = Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests = 1576
5. What is the URL for your Public Disclosure Log – i.e. where the public can see the information requests and answers (obviously excluding private ones such as SARs)?
https://www.devon.gov.uk/accesstoinformation/freedom-of-information/previous-access-to-information-responses
6. How long does it take (officer/manager hours) to log a request and inform the relevant officers that they must respond? (Please assume this email is an example of a low complexity average FOI request with only one or perhaps two departments required for the multi question response.)
a. Five minutes – mostly automated with the incoming email creating the case reference/ auto acknowledgement to the requestor and the only human intervention is to vet the request to see if it is valid and then allocate the tasks to the officers concerned with pre configured auto emails going out to them.
b. About an hour – as above, but done manually.
c. Some other length of time – if so what and why is it so long/short, etc.
Twenty minutes.
7. Does your system automatically create a public disclosure log and reports for the Information Commissioner or does someone have to update spreadsheets manually?
No, public disclosure log entries are created manually in WordPress.
8. Can you use the same system for all your complaints and other citizen and internal and external enquiries
No. ICASEWORK is also used to process statutory complaints but a wide range of other systems are used to manage internal and external enquiries. Devon County Council is a multi-functional organisation with many different services.