Information requests

An information request records the requester, subject, date received and statutory due date. Its status moves from Received through assignment and review toward a response, appeal or closure. That gives an officer and manager a clear place to inspect the specialty backlog. The statutory deadline list calls attention to work whose date has arrived; it should be part of the team’s regular handoff.

The requester is a party record. Its name, email and reference number can help an officer identify the correct person. A specialty request also anchors disclosure reviews, so a reviewer examining a document reference can trace the judgment back to the request’s subject and requester. The case and specialty paths share people and parties, while each keeps its own lifecycle.

• Receipt. Record the requester’s identity, subject and dates when the request arrives.
• Progress. Keep the request state current as work moves through assignment and review.
• Deadline. Check the statutory date alongside status before the next handoff.

Set the policy used to determine statutory due dates and who changes a request’s state. Agree how a case officer routes a specialty request for review and how an appeal is handled. If the same person has both a case and a specialty request, identify them through the party record; do not infer that the two records are the same application.

Use a request that arrives close to its statutory date. The officer records the requester and subject, then checks the deadline list. When review begins, the reviewer should find the request and any disclosure decisions against it. After response, the state should tell the manager the current outcome. If the requester appeals, keep the previous disclosure reasoning available while the request enters Appealed.

The statutory date gives this path its urgency. A manager should compare it with the current state rather than assume a request marked Assigned is progressing. A request in Review with a near due date may need immediate reviewer attention. A request marked Responded still needs a record that makes the decision context understandable if the requester appeals.

Before importing earlier requests, reconcile the requester identity and received date. If a request was already in appeal, preserve the current state and the disclosure judgments that support its history. The list should help staff identify which requests need work today, while the full record explains why each one is in that state.

• Information Requests List — Review subjects, requesters, dates and current states.
• Statutory Deadline Watch — Focus on requests whose statutory due date has arrived.

Specialty request handling covers receipt and review. Disclosure review follows a document judgment.