Last Updated on May 15, 2023 by Sarah Gayda
“Colligo was the missing link in providing an end-to-end electronic records and information management solution. Colligo solves the problem of classifying and properly managing case-based emails. Their solution got the job done and was easily adopted by the end users.”
Amina Elgouacem, CEO, NEOSTEK – lead consultants on the US Federal Government Agency project
US government agencies have been challenged in the governance of email records since the issuance of the Managing Government Records Directive, M-12-18 addressing the heads of all executive departments, agencies, and independent agencies. The overarching message of the directive emphasizes the government’s objective of “Improving records management [to] improve performance and promote openness and accountability by better documenting agency actions and decisions.
For one US Federal Government Agency, difficulty responding in a timely way to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests prompted a change in how they approached email management. Working with award-winning Information Management and IT consulting firm, NEOSTEK, Colligo email manager was used to provide economical and email record management using SharePoint.
Summary
Challenge
- Storing email in records in Outlook PST files was error prone and inefficient when responding to FOIA requests.
- Needed to comply with all federal guidelines, including Presidential Memoranda, US Code, Federal Records Act and other Agency specific guidance.
Solution
- Enabled much faster search by storing all records (email and other file types) in SharePoint and tagging each record with rich metadata.
- Simplified record capture by integrating SharePoint folder access directly into the Outlook application.
Results
- Reduced time to respond to complex FOIA requests from 160 hours to 1 hour—a savings of almost $24,000 per request.
- Achieved 100% user adoption of the new process.
- Became compliant with Federal RIM Program Maturity Model and the Universal Electronic Records Management Requirements.
