A line taking the shortest path through a maze, to suggest guidance, with label 'Decision Support.'
FOIDEX saves time by helping staff prepare and organise documents and redactions, and by guiding them through the relevant decisions. It reduces risk by ensuring staff do not miss critical decisions or issues, even when they are not experienced with FOI requirements.

PREPARE: BATCH CONVERT TO PDF

Early in your FOI process, you may want to convert multiple documents to PDF, so you can:

  • Mark redactions in the way recommended by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner;
  • Freeze the document to ensure nobody accidentally changes it during the FOI process.
To save you time, FOIDEX will automatically batch convert the following document types to PDF:
  • Microsoft Office documents: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, including pre-2007 formats;
  • Microsoft Outlook and IBM/Lotus Notes emails: attachments are automatically converted and appended to email to make a single PDF document

Without batch conversion

At least two steps per document:

  1. Open the document in its native program, such as Word, Excel, Lotus Notes etc
  2. Save, Export or Print the document to PDF

For emails with attachments: additional steps per email:

    Image of rsi pain in hand.
  1. Open each attachment in its native program
  2. Save, Export or Print the attachment to PDF
  3. Concatenate or link attachements with email

Multiple manual steps per document: tedious, error-prone.

WITH FOIDEX BATCH CONVERSION

ORGANISE your documents and redactions

FOIDEX automatically creates a table of your documents which you can search and sort - without manual data entry.
A table of documents, with column headings 'Title', 'File Name', 'Author', 'Recommendation', 'In Folio' 'Status' and the buttons for each document 'download','edit' and 'delete'. There are three example documents in the grid, all concerning the Joint Strike Fighter. There is a recommendation next to each document, such as 'Undecided' or 'Justify your redactions'. In the 'Folio' column, 'true' or 'false' appears for each document. There is a button 'add documents' at the top of the table.
FOIDEX automatically catalogues redaction marks you have added to a PDF document using Adobe Acrobat, so you can record decisions against these redactions.

DECIDE the relevant issues

FOIDEX uses a decision tree to guide staff through relevant areas of the FOI requirements, including FOI exemptions relating to:

  • documents affecting national security, defence or international relations
  • Cabinet documents
  • documents affecting enforcement of law and protection of public safety
  • documents to which secrecy provisions in other legislation apply
  • documents subject to legal professional privilege
  • documents containing material obtained in confidence
  • documents whose disclosure would be in contempt of Parliament or in contempt of court
  • documents disclosing trade secrets or commercially valuable information
  • electoral rolls and related documents
  • Commonwealth-State relations
  • deliberative processes relating to agencies' or ministers' functions
  • the Commonwealth's financial and property interests
  • certain operations of agencies (such as audits, examinations and personnel management)
  • personal privacy
  • business affairs
  • research (by CSIRO or the Australian National University)
  • Australia's economy.

In expert mode, you can search and sort relevant decisions by category, legal reference and keyword.

FOIDEX shows you relevant decisions based on the decisions you have already made, so you don't waste time on irrelevant issues.

In guided mode, FOIDEX guides staff step-by-step along the fastest path to a defensible, legally-based outcome for each document relevant to an FOI request:
  • release;
  • release with redactions; or
  • withhold.
You can also capture any documented supporting evidence for any decision.
The evidence is linked to the correct legislative issue.

Opportunities

Your opportunities for measurable benefits:
  • Improve staff utilisation. Leverage a wider range of staff to help process FOI requests - FOIDEX will guide them, and facilitate your review of their decisions.
  • Reduce legal expenses. Save your time and budget by reducing the back and forth with internal or external legal advisers. FOIDEX helps with basic navigation of the FOI law and highlights the key issues.
  • Process FOI faster. Save time organising documents and redactions, and double-checking that things have not slipped through the cracks. FOIDEX helps you keep documents and redactions relevant to a request organised and quickly accessible for the whole team.