This is an example Problem Definition.
Being a prototype, not all content has been written yet, so we've shown you this one as an example.
Problem Requests take too long to get to information holders
“We’re more likely than not to receive a request that’s already overdue, or very close to overdue.”
Giving Champions and Information Holders enough time to extract information, compile a response and get it approved is critical in ensuring a good compliance rate.
When Information Holders are asked to answer requests with almost no time before the deadline is up the likelihood of the request being late increases.
Information Holders usually have primary responsibilities that they can’t just drop when a nearly-late information request lands in their inbox. If the Information holder does manage to extract the information quickly, a negative approval means that there’s not enough time to make the required amends before the deadline passes.
This situation puts considerable strain on the system. When the system is operating in such a way that everything is an emergency, it’s impossible to fast-track genuine emergency cases, and the staff involved become burned out and resentful of the service they are providing.
The critical improvement to make in this situation is monitoring and improving Time-to-allocate.
Time-to-allocate is the time taken between the information request being submitted by the Citizen and being assigned to the Information Holder who can extract the required information.
Often Time-to-allocate is thought of as the initial allocation from the Central Team to the Service Champion of the appropriate Service Area. This is only half of the picture. Time-to-allocate includes the allocation of the request to the correct Information Holder.
Time-to-allocate is largely ‘wasted’ time – time that could be used for a much calmer process of collating information and writing responses.
“If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.”