Public Records Request Platforms?
Suchy, LeAnn
Hello, all,
We are evaluating public records request platforms, and I’m hoping to tap into your experience.
If you’ve used GovQA, JustFOIA, or NextRequest, could you share what your experience has been, both positive and negative? I’m especially interested in ease of use, customer support, redaction tools, implementation challenges, and anything you wish you’d known beforehand.
Thanks in advance for any insights!
LeAnn
LEANN SUCHY | Records Manager | she/her/hers
Metropolitan Airports Commission | 6040 28th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55450
metroairports.org | mspairport.com | Facebook | X | Instagram | LinkedIn
Audra Etzel
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Potter, Jenny
We use NextRequest and it works well for us. The online help is good, and the technical support has helped solve issues. The redaction tools are fine. I think as with all data request tools, there are some limitations, but recently they did an update that helps remove all of the image files in email signatures, which has reduced the size of the files you have to review.
I think it has been a good software for us.
I was not here during the implementation so I don’t know how easy that was but all our departments have someone assigned to use it and they are all good about getting the data back as needed.
Jenny
From: 'Suchy, LeAnn' via MN-GRIN <mn-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2026 8:29 AM
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Subject: [mn-grin] Public Records Request Platforms?
Hello, all,
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Malaina W. White
We use NextRequest and I agree with everything Jenny said. The redaction can be a bit cumbersome, but they are working on that. Most of our departments utilize it and managing the requests is pretty easy.
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Malaina White • County
Records Manager |
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Sharon Allison
I’m using a spreadsheet too but would love to hear what you learn, LeAnn, because getting one is on my list for 2027.
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Sharon Allison, City Clerk, MCMC 952-826-0408 | Fax 952-826-0390 |
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Good morning,
We do not use a software program, but track with an excel spreadsheet.
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John A Jensen
Hi LeAnn,
We use GovQA at Hennepin County. Here is our team expert’s contact information if you’d like to call her regarding your questions.
Lucie Passus
Sincerely,
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John A. Jensen, CRM County Records Coordinator Compliance Office: 612-596-1321 625 4th Avenue South | Mail code: 678 Minneapolis, MN 55415 |
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khau...@umn.edu
Hello LeAnn:
The University of Minnesota uses NextRequest for a platform.
Positives and Negatives
Positives: The system feels very intuitive to us and any partners we bring in to assist us. We especially like that a user can reply directly to an email notification in their inbox instead of logging into the portal itself; the reply and any attached document gets uploaded to the request automatically.
Negatives: Formatting of text. (message templates, closure templates, etc.). For example, the templates won’t always show up how you’ve created them when you use them within a request. Also, you can’t copy a document from one request to another.
Customer support: I find that I get very prompt and friendly replies for the tickets I submit.
Redaction tools: We rarely use the redaction tool/Rapid Review. That’s due to how we redact and review data.
Implementation challenges: The system is very user friendly to set-up. You’ll do the customization and set-up before you go live. We really didn’t need to have too much help during that process.
What we wish we knew beforehand: We think a better understanding of the Rapid Review functionality would have been helpful. In addition, the ability to copy a document from one request to another did not play out as described.
Thank you,
Kristine Haugsland
Assistant Director | Data Access & Privacy
Office of General Counsel | University of Minnesota
Suchy, LeAnn
Thank you for all the replies so far. This has been so helpful!
For anyone who wants to share but not with the whole list, feel free to email me: leann...@mspmac.org
LeAnn
LEANN SUCHY | Records Manager | she/her/hers
Metropolitan Airports Commission | 6040 28th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55450
metroairports.org | mspairport.com | Facebook | X | Instagram | LinkedIn
From: 'khau...@umn.edu' via MN-GRIN <mn-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2026 9:32 AM
To: MN-GRIN <mn-...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [mn-grin] Re: Public Records Request Platforms?
Hello LeAnn: The University of Minnesota uses NextRequest for a platform. Positives and Negatives Positives: The system feels very intuitive to us and any partners we bring in to assist us. We especially like that a user can reply directly to
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Hello LeAnn:
The University of Minnesota uses NextRequest for a platform.
- Positives and Negatives
o Positives: The system feels very intuitive to us and any partners we bring in to assist us. We especially like that a user can reply directly to an email notification in their inbox instead of logging into the portal itself; the reply and any attached document gets uploaded to the request automatically.
o Negatives: Formatting of text. (message templates, closure templates, etc.). For example, the templates won’t always show up how you’ve created them when you use them within a request. Also, you can’t copy a document from one request to another.
- Customer support: I find that I get very prompt and friendly replies for the tickets I submit.
- Redaction tools: We rarely use the redaction tool/Rapid Review. That’s due to how we redact and review data.
- Implementation challenges: The system is very user friendly to set-up. You’ll do the customization and set-up before you go live. We really didn’t need to have too much help during that process.
- What we wish we knew beforehand: We think a better understanding of the Rapid Review functionality would have been helpful. In addition, the ability to copy a document from one request to another did not play out as described.
Thank you,
Kristine Haugsland
Assistant Director | Data Access & Privacy
Office of General Counsel | University of Minnesota
On Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 8:29:04 AM UTC-5 Suchy, LeAnn wrote:
Hello, all,
We are evaluating public records request platforms, and I’m hoping to tap into your experience.
If you’ve used GovQA, JustFOIA, or NextRequest, could you share what your experience has been, both positive and negative? I’m especially interested in ease of use, customer support, redaction tools, implementation challenges, and anything you wish you’d known beforehand.
Thanks in advance for any insights!
LeAnn
LEANN SUCHY | Records Manager | she/her/hers
Metropolitan Airports Commission | 6040 28th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55450
metroairports.org | mspairport.com | Facebook | X | Instagram | LinkedIn
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