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Government · Records Workflow2025

FOIA Request Workflow

A state-driven workflow for FOIA, open-records and patient-referral requests from intake to fulfilment.

Role
Product Designer
Timeline
8 weeks
Platform
Web App · React
Year
2025

RecordFlow handles FOIA requests, open-records requests and patient referrals, each with its own multi-stage lifecycle. I designed a workflow that keeps every request legible as it moves through as many as nine statuses.

The Problem

What wasn't working

Requests spanned legal deadlines, multiple parties and strict compliance steps, but the tooling didn't make the current state or next action obvious. Things slipped.

Goals

What success looked like

  • Make the current status and next action unmistakable at any moment.
  • Unify three request types under one coherent workflow language.
  • Route users to the right screen based on state, not a generic dashboard.
Research

What I learned first

  • Mapped all nine referral statuses and the transitions between them.
  • Identified the deadlines and hand-offs where requests most often stalled.
Challenges

The hard parts

  • One workflow that fits FOIA, open-records and referrals without feeling generic.
  • State-based routing that always drops users exactly where they need to act.
Design Process

How I worked through it

  1. 01

    Model

    Defined a shared status vocabulary and the legal transitions between states.

  2. 02

    Route

    Built state-based routing so the app opens on the step that needs attention.

  3. 03

    Clarify

    Designed status pills and timelines that read the same across every request type.

Wireframes

Structure before surface

Storyboarded a single request across its whole lifecycle to find where clarity broke down.

User Flow

The path a user takes

  1. 1Request is intook and classified by type
  2. 2System routes it to the correct current stage
  3. 3Owner acts; status advances with clear deadlines
  4. 4Request reaches fulfilment with a full audit trail
Final UI

Where it landed

A workflow where a complex, deadline-bound process feels like a series of obvious next steps, never a guessing game.

Impact

What changed

9
Referral statuses unified
3
Request types on one workflow
State-based
Routing to the right action
Lessons Learned

What I took away

  • Complex workflows become simple when the next action is always obvious.
  • Shared status language beats bespoke screens for every request type.
Reflection

Deadlines and compliance make this a high-stakes flow. Designing calm into something that legally can't slip was deeply rewarding.

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