The Organisation

Ōtorohanga District Council is a local government authority in New Zealand’s Waikato region. Despite being a small council with limited resources, they manage a wide range of services and face growing demand for transparency and public accountability-especially under LGOIMA. 

We spoke with Rebecca Griffin, Business Improvement Lead, and Jessica Nelson, LGOIMA lead, about how they reimagined their approach to compliance using Flowingly. 

The Challenge

Managing LGOIMA requests at Ōtorohanga was a manual, messy, and stressful process. Most requests came in via email, were logged in spreadsheets, and then followed unpredictable, informal paths through the organisation. Without a defined workflow, it was hard to track where each request was at, who was responsible, and how close they were to hitting the 20-working-day deadline. 

“Everything was driven by spreadsheets and email chains. There was no visibility, and no way of knowing where anything was at.”
– Rebecca, Business Improvement Lead 

Escalation was inconsistent. The Chief Executive was often looped into requests unnecessarily, creating bottlenecks and adding pressure to an already stretched leadership team. Jess, the staff member managing LGOIMAs, found herself constantly chasing information from colleagues via email, Teams, or in person—often multiple times. 

There was no risk model, no way to reassign tasks if someone was on leave, and no centralised record of completed requests. The process was time-consuming, opaque, and heavily reliant on one person knowing what was going on.

“Before Flowingly, I’d spend half my day just walking around the building chasing people for answers. It was exhausting.”
– Jess, LGOIMA Lead

The Solution

The team saw Flowingly as an opportunity to completely reimagine how they handled LGOIMA—starting with the process itself. 

With no existing documentation to rely on, Rebecca and Jess began by mapping out the end-to-end flow using pen and paper, identifying every potential path a request could take. From there, they translated this into Flowingly’s visual builder, using conditional logic, dynamic routing, and automation to mirror how requests should work in practice. 

One of the biggest breakthroughs was the introduction of a structured risk model. Rather than defaulting every request to the CE, the workflow uses built-in logic to assess risk based on factors like request complexity, media source, and subject matter. As a result, only 10% of requests now need CE involvement—dramatically reducing bottlenecks. 

Flowingly’s smart task assignment and dynamic subtasks ensure that staff across departments are automatically brought into the workflow at the right time. They don’t need to know the full process—just leave a comment, upload a doc, and move on. It’s intuitive, accountable, and simple enough for even the least tech-savvy staff. 

“We used to be right up against the 20-day deadline. Now we’re turning requests around in five days. Even the complex ones.”
– Jess 

Jess now manages everything from her Flowingly dashboard—assigning tasks, nudging colleagues, and tracking every step in real time. With a full audit trail, compliance checks and reporting have never been easier. 

The Results

The turnaround time for LGOIMA requests has dropped dramatically, from nearly 20 working days to an average of just five. Staff across the organisation now follow a clearly defined process, with Flowingly guiding them through each step and automatically prompting them when their input is required. 

Only 10% of requests now reach the CE, thanks to the built-in risk model. The team has full visibility into every request, including who’s responsible and how much time is left. Jess no longer needs to chase people down and instead uses Flowingly’s “nudge” feature to keep things moving. 

The council now has a workflow that’s not only transparent and auditable, but also flexible and future-proof. They’ve made over 60 updates to the process without needing external support-fine-tuning their approach as legislation evolves and new scenarios emerge. 

“One of our team said, ‘I can face LGOIMA now. I’m not scared of it anymore.’ That says it all.” 
– Rebecca 

Conclusion

Ōtorohanga District Council’s adoption of Flowingly has completely transformed how they handle LGOIMA requests. What was once a high-stress, high-risk process managed in spreadsheets is now a streamlined, user-friendly workflow that delivers speed, transparency, and peace of mind. 

By empowering staff with a clear process and automating the admin, they’ve created a solution that supports compliance, protects their reputation, and makes life easier for everyone involved. 

“Honestly, just do it. It’s taken the stress out of everything.”
– Jess