Where this sits
This illustrative example is a public-facing records desk in Ikeja. Citizens and other agencies ask for files that still live in cabinets, and retrieval is still a walk and a memory.
The problem
A request comes in. Staff know the room but not the shelf, files move, copies multiply, and there is no trail of who saw what. A query that should take minutes takes a day, or it never comes back. When an audit asks for a file, the desk starts again.
What we would agree in writing
The statement of work covers one process: intake of a paper file, to a search an authorised officer can run, to a retrieval with a trail. In comes the existing folders they have a right to digitise, and the request form they already use. Out goes a search, a record view, and a log of who asked, who opened, and when. Rewriting the law, putting private files on the public internet, and replacing the registry statute stay out of scope unless the paper says otherwise.
How the work runs
In week 1 we walk the room, name the officer who owns the cabinet, and agree what done means for one series of files, not the whole building. In weeks 2-4 we digitise that series and classify it with their headings, not ours, while officers search in a closed lane. A second series starts only after the first is accepted. A human signs before anything is reachable beyond the desk.
Standards this kind of job has to meet
Public bodies need a company you can find (RC 9180331), a tax line you can check, and a stop if a live system goes wrong. NDPA still applies to people in the files. We do not publish the cabinet to the open web. Access is by role, with row-level controls so one desk does not see another agency's bundle unless the mandate says so. We do not borrow a licence we do not hold. If the mandate needs a sector regulator, the agreement names who holds it. The pack for a bid is watermarked to the agency. It is not this web page. ISO/IEC 27001 is a target. We are not certified. If a score sheet needs a certificate number, we fail that row today.
What the client brings
They bring a named records owner, permission to digitise the first series, the request form, who may search, and who may not.
What we deliver
We deliver a written scope, a search the officer can run, a trail, a stop, and an operations note. Invoices match the legal name on Privacy.
How we measure
We track time to find a file in the first series, the share of requests that still need a cabinet walk, and whether the audit trail answers who-opened-what. These are measures, not a promised second.