Feasibility Study. 4 th Judicial District 4 th Judicial District Justice Advisory Council

Transcription

1 90 S. Cascade Blvd. Suite 1490 Colorado Springs, Colorado Telephone (719) Internet: Feasibility Study 4 th Judicial District 4 th Judicial District Justice Advisory Council SITE VISIT: MARCH 12 21, 2001 REPORT DATE: APRIL 5, 2001 BORN David Wolcott Glenn Arnold Nate Allen Steve Reger Joe Ruffolo Peter Madden

2 Table of Contents Definitions (Glossary of Terms)...3 Executive Summary...5 Background...8 Interview Results and Observations...11 Conclusions and Findings...24 Appendices A: Mission and Vision Statements...30 B: Agency Workflow Diagrams...31 C: Project Prioritization Workshop Spreadsheet...32 D: Proposed Future Organization Chart...33 E: Proposed Project Work Plans...34 F: Architecture Guidelines...35 G: CICJIS Architecture...38 H: Information Sources...39 I: Project Prioritization by Business Value vs. Effort

3 Definitions Term Blackstone CAD CBI CCIC CDAC CIBRS CICJIS CJC CJIMS CJIS CSOC CSP CSPD DA DHS DMV DOC DOL DYC eblackstone EPSO GGCC ICON Definition Courts information source; generates subpoena requests; provides case management; accesses case management; provides reports Computer Aided Dispatch Colorado Bureau of Investigation; provides access to CCIC and NCIC; allows local LEAs to interfaces with CICJIS Colorado Criminal Information Center Colorado District Attorneys Council Colorado Incident Based Reporting System Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System; transfers data among agencies, queries related databases; provides a central index pointer system; the system is statewide; provides electronic warrant processes; negates the necessity of maintaining information at the local level Criminal Justice Center Colorado Justice Information Management System; former internal case management for district/county court; no longer being used Criminal Justice Information System (local system); provides court scheduling Colorado Sheriff Office Council; data housed includes victim information; release information; inmate location Colorado State Patrol Colorado Springs Police Department District Attorney Department of Human Services Department of Motor Vehicles Department of Corrections Department of Labor Department of Youth Corrections Web based version of Blackstone; part of Blackstone server; data is housed locally in CDAC; CDAC pushes to Blackstone data warehouse; eliminates the need to FTP; houses subpoena data locally; uploads daily to Blackstone El Paso Sheriff s Office General Government Computing Center; accesses DMV records; provides access to ICON, welfare/food stamp fraud information, labor and employment information Integrated Colorado Online Network; State court system that interfaces with CICJIS; the interface that allows regional courts pull information from CICJIS 3

4 IIS JMS LEA MDT/MDU MNI NCIC NIBRS PD PR Bond RMS Server Blackstone UCR Integrated Information Services; part of the Colorado Judicial Branch that manages CICJIS Jail Management System; provides information on jail population presence and maintenance Law Enforcement Agencies Mobile Data Terminal/Mobile Data Unit Master Name Index; CSPD only National Criminal Information Center National Incident Based Reporting System Public Defender Bond tracking system (currently runs on a VAX); indicates inmate bond eligibility based on summary of inmate interviews; tracks priors, court dates missed, bail skipped, other bail bond related information Record Management System; two systems are maintained: EPSO and CSPD Future upgrade of current Blackstone system Uniform Crime Reporting 4

5 Executive Summary In February of 2001, the Data Committee of the 4 th Judicial District Justice Advisory Council (JAC) requested from BORN a feasibility study describing the amount and type of effort needed to promote integration of the 4th Judicial District s data systems, which include approximately thirty departments and agencies. This study was also commissioned to highlight recommendations and suggest future projects in areas that will assist in this effort. These recommendations have been presented in terms of business value and effort. The 4 th Judicial District comprised of El Paso and Teller Counties, desires to migrate from agency based, proprietary data systems to a district-wide, shared data system. The 4 th Judicial District hopes to promote data sharing and integration vertically with all judicial agencies as well as horizontally with all law enforcement agencies (LEAs) that the courts interact with. The JAC is fortunate to have leadership with the insight to realize the need to integrate or plan for the integration of these systems. As a direct response to the anticipated need for data sharing and integration, the JAC established the Data Committee to conduct assessments of the IT technologies and funding for the various justice agencies. This committee also solicits and invites participation of all municipal LEAs residing within the 4 th District. One of the responsibilities of the Data Committee is to consider the feasibility of integrating individual agency systems in order to facilitate data sharing among all key agency stakeholders. At this time, however, the Data Committee is not certain how to mandate this data sharing goal among JAC participants, as well as the external stakeholders. The BORN team met with approximately six key agency representatives during a preliminary meeting on February 26, Henry Sontheimer, the project sponsor, hosted this meeting. Subsequently, the team visited these agencies to interview key stakeholders and make observations. This process commenced on March 12 th and concluded on March 21 st The analysis of the interview and observation results facilitated the development of recommendations that will drive future data integration and sharing projects within the judicial and law enforcement agencies within the 4 th Judicial District. Some of the potential obstacles to data sharing and integration identified within the 4 th Judicial District are: The number of aging systems and applications employed by various agencies that currently inhibits the feasibility of inter-agency data sharing Member agencies maintaining current, as well as developing new, independent system solutions to meet their individual data needs Lack of possible funding participation by member agencies as the project moves forward Recommendations that will help facilitate the 4th Judicial District s goals and overcome the above obstacles include the following: 5

6 Develop consensual, integrated, business processes to obtain the flow of information in such a way that will allow access to this information online, by all agencies, and in the manner they choose Evaluate and implement best practices based on experience of localities that have successfully achieved similar data integration and sharing, particularly within the State of Colorado Execute a policy agreement and form a project team that has representation from all agencies and reports to an executive steering committee that has the power to make necessary changes within their organizations. This project team will drive the design of the business solutions and lead the development efforts o The Data Committee may modify its mission and integrate with this project team to facilitate leadership and help drive development efforts Conduct a full, technical infrastructure evaluation of the larger, higher impact agencies Gain commitment by the JAC members to fund whatever investment is required to implement a usable, robust technical infrastructure platform that can scale with the growing needs, and provide additional functionality For the most part, the JAC has the governance structure in place to make these data sharing efforts a reality. This study identifies key areas where change could and should occur. Below are specific recommendations and suggested future projects as to how this might be accomplished. There are, however, several optional approaches. First, using business value only, is the prioritization from highest to lowest: 1. It is recommended the Executive Committee of the Justice Advisory Council form a policy agreement that will incorporate individual agency information technology plans into a coordinated enterprise project plan 2. The creation of a program management office including the appointment of a project manager and project team. This project team will be charged with producing a detailed project plan looking at tasks, resources and costs 3. The identification and inclusion of a state CICJIS technical representative on the project team appointed by the JAC 4. Evaluate and implement best practices based on experience of localities that have successfully achieved similar data integration and sharing, particularly within the State of Colorado 5. Determining locations of sensitive and valuable data that is not being shared within the Enterprise (4 th Judicial District) 6. The project team will engage business process re-engineering and change management expertise to provide requirement definition, process development, and integration methodology. This includes the re-engineering and alignment of enterprise wide business processes and workflow. This work will enable the 4 th Judicial District to take advantage of efficiencies that electronic data transfers can provide 6

7 7. Migrate current inter-agency data into an accessible data structure Second, weighing business value with the effort to accomplish, is the prioritization from highest to lowest, and a visual matrix showing how we made the prioritization decisions: 1. Determining locations of sensitive and valuable data that is not being shared within the Enterprise (4 th Judicial District) 2. The creation of a program management office including the appointment of a project manager and project team. This project team will be charged with producing a detailed project plan looking at tasks, resources and costs 3. It is recommended the Executive Committee of the Justice Advisory Council form a policy agreement that will incorporate individual agency information technology plans into a coordinated enterprise project plan 4. The project team will engage business process re-engineering and change management expertise to provide requirement definition, process development, and integration methodology. This includes the re-engineering and alignment of enterprise wide business processes and workflow. This work will enable the 4 th Judicial District to take advantage of efficiencies that electronic data transfers can provide 5. Migrate current inter-agency data into an accessible data structure 6. The identification and inclusion of a state CICJIS technical representative on the project team appointed by the JAC 7. Evaluate and implement best practices based on experience of localities that have successfully achieved similar data integration and sharing, particularly within the State of Colorado For a visual interpretation of this project prioritization, please see Appendix I: Project Prioritization by Business Value vs. Effort. 7

8 Background Rapid advances in information systems and identification technologies are steadily allowing courts and other justice agencies to automate and integrate their information systems. With the advent of distributed network computing, telecommunication, open-systems architecture, and powerful database applications, information systems automation and integration can be accomplished faster, cheaper, easier and with more robust applications than ever before. 1 Integration affords the opportunity for substantial cost savings, both through economies of scale among justice system agencies and by reduced operating expenses within the courts. Integrated systems eliminate the need for each justice agency to generate its own set of hard-copy records. Because approximately 50% of court costs are attributed to paper handling and storage, potential cost savings are substantial. 2 In addition, staff resources allocated to the generation of duplicate records are also substantially reduced because data will be generated only once and subsequent documents will be generated electronically. Further, staff savings will accrue as electronic filing reduces the need to staff the court clerk counter. Clerks will no longer have to manually process hard copies of filings. Documents will be automatically filed, processed, copied, and forwarded to counsel, parties, judges, and other affected agencies and individuals without postage or courier expenses. 3 On December 12, 1983, the El Paso County Commissioners created the JAC. The Council was reconstituted in 1999 with the express purpose of reviewing matters of importance regarding criminal justice in the Pikes Peak Region. The Council is responsible for providing a forum for inter-agency coordination on criminal justice and community corrections matters. The Council subsequently formed a Data Committee that is responsible for developing long range planning recommendations for criminal justice, law enforcement, and corrections agencies. One of the Council s current initiatives under consideration is the feasibility of sharing and integrating its judicial information databases among all functionally related and cross-functional JAC members. This challenge was formally presented to the JAC membership during its annual meeting in February of To that end, the JAC engaged BORN to perform a feasibility study that would focus on defining the amount and type of effort needed to promote the integration of 4th Judicial District Court s data systems with that of approximately thirty key departments and agencies in the region. The following is a list of the 32 voting members and 5 non-voting members of the JAC: 1 Technical Advances ; Report of the National Task Force on Court Automation and Integration; Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice 2 McMillan, James E., 1994, Judicial Electronic Document and Date Interchange (JEDDI), A Road Map, Williamsburg, VA; National Center for State Courts, Court Technology Laboratory 3 Benefits of Integration, Cost Savings ; Report of the National Task Force on Court Automation and Integration; Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice 8

9 El Paso County Sheriff s Office (EPSO) District Attorney (DA) for the 4th Judicial District Court District Judge from the 4th Judicial District Court El Paso County Judge Municipal Judge from the City of Colorado Springs Probation Officer from the 4 th Judicial District Parole Officer of the State of Colorado Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) Manitou Springs Police Department Fountain Police Department Pikes Peak Mental Health Office of the Public Defender Human Services Liaison Commissioner, BOCC Community Alternatives of El Paso County, Inc. El Paso County Department of Justice Services Director Private Criminal Justice Consultant City of Calhan City of Fountain City of Colorado Springs City of Green Mountain Falls City of Manitou Springs City of Monument City of Palmer Lake City of Ramah Teller County Board of Commissioners One bail bondsman doing business in El Paso County Four citizens-at-large appointed by the BOCC The 5 non-voting members include: El Paso County Attorney Federal Probation and Parole Office Colorado State Patrol (CSP) Law Enforcement Command 9

10 Division of Youth Corrections Of the agencies identified above, BORN interviewed individuals in the following agencies: Combined Court (4th Judicial District / County Court) 4th Judicial District Court District Attorney s Office El Paso County IT Department El Paso County Sheriff s Office Colorado Springs IT Department Colorado Springs Police Department Colorado Springs Municipal Court These agencies provided people whom BORN interviewed to determine the feasibility of data sharing and integration within the 4th Judicial District. 10

11 Interview Results and Observations The information in this feasibility study was gathered primarily from agency interviews that took place from March 13 th through 19 th (2001). Additional information comes from internal documents that were provided to the BORN team during the course of the interview sessions. For a complete list of interview participants and published sources used, see Appendix H: Information Sources. A. Community of Interest It appears that the JAC has embraced the concept of data sharing and integration; however, this has not yet been put into practice. The two principle LEAs, the CSPD and the EPSO, have historically experienced information sharing challenges. The fact that the JAC was recently reconstituted is an important step forward in reassuring member agencies as well as insuring project cohesiveness and continuity. In January of 2000, the JAC formed a new subcommittee chartered with the responsibility of promoting data sharing among justice agencies and LEAs within the 4th Judicial District. The Data Committee has developed mission and vision statements (see Appendices A and B). Some of the more important goals, strategies and objectives of the Data Committee include: To identify specific data elements that coincide with the seven decision points of the justice system, noted in the National Institute of Corrections report To collect the identified data from each agency To collect historical data from 1995 forward, to determine trends To organize that data into information that can be used to educate members of the JAC and the community To develop a streamlined method to collect and organize this data in the future As part of its charter, the Data Committee must establish an annual plan that outlines specific data sharing and integration projects it intends to work on during the next 12-month period. These are presented along with related objectives and timelines to the JAC for approval. Subsequent progress reports are delivered at the Council s monthly meetings. B. 4th Judicial District s Current Information Technology Environment For the most part, agencies within the 4th Judicial District have their own distinct IT identities; maintaining and refining internally developed systems. In some cases, certain agencies are in the process of developing new, internal systems (i.e. CSPDs Case Management System). Generally, agency specific applications (those that affect only an individual agency) fall under the responsibility of that agency s IT staff. An example of agency autonomy is El Paso County, EPSO, the City of Colorado Springs and the CSPD all maintaining separate IT Departments. There have, however, been recent discussions on the possibility of centralizing the CSPD systems under the city s IT umbrella. Conversely, some agencies are attempting to take advantage of external systems that are provided through the Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System (CICJIS). 11

12 CICJIS is designed to be a statewide, data-sharing platform. Several districts and municipalities within the state are currently online with CICJIS while still others are in the process of going online. Within the 4th Judicial District, CICJIS usage is most apparent in the Colorado Springs Prosecutor and DA s office. The Combined Court uses ICON extensively, which is a part of the CICJIS system. The justice agencies interviewed have mixed feelings regarding the adoption of a state maintained, external system. The main argument against using CICJIS seems to be the loss of control and data integrity if it is maintained outside of the 4th Judicial District s jurisdiction. It seems, however, that most agencies would consider increasing their use of CICJIS if they were able to maintain their data in some sort of local datastore. Additionally, several agencies would be more inclined to use the state system if it were more user friendly. Some agencies felt that the system was too cumbersome while others felt that processing speed was too slow. Most agencies do agree that if these glitches could be eliminated, the leveraging of CICJIS would be a giant step forward toward the goal of full data integration and sharing. Several questions were raised concerning the 4th Judicial District s data integration and sharing effort. First is on which hardware and software platforms will systems be developed? Second, should data sharing take place in a web/browser environment? Third, who will be responsible for maintaining the enterprise wide applications and data warehouse once they are deployed? Fourth, is the decision making process for initial development and future enhancements to be left with the Data Committee, a third party entity, or a combination of both? C. Justice and LEA Systems BORN conducted interviews of certain representative agencies within the 4 th Judicial District. These agencies generate the majority of the data in the 4th Judicial District and also have the greatest need to share data with each other. BORN also conducted interviews with the Colorado Judicial Branch IIS department to gain an understanding of the CICJIS system. For visual depictions of the agency process flows, please see Appendix B: Agency Workflow Diagrams. The sections below provide highlights of BORNs interview findings. 4th Judicial District Combined Court The Combined Court is the largest consumer of information in the 4th Judicial District. They require information not only from the CSPDs and EPSOs Records Management Systems (RMS) and the county jail management system (JMS), but also from a host of state and county agencies including corrections, human services and motor vehicles. Current Situation RMS and JMS form the information backbone of the Combined Court The Combined Court still uses GGCC to access DMV and DOL information (this access is going away with the removal of GGCC) 12

13 The Combined Court uses their own imaging system which is not compatible with ICON or the EPSO and future CSPD imaging systems Most of the information the Combined Court produces is entered into ICON The Combined Court is awaiting the installation of the new electronic warrant system Systems -- The Combined Court accesses CICJIS and ICON through an IBM AS/400 running OS/400 Wish List Items Provide access to the JMS Automate many of the manual data entry and data sharing functions done by the Combined Court Enhanced access to ICON/Blackstone Coordinated imaging systems between all of the agencies in the 4th Judicial District Obstacles Slow access to CICJIS/ICON increases time spent conducting searches Each agency maintaining and developing their own imaging systems lends itself to more manual processes Because LEA involvement in ICON is limited, ticket entry is an entirely manual processes Lack of one centralized point to collect information from all of the state agencies Recommendations and Benefits Investigate CICJIS further to determine how to get the most out of its use as well as opportunities to increase accessibility o Data sharing will be faster and easier Investigate an automated ticket process o Possible PDA/handheld application to be seen as a pilot for future efforts o Provide a single point of data entry at time of ticketing -- enter data early, enter data once) o Greatly reduce the data entry burden on the Court Clerk Use the new electronic warrant system to its fullest potential o If all the agencies, particularly the Combined Court, can fully utilize the new warrant system the return on investment will be high 13

14 Provide access to the JMS o Trial/transport schedules can be better maintained o Ability to locate inmates will be provided Colorado Springs Municipal Court The Colorado Springs Municipal Court, though smaller in scale than the Combined Court, has information access issues and would still benefit from increased data integration. Current Situation Information is typically accessed though CJIS and through manual processes with the CSPD The Municipal Court has painfully slow access to ICON, so they only use it in times of extreme necessity Wish List Items Provide increased access to the JMS Automate many of the manual data entry and data sharing done by the Municipal Court Enhanced access to ICON/Blackstone Obstacles Slow access to CICJIS/ICON increases time spent conducting searches Because LEA involvement in ICON is limited, ticket entry is an entirely manual processes Lack of one centralized point to collect information from all of the state agencies Recommendations and Benefits Investigate CICJIS further to determine how to get the most out of its use as well as opportunities to increase accessibility o Data sharing will be faster and easier Investigate an automated ticket process o Possible PDA/handheld application to be seen as a pilot for future efforts o Provide a single point of data entry at time of ticketing (enter data early, enter data once) o Greatly reduce the data entry burden Provide access to the JMS 14

15 o Trial/transport schedules can be better maintained District Attorney for the 4th Judicial District The DA appears to be the data-sharing leader of the 4 th Judicial District. Due to state mandate, the DA is currently online using the Blackstone system. They appear to be using this system to its fullest potential and have expressed frustration that other agencies are not using ICON/CICJIS. Current Situation Through CICJIS, the DA is able to electronically access information from ICON, CCIC (through CBI), and Blackstone (subpoenas, case tracking, etc.) The DA also uses information provided by the Colorado Springs Municipal Court, the County Assessor, and GGCC (DMV, Department of Human Services, Department of Labor, etc) The DA does have access to the EPSO document imaging system The DA also has the ability to conduct queries in the EPSO JMS With the CSPD imaging system not online yet, the DA must collect case information manually The DA is currently unable to electronically access new evidence; this is currently provided manually as addendum information The DA is currently waiting on an enhanced imaging system (a Blackstone addon) as well as a statewide upgrade to ServerBlackstone The courts will require the DA to file court documents electronically in the near future (civil courts are already e-filing) Access to entire Probation files is currently a manual process Systems -- The DA accesses Blackstone and CDAC through an HP3000 running MPE version C Ad hoc report writing is difficult, using ISAM on an HP database and limited report writing access using CosmoSoft DataNOW! Wish List Items The DA would like to have access to the future CSPD imaging system and CMS The DA is looking for the ability to access all State Judicial information (except financials) through Blackstone/ICON The DA wants its attorneys to be able to access information remotely The DA would like to have access to the entire collection of Probation files Have FP Multi automatically print out files rather than having to open them first before printing (for Felony or Juvenile) 15

16 Obstacles With nearly none of the other agencies in the 4th Judicial District using ICON, the result is several manual or repetitive processes for the DA in collecting data Most data shared by the CSPD is accessed through manual processes There is a great deal of time spent by the DAs office in making phone calls to access utilities information Another system identified as an obstacle is the supplemental affidavit notification. The DA is currently unable to access new evidence; this is currently provided as addendum information through a manual process Recommendations and Benefits Upgrade/revise the current supplemental affidavit notification o Will provide smooth and quick accessing of necessary data Request Colorado Springs Utilities and other public utilities in the 4th Judicial District to open their records databases to the DA (and other justice agencies) o This will give the justice agencies faster access to more accurate location information The DAs office can lead the charge for the other agencies in the 4th Judicial District to get online with Blackstone/ICON/CICJIS o Data sharing between agencies will be faster and easier o The DA will be able to prepare cases more quickly and completely Allowing the DA access to the CSPD CMS and RMS, as well as the EPSO RMS o Faster turnaround for the DA in getting the information they need El Paso County Information Technology Department The El Paso County IT Department is currently in a difficult position. They must be able to support numerous systems in several agencies that are built on different platforms using different languages. This agency performs several tasks including process supervision as well as providing storage/backup capability. Due to the many agencies they support, IT has the ability to provide meaningful suggestions to the Data Committee on opportunities for data sharing and other enhancements. Current Situation IT must support a wide range of data systems, hardware platforms and programming languages IT also has to keep on their toes, making sure they know about all of the department/agency initiatives Systems -- The IT Department uses VAX, HP and Windows NT to operate the subpoena generation, inmate booking and PR Bond systems 16

17 Wish List Items Combine both the county and city RMS with the county JMS Complete the development of the new PR Bond system in MS Access Upgrade the current Blackstone to ServerBlackstone/eBlackstone Consolidate the many standalone MS Access databases into one shared database (i.e. eliminate the many islands of information ) Obstacles The current JMS system is difficult to upgrade and maintain. It was developed internally and needs to replaced or upgraded Combination of the RMS or JMS systems will require resolution of data ownership issues (e.g. who decides whether to consolidate seemingly duplicate records for any given inmate) Trying to maintain a number of different systems and platforms throughout the county o New systems, databases being built by agencies/individuals without regard to current or future plans Resistance by the current owners of individual Access databases to relinquish management of their proprietary systems Recommendations and Benefits Combine the county and city RMSs into one RMS; combine the JMS with the unified RMS o These systems represent similar intelligence and demographic information within the county and city o Reduce the possibility of missing a potential hit within the historical records o Eliminate duplicate data entry o Reduce system support costs (e.g. support personnel work-effort, software licensing fees) Produce standardization specifications for new systems (e.g. hardware systems, application software) o The IT Department can better leverage existing staff knowledge and reduce the system support costs and resources Consolidate the many existing MS Access databases into one public, searchable database o Reduce maintenance costs (e.g. support staff costs) o Offer a wealth of information in a controlled fashion to the agencies that require that information 17

18 o When the new PR Bond system in MS Access is complete, it will allow easier access for those who need information and will reduce duplicate entry as well as eliminate replicated data storage El Paso County Sheriff s Office The EPSO is currently gathering and sharing data through a myriad of systems and processes. Interview responses indicate that report writing and storage, document imaging, warrant management, and jail management are all independent systems that could conceivably be combined. ESPO data sharing goals are to reduce the amount of time officers spend completing paperwork and increasing the amount and quality of data officers are able to access. Other benefits of data sharing and integration include the reduction of duplicate entries, data storage capacity and data transfer. Current Situation The EPSO maintains the JMS for themselves and the CSPD The EPSO also maintains an RMS separate from the CSPD RMS Due to redundant reporting requirements, a deputy must spend two to four hours off the street after bringing in someone to the CJC for booking A deputy must retrieve warrants through dispatch, who then double checks the electronic version against hard copies kept in the Warrants Section The EPSO is greatly anticipating the upgrade to the new regional CAD The EPSO currently has 26 MDTs, but hopes to increase that number to 60 Systems -- The EPSO manages its own RMS, JMS, and Warrant storage system and will be going online with the regional CAD when it is rolled out Wish List Items The EPSO respondents suggested that they d like deputies to be able to complete both the arrest and the incident report at a single entry point The EPSO would like to have a faster and easier way to check warrants, perhaps with GIS functionality. However, they see the need to still have a human doublecheck the warrant against a hard copy to reduce liability The EPSO would also like to have access to warrants outside their jurisdiction, i.e. Colorado Springs warrants and other District s warrants The CJC respondents identified that the enhancement of the current JMS to a web based solution would benefit them greatly. Tied to that is the desired advent of e- payment of bail Upgrade the current RMS to provide a more user friendly system Allowing CSPD to log into the EPSO RMS and JMS. This would reduce the amount of hard copy data sharing 18

19 Allowing the DA easier access into the RMS and JMS to reduce the EPSO manual data transfers The EPSO also suggested that if all agencies worked from the same platform, life would be easier for everyone The EPSO would like to give access for more and better information to the deputies on the street Obstacles A major bottleneck exists within the arrest process (i.e. duplicate entry into two separate reports) The EPSO does not have easy access to utilities records information A time consuming and inaccurate manual warrant retrieval and confirmation process Recommendations and Benefits Pull existing dispatch information from the CAD into the reporting process o Reduce duplicate data entry during the arrest process o Get the officer back on the street as quickly as possible Gain access to information currently maintained by Colorado Springs Utilities and other public utilities within the 4th Judicial District o Faster access to more accurate information The new electronic warrant system being rolled out soon will meet many of the EPSOs wishes for warrants. Additionally, if EPSO gains access to CICJIS, they can check warrants across the state easily and quickly o By gaining access to CICJIS, the warrant process can be much easier and more productive than it is now Colorado Springs Police Department CSPD, the largest LEA in the 4th Judicial District, suffers many of the same data sharing problems as the EPSO. However, because the CSPD performs the majority of the arrests in the district, their data issues are of a greater magnitude. Current Situation Both the CSPD and the EPSO maintain separate Record Management Systems (RMSs). Repeat offenders are able to move through the two systems with multiple numbers assigned to each agency touch point CSPD has completed development of a digital mug shot system CSPD is in the process of developing a federally funded, Case Management System with the user interface developed in Delphi accessing a MS SQL Server Database (scheduled to be tested at the end of April 2001). The new CMS will save 19

20 different chronological versions of cases, which are all valuable and critical, along with being NIBRS compliant o The new CSPD CMS system will not be accessible by any other agency in the 4 th Judicial District The CSPD digital imaging system is not integrated with any other system The CSPD is challenged in keeping technical skilled resources through the completion of projects The CSPD does not see the value in using a regional CAD system and therefore is developing their own CAD which will integrate with their CJIS Systems -- The CSPD manages its own CAD and the local CJIS, which are both using the DG-UX system running on a DG Aviion Interest was expressed in upgrading to SQL database. The CSPD is in the midst of developing its own CMS. Most reports are written in PiOpen, a PICK/BASIC-type language. Users access reports from CJIS menus on the DG Aviion Wish List Items CSPD would like to provide their officers in the field greater access to information such as benefits information, along with profiling information that may be critical to the safety of the officer CSPD desires greater access to warrant and CBI information CSPD wants their CAD system to auto-populate arrest/incident information into the records management section of the CJIS system CSPD desires to have greater access to DA, JMS, and Probation information (State Court System), as well as health and census data from El Paso County CSPD would like better access to parole and child abuse registry data CSPD wishes to provide the officers in the field with remote access to the CMS CSPD wants to assign a unique MNI number to every individual in the CJIS system CSPD desires to have the CJIS MNI linked to ICON in order to be able to look up the disposition of a Case Report. CSPD does not currently have access to the outcome of the court decision CSPD wishes to have their CMS integrated with the county JMS CSPD wants to eventually export arrest data into their CAD system CSPD would like to eventually share data with the ICON and Department of Corrections systems. CSPD currently provides access from CJIS. The location and method of data sharing in the future will change with the new software architecture CSPD envisions linking every case number to the court system 20

21 Obstacles Officers in the field can not currently access CMS information due to the limited communications bandwidth provided by the MDTs Perceived privacy issues that challenge data sharing initiatives There are political challenges in sharing intelligence information between front range Law Enforcement Agencies Case Management System obstacles include: o Providing a sufficient and sustained, modern infrastructure (i.e., Laptops for Field Officers that cost approximately $4000 each) o A challenging political environment o Not having sufficient funding and retaining sufficient technical staffing through the completion of the project Recommendations and Benefits Combine both the county and city RMS o Will eliminate duplicate data storage and maintenance costs and resources Utilize one master name index common to both CSPD and EPSO o Will eliminate confusing multiple numbering systems across agencies Explore the possibility of leveraging the newly developed CSPD CMS by other agencies o By allowing other agencies to join the CSPD CMS, the public interest is served by having greater data sharing in investigations and trials Develop future applications in commonly used development environments o The use of common application development tools results in following cost savings: Availability of skilled resources Applications more easily maintained Easier data sharing and upgrades Explore the possibility of leveraging the EPSO digital imaging system across the 4th Judicial District o With one imaging system across the 4th Judicial District, system maintenance is minimized along with data storage and entry costs Consider leveraging the regional CAD system that will be integrated with the state CICJIS system o Will decrease the CSPD resources and costs in maintaining a separate system o Will increase the amount of information available to CSPD and the other LEAs 21

22 Access warrant and CBI information maintained in the state CICJIS system o Will increase the amount of information, help ensure the quality of information, and increase the speed of access Capture finger prints as a digital image with the 10 printer (digital finger print captured device) and integrate it with CICJIS, CBI, and Digital Mug Shots o The public interest is served by providing better quality information to CICJIS and other LEAs Colorado Judicial Branch IIS The State of Colorado IIS department maintains the CICJIS system, in which law enforcement, court and probation data is stored and shared throughout the state. CICJIS provides data sharing opportunities for the 4th Judicial District and state entities including: DA (Blackstone), LEAs, CBI, Probation, DOC, and Trial Courts (ICON). For a detailed architecture diagram of CICJIS, please see Appendix G: CICJIS Architecture. Current Situation Many districts, counties and localities in the state are already online with CICJIS or are in the process of going online within the year The CSPD and EPSO do not have good access to CICJIS The Colorado Springs Municipal Court does have access to ICON, but due to slow access speed and cumbersome navigation it is used only when absolutely necessary The DA and the Court Clerk are both online with Blackstone and ICON, respectively, but do not feel they are getting all the functionality that is available The IIS representatives had several questions for the BORN team regarding current data initiatives and projects within the 4th Judicial District Local law enforcement agencies are not getting certain information from the CBI (state level DEC system) that they need Systems -- see Appendix G: CICJIS Architecture Wish List Items IIS would like the 4th Judicial District to utilize the full potential of CICJIS to minimize the amount of unnecessary local data storage 22

23 Obstacles The biggest obstacle between IIS and the 4 th Judicial District appears to be a lack of communication IIS does not understand what functionality is needed at the local law enforcement agency level Recommendations and Benefits IIS and the 4th Judicial District should initiate discussions to determine what functionality the 4th Judicial District may leverage from CICJIS o Possible points of leverage include utilizing its capability to hold and distribute warrants, protective orders, and all ticket information for each district IIS and the 4th Judicial District explore the possibility of the 4th Judicial District leveraging the Warrants and Protective Orders (Restraining Orders) processing capability that the state CICJIS provides o IIS believes that the state system can support these processes for the 4th Judicial District 23

24 Conclusion and Findings Definition Interview respondents generally agree that integration refers to the sharing of electronic data to facilitate communication within and among agencies by linking agencies automated information systems. 4 The benefit of integration is especially valuable where agencies share information through manual process (e.g., the DA s office and the CSPD, the Colorado Springs Municipal Court and the CJC, etc.), however, there is some disagreement as to the type and amount of information that may be shared between the courts, law enforcement, and the public at large. Scope Generally, county-level systems include not only courts and law enforcement but also criminal and juvenile case processing components. Data sharing occurs primarily at a horizontal level with other court and justice agencies operating at the trial level only. Most county-level, integrated, systems managers report that they are exploring expansion to include civil case management, links to appellate courts and county-level social service agencies, and information sharing with the state Department of Motor Vehicles. 5 Additionally, the CSPD and EPSO would find that having a link to the utility company databases would aid in access of warrant information. Structure County-level committees tend to require less formal charters and are more likely to have been formed by agreement among the agencies themselves or as the result of an invitation from the county leadership. In a number of cases, the county-level or county-appointed organization provides information technology (IT) staff services to some or all participating agencies, so that competition for funding among agencies becomes much less a concern than it may be for the state level. 6 This appears to be the case for the JAC and the Data Committee. Underlying Technology Generally, most county-level systems share databases, or use databases built on legacy systems linked by middleware. Most agencies are involved in a short to midterm effort to migrate applications and gain access to the Internet. 7 Based on interviews with various agency representatives, this is the direction that the 4 th Judicial District would like to eventually migrate. Currently, agencies that comprise the 4th Judicial District operate in a cooperative, yet autonomous fashion with the majority of agencies maintaining individual data silos with only a few key agencies sharing information online. This situation has developed over the years by agencies developing standalone, in-house systems that were designed to meet internal data and reporting requirements. This has led to the inability of some agencies to share data due to unrelated and outdated system platforms, architectures, and data structures. 4 Chapter 2 The Courts ; Report of the National Task Force on Court Automation and Integration; Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 24

25 In recent years, this situation has changed somewhat due to state and national reporting mandates placed on local justice agencies and LEAs. In particular, with its centralized CICJIS, the State of Colorado mandates that certain criminal information be maintained at the state level. CICJIS affords local governments the ability to share data on a statewide basis including access to the CBI, ICON and Blackstone systems, the Department of Motor Vehicles, etc. Standards Since county-level systems typically focus on operation, most counties developed standards to facilitate data exchange among agencies sharing the same databases. Most counties also develop performance standards to measure the impact of information sharing on operations. 8 This is true in the 4 th Judicial District as well. Therefore, project success measurement criterion, in terms of milestones and goals, have been developed for each project listed in the Recommendations and Projects section. Costs Project costs can run anywhere from $400,000 to $20 million depending upon size and complexity, with durations lasting between 2 to 5 years. 9 In the case of the 4th Judicial District, most of BORN s recommended preliminary future projects may be handled using in-house, or internal, resources. Certain projects, however, either demand specialized skill sets or would place a strain on in-house resources. Descriptions of the business process reengineering (BPR) and data warehouse discovery phase projects are highlighted below under Recommendations and Projects and in Appendix E: Proposed Project Work Plans. Findings At the District level, successful integration efforts focus on providing police, prosecution, courts, and corrections agencies with the kinds of information they need to move witnesses, victims, defendants, and others through the justice process. 10 With this in mind, the BORN team led key representatives from the Data Committee through a project prioritization workshop on March 29, The purpose of the workshop was to disclose and solicit feedback of the preliminary findings of possible future enabling data integration and sharing projects. The workshop was also designed to gain consensus among the participants as to related business value and effort of each recommendation. Success measurement criterion were also established for each recommendation. The workshop output enabled the BORN team and the Data Committee to identify and categorize future projects in terms of quick wins projects and longer-term efforts. The workshop also enabled the participants to identify whether these projects could be accomplished using internal or external resources, or a combination of both. Workshop related documents have been included in this document and may be found in Appendix C: Project Prioritization Workshop Spreadsheet. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 25

26 Recommendations and Projects The following project suggestions were presented as recommendations during the prioritization workshop. The projects are rated from low to high business value versus effort. They are described with related success measurement and business impact criterion: Determining locations of sensitive and valuable data that is not being shared within the enterprise (4 th Judicial District) o Measurement of Successs Identification of personal datamarts that may be used as a reference for enhancing inter-agency data availability and integrity Prioritized ranking of key data elements to be shared Determining the degree to which maintained data is current and accurate The reduction and amount of replicated data o Business Impacts Reduce the possibility of missing a potential hit within the historical records Eliminate duplicate data entry Reduce system support costs (e.g. support personnel work-effort, software licensing fees) Identifying and prioritizing key data exchange points will streamline development efforts by allowing existing systems to become cornerstones of the 4th Judicial District enterprise The identification and inclusion of a state CICJIS technical representative on the JAC appointed project team o Measurements of Success Identification of existing data sharing and integration opportunities Increased communication between the 4th Judicial District and the State Judicial Branch regarding data availability o Business Impact Access to information on state resources will increase the productivity of Data Committee discussions and planning Evaluate and implement best practices based on experience of localities that have achieved similar data integration and sharing, particularly within the State of Colorardo o Measurements of Success Identification of data sharing and integration benchmarks Development of a lessons learned list that leverages and promotes future data sharing projects 26

27 o Business Impacts By taking benchmarks and lessons learned to heart, the 4th Judicial District can save time and money by not repeating mistakes made by other districts The Executive Committee of the Justice Advisory Council forming a policy agreement that will incorporate individual agency information technology plans into a coordinated enterprise strategic plan. o Measurements of Success Gaining member agency consensus as to mission and vision Development of viable strategies that will result in measurable projects and agency accountability o Business Impact A coordinated enterprise strategy will streamline planning efforts for the Data Committee and organize work efforts and agency spending The creation of a program management office including the appointment of a project manager and project team. This project team will be charged with producing a detailed project plan looking at tasks, resources and costs. (Please see the section: Guiding Principles, for more information). o Measurement of Success Success of the overall effort in terms of the 4th Judicial District meeting established enterprise milestones and goals o Business Impact A coordinated project office will steer the work efforts, control spending, and keep the projects organized and on task Engage business process re-engineering and change management expertise to provide requirement definitions, process development, and integration methodology. This includes the re-engineering and alignment of enterprise wide business processes and workflow. This will enable the 4 th Judicial District to take advantage of efficiencies that electronic data transfers can provide. o Measurements of Success Consensus of all involved agencies on processes required to integrate and share data The degree of process adaptation by involved agencies The value added to the enterprise as well as the individual agencies o Business Impacts Solidifying requirements, definitions, process development and integration methodology will create a framework for the agencies and the Data Committee in all future work efforts 27

28 Putting a change management plan in place prior to any major work efforts will organize training efforts and help mitigate individual and agency resistance to the data sharing efforts The migration of current inter-agency data into an accessible data structure. This may take the form of a regional data store or warehouse. The exact project is dependent on how the 4th Judicial District ultimately intends to use shared data. Some agencies in the 4 th Judicial District have a requirement for operational data (arrest reports, prior offenses, convictions, jail or prison terms served, etc.) availability and integrity. Additionally, other agencies may require data support (trending and analysis) mechanisms as well. Each of these requirements will influence architecture and design of the warehouse structure. o Measurements of Success The establishment of a central repository of locally stored data The reduction of resources and costs associated with individually maintained datamarts o Business Impacts A marked reduction of data maintenance resources and costs in each agency Decreased costs and downtime in trying to access current data across the 4th Judicial District A high level analysis of possible BPR and data structure projects may be found in Appendix E: Proposed Project Work Plans. Guiding Principles Generally, a successful data sharing and integration project should include careful design and enterprise wide support for the project s goals. This requires the articulation of a vision, agreement and commitment by key member agencies and constituent representatives to support the project, leadership, and related funding requirements. An effective design is primarily the result of planning and suggests the following guidelines: Review and revision of existing practices and procedures An assessment of available (canned or easily tailored) solutions Ongoing technology review to ensure that the system uses state-of-the-art technology and that all hardware and software is acquired within the system life cycle Development of a conceptual system design that accurately reflects the goals of the agencies within the system, not just the limitations of available funding 11 Specific to the 4 th Judicial District, guiding project principles were presented. These principles are separated as organizational and technical principles and are considered a 11 Ibid. 28

29 foundation for all of BORN s recommended projects. The organizational principles are a suggested staffing structure to be used particularly during the BPR phase. These include: The appointment of a project manager point person responsible to the Data Committee. This person is responsible for identifying value factors that impact the 4th Judicial District s overall value proposition. The individual value proposition for each agency is to be based on a BPR analysis provided by the BPR team. The establishment of a BPR team that is responsible to the project manager. The team is responsible for documenting detailed business requirements, identifying inter-agency process workflows and key data exchange points, obtaining interagency buy-off, establishing process benchmarking criterion, etc. The appointment of a technical architect who is responsible to the project manager. This position interfaces with all agencies, reporting updates to the project manager and assisting the BPR team on obtaining agency buy-off. This person is also responsible for identifying inter-agency communication roadblocks and facilitates change management activities within each agency. This person should be an extravert as well as possessing a certain degree of personal charisma and sales ability. The following technical principles should also be viewed as spanning the entire data sharing effort: The development of 4th Judicial District-wide XML-DTD or XML-Schema formats for data exchange and web enablement. These schema formats represent the mapping of business transactions (e.g. booking) to the specific data that makes up the transaction (e.g. name, infraction, etc.) Upgrading database back-end applications to either Microsoft SQLServer or Oracle databases to take advantage of XML integration and scalability Enforcing system design criteria to facilitate system scalability and future capability upgrades as overall usage requirements increase (e.g. utilizing multi-tiered architectures which separate business logic from the underlying business platform) Using development tools, languages and database products that have a high degree of industry support. This means, for example, Java with Visual Café or Visual Basic with Visual Studio and Microsoft SQLServer 2000 or Oracle Relational Database or higher Reengineer and rehost high value applications on industry standard hardware and operating systems. For instance, Windows 2000 on Compaq hardware or Unix on Sun or Hewlett Packard hardware For a more detailed discussion of the above architecture guidelines, see Appendix F: Architecture Guidelines. 29

30 Appendix A Mission and Vision Statements 4th Judicial District Justice Advisory Council Mission Improve the fairness, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Pikes Peak area justice systems regarding issues affecting the courts, law enforcement, corrections, and human service agencies by fostering cooperation and collaboration at all levels of government to manage the justice system. 4th Judicial District Justice Advisory Council Vision Promote an accountable and well-coordinated justice system that meets the needs of the Pikes Peak area communities Data Committee Mission To identify and collect necessary data from all Justice Agencies; to promote and encourage the cooperation of each agency of the local Justice System in providing the required data; and to provide that information to the Justice Advisory Council for decision making. 30

31 Appendix B Agency Workflow Diagrams Attachments include: Current-state Overview EPSO DA and the Combined Court CSPD and Municipal Court 31

32 Appendix C Project Prioritization Workshop Spreadsheet See Attachment: 32

33 Appendix D Proposed Future Organization Chart 4th Judicial District Justice Advisory Council JAC Executive Steering Committee Criminal Justice Planner Project Manager (Proposed) Program Management Office (proposed) Business Process Team Technology Team Dept. Teams (Data Committee) 3rd party contractors 33

34 Appendix E Proposed Project Work Plans Attachments include: BPR Project Timeline Data Warehouse Analysis and Prototype Project Timeline 34

35 Appendix F Architecture Guidelines Develop criminal justice XML-DTD or XML-Schema formats for data exchange, validation and web enablement. XML (extended Markup Language) is a HTML derivative that has developed into a standard for information exchange. XML allows meaning to be added to the data by the use of tags. XML-DTD (Document Type Definition) files are simple validation files used with importing data in XML format. XML-Schema files are similar to database schema files in that they define required fields, like the DTD files, but also define typed data for validation during an import. Here are three sites offering legal or justice based XML formats Filing.htm Upgrade Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle databases to the latest versions to take advantage of XML integration. In the year 2000 the latest Microsoft and Oracle database products included the ability to map data to XML for SQL inserts and updates and can return SQL query results in XML tagged format. This adds significant capabilities for web presentation of information and for interfaces between systems. Application development should conform to a decoupled multi-tiered architecture to facilitate scalability and future upgrades. Applications should be designed for scalability and extensibility. This is accomplished with decoupled architecture. A decoupled architecture is defined, in part, by using process automation and application-to-application messaging. Processes or objects are not called directly, but rather a messaging layer takes the request for service and passes it to the service provider. This is similar to the Microsoft.NET Initiative, which provides for a similar architecture. This allows for easier future upgrades because a feature of the system can be upgraded with new functions and even new technology with little or no impact on the rest of the system. Picture 1 below, shows a typical decoupled architecture using messaging and process automation. 35

36 Picture 1: A typical decoupled system design Use development tools, languages and database products that have a high degree of industry support. One of the challenges in software development is to hire employees or contract with External Services Providers that have the necessary skills. Using or requiring the use of mainstream products provides you with more opportunities in hiring or outsourcing. This means, for example, new development should be based on Java with Visual Café or Visual Basic with Visual Studio and Microsoft SQLServer 2000 or Oracle Relational Database. Reengineer and rehost high value applications on industry standard hardware and operating systems. Applications that are on older and obsolete operating systems and hardware and applications written with languages that have minimal support are a risk to operations for the following reasons. Spare parts and upgrades to hardware platforms are minimal and costly with non-standard or obsolete hardware. Operating systems maintenance and support is minimal on non-standard or obsolete hardware. Application support and maintenance is minimal for obsolete development languages and upgrades to the application are costly when compared to mainstream development languages. 36

37 All of these factors point to risks for staying with obsolete hardware, operating systems and development languages. Some consideration should be given to reengineer and run applications on Windows 2000 on Compaq hardware or Unix on Sun or HP hardware Summary The architecture guidelines should be used as a starting point when considering new application development or evaluating existing systems and applications. These guidelines could also be used as the basis for a 4th Judicial District architecture standard. 37

38 Appendix G The Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Platform: 38