YAFAQ (Yet Another Frequently Asked Questions List)

 

The following questions seem to be burning at the heart of almost every seminar, conference, meeting about integrated justice information systems………………

 

Q. How do I convince my jurisdiction do get moving with integrated justice?

A.  A wise man once said that no integration will occur until the chief judge and the sheriff go out and have a beer with each other.  There is a lot of truth in this.  The stakeholders need to have a conversation and discover that they can help each other do a better job by sharing information and avoiding redundant and delayed data entry.  You can help by exposing the decision makers to some of the horror stories that have been documented that describe scenarios that exist when there is no integration. See the posting on this blog on June 9. Work through the problem at the staff level before getting the politicians engaged.

 

Q. Where do I get the money for an integrated justice information system?

A. If process re-engineering can be a part of your implementation, there is a good likelihood that you can show cost savings by the elimination of redundant data entry and repetitive processes.  Build a business case that shows the savings in time, file cabinets, Xeroxing, floor space, delays in keeping people in jail due to paperwork transfer, etc.  Add up the savings over a 7 year life cycle and compare it to the system cost.

 

Q. Does the Federal government have any money they can give us?

A. Basically, no.  In recent years, the pots of money at the Federal level that can be spent at their discretion for technology are all eaten up by congressional earmarks.  The answer to the question is yes if you can get your congressman or senator to fight for an earmark in the appropriations bill for the justice department and win the logrolling battle.  Otherwise, you can forget Federal funding out of the justice department.  The block grants they give to the states are still potential sources of money, but this means focusing on your state criminal justice planning organization not on the Feds.   The grants to the states and the discretionary grants from the Department of Homeland Security all include the potential of information sharing as legitimate cost categories, and you should explore these grant possibilities if you can define your project has helping improve information sharing in the defense of our homeland.

 

Q. What technology approach should we use?

A. The basic choices involve data warehouses, middleware data exchange, or some kind of hybrid.  Most agencies are conceptualizing a virtual enterprise information system, where legacy systems are loosely coupled using XML and web services.  Data warehouses are a very sophisticated solution but end up being quite expensive.