Case Studies

Juvenile Probation Department Spends More Time Helping Troubled Youths

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Business Challenges

• Ensure care of every child by providing rank-and-file workers with the required information
• Enable management to make decisions on resource allocation
• Increase efficiency of the system through automation

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Results

• No child will be able to “slip through the cracks”
• Reduced time spent on logistics results in better management of children’s cases
• Proactive actions on emerging problems can be taken based on trends and case history
• Better reporting helps target the root causes of problems and focus on resources
• Increased collaboration between schools, courts, and community services
  

We were all very impressed with the services and the rapidity with which CTE was able to develop responses that addressed the items we identified . . . We were similarly impressed with the qualifications and obvious talents of your staff.”

Information Manager

The Department needed to replace its legacy mainframe-based information system. Described by many as “a black hole we put information into but never get any useful information out of,” the system was time-intensive and relied on cryptic and often misused codes to store information. Information sharing was difficult and sometimes two officers would wind up dealing with children in the same household and not know of each other’s involvement.

The department, which deals with approximately 10,000 referrals annually, sought assistance from CTE, a leader in collaborative business innovation services that accelerate deployment of enterprise applications, to centralize and standardize information and automate data collection and analysis.

With up to 60 juveniles per Probation Officer, employees found it difficult to manage cases effectively. One supervisor resorted to tracking upcoming deadlines with a giant array of post-it notes. Entering a child’s information into the department’s computer system was time-consuming and error-prone, and made it difficult to determine if a juvenile had been through the system before. The department’s computer system also hindered the flow of information.

Probation officers, judges, court-appointed attorneys, psychologists, and community service supervisors all interact with a juvenile. With no automated process, all of this was being coordinated with phone calls from the Probation Officer. Court-appointed attorneys often would simply receive a postcard informing them they were assigned to a case, with no additional information.

The department had looked at several off-the-shelf products, but none met their specific needs, and all attempted to force them into a standard business process. Technology and business experts at CTE helped the department design a custom-built solution to precisely address their operational problems.

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CTE Solution

The department began the project by participating in the Cambridge Executive Workshop (CEW) conducted by CTE, an intensive three-week program where corporate executives and staff collaborate to identify new ideas and move them to deployment. During the Workshop, the department set goals to improve the data management system and find a means to better leverage the company’s core knowledge and customer experience in order to create growth and profitability opportunities.

• Generate new, high-impact ideas using CTE’s “left and right hand” framework
• Identify “lazy assets” that can benefit from new technologies and improved processes
• Create a compelling, complete business case with quantitative and qualitative benefits

Through the CEW, the department was able to identify ways to create a “left hand” vision to ensure that every employee had the information necessary to help reform juvenile delinquents. The department used CTE’s Collaboration Architecture to:

• Develop an architecture that allowed consolidation of data in disparate systems with flexibility for the changing business environment
• Create a custom prototype of the solution
• Provide a framework for Rapid Application Development (RAD) and
• Develop a deployment roadmap to quickly capture maximum benefits
  

The solution relies on software from CTE’s Collaboration Software Suite as the foundation for the flexible framework to solve its multiple technology and business challenges. The department used the CTE Scoring Engine, an event-driven, workflow-based correlation and trend analysis system that supports dynamic analysis rules, to filter and analyze information after it is collected. The CTE DataSwitch, a multipurpose communications platform that combines several functions within an easy-to-use interface, is used for data collection and dissemination. The CTE Sharp Statement Center, an XML-based data extraction application that allows organizations transform paper invoices, case reports, work orders, and the like into dynamic, personalized, interactive statements, is the basis for information dissemination and decisions.

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Solution Benefits

The case tracking system enabled probation officers to do their best and ensure that every child had the opportunity to get back on track. The automation offered by the new system allowed for more one-on-one time with the children, time previously spent on monotonous data gathering. In short, this CTE solution gave the department a platform to help every juvenile their life in order.

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