Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System (CICJIS)

Transcription

1 2011 NASCIO RECOGNITION AWARDS NOMINATION Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System (CICJIS) Award Category Data, Information and Knowledge Management State Colorado 2011 NASCIO Recognition Awards Nomination - Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Page 1

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System (CICJIS) is an integrated computer information system that links five state-level criminal justice agencies law enforcement, prosecution, courts, adult corrections and juvenile corrections to create one virtual criminal justice information system. This enables all criminal justice agencies to track offenders through the criminal justice system from arrest and prosecution to adjudication and incarceration. The ability to share critical information at key decision points in the criminal process enhances public safety, improves decision making, and increases productivity. The Colorado General Assembly mandated development of an integrated criminal justice information system during the 1995 legislative session and directed that the executive directors of the Departments of Public Safety, Corrections and Human Services and the Colorado Judicial Branch cooperate in the development of a strategic plan for the implementation and maintenance of the system. In 1996 the Colorado General Assembly approved the plan and funded the development of CICJIS. The initial phase of CICJIS (data transfers) was implemented on May 4, 1998, with query functions implemented in the summer of The CICJIS program created the first technical enterprise architecture in the state and is driven by the business information needs and business process requirements of Colorado s criminal justice agencies. CICJIS is an independent program that relies on the equal participation of the five CICJIS partner agencies Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Colorado District Attorneys Council (CDAC), the Judicial Branch, Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) and Division of Youth Corrections (DYC) within the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS). Each agency has its own business, business models and strategies, yet each has a vested interest in, and gains benefits from, the CICJIS program. CICJIS processes more than 6 million transactions per year. The architecture that performed well for more than ten years had design limitations that translated to data sharing limitations between the five partner agencies and also required improved security. To address those issues, a project was initiated in 2009 to substantially modify and improve the system. CICJIS identified two information transfers that could be moved to the CICJIS Service-Based Architecture (SOA) solution without affecting the existing architecture. In addition, CICJIS moved forward criminal justice data sharing using the Justice Reference Architecture (JRA) and National Information Exchange Model (NIEM). This project was completed in July Of note, in November 2009, CICJIS was among five technology projects recognized by the federal NIEM for implementing substantial improvements that demonstrate how intergovernmental collaboration and innovative technology deliver results that increase government transparency, improve performance, and enable civic engagement NASCIO Recognition Awards Nomination - Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Page 2

3 C. DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS PROBLEM AND SOLUTION Problem: CICJIS delivers information sharing services by providing access to data across all participating agencies and by eliminating the need for redundant data entry using automated systems. The automated systems are designed to provide one-time entry of data and efficient access to justice information to all agency consumers and their customers using secure, role-based authentication methods. CICJIS does not store data; its main functionality is to move or transfer data from one agency to another. The CICJIS network and middleware link the existing agency databases/platforms and give users the appearance of querying one database when in reality they are querying five. The network features are transparent to the user. The CICJIS network handles real-time, event-driven data transfers, data extracts, and queries between systems. CICJIS acts as a hub that links these systems together into one virtual computer system, allowing the systems to share common data and to provide a single view or source of criminal justice information to all criminal justice agencies. The CICJIS network is an example of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). EDI transmits information directly to another computer, eliminating the paperwork and human intervention. Data can move directly out of one computer system and into another with little to no delay. Errors are reduced because data is not being re-keyed. Typically error rates from re-entering data are between 3%-5%, and on large volumes of transactions, the possibility for the introduction of errors is enormous. However, because data does not need to be re-entered in CICJIS, the potential for data re-entry errors is eliminated. In 2009, the system was evaluated from a business and technological standpoint. CICJIS partner agencies had a desire to update their legacy systems and the CICJIS team continually looks for innovative ways to keep moving forward technologically. It was determined that current system architecture was limiting the ability for CICJIS to improve data sharing and to improve security. Solution: In order to address the limitations discussed above, the CICJIS team initiated a technology-refresh project to align the architecture with evolving standards of justice information exchange and additional federal/state security requirements. The refresh project incorporated the latest technologies for messaging and conformance to criminal justice information sharing standards recommended by the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global) Advisory Committee and conforms to the NIEM information and security standards. Global recommended the use of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) for implementing new systems and conformance to NIEM for providing increased interoperability and information sharing. The Integration Web Service (IWS) was designed to be stateless, meaning it simply accepts an encrypted NIEM document, decrypts it, and sends it to back end processing. The back end processing is responsible for determining the type of NIEM document being 2011 NASCIO Recognition Awards Nomination - Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Page 3

4 received and applying any appropriate business logic. The goal is to not change the IWS once deployed. When new transfers or queries are developed, only the back end processing would need to change. CICJIS identified two information transfers that could be moved to the SOA solution without affecting the existing architecture. In addition, CICJIS moved forward criminal justice data sharing using the Justice Reference Architecture (JRA) and NIEM. One of the Key Points of NIEM is that it supports cross-domain information exchanges as well as intra-domain exchanges. While NIEM provides reusable components and Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPD) for exchanges across NIEM domains, it also supports intra-domain exchanges where a given domain, such as Justice, is comprised of multiple sub-communities (e.g. investigation, courts, and corrections). Regardless of the domain(s) that information components are defined in, information exchanges take place between individuals, organizations, systems, and databases. NIEM supports those exchanges to help them bridge domain and organization boundaries. CICJIS utilized two of their existing information transfers, Transport Order and Victim Transfer, and implemented them using SOA, NIEM, and Microsoft BizTalk server for workflow and messaging, and Visual Studio as the development tool. The state agencies that CICJIS communicates with for these transfers are the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Colorado Judicial Branch and the Colorado District Attorneys Council. CICJIS personnel wrote, tested and put into production two IEPDs (shared on NIEM.gov), which are: 1) CICJIS Transport Order Exchange Court notification to local law enforcement of needed transport of a prisoner, and 2) CICJIS Victim Transfer Exchange Transfer of victim information from Prosecution to the Courts. D. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT This upgrade project provides benefit to CICJIS state agencies that can be applied to projects by other state or local agencies. CICJIS has been a strong resource for state and regional research committees interested in sharing adult and youth data. CICJIS has been able to provide insight into how to connect systems and access data, while leaving that data in the custody of the originator. There are local law enforcement applications for data sharing, but there is also a growing desire to access school history and other data that may be available for youth entering the criminal justice system. This would allow virtual electronic records management for law enforcement, social workers, court personnel and corrections personnel. Data sharing allows CICJIS customers (i.e. Local Law Enforcement, Judicial, Corrections, etc.) to make the right decisions at the right time by providing them with the timely information they require. E. BENEFIT OF THE PROJECT CICJIS exemplifies the State of Colorado s Information Technology Strategic Objectives of improving enterprise service delivery and enhancing collaboration and innovation NASCIO Recognition Awards Nomination - Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Page 4

5 CICJIS also illustrates NASCIO s State CIO priorities of consolidation, shared services, and electronic records management. Inter-Connectivity NIEM is meant as a data exchange that is platform independent, so it is perfectly suited to the CICJIS environment. NIEM is an innovative data exchange standard created by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). By utilizing NIEM, participating state agencies do not have to move away from their legacy systems or current business practices, but it does give them the opportunity to use other platforms and still send and receive data. This allows participating state agencies to upgrade or change platforms at their own pace, greatly reducing IT expenses that are incurred when all participating agencies are tied to the same platform. Cost Effective By utilizing NIEM technology and moving to a Microsoft BizTalk server, CICJIS has reduced licensing fees. Colorado, like many other states, is experiencing budget difficulties that have not been seen for several decades. Any automated data exchange that replaces keying and rekeying in information is not only a better business practice, but also saves the state money and resources that can be better allocated elsewhere. Collaborative Colorado recently passed legislation that will eliminate the data silo approach to state data and move towards data sharing instead. CICJIS has been on the leading edge of this philosophy since its inception and this upgrade project continues that trend. The Best Practice arising from this project was that this was a group effort. From the beginning of the project, it was recognized that only a collaborative effort between business and technical staff would lead us to a successful solution. CICJIS will utilize this approach in all future projects and encourage new project teams to do the same NASCIO Recognition Awards Nomination - Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Page 5