Commonwealth of Virginia

Transcription

1 June 2, 2010 Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia Corrections Information System Category Improving State Operations Nomination Submitted by Samuel A. Nixon Jr. Chief Information Officer Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia Information Technologies Agency

2 2010 Commonwealth of Virginia NASCIO Award Submission Category: Improving State Operations Project: Virginia Corrections Information System (VirginiaCORIS) Executive Summary To vastly improve operations, manage offenders, better serve and collaborate with public safety partners, provide interoperability between law enforcement systems and retire outdated, costly legacy systems, the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) has implemented a far-reaching and tightly integrated offender management system. The Virginia Corrections Information System (VirginiaCORIS) unites offender management for more than 4,000 current users including prison institutions, probation and parole officers and the Virginia Parole Board, to manage a population of more than 100,000 at 115 locations. VirginiaCORIS communicates with and is used by the Virginia State Police, the Attorney General s office and courts. Virginia closely and easily now is working with the F.B.I. on its developing national database. In the past, two major divisions often handled the same offenders but operated different systems. Paper files existed in multiple locations without the same data and could not be viewed by all users. Managers could only view limited information on any offender; data was repeated multiple times manually, and accuracy was questionable. Officers managed caseloads via hand-written notes, file folders, three-ring binders, Microsoft Word and Access databases. Data sharing was minimal; offender contacts were siloed. Entries could take months to reach other important public safety touch points. Legacy systems were failing and required daily downtime to maintain; vendors no longer supported the technology and a graying workforce signaled loss of capability to maintain it. Contract labor became an expensive requirement, and even that was scarce. Today, multiple user groups access and update a single system, VirginiaCORIS, from any location, 24x7, via secure Web access to track offenders and log information, including a complete real-time log of all contacts with corrections and law-enforcement systems. In 10 months, VirginiaCORIS has captured 1.8 million officer notes that previously would have been paper based; more than 8,000 arrest notifications have been delivered into the system for officer notifications of offender activity. VirginiaCORIS was designed and now operates fluidly as an easily maintained, interoperable system, including active arrest notification integration with Virginia State Police information systems. It eliminated inefficient and paper-based systems and created global views that vastly improve public safety. Over a dozen legacy systems, including one 32-year-old mainframe system, now have been retired. The project s return on investment is positive 13.5% over 20 years. More user groups, including local jails, and applications including health records, biometrics and kiosks for offender use are planned; more aged legacy systems are scheduled to be retired. As a living system, VirginiaCORIS will never be finished; due to its business-driven, interoperable and standardized architecture, future uses, too, easily will be incorporated.

3 Description of the business problem and solution In 2005, facing increasing workloads and decreasing budgets, DOC took a hard look at its offender management applications. At that time, DOC used two mainframe systems, over 20 individual systems and numerous databases. Systems were antiquated, in danger of collapsing, and required down time to maintain. Vendors no longer provided support for the technology structures; system knowledge rapidly was vanishing. Contract labor became an expensive and scarce requirement. The technology was deemed unsupportable and unusable for the modern workforce. The financial burden of maintaining the legacy systems was estimated at $2.5M per year, without factoring in down time, system crashes and general unsuitability of the existing system for meeting growing business needs. Data was spread across multiple, disparate and duplicative systems and programs, without a business layer to connect and reference the data, creating database silos. Mainframe maintenance required significant down time daily, making data unavailable from 6:30 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. daily. Staff could not work remotely, at home or in the field, though many positions involved offender contact at remote locations. Paper was swallowing the agency. Managers had to utilize different systems to mine information and data accuracy always was in question. Policies were inconsistently applied between different offices. Security and privacy, though mandated, were difficult to enforce in the paper-based environment. Reporting to entities including other agencies, the legislature and the federal government was inefficient and sometimes impossible. A business-based IT solution was deemed vital and a new project was initiated. Staff from all impacted business units and potential partners participated in the design phase to identify requirements. A number of potential solutions were considered, including custom build, outsourcing and various vendor offerings. Utilizing Commonwealth procurement best practices, a base software system for offender management was chosen and purchased from xwave/abilis, with the stipulation that the system be custom designed for Virginia according to the identified business requirements and managed internally. VirginiaCORIS was launched. Project Timeline: 2005 Business requirements identified, procurement conducted and awarded; project team began development work on the new VirginiaCORIS 2006 First module completed and live for use by court and legal systems 2008 Module for Community Corrections goes live 2009 Additional Community Corrections functionality added; Parole Board module goes live; over 4,000 users trained and using the system daily 2010 Complimentary module for institutions is launched in February

4 Project Management: Due to investment size and project complexity, VirginiaCORIS was classified as a Commonwealth major IT project, subject to approval and regular review by the CIO, the IT Investment Board, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency project management division and independent verification and validation. DOC followed all Project Management Institute (PMI) guidelines for best project management practices and hired a dedicated internal project manager (PM) to keep implementation on schedule and within budget. The selected PM had substantial experience with criminal justice, corrections and state implementation of offender management systems. Significantly, the project team, the vendor and the process have been driven by the business. The team includes business managers from major units (probation, parole and institutions) and other stakeholders, has made decisions critical to system design and also has provided invaluable assistance to business integration. Solution architecture: VirginiaCORIS is a multi-tier.net software-framed solution, built on a SQL server 2008 database with seven physical application servers, each running through a round-robin load balancer. The database has one primary production server for transaction processing. The architecture includes a production mirror with failover configuration designed within the SQL database from the primary to the mirror. Business layer processing co-exists between both the application servers and the database server. Server updates take place by removing a single server from the load balancer, updating the server, and then returning it - without affecting users or usability. System design was developed through extensive collaboration with public safety partners; planned expansions were included in business requirements. Disaster recovery: Should the primary database fail, the mirror database, which is updated in real time to remain in synch for catastrophic failure events, will assume the load. A third snapshot database is replicated daily with production data. In the event of catastrophic server failure, the load balancer will push work from the failed device to the remaining units where there is capacity - without affecting users ability to perform work. Change Management: The criticality of solid change management practices was emphasized from project start. An aggressive communications campaign informed and educated users. Executive management solidly backed the initiative. At every staff meeting, the project was discussed and supported. Newsletters and s were generated to users. At each DOC location a point person ensured message consistency representative of changes that users would experience. These champions led training and also routed user problems, reported bugs and suggested possible enhancements as users began interacting with the system. Accessibility and information security Role-based access is a significant part of the solution s architecture. New policies and procedures were created with the project to identify and standardize user access. Web-based views are delivered via virtual private network utilizing secure socket layers (SSL) and expedite use of assistive technology. Significantly, the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts recently completed its information system security audit of DOC and reported no finding on VirginiaCORIS.

5 Significance to the improvement of the operation of government Implementation of VirginiaCORIS has resulted in a streamlined, innovative, easily accessible, anytime method for multiple entities to manage the many requirements of offender management and companion public safety concerns in the Commonwealth. One of the largest drivers of the project was inability to use applications interoperably from a Commonwealth business perspective. To support investigations and strengthen public safety initiatives it was imperative that both legal (courts, Attorney General) and enforcement (State Police) share and add to information generated by Corrections. Crime occurs 24x7, but prior to VirginiaCORIS, access to offender information was unavailable to users such as State Police for 12 hours daily. Real-time updates now have been enabled and data accuracy verified, creating user access and confidence. VirginiaCORIS vastly improves public safety capability for the agency, all business partners (including localities and the federal government), and ultimately, citizens. Elimination of legacy systems and mainframe applications also provides important financial efficiencies. Use of a modern, updateable platform guarantees that future additions easily can be integrated, such as health insurance records and biometric data. The scope of the data maintained by the agency is vast and includes multiple inputs and outputs from other entities necessary to offender management. This graphic clearly indicates project scope and capability. VirginiaCORIS closely aligns with the five goals of the Commonwealth Strategic Plan for Information Technology. It adheres to Commonwealth IT Investment Management standards and has been subject to regular review by the CIO and independent verification and validation as part of the state s major IT project portfolio. VirginiaCORIS also closely aligns with NASCIO s State CIO priorities, including strategies of consolidation, shared services, budget and cost control, security and e-

6 discovery and priority technologies including content management, unified communications, identity and access management, business intelligence and mobile workforce enablement. Benefit of the project VirginiaCORIS now is one of the largest integrated offender management systems in the United States, and multiple stakeholders reap benefits daily. VirginiaCORIS eliminates an inefficient and paper-based system and creates global views that vastly improve public safety. Over a dozen legacy systems, including one 32-year-old mainframe system, now have been retired by DOC. The system now has more than 4,000 active users, including all operating units of Corrections, Correctional Education, numerous public safety agencies, the Virginia State Police and the Office of the Attorney General. Any user who has contact with an offender can place log notes in the file to alert other users. Changes in address, work status and parole officer visits now are securely logged. In ten months, 1.8 million system-generated notes have been captured that previously would have been paper-based. An alert feature immediately highlights critical information for all users including threats of violence, sex offense, gang activity and special needs. The fugitive unit is alerted of offenders who abscond from community supervision; officers have immediate access to the offender s complete file. Thanks to system interoperability, active arrest notification integration with Virginia State Police information systems is achieved. To date, over 8,000 arrest notifications have been delivered for officer notifications of offender activity. Remote access is enabled; the system can be securely accessed from anywhere in the world. Cross-jurisdiction law enforcement also is enhanced. The system is fully redundant, up and available 99.9% of the time. Offender data is visible as a comprehensive picture to authorized users 24x7x365. Photos now are being added thanks to system design; VirginiaCORIS currently holds 151,769 offender images and the number is increasing daily. New entries to the population now require photos; addition of biometrics is scheduled. External documents are improved. Arrest warrants now contain demographic snapshots, including photo if available, to assist law enforcement with offender identification. If offenders are returned to prison for violations, activity is visible to the institution for placement and program/treatment planning.

7 Offender data now is moved without multiple entries; it is entered once, populated to multiple forms and used as needed. Data is selectable. Administrative burden has been significantly reduced. The system also accepts scanned documents; many external paper documents can be incorporated. Offender transfers are simplified. File material previously was copied and faxed or mailed to the receiving district. Now, electronic notices allow the case to instantly be moved upon acceptance from the sending to the receiving district. Management of released offenders also is improved. Offender files now exist in a secure environment. A recent fire destroyed an office; while some working papers and older files were burned, VirginiaCORIS data was available once data communication was restored. A neighboring district provided offender reports within hours to assist with recovery. Project managers completed an official return on investment (ROI) analysis for the project at its outset and noted the following in the official project portfolio: VirginiaCORIS is critical so that the department can move towards an integrated offender management system, to provide interoperability, better access and more reliable information to support the department s mission. Ongoing costs for the "As-Is" are approximately $2.5M each year (and as estimated, do NOT increase over the next ten years). At a project cost of $17M and annual support cost of $400,000, the ROI for the project over a 20-year span is a positive 13.5%. Redeployment of staff is assumed; application management is in-house. VirginiaCORIS is predicted to last twenty to thirty years as the technology is supported by the latest Microsoft architecture, making the continued ROI increasingly important and positive in future years. VirginiaCORIS has immediately provided support to Governor Bob McDonnell s first key initiatives, including Executive Order Two, Establishing the Governor s Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring, and particularly his recent Executive Order Eleven, The Virginia Prisoner and Juvenile Offender Re-Entry Council. The re-entry process is crucial to an offender s successful rehabilitation in the community. VirginiaCORIS provides needed offender reports and identifies the institutional and community staff which provide transitional services for the offender. Interoperable data communication enhances the re-entry process and public safety. Significantly, the system has been designed with awareness of developing needs, such as electronic health records, and particularly for counter-terrorism operations, biometric identifying data. These emerging requirements easily will be assimilated. Business managers continue to meet regularly to discuss further enhancements. VirginiaCORIS now stands as an adaptable IT tool to support the best-practice business of corrections and public safety in service to citizens.