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Projects Search Public Sector Clients & References Case Studies Websites Showcase	Client Isle of Man Probation Service Project Isle of Man Probation Service Website Overview The Probation Service selected PDMS to develop and implement the new Probation Administration System, as they were aware of PDMS' long track record in successfully supplying business systems to the Isle of Man Government. Client quote Given the need for good management information, quality control in terms of National Standards measurement and a user friendly caseload information system for staff, I am proud to say that this in my opinion is a market leader both in terms of its current level of development and its potential David B. L. Sellick Chief Probation Officer Background The Probation Service is a division of the Isle of Man Department of Home Affairs and is responsible for making local communities safer by supervising offenders in ways that help them to turn away from crime. Despite being autonomous, the Isle of Man Probation Service is structured in a similar way to services in England and Wales. In addition to community penalties, the Probation Service also undertakes both prison based work, throughcare (including custodial licences) and family court work. Accountable to the Department of Home Affairs (the equivalent of the UK Home Office), the Chief Probation Officer also reports to the Island's Probation Liaison Committee (UK Probation Board) which consists of a Deemster (High Court Judge), the High Bailiff (Stipendary Magistrate) and lay magistrates. To facilitate the efficient and effective running of the Service, the Probation Service required a computerised administration system that would allow them to manage individual cases, track contact between the clients and the caseworkers in terms of National Standards and produce management reports. Up until this point, they had been using a largely paper based system together with a legacy database application and recognised the need to manage all of their records and information in one central location. The Challenge The primary objective of the project was to develop a system which would address the business needs of the Service which were identified as follows: Record all relevant information about the Services caseload. Publish management reports for all levels within the service. Grade the Service's performance in relation to National Standards, and; Assist in the workflow of the Service. Due to the complex nature of the Probation Service's business, the specification stage of the project was particularly important and the PDMS project team worked closely with the Probation Service to identify the requirements. The core requirements of the system were identified as: Demographic information with regards to the offenders (client). Previous conviction information for each and every client that the service has had contact with. Information about each of the Court Reports prepared by the Service. Information pertaining to each of the Orders that were to be managed by the Service. Each and every contact that the Service had with the offender (e.g. telephone calls, letters, face-to-face etc.) In addition, the system would also have to: Assist in workflow by publishing letters to the offender regarding scheduled contacts and missed contacts. Supply comprehensive reporting facilities, both static and dynamic reports would be required. Monitor the effectiveness of the Service by comparing the Service with the National Standards set by the Chief Probation Officer and ratified by the Department of Home Affairs. From a technical and architectural perspective further challenges included: Security: The system had to be secure due to the sensitive nature of the information to be stored. Flexibility: The solution would to need to be as configurable as possible to allow for any future changes in legislation, and performance levels. Scalability: The growing involvement of the Probation Service in supervising offenders meant the Probation Administration System was going to have to be very scaleable. Reliability: The architecture of the system had to be designed in such a way as to make the system fault tolerant. The Solution After reviewing the requirements, the PDMS development team decided that the Probation Service's administration system should be developed using the PDMS Foundations ^TM framework. The Foundations^TM framework was selected because it would ensure that the system would meet all of the core requirements, namely, that it would be secure, flexible, scalable and reliable. Using the Foundations^TM standard tiered solution meant that the database layer, business layer and presentation layer, could be developed independently of each other, significantly decreasing the development time of the project. Importantly, it also allowed for any future developments and expansion of the system to be easily accommodated and implemented efficiently. The development team decided to implement a thin client presentation layer with some embedded browser functionality. This decision was taken for two key reasons. Firstly, the fact that the end users within the Probation Service were already familiar with standard Windows based applications meant that the time spent on user training could be reduced. Secondly, the Foundations^TM architecture allows for different presentation layers because the individual layers are separate from each other the presentation interface does not affect the underlying business and data layers. Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) was originally used to implement the business components required for the system and this has recently been upgraded to Windows 2000 and Com+. The upgrade allows for the easy implementation of new technologies such as the Microsoft. Net framework. The database layer has also been upgraded from Microsoft SQL Server 7 to SQL Server 2000 , which provides a cost effective, high performance and resilient platform. The project team developed a Windows based graphical user interface, which enables quick and accurate finding and recording of information. The project team realised that ‘ease of use' was a prime concern for the service and therefore developed user interfaces that were intuitive and that guided the user through the various stages of a client's supervision order. The primary interface has recently been further enhanced with refinements made to the application tree view; the hub of the front end of the system which allows the users to access any data set relating to clients or orders. The system has been developed so that additional functionality to support the Probation Service's business can easily be added. Recent additions include a Community Service module that provides information on how many hours service a client has been assigned and the availability of a client so that the officers can schedule work when the client is free to carry it out. The module also stores scheduled work records and completed work records. Benefits Throughout the duration of the project, the PDMS project team worked closely with the Isle of Man Probation Service to successfully decommission their legacy system, and replace it with an n-tier Windows based solution. The excellent communication channels, and indeed the working relationship, between the Probation Service, who allocated a senior manager to manage the project, and the project team at PDMS ensures that any issues or problems are resolved quickly and effectively. The case management and administration system has bought significant tangible benefits to the Service in the form of enhanced performance and accountability. With the successful transfer of all the archived data from the previous system and the implementation of the new solution developed by PDMS, the Probation Service have benefited from a single, central system that holds all of the information crucial to the successful running of the Service. The Service has improved access to statistical information, including many years of historical data, and can easily produce the management reports required to benchmark their performance against the National Standards. PDMS continue to work closely with the Isle of Man Probation Service to provide on-going enhancements that are driven by changes in legislation, internal developments within the Probation System and opportunities afforded by new technologies.

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Client

Isle of Man Probation Service

Project

Isle of Man Probation Service

Website

Overview

The Probation Service selected PDMS to develop and implement the new Probation Administration System, as they were aware of PDMS' long track record in successfully supplying business systems to the Isle of Man Government.

Client quote

Given the need for good management information, quality control in terms of National Standards measurement and a user friendly caseload information system for staff, I am proud to say that this in my opinion is a market leader both in terms of its current level of development and its potential

David B. L. Sellick

Chief Probation Officer

Background

The Probation Service is a division of the Isle of Man Department of Home Affairs and is responsible for making local communities safer by supervising offenders in ways that help them to turn away from crime. Despite being autonomous, the Isle of Man Probation Service is structured in a similar way to services in England and Wales. In addition to community penalties, the Probation Service also undertakes both prison based work, throughcare (including custodial licences) and family court work. Accountable to the Department of Home Affairs (the equivalent of the UK Home Office), the Chief Probation Officer also reports to the Island's Probation Liaison Committee (UK Probation Board) which consists of a Deemster (High Court Judge), the High Bailiff (Stipendary Magistrate) and lay magistrates.

To facilitate the efficient and effective running of the Service, the Probation Service required a computerised administration system that would allow them to manage individual cases, track contact between the clients and the caseworkers in terms of National Standards and produce management reports. Up until this point, they had been using a largely paper based system together with a legacy database application and recognised the need to manage all of their records and information in one central location.

The Challenge

The primary objective of the project was to develop a system which would address the business needs of the Service which were identified as follows:

Record all relevant information about the Services caseload.
Publish management reports for all levels within the service.
Grade the Service's performance in relation to National Standards, and;
Assist in the workflow of the Service.

Due to the complex nature of the Probation Service's business, the specification stage of the project was particularly important and the PDMS project team worked closely with the Probation Service to identify the requirements. The core requirements of the system were identified as:

Demographic information with regards to the offenders (client).
Previous conviction information for each and every client that the service has had contact with.
Information about each of the Court Reports prepared by the Service.
Information pertaining to each of the Orders that were to be managed by the Service.
Each and every contact that the Service had with the offender (e.g. telephone calls, letters, face-to-face etc.)

In addition, the system would also have to:

Assist in workflow by publishing letters to the offender regarding scheduled contacts and missed contacts.
Supply comprehensive reporting facilities, both static and dynamic reports would be required.
Monitor the effectiveness of the Service by comparing the Service with the National Standards set by the Chief Probation Officer and ratified by the Department of Home Affairs.

From a technical and architectural perspective further challenges included:

Security: The system had to be secure due to the sensitive nature of the information to be stored.
Flexibility: The solution would to need to be as configurable as possible to allow for any future changes in legislation, and performance levels.
Scalability: The growing involvement of the Probation Service in supervising offenders meant the Probation Administration System was going to have to be very scaleable.
Reliability: The architecture of the system had to be designed in such a way as to make the system fault tolerant.

The Solution

After reviewing the requirements, the PDMS development team decided that the Probation Service's administration system should be developed using the PDMS Foundations ^TM framework. The Foundations^TM framework was selected because it would ensure that the system would meet all of the core requirements, namely, that it would be secure, flexible, scalable and reliable.

Using the Foundations^TM standard tiered solution meant that the database layer, business layer and presentation layer, could be developed independently of each other, significantly decreasing the development time of the project. Importantly, it also allowed for any future developments and expansion of the system to be easily accommodated and implemented efficiently.

The development team decided to implement a thin client presentation layer with some embedded browser functionality. This decision was taken for two key reasons. Firstly, the fact that the end users within the Probation Service were already familiar with standard Windows based applications meant that the time spent on user training could be reduced. Secondly, the Foundations^TM architecture allows for different presentation layers because the individual layers are separate from each other the presentation interface does not affect the underlying business and data layers.

Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) was originally used to implement the business components required for the system and this has recently been upgraded to Windows 2000 and Com+. The upgrade allows for the easy implementation of new technologies such as the Microsoft. Net framework.

The database layer has also been upgraded from Microsoft SQL Server 7 to SQL Server 2000 , which provides a cost effective, high performance and resilient platform.

The project team developed a Windows based graphical user interface, which enables quick and accurate finding and recording of information. The project team realised that ‘ease of use' was a prime concern for the service and therefore developed user interfaces that were intuitive and that guided the user through the various stages of a client's supervision order. The primary interface has recently been further enhanced with refinements made to the application tree view; the hub of the front end of the system which allows the users to access any data set relating to clients or orders.

The system has been developed so that additional functionality to support the Probation Service's business can easily be added. Recent additions include a Community Service module that provides information on how many hours service a client has been assigned and the availability of a client so that the officers can schedule work when the client is free to carry it out. The module also stores scheduled work records and completed work records.

Benefits

Throughout the duration of the project, the PDMS project team worked closely with the Isle of Man Probation Service to successfully decommission their legacy system, and replace it with an n-tier Windows based solution.

The excellent communication channels, and indeed the working relationship, between the Probation Service, who allocated a senior manager to manage the project, and the project team at PDMS ensures that any issues or problems are resolved quickly and effectively.

The case management and administration system has bought significant tangible benefits to the Service in the form of enhanced performance and accountability. With the successful transfer of all the archived data from the previous system and the implementation of the new solution developed by PDMS, the Probation Service have benefited from a single, central system that holds all of the information crucial to the successful running of the Service. The Service has improved access to statistical information, including many years of historical data, and can easily produce the management reports required to benchmark their performance against the National Standards.

PDMS continue to work closely with the Isle of Man Probation Service to provide on-going enhancements that are driven by changes in legislation, internal developments within the Probation System and opportunities afforded by new technologies.