Criminal Justice in the Isle of Man exploits the benefits of IT
The Isle of Man's Probation Service has been focusing on IT to help improve administration and performance. The Service has been working closely with PDMS to add new functionality to their existing case management system and to further enhance the overall usability of the application. The original system was designed by PDMS in 1999, to replace the Service's paper based system and legacy database application. At the time, the Service required a new PC based system that would allow them to manage individual cases, track contact between clients and their caseworkers and produce the management reports required for National Standards. The new case administration project was a huge success and has resulted in many significant tangible benefits for the Probation Service, including an overall improvement in both performance and accountability.
Because of the strategic importance of the system to the smooth running of the Service, the system has been subject to continuous development and improvement. From the outset the system was designed so that additional functionality to support the Probation Service's business could easily be added. Many of the subsequent enhancements to the system have arisen from user group meetings, where Probation Officers who use the system on a daily basis, get together with the PDMS probation project team to discuss possible improvements and new developments. The most recent changes were driven by a desire to proactively take advantage of new technologies, and involved a major upgrade of the technical architecture to exploit the opportunities afforded by both Microsoft.NET and PDMS' own foundations framework.
One of the Probation Service's key responsibilities is the administration of community service orders and a new module has just been rolled out to specifically deal with this area. This new module allows the Probation Officers not only to store information on scheduled and completed work records, but importantly, allows them to view the availability of a client and schedule work only when the client is free to carry it out.
Whilst the Isle of Man Probation Service is autonomous, it is structured in a similar way to the services in England and Wales and is accountable to the Island's Department of Home Affairs. The latter monitors the effectiveness of the service, and performance is benchmarked against National Standards. The case administration system is therefore pivotal on several levels it provides not only a user case load information system but also allows for the effective management and reporting of information and quality control in terms of National Standards measurement. The next project, to further refine and improve reporting to National Standards is already underway.