Pinal County, ArizonaNovember 10, 2003

Pinal County, ArizonaNovember 10, 2003

JIEM Project Created To:

Define Information Exchanges

• Justice agencies transfer information at key decision-points throughout the justice process,

• These decision-points occur at regular events (e.g., at arrest, prosecution charging decision, initial appearance, etc.), and

• At a high-level, these transfers are consistent in justice agencies throughout the nation. One project objective was to identify these consistencies.

Why the Need to Define Information

Exchanges?

• Integration of Information Systems – Refers to the ability to electronically access and share critical information at key decision points throughout the justice enterprise.• Enterprise-wide view of exchanges as

opposed to records management view.• Locally - Need to define business flow

before implementing technology.• Nationally - Looking to develop

standards (i.e., functional standards, XML, etc.) to aid in future efforts.

Integrated Justice Planning/Implementa

tion

• Why – Legislation; Policy Decision; Funding; etc.

• Where – Local or State Jurisdiction• Who – Entities Involved • What – Information Exchanged• When – Stages/Phases of the

Criminal Justice Process AND Specific Trigger Points

• How – Technology Solutions (i.e., Middleware, Internet, Intranet, etc.)

Business Flow Documentation

• Defining “Who, What, and When” comprises the Business Flow Documentation portion of Integrated Justice Planning. [Scope issues]

• This component is critical to the success of your integrated justice effort.

• This analysis must be completed prior to making final decisions regarding technology solutions.

Justice Information Exchange Model

Created

• Existing Documentation • Data Dictionaries, Data Flow Diagrams,

etc.• Different Views (events, agencies,

information)• Tremendous Variation

• Inability to Compare Existing Documentation• Identified Common Components of

Exchange• Developed Methodology & Modeling Tool

Five State Participation

• Project Sites: Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania

• Provided Documentation• Held Meetings to Collect Data• Entered Data into Collection Tool• Validated Data Entry• Provided Feedback Regarding Initial

Data Entry Efforts

Dimensions of Information

Exchange

• Information Exchanges are made up of five primary components that we refer to as dimensions of information exchange:• Processes• Events• Agencies• Conditions• Information

• Documents• Data Sets• Data Elements

Processes

• Processes – A group of logically related events, viewed from a single agency’s perspective, e.g., Investigation, Detention, Pre-Disposition Court. Also defined as stages of the case which subject is in at the time of the exchange:• Extend over time;• Begin and end with an event;• Contain two or more events;

Processes (cont’d)

• May exist concurrently with other processes, i.e., subject may be detained while going through trial. This involves the Detention process as well as the Pre-Disposition Court process;

• May exist consecutively to other processes, i.e., the Pre-Disposition Court process ends and the Post-Disposition Court process begins.

Events

• Events – Decisions or actions that trigger the exchange of information (i.e., arrest, prosecution filing decision, etc.):• Primary reasons for the current

exchange;• Slices in time – instantaneous (occurs in

an instance, within several hours, or within several days at the most). For example, a sentence hearing is an event, even though it may span several days.

Agencies

• Agencies - Criminal justice or justice related entity that sends or receives information (i.e., police department, trial court, etc.):• These entities send and/or receive

documents as part of the criminal justice process.

• May be non-criminal justice entities.

Conditions

• Conditions – Factors that affect the content or direction of the exchange of information. Conditions define the processing flow surrounding the exchange:• During an event, an agency makes a

decision based on specific conditions being satisfied;

• Often, the conditions determine who gets what;

Conditions (cont’d)

• Absence of a condition is acceptable; • Examples/Alternatives:

• If felony offense/If misdemeanor offense; • If individual is in custody/If not in

custody;• If there is sufficient evidence to file

charges/If insufficient evidence to file charges;

• If defendant enters guilty/no contest plea/If defendant pleads not guilty.

Information/Documents

• Information – Data exchanged between agencies, includes documents, data sets and data elements:• Documents:

• May be paper or virtual (i.e., arrest report, criminal history record, electronic transfer, etc.)

• They consist of one or more data sets.

Information/Data Sets

• Data Sets • Made up of logically related data

elements;• Consist of two or more data elements.• Examples:

• Basic Identification; • Arrest Identifiers; • Court Case Identifiers.

Information/Data Elements

• Data Elements: Individual pieces of information.

• May be text, numbers, images, photos, etc.:

• FRST_NM = First Name; • DOB = Date of Birth; • Court Case Name; • Fingerprints.

Three Layers of Information –

Document/Data Set/Data Element

Information Exchange (Bringing Dimensions

Together)

Information Exchanges can be represented in narrative form. For example:• At the Sentence Hearing, if subject is

sentenced to serve time in local jail, the District Court sends the Sentence Order to the Jail/Detention Facility for Intake.

Information Exchange (cont’d)

• Prevailing Process: Post-Disposition Court• Initiating Event: Sentence Hearing• Sending Agency: District Court• Conditions: If subject is

sentenced to serve time in local jail.

• Document: Sentence Order (Data Sets include: Basic Identification, Court Case Identifiers, Court Schedule Data, Disposition

Data, Sentence Data, etc.)• Recipient Agency: Jail/Detention

Facility• Prevailing Process: Incarceration• Subsequent Event: Intake

JIEM Modeling Tool© Development

• Developed a web-based data modeling tool that enables the examination of information exchanges from a variety of perspectives:• Processes; Events; Agencies; and

Information (Documents, Data Sets and Data Elements).

• JIEM Modeling Tool written in Java to allow for web access:

http://www.infoexchange.search.org/

For More Information

• Please contact me:Amir Holmes, Program CoordinatorSEARCH7311 Greenhaven Drive, Suite 145Sacramento, CA 95831(916) 392-2550amir.holmes@search.org