WELCOME TO ACOMS! Alaska Corrections Offender Management System

Why are you all here? DOC has been building a replacement system for OTIS It’s not completely done, but we’re getting close (we think!) We need you to tell us if we’ve hit the mark –And where we’ve missed –And by how much –So we can fix it before it goes live Some of you have seen pieces of this already, and have given input –Many of you are probably seeing this for the first time The task this week is to put the new system through it’s paces –Intake to release scenarios –Identify remaining requirements issues –Identify any system bugs

How did we get here? In September, 2007, I gave a report on the state of IT to the Department management. We identified 3 major problem areas… –Help Desk –OTIS –Aging infrastructure We set some goals –Customer Satisfaction –Improved tools –Dept wide deployment We made a plan

OTIS Improvement was the top priority item. We elected to replace OTIS with the latest version of NCOMS* –Web enabled –All MIS functions –Improved human factors –On line “help” –Include photos A related project, still in development, is to also replace the WINPHO capture stations with a build-in ACOMS function –That will be available later this year

*What’s NCOMS? National Consortium of Offender Management Systems It’s a group of states that have agreed to cooperate in building Open Source software which can be adapted to any state’s requirements at far less cost than buying “off the shelf” solutions or developing a system from scratch. The OTIS system was a very early version of this work –But we ran out of money before it was fully completed There’s been a couple more iterations of the system since then –And it’s gotten a lot better ACOMS is based of the most current version that is actually in production

Now it’s time to find out, did we hit the mark? We have scheduled 3 test phases –This week, June 22 nd, for a full functional review of the system Does it work? Does it do what you need it to do? What needs to be changed? What’s missing? –We’ll give the developers a month to address the problems and recommendations you find, then we’ll test again Week of July 20 th, a full system test No bugs Performance evaluation Reports –Another month for final clean-up and polishing, then Week of August 24 th, Production Readiness Test Ready to deploy

You’re the “A Team”! We asked for a cross section of all DOC operational personnel to test the system. –Booking –Facility processes –Education and Programs –Inmate Banking –Assessments –Parole board –Probation and Parole/Community Corrections –Release

We structured the test teams with DOC and vendor SMEs. We set up 2 teams, one in ACC and one in PSOB –Each with a cross section of DOC –Each with an IT member –Each with a vendor development expert Palmer: –“Team 1” –Michael Gimm, IT –Cyndi Stegall, Analyze Soft developer –John Sorenson, Analyze Soft Project Manager ACC –“Team 2” –Lori Wharton, IT –Andy Micone, Analyze Soft developer –Don Brand, DOC IT Manager

We prepared some scenarios, but we need you to do what you do. You will work through all the scenarios The objective is to walk each scenario through the various DOC areas and operations –Sort of a “life cycle of an offender” –Work as a team, passing off the controls as we move through the different areas of the system –If something doesn’t look right, doesn’t make sense, or you just don't understand, stop and talk about it –See what your co-workers do, upstream and downstream We’ll take notes Create your own scenarios and work them through Make sure all functions are exercised Share your ideas, impressions, and concerns

A lot of things are going to look different. There’s several reasons for that: –Some were changed because you told us we needed to do a better job Booking is the prime example, but not the only one –Some are because business processes have been refined by other users of the NCOMS system, and we want you to look at them and evaluate them –Some are because we wanted to get the system in front of you and get your feedback before we did any more customization Is it “Good Different” or “Bad Different”? It’s your call!

Questions?