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VCAIS: Advancing Case Management for Virginia Commonwealth's Attorneys

VCAIS is a powerful case management system designed to support the unique challenges faced by Commonwealth's Attorneys in Virginia. It offers a comprehensive solution to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and enhance collaboration.

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VCAIS: Advancing Case Management for Virginia Commonwealth's Attorneys

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  1. Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Information SystemVCAIS Richard Whetstone Commonwealth of Virginia VCAIS Lead Engineer

  2. Challenges to Automation • The Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Services Council supports 121 elected Constitutional officers. • Only half of this number will agree that today is Sunday. • Our agency has no authority to require compliance to any standards. • Courthouse “culture” in each jurisdiction is largely influenced by preferences of the judges on the respective courts.

  3. More Challenges • An apple in Lynchburg may very well be called a orange in New Kent County and a grapefruit in Russell County. • Only about 10% of the 121 jurisdictions have any computer-based case management system. • In-house tech support largely non-existent. • A large percentage of officials have been in office for a long time and they are generally not motivated to embrace technology.

  4. In the + Column • The state sponsor for funding is VERY supportive of efforts to computerize. • Dialing for $$ - Technology solutions meet with great favor… for now. • ICJIS – Integrated Criminal Justice Information Systems. • They can’t beat the price. • Did I mention that it was FREE?

  5. History of VCAIS • Brainchild of 2 attorneys in 2 vastly different jurisdictions • Funded by federal grants – No local money involved in development. • Looked at existing software – RFP for competitive negotiations. • After 18 months of futile searching we conceded defeat and cancelled RFP. • Proposal from an existing state contractor • IBM Proof of concept

  6. What in the world is Lotus Notes and what is it doing in my soup? • Relational database background • IBM had an uphill battle to sell the benefits of Lotus Notes. • By this time the Y2K issues were looming. Did we have time for new development? • IBM took about 4 weeks on proof-of-concept. We authorized IBM to proceed with prototype.

  7. The story continues… • First working version delivered less than 5 months from our concession of defeat. • Demo to NDAA in late June 1998 • IBM interested in acquiring rights to distribute. • Lynchburg went live in Oct 1998 • Virginia Beach went live in Jan 1999 • Creative funding…How to live without state support.

  8. and continues… • Regional concept developed – contributions accepted from 8 jurisdictions. • Total participating jurisdictions: 10 by Nov 1999. • …. Meanwhile, back at “Babylon on the James”. • Legal hurdles overcome. Rights assigned back to IBM. • Presentation to Public Defenders and their buy-in to the concept. • Battle with the boys in finance and budget.

  9. It’s Not Over Yet… • After about 6 months of pushing and shoving the money was finally released. • Version 2 development begins. • 3 months of incremental delivery and sporadic testing. What’s version control? • Who owns this thing anyway? • Behind the scenes the “agency” stages a coup.

  10. To make a long story shorter • CASC adds position July 1, 2000 • I begin work July 16 • Did I mention the waiting list? • Rollout to waiting list begins Oct 2000. • 4 new jurisdictions added by Dec 22nd. • IBM back on the job cleaning up version 2 issues. • The waiting list continues to grow. 6 more and counting…

  11. Where do we go from here? • Cooperation with ICJIS components. • Expand relationship with Public Defenders Commission? • Building network of CLP support. • Develop peer user group. • See the USA in my Chevrolet… • Expand infrastructure with new central server? • Add training resources?

  12. What is VCAIS? • Lotus Notes 4.6 application. • Migration to R5 in stages. • Hub & Spoke architecture. • Internet backbone with 128 bit encryption. • Firewall challenges – Port 1352 • Scalability – Internet access for small jurisdictions. • Single Domino Directory – right now at about 400 users.

  13. What is Case Management? • Defendants, cases, charges, events, witnesses, witness contact documents & case related documents. • Case Parties address book to hold frequent witnesses, etc. • Supplemental database with Charges, courts and shared code. • Profile Documents are the foundation of the flexibility of the system. Global, System, State, Location, User.

  14. Questions??

  15. Contact Information IBM Global Services Mr. Steve Plonka, Principal Representative 3500 Blue Lake Drive, Suite 300 Birmingham, AL 35243 Phone: 205-972-7038 Fax: 205-972-7618 eMail: plonka@us.ibm.com Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Services Council Mr. Richard Whetstone, Lead Engineer Rlwhet@attglobal.net Phone & Fax: 757-420-6932 eMail: rlwhet@attglobal.net or rwhetstone@oca.city.virginia-beach.va.us

  16. The Road Show rolls on…

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