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Legal Services for New York City (LSNY)

Legal Services for New York City (LSNY). Building an Integrated Bronx Project September 2004 John Greiner www.lsny.org. Starting Point. Bronx Legal Services (BLS) provides free civil (not criminal) legal assistance to low income residents of the Bronx Three locations across the borough

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Legal Services for New York City (LSNY)

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  1. Legal Services for New York City (LSNY) Building an Integrated Bronx Project September 2004 John Greiner www.lsny.org

  2. Starting Point • Bronx Legal Services (BLS) provides free civil (not criminal) legal assistance to low income residents of the Bronx • Three locations across the borough • Separate Case Management Systems • Separate Networking Infrastructure • Separate Telephone Systems • Staff are Tied to Their Offices

  3. What Does It Cost • Technology Infrastructure • Duplicative Hardware/Software/Services/Maintenance • Lower Quality, Security and Effectiveness • Staff Support • Limited Communication/Knowledge Sharing/Sense of Community • Management • No Integration of Service Delivery (Each office operates largely as a separate program) • More time spent supporting • Client Confusion • Where to go for help? (Getting the run around) • Difficulty getting through in a timely manner

  4. Opportunity • Due to Citywide Strategic Plan BLS Splinters Off and LSNY-Bronx is Created • Three Offices are Maintained to Keep The Project Geographically Reachable • Happening at a Time When LSNY Begins to Build More Centralized Technology Support Resources • Time Is Of the Essence (3 Months From Soup to Nuts) • Project Director That Has Familiarity With the Existing Technology Used by BLS

  5. The Plan • Implement Data Networks and Communication Environments that Virtually Integrate LSNY-Bronx’s Three Offices and Allow Greater Communication and Collaboration with Other LSNY Programs Across NYC • Provide More Seamless Client Access • Improve Support of Technical Systems and Users • Un-Tether Users From Their Offices • Lease Financing and Equipment Depreciation to Plan For Future Obsolescence

  6. The Pieces • Deploy IP Telephony (via an ASP) to All Office at LSNY Bronx and Ultimately to All Other Programs Across the City. • Deploy Redundant Wide Area Connections (One Primarily for Voice/One Primarily for Data) • Provide Local File and Print Services at the Two Largest Sites with the Third Site Supported by VPN • Deploy a Single Geographically Replicated Exchange and Case Management System Environment. • Provide Users Secure Remote Access to Their Exchange, Case Management, File and Phone Systems • Move From Consulting/Accidental Techie Mix to a Circuit Riding Tech Support Staff with Consultant Backup • Centrally Manage/Monitor the Network Environment (Users/Updates/Antivirus/Intrusion Detection/Etc.) • Move Staff Beyond Minimal Use of Technology and Make Them More Comfortable in Asking for and Receiving Technology Training

  7. The Impact • The Bronx Has an Integrated Telephone Intake System With a Single Public Number. Clients, Community Advocates, and Agency Staff Are Finding It Easier to Reach Out for Assistance. • Advocates Have Access Through Global and Project-Related Network Drive Shares and Exchange Folders to Model Documents, Scanned Resources, and Client Files. • Opened a Fully Functional Outreach Center Immediately Outside of the City’s Emergency Assistance Unit (For Homeless Families) • Integration is Enabling LSNY Bronx to Feed Clients to Other Programs Citywide—Reducing the Difficulty for Clients to Get the Legal Assistance They Need • Reduced Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Cost While Increasing Quality • Only Duplication Is For Reliability • Achieving Greater Economies of Scale • Getting Much More From the Same Tech Support Dollars and Have Radically Reduced the Time Non-Tech Folks Spend on Technology Matters

  8. Potential/Actual Roadblocks • Time Crunch Limited the Amount of Planning and Staff Training Provided. The Tech Support Associate Model Mitigated the Downsides By Allowing LSNY to Tweak Configurations and Offer Staff One-on-One Training • The Time Crunch Also Limited the Project Evaluation Planning As Well As Project Specific Fundraising • Didn’t Have to Deal With Existing Infrastructure (Only Data)—Greatly Simplified the Technology Plan Since We Did Not Have to Integrate Existing Hardware/Software/Services • Staff Frustration/Expectations—Employees Were Primed For Change as They Transferred to a New Employer and Location • ILEC—Caused Two Months of Delay and Additional Expense In Implementing Temporary Network Connection • Significantly More Project Management Time Needed for Administrative and Technical Problems • Getting Buy-in from Other Programs—Since Most Common Technologies Are More Powerful the Larger the Group (IP Telephony, E-mail, Etc.) It Was Harder to Get Other Projects To Sign Up For Plan Initially. • Budget/Contract Realities Have Caused Some Delays For a Few Projects

  9. The Road Ahead • 4th Qtr 04—SSL VPN to Provide Users the Entire Desktop Environment Remotely • 4th Qtr 04—Citywide Video Conferencing—Client Interviews/Meetings at the Closest Location, Staff Meetings/Trainings, Inter-agency Partnerships (Initially 250 Schools, Libraries, and Non-Profits Are on the Network) • 1st Qtr 05—More Tailored Classroom Instruction in Office and Other More Specialized Applications • 1st Half 05—Virtual Volunteers with Law Firms, Schools, Community Orgs., and Individuals—Increase the Volunteer Base to Screen and Advise Client Thereby Releasing Staff to Provide More Client Representation • 2nd Half 05—Roll-out a Citywide Distributed Call Center Which Will Further Integrate Intake, Increase Access to Services for Those Who Are Most Vulnerable/Least Able, and Provide Greater Leverage of LSNY’s Language Resources by Pulling in Translators from Across the City as Needed • 2nd Half 05—Higher Speed Cellular Internet 200-300kbps to Enable Easier Staff Access Their Applications and Voice Services Anywhere in the City

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