Improving Quality and Driving Efficiencies in Parole Management Processes for a Federal Government Agency

A Federal Government Agency responsible for managing cases for over 15,000 offenders on parole was looking for ways to improve the quality of decision making and to drive efficiencies in their current processes. The current approach to parole case management involved working primarily with physical case files which proved to be time consuming, cumbersome and error prone.  The agency was looking to improve upon the cycle times for adjudication for parole cases to conform to statutory requirements and provide more timely and accurate information to all parties involved throughout the case life cycle. 

 

The Synteractive team took a comprehensive approach that involved understanding the overall organizational objectives and priorities, the current processes in place, the technology deployed to support these processes, and the people involved at every stage. The team conducted a business and functional requirements effort that involved interviews with case officers, administrators, commissioners, and staff to understand overall business issues and to develop indepth user profile types. This led to the development of design documents that addressed process redesign as well as functional specifications for a comprehensive parole management solution that included document management, case file tracking, offender data management, workflow, and collaboration. The team used an iterative approach to design and development that included the deployment of a pilot solution to field test the system functionality and refine it based on user feedback. Future versions of the solution will include integration with external third parties to streamline communications and adjudication of cases.

 

The solution developed increased the efficiency and effectiveness of the parole processes to support the Agency’s mission of public safety and successful offender re-integration. Creating electronic document libraries of Offender’s case files enable the Commission staff, at all levels, to have quick, easy access to relevant, available information to make timely and appropriate decisions. The solution provides the capability to define workflows for the creation of legal documents and provide a capability to route the file among various stakeholders within the organization to facilitate quicker Commission decisions.