Managing the Load for Texas State Cases
This Texas state agency has a legislative mandate to perform mediation and adjudication services across a wide variety of domains and activities. Its success depends on rapid and accurate tracking of various data related to their cases and hearings. Business processes are fluid and are modified regularly to manage changing environments in the different business groups. Each change affects not only the groups they are created for, but also the various groups that the agency serves.
The client struggle with its current system’s ability to manage ongoing state cases. Case records are maintained for many years and there are often large numbers of cases outstanding at any one time. The agency was using a Lotus spreadsheet to manage the cases, adding columns as new measures were introduced. The current IT Director upgraded this process to a Microsoft Access 2000 database to manage the data, but this was also inefficient, due to concurrency issues and the inability to open this database to a large number of readers.
In order to better manage its case loads, the agency decided to implement a new system which would allow clerical staff to access and update data in real time, and enable judicial staff to review schedules and details of relevant cases without having to involve clerical staff. To that end, the client looked to Catapult's proven track record with Microsoft-based solutions to deliver a custom solution to fit its needs.
The Discovery phase revealed certain limitations to the technical direction of the solution. Due to tight time constraints for the conversion, a rich client rather than a Web interface was chosen for processing data updates. Server requirements limited the choices for the solution architecture, but the strong case for concurrency and data integrity made Microsoft SQL Server 2000 an excellent fit.
The solution Catapult developed was a traditional client/server architecture based around Microsoft SQL Server and a rich client installed on each of the clerical staff’s desktops. Security is managed at desktop, operation and table levels to ensure that the data maintains high standards for confidentiality and accuracy. The database is designed with an event-driven table structure to allow dynamic process updates and triggers to provide process management. Tables and hooks into the database provide Intranet and Internet metrics reporting and case results. The solution streamlines the case management process and is easily maintained by the client’s IT staff.
Trending data for staffing and budgetary needs. The new system provides the client with a better view of their day to day activities and, in conjunction with Microsoft Excel, is able to report trending data for their staffing and budgetary needs.
Improved accuracy. The system allows case numbers to be automatically assigned, ensuring that there are not case number collisions.
Automated reporting. The client is now positioned for automatic reporting and delivery of client schedules via the Web.
Data recovery plans. The client also has a data repository that includes data recovery plans in case of accident or systems failure.