The foundation of the CDC's inmate tracking program is an integrated information sharing system for its institutions which runs on Hewlett-Packard 3000 mini-computers. At least one computer is located at each institution. Pertinent data is entered by custody staff each day and transmitted via a wide area network to the central office in Sacramento.
When a new inmate arrives at a reception center, he or she is assigned a unique CDC number, which is the key to all the information kept on the individual while serving a sentence. This number helps the staff track the movements and status of the inmate at all times during and after the person's prison term. A complex data file is maintained on each inmate, packed with information ranging from medical problems and cell assignment to previous escape history and work availability. CDC also accounts for funds an inmate may have arrived with, money sent through the mail and moneys deducted to pay court-ordered restitution fines.
Finding a Solution
Several years ago, the Information Systems Branch (ISB) of CDC found itself strapped for resources and unable to keep its inmate tracking system up to date. While requests for enhancements and modifications increased, ISB suffered staff shortages and budget restrictions that prohibited adding personnel.
CDC's information technology (IT) managers began looking for ways to increase productivity and reduce IT costs without cutting back on service to the department. Under the guidance of Al Duran, newly appointed Chief of ISB, a task force was set up. Their goal was to find a project management tool to increase productivity with current resources by monitoring projects more efficiently. Duran's primary objective was to capture actual time worked by the employee on a project. Secondly, he required a system which could schedule resources across projects. During this period, another task force was searching for a software development methodology for ISB.
After a lengthy review of products, the project management task force recommended MicroMan II from POC-IT Management Services Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif. MicroMan II met the basic functionality needs specified by the team.
The methodology task force then chose Oracle Case method as their tool. The team found that Oracle worked well with MicroMan II at the development level of the project.
Managing Projects Effectively
ISB management began using MicroMan II by focusing in detail on how a project operates. A combination of cross-project scheduling and the time-accounting system in MicroMan II quickly let managers see where time was being applied to a task and when a task or personnel resource needed to be scheduled.
The Automated Visiting Information System (AVIS) was the first project to benefit from MicroMan II. AVIS logs inmate visits and transfers visiting data between institutions. Under less than optimum conditions, the ISB team was pressed to make an estimate of the time and staff resources required to automate the system. The initial estimate was six months. However, once the team began to break down the tasks and make estimates using MicroMan II, it became apparent the job would really take two and a half times the original estimate, or 15 months. With this more accurate estimate, the staff was prepared to streamline development and defer non-critical tasks to bring the project in on schedule. "We were able to adjust our plans, apply additional resources and bring the project in on schedule, which would not have been possible without MicroMan II," Duran said.
In all institutions, the completed AVIS system replaced a manual system which involved tracking visitors with thick paper files. The automated system offers improved access to visitor history and contains additional information on inmate location within the institution.
Automating Systems
In addition to automating the visiting system, ISB was able to tackle a wide range of projects by scheduling programmers and other IT staff members more efficiently. ISB could now automate and/or update a host of systems including:
+ The Inmate Medical Alert System, a high priority tracking system for tuberculosis, which provides the medical staff in the field a means for logging Mantouz Purified Protein Derivative test results and updating an infected inmate's status;
+ The Inmate Roster Movement System, which contains inmate description data as well as bed/cell assignments and movements for each institution on a statewide basis;
+ The Inmate Roster Classification System that records the security classification, custody level and work group privilege of the inmate;
+ The Inmate Job Assignment System that records an inmate's eligibility to work, availability to do work, work assignment schedule and pertinent work restrictions;
+ The Automated Canteen Sales and Inventory System, which records commissary inventory using bar-code technology to identify items entered for debiting inmates canteen balances, producing itemized receipts and detecting when items need to be ordered (inventory control);
+ The California Parole Information Network (CPIN), which will assist in monitoring the supervision of parolees by parole division staff by 1996. "The CPIN schedule goes two years into the future [and] has been the most comprehensive [MicroMan II] plan," Duran said.
The CMIS Technical Manager, Christy Quinlin, uses standard reports from MicroMan II to manage individual employees as well as the overall project. Quinlin said, "At this stage in development, each employee has tasks and assignments for the week broken down by hour and day." Quinlin and her managers meet with each employee one hour a week to discuss upcoming work. Time sheets can be checked against the schedule of dates being discussed. "Looking ahead at the initial stage of development, ISB can spot weeks and months where employee overtime will be needed to meet mandated dates," Quinlin said. Since these "crunch times" are not a surprise, management will be able to meet project and employee needs, either through overtime or through pulling resources from other projects.
When the CMIS project is complete, CDC Director James Gomez projects "the department's budget will have risen from its current amount of $2.8 billion to approximately $4 billion, with an inmate population of over 155,000 in the automated systems." With so much at stake, tight cost controls and scheduling of resources is a must for CDC's IT shop in the 1990s.
CORRECTION
In November's Imaging article, "Scanners Accelerate Vote Count and Reporting," the vendor and equipment used by San Mateo County is an Optech III-P unit from Dallas-based Business Records Corp. Terry Medina's correct title is deputy clerk recorder.
