NIJ EVALUATION PROJECT IN BRIEF

The purpose of the County Justice Information Exchange of Pennsylvania (CJIEP) Pilot was to address the long-standing challenge of providing Pennsylvania county criminal justice practitioners with the timely and improved access to quality critical criminal justice information. One of the targeted outcomes of the CJIEP Pilot was to provide additional counties with the ability to not only deploy the web services developed, but to provide a blue print for developing additional web services; and ultimately,  to enable the counties to become self-sufficient in supporting themselves. In order to assess the success of CJIEP to achieve its stated purpose and the above referenced targeted outcome, CCAP applied to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in the fall of 2005 for a grant to evaluate the effectiveness of CJIEP. The proposed evaluation was to test the premise that CJIEP is able to provide counties with a blueprint that is reusable by counties, regardless of their county criminal justice department software application(s) (vendor independent). In September 2006, CCAP received notification from NIJ that this grant application has been approved for a period of one year.
 
NIJ Evaluation Project Main Goal

The main goal of CCAP's NIJ Evaluation project is to evaluate the following selected intended outcomes of the CJIEP Pilot, which was successfully completed as of September 30, 2006.

1. To provide counties with the ability to deploy already developed web services, and to provide the means for them to further develop and deploy their own web services
2. To enable counties to become self-sufficient in supporting themselves

1. To evaluate the CJIEP installation process in up to five additional counties using current evaluative techniques that will review the ease of installation, the comprehension of the detail design documentation, and the ability to assimilate these documents into their county technology infrastructure for sharing of criminal justice information.
2. To work with up to five counties to assist them by evaluating the detail design specifications to develop additional web services that will meet identified Justice Information Exchange Model (JIEM) and Criminal Justice Advisory Board (CJAB) data exchange objectives for counties. This includes evaluation of reuse of documentation, code and business process changes.

NIJ Evaluation Project Business Value

The CJIEP Initial Business Impact Analysis (BIA) documented real and measurable business value achieved through the CJIEP pilot, even at the initial stages of production as of May 2006. This documented business value has provided one of the many measures of the CJIEP's success, a success that has provided a solid foundation for the continuation of these efforts through the County Justice and Public Safety Information Sharing (CJPSIS) Commonwealth-wide Rollout Initiative (CRI). In support of CJPSIS, the NIJ process of evaluating the re-usability of the CJIEP design documentation will provide additional depth into the analysis of real measured business value of the CJIEP pilot.  

NIJ Evaluation Project Abstract

The problem under investigation through the CJIEP Pilot was that Pennsylvania counties have placed at the forefront of their government planning improved public safety through the reduction and prevention of crime, and through developing improved criminal justice policies and practices. One of the means being sought to resolve this problem is improved access to critical criminal justice information across agencies and through improving the quality of the information. Quick and reliable access to key information for criminal justice agencies, corrections and law enforcement is a recognized necessary step to improving public safety and preventing crime.

Each of these agencies has its own system(s) to maintain critical criminal justice information. Individual differences in organization, agency requirements and information technology infrastructure have resulted in a diversity of agency applications and corresponding data formats at all government levels, including the county. In recognition of these differences and the need for a coordinated effort, the CCAP joined with Pennsylvania counties and other major stakeholders, and embarked on CJIEP.

The CJIEP pilot underscored the heightened need and the readiness of Pennsylvania Counties to move forward with the electronic exchange of critical criminal justice information among agencies in their efforts to improve public safety.  Following the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), web services, and utilizing the JIEM modeling tool, the pilot developed and tested five web services which were based on county justice agency users' business requirements. The CJIEP produced a blueprint for moving forward with the dissemination of these services to other counties; and thus, the ability for the counties to now share critical criminal justice information electronically. The Architectural and the Detailed Design Documents which resulted from this pilot will facilitate not only future deployment, but also county development of additional web services irrespective of the county's legacy criminal justice agency software. With support from the National Institute of Justice, the CCAP endeavors to evaluate the effectiveness of the CJIEP project in order to provide the counties with improved means of exchanging critical criminal justice information within the context of the global world in which we live.