580 staff and 20 community supervision teams comprise the Northumbria Probation Trust (NPT), which handles 7,000 offenders each year, deciding on issues concerning prisoner reports, early releases, risk and danger assessments and community supervision proposals.
THE CHALLENGE
Although one of the UK's highest performing probation trusts, this region nevertheless was looking to make certain efficiency gains, most notably freeing up time spent on administration tasks.
It was estimated that up to 75% of offender managers' time was consumed by admin, so the idea would be to refocus this time directly towards assisting offender rehabilitation.
The nature of the documentation is frequently very sensitive, so NPT wanted a way to ensure a quick and secure system of creating electronic image files for inclusion into predesignated offender folders and archives. The EDM system would require multiple user access across multiple sites.
THE SOLUTION
Quadient submitted a proposal for a distributed capture and archiving solution which was accepted partly on our track record assisting other probation regions.
Using a multifunction device already installed at an NPT office, a Kofax Capture network was created and an initial selection of certain documents (Community Orders and Offender Letters) were piloted through the new system. Documents are scanned in and automatically recognised, classified and stored in the correct Offender File, hosted by FileStore, DCS's electronic document management system which is very familiar to a number of Probation Trusts UK-wide. The Outcome
Increased staff efficiency and productivity, supported by user-friendly functionality means that the time taken to scan, locate and retrieve case files is substantially reduced. Furthermore, the full text search capability adds value to existing information. Tracability, tracking, security and visibility of case files are improved. A full document audit trail satisfies legal admissibility requirements. The project has also delivered reductions in paper costs and postage.
