In the world of case management, we often think about cases in terms of how they start, how they progress, and how they finish WITH US. But what about the bigger picture? What about what happens to those involved before and after their case hits our desk?

That’s where interconnected systems in your jurisdiction become essential. If your case management system (CMS) can’t move data in and out in real-time to capture every movement in a case, you won’t have the information you need to make decisions.

Here’s how to evaluate your level of community connection:

1. Are all systems linked and sharing data in real-time? By all, we mean charging, pretrial, public attorneys, courts, supervision, and detention are all sharing data in a way that helps all of you truly manage the cases from start to finish. APIs are good, and truly interconnected systems are better.
2. Is the data presented in a way that’s useful? Getting the data is one thing; getting it in the right hands in the right way at the right time is entirely another. If your team has to toggle among multiple screens and platforms to pull all the pieces together, the risk of missing something is high. Make sure you’re not just sending and receiving data – your team needs to be able to interpret and use the data effectively.
3. Are you getting notified when things change? Cases rarely follow a linear path through the system, and if you can’t instantly tell where a case is at any given moment, then you’re not truly managing it. That’s where workflows come in. Anyone with a need to know should be informed when something does or does not occur.
4. Are everyone’s decisions informed by data? You should be able to look at previous case-related decisions made by others and track them back to the data that informed them. Without this level of transparency, you could be missing information that’s critical to your own decisions.

At all stages in a case, all parties at all agencies in your community should be collecting data, interpreting it, and making decisions informed by it. Case management is bigger than just you and your team. If your technology isn’t supporting the WHOLE case and the individuals involved in it, then it’s time to start considering your options.

We can help. For every stage in the justice process, we have a practitioner-designed case management tool (Court | Attorney), and all of our tools work together seamlessly. Talk to us today about how you can build better connections in your community for better case management from start to finish.