ICJIS first replaced the procedural programming environment based on specific languages with a business rules environment based on processes. This would simplify interaction between the businesspeople and programmers who needed to work together on CCN and other integration projects.

Defining those requirements was anything but straightforward. The five agencies and their five IT departments needed to agree on parameters every step of the way, so there were plenty of disagreements. The two most controversial issues ICJIS dealt with are data ownership and security. The agencies were concerned that the CCN application was compiling a large, centralized data repository that would not be adequately protected or might allow unauthorized access. (For example, closed grand jury information is available only to the clerk of the court.) Bernosky assured the agencies that there wasn’t a repository and that any data saved would be used strictly to validate case request numbers.

However, he will continue wrestling with the issue of centralized versus decentralized data. "We’ll never have a centralized database, but we must satisfy concerns that data collected will be protected," Bernosky says.

After a year of analysis and six months of development, the CCN successfully launched in January. The key metric is reassurance. When a user such as an attorney or a judge sees case information downstream in the system, he can be assured it’s the same case information originally entered into the system. This is a seemingly simple solution, but in IT, the end often doesn’t reveal the difficult reality of the means.

Convict TV

Countless movies and TV shows have depicted the classic jail visit scene in which a convict is brought to a common area, plopped down in a folding chair and allowed to talk to a loved one through a Plexiglas barrier. In Maricopa County, that scene is radically changing. The county is piloting a video visitation system that obviates the need for face-to-face visits. According to Bernosky, it’s the first operational implementation of such a system of its size and capability in the world.

Why switch from Plexiglas to LCD? While not as integral to Maricopa’s integration efforts as the common case number project, the video visitation system was developed within the convergent architecture and will improve safety and save time and money by helping jail officials minimize prisoner movement. When the new Fourth Avenue jail opens in early 2004, prisoners will have to move only a short distance from their cells to access the nearest video booth. "That can save thousands of dollars a month," says Bernosky.