£200m e-crime government investment pays off

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has today announced the successful rollout of its electronic case management system.

With a workload of more than a million cases a year and a staff of more than 7,000 - some of whom didn't even have PCs three years ago - the system is shaping up to be a major government IT success in a long line of failures.

The electronic case management system - a £200m, 10-year investment with LogicaCMG - will boost the efficiency of the CPS and cut down the paper trail that can hold up trials and prosecutions. The system originally went live in April last year and is now used by lawyers, case workers and administrators across 240 sites and 42 distinct areas, with more than a million cases now registered.

The new electronic system will also enable more efficient working across the criminal justice system by acting as a first step to a "unified virtual case management system" for all of the various government agencies involved in criminal justice.

Ken Macdonald, director of public prosecutions, called the introduction of the electronic CMS system A "fundamental transformation" of the CPS and "a cultural challenge", citing the example of some legal workers reacting to the electronic system with "I'm a not typist, I'm a lawyer".

To get users onboard, CPS staff have been offered training for the new system as well as IT literacy courses, with desk-side assistance and "super users" on hand to resolve any queries.

Macdonald puts the successful rollout of the system down to the input from the users themselves. "One of the reasons it's been so successful is it [has been made] by users for users," he said.

One such user, chief Crown prosecutor and programme director, Chris Yule, agrees.

"There's no point in having a system for the sake of having it. There's a longer list of 'softer' benefits - people can spend more time on a quality piece of work. People can stand back and take a longer look at the case, see witnesses that might have special needs and support them better... It's releasing time."

Steve Minter, client manager at LogicaCMG, added that the input from the CPS had been invaluable in ensuring the smooth rollout of the system. "The partnership worked well," he said. The 42 areas of the CPS "were allowed to control their own destiny - this wasn't something that was imposed on them from above".

The Compass system will make the lives of legal workers easier by giving them online access to case histories and outstanding warrants across the country, as well as tracking information and keeping witnesses and victims more up-to-date with the progress of their cases.

Looking to the future, Macdonald said that he hoped to see the CPS "leave paper behind forever". In the meantime, the CPS and LogicaCMG will be piloting a system in the autumn to allow the police and CPS systems to link up.