From October this year, Corrections will take responsibilty for the new communitybased sentences that are part of the Effective Interventions reforms to the Criminal Justice Act.
Behind the scenes, almost all the members of Corrections' IT team are making the myriad complex system changes necessary to ensure Community Probation Service staff will have the computer back-up they need once these new sentences take effect. Chief Information Officer Derek Lyons says making the system changes is the priority for IT.
"We're enhancing the Integrated Offender Management System (IOMS) so that it will support the new legislation. For example, the system will calculate sentence length, parole periods and the hours an offender has worked," he says.
"Also, we’re converting more of the system to the new-look screens and reports that we started to implement in late 2006."
Derek says that enhancing the IOMS system will help staff by ensuring they have the information they need in their daily work.
"We’re also making changes to the CARS reporting system that enables us to measure the Department's effectiveness and supply figures for reports or to answer questions," he says.
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ISSN 1178-8453