Case Studies

Hennepin County, MN

The Agency	Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation Hennepin County (Minneapolis), Minnesota
Population Served	1,140,000
The Goal	Implement an integrated case management system to meet the needs of four separate Juvenile divisions.
The Solution	Monitor Juvenile Monitor Institutions
System Users	500

The Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCCR) provides community based, detention, and in-custody offender programs for adult and juvenile offenders. Juvenile services are provided by several different departments in DOCCR including Juvenile Probation, the Juvenile Detention Center, the County Home School which provides residential treatment services, and Sentencing to Serve, an alternative sanction for low risk offenders to perform community service. Together the departments supervise or work with about 4,000 juveniles on a daily basis.

In the past the Juvenile departments used an internally developed web system that, despite significant resource investments, was not providing the desired functionality and benefits. In 2006 DOCCR began a search for an integrated juvenile case management system. The department worked with a consultant to define their requirements and in 2007 they issued a RFP to more than 70 vendors. According to Project Manager Jim Seward, the County was doubtful a vendor system could meet their specific requirements and thought they would probably need to continue internal development of their current system. After viewing vendor demonstrations; however, the choice was clear: Monitor provided significant benefits over competing vendor systems as well as options to redevelop the County’s internal system or to adopt a statewide system other Minnesota counties were using. According to Jim Seward, "Monitor was evaluated and found to meet more than 90% of our core requirements. The flexibility in configuring much of the system to meet our specific needs was one of the significant features we were excited about. It was a clear decision.”

A major component of the Monitor implementation was the creation of data exchanges. To facilitate better decision-making Loryx created integrations between Monitor and the Minnesota State Court Information System (MNCIS). The integrations allow person, case, and court information to automatically populate Monitor eliminating redundant data entry and court records including court ordered conditions, hearings, and warrants are automatically updated in Monitor. The County was very excited about the integrations because, according to IT Manager Ray Hirte, “the data exchanges created by Loryx provide staff with real time court information upon which they can base critical decisions affecting the public safety and rehabilitation of our youth."

Monitor (rechristened MAIn – Management of Adolescent Information System) went live in November 2008 meeting the goal of providing a single electronic file for each juvenile that can be accessed with real time data updates as multiple departments provide services to the same youth. In addition to real time information sharing, Jim Seward notes that Monitor benefits include elimination of duplication of effort, reduction in paper files, and the ability to better serve the client in a timelier manner. “The system helps staff accomplish their daily responsibilities in a systematic, coordinated manner that supports the needs of business leadership and accurate data reporting."

A sign of the effectiveness of the combination of Monitor and the County’s focus on evidence based practices is that In 2009 Hennepin County received a national Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties for their implementation of Monitor. On a practical level the daily population of the Juvenile Detention Center has dropped from approximately 90 to 30 and the County has been able to reduce costs from decreases in both detention and juvenile placements.

The bottom line according to Jerome Driessen, Area Director for Juvenile Services, is that Monitor has made a significant difference. "Since the implementation of Monitor in our County I have heard resounding reports from staff and managers in our juvenile services area that the software is easy to use and is very helpful in supporting the important jobs our staff perform. Monitor goes a long way in improving the delivery of probation supervision and juvenile detention services and considerably helps improve our staff’s ability to make informed decisions that affect public safety and rehabilitation of offenders."