Office of the Attorney General | DOJ Case Studies
The Attorney General also assists district attorneys, local law enforcement, and federal and international criminal justice agencies in the administration of justice. To support California’s law enforcement community, the Attorney General coordinates statewide narcotics enforcement efforts, participates in criminal investigations and provides forensic science services, identification and information services and telecommunication support.
In addition, the Attorney General establishes and operates projects and programs to protect Californians from fraudulent, unfair, and illegal activities that victimize consumers or threaten public safety. The Attorney General also enforces laws that safeguard the environment and natural resources.
Under the state Constitution, the Attorney General is elected to a four-year term in the same statewide election as the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Controller, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Insurance Commissioner. In 1990, voters imposed a two-term limit on these statewide offices.
Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS)
The Challenge
Amongst many other public safety responsibilities, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) is tasked with the oversight of firearms purchases and eligibility clearance processing. To enforce laws that prohibit certain persons from possessing firearms, Senate Bill (SB) 950 mandated that DOJ establish a Prohibited Armed Persons File. DOJ partnered with Delegata to develop the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) making California the nation’s first state to build an automated system for tracking handgun and assault weapon owners who pose a threat to public safety.
The Solution
APPS is a database of persons who have been, or will become, prohibited from possessing a firearm subsequent to the legal acquisition or registration of a firearm or an assault weapon. Authorized law enforcement agencies will have inquiry access into APPS to determine the prohibition status of a person of interest.
DOJ will populate APPS with all handgun and assault weapon owners across the state and match them up against criminal history records to determine who might fall into a prohibited status. Automatic notifications from State and Federal criminal history systems will be received daily to determine if there is a match for a current California gun owner. When a match is found, the system automatically raises a flag to Firearms Division staff which triggers an investigation into the person’s status.
The Benefits
Business Benefits
Utilizing the Diamond methodology and a team-based commitment to finish the project on time and on budget, DOJ and Delegata completed the development and implementation of the new system in fewer than 7 months. Now agencies committed to public safety will have an automated tool to increase efficiency and accuracy as well as enhance collaboration and cross-departmental communication. DOJ and Delegata established a foundation for collaboration within internal departments and across external organizations by utilizing data from internal DOJ databases as well as from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI.) DOJ and Delegata were honored to win the “Best Solutions Award” for APPS at the Government Technology Conference (GTC) West 2006.
Enterprise Quality Assurance Framework (EQAF)
The Challenge
The California Department of Justice (DOJ) Hawkins Data Center (HDC) provides mission-critical services to DOJ and over 800 criminal justice agencies. Information technology enhancement projects have a very large impact on operations, customer service, and DOJ’s ability to carry out its mission to support law enforcement including officers on the street. Systems development needed to become standardized to mitigate risks and increase effectiveness.
The challenges DOJ was facing included:
- Configuration management lacked standards and integrity
- Control methods varied project to project
- Version control was lacking
- Testing was inconsistent
- Reduction in liability from missing or lost files
- Release management lacked promotion control to environments
The Solution
DOJ partnered with Delegata to develop the Enterprise Quality Assurance Framework (EQAF). EQAF enables development teams to reliably deliver products with higher quality into a controlled infrastructure environment. By providing a consistent Configuration Management, Version Control, Release Management and Build Management system, with tools and procedures across development projects and production applications, EQAF helps DOJ to successfully manage projects and applications into production.
The Benefits
Business Benefits
EQAF provides the integrity, consistency and repeatability to support projects – minimizing project risk and costs.
Benefits include:
- Improved management awareness and control over the software development activities
- Application development predictability and integrity
- Return on investment by reducing rework and shortening development cycles
- Reduced unplanned/emergency migrations and releases
- Higher software reuse for future versions and other projects
DOJ’s partnership with Delegata enabled a collaborative environment which fostered project success. EQAF provides a repeatable, consistent method of controlling and releasing code that will save individual projects time and realize cost savings across the board. Delegata’s Insourcing concept insured thorough transfer of knowledge and ownership so that new processes and systems are effectively integrated and managed by the DOJ team. Delegata and DOJ received the 2009 Best Solutions Award at the Government Technology Conference (GTC) for the Enterprise Quality Assurance Framework.
Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP)
The Challenge
Established in 1927, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE) is the oldest narcotic enforcement bureau in the United States. BNE programs target major drug dealers, violent career criminals, clandestine drug manufacturers, and violators of prescription drug laws. Diversion of controlled substances is recognized as a serious problem throughout the country. Prescription drug abuse comprises approximately 30% of all drug abuse in the US; the fourth most abused drug after alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. Non-medical use of pharmaceuticals accounted for more than 500,000 emergency room visits in one year in California alone, an enormous drain on the state’s health care system.
States have found that prescription monitoring programs are among the most effective tools available to identify and prevent drug diversion for enhanced public safety. There are over 72 million prescription transactions (schedule II-IV) annually. Each year DOJ receives over 60,000 patient activity requests related to prescription drugs. Access to prescription monitoring data has historically been managed through fax and manual processes which can take one to seven days for processing and transmittal.
The Solution
DOJ partnered with Delegata for their knowledge of enterprise architecture, web-service technologies, and project management best practices. Delegata architected the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) application and assisted DOJ with configuration, installation, testing, deployment, and knowledge transfer.
The PDMP is a valuable investigative, preventive, and educational real-time tool for law enforcement, regulatory boards, educational researchers, and the healthcare community. It enables authorized users to quickly review controlled substance information online in an effort to identify and deter drug abuse and diversion through accurate and rapid tracking of Schedule II through IV controlled substances. PDMP aims to reduce pharmaceutical drug diversion without affecting legitimate medical practice or patient care.
The Benefits
BUSINESS BENEFITS
The time required to provide PDMP data to endusers is reduced dramatically as results are now available online in seconds compared to the previous fax and manual processes which took one to seven days. Facilitating real-time access to PDMP data reduces doctor shopping, decreases drug diversion, and reduces the levels of drug abuse – ultimately decreasing the associated cost to the citizenry while increasing public safety.
TECHNICAL BENEFITS
The PDMP provides electronic access to prescription data that is transmitted through secured means (compliant with HIPAA and other security standards) to three disparate domains – law enforcement and justice (DOJ’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement), regulatory boards, and public health care (Practitioners and Pharmacists). The use of web service technologies allows easy integration with larger institutions (Hospitals, Emergency Care Units, etc.) and eventually with other states. The application also removes the need for paper and manual collection of theft/losses of prescriptions through the electronic data entry form.
California Firearms Information Gateway (CFIG)
The Challenge
The California Department of Justice (DOJ) Firearms Division has firearms purchase oversight responsibility for the DOJ. California laws restrict gun dealers from releasing firearms to purchasers prior to obtaining the purchasers’ background clearance from DOJ. DOJ was required to notify dealers of firearms purchasers who were prohibited and to stop the sale prior to releasing the firearm. DOJ utilized several complex background checks database systems to support this effort. The Consolidated Firearms Information System (CFIS) interface application, DIAL (Department of Justice Integrated Access Link) Application, written in Pro*C Code, served as an interface to these systems and the partner systems, both internal (CJIS) and external (DMV and Federal Systems (NCIC, FBI)).
DOJ partnered with Delegata for their knowledge of enterprise architecture, web-service technologies, and project management best practices. Delegata architected the California Firearms Information Gateway (CFIG) application and assisted DOJ with configuration, installation, testing, deployment, and knowledge transfer. The CFIG was a technology centric project; its architecture strives for performance and efficiency to process potential voluminous amount of transactions. CFIG utilized J2EE, web-services and XML technologies to build a scalable multi-threaded backend process supporting five Basic Firearms Eligibility Check (background check) applications. CFIG submits background check requests on behalf of the front-end applications to DOJ internal partner systems (CJIS) and external partners systems (DMV, FBI.) Upon receiving responses from the partner systems; CFIG gathers and assembles responses from multiple sources into legible messages feeding the background check applications.
The Solution
OJ partnered with Delegata for their knowledge of enterprise architecture, web-service technologies, and project management best practices. Delegata architected the California Firearms Information Gateway (CFIG) application and assisted DOJ with configuration, installation, testing, deployment, and knowledge transfer.
The CFIG was a technology centric project; its architecture strives for performance and efficiency to process potential voluminous amount of transactions. CFIG utilized J2EE, web-services and XML technologies to build a scalable multi-threaded backend process supporting five Basic Firearms Eligibility Check (background check) applications. CFIG submits background check requests on behalf of the front-end applications to DOJ internal partner systems (CJIS) and external partners systems (DMV, FBI.) Upon receiving responses from the partner systems; CFIG gathers and assembles responses from multiple sources into legible messages feeding the background check applications.
The Benefits
BUSINESS BENEFITS
The CFIG is an integral part of DOJ background check applications enabling authorized Firearms Division users to quickly obtain and review firearms purchasers and/or current firearms owners’ background information online in an effort to identify prohibited firearms purchasers or owners through accurate and rapid checking of criminal records. CFIG plays an essential role in tracking and preventing firearms falling into wrong hands, ultimately increasing public safety.
TECHNICAL BENEFITS
The CFIG is re-architected and built using J2EE and Web technologies. The CFIG solution provided DOJ a library of reusable modules and services enabling DOJ to leverage them on other solutions. The new CFIG architecture enables DOJ ease of enhancing CFIG to meet future demands, as well as integrating with other internal and external partners systems.
Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES)
The Challenge
Prescription drug abuse causes hundreds of deaths and injuries, and costs California millions of dollars each year. Drug abusers and “doctor shoppers” will go from one doctor to the next, obtaining multiple prescriptions for controlled drugs. Without a centralized way to check on a patient’s prescription history, doctors have no way of knowing whether a patient may be a drug abuser.
One of the goals of the Attorney General’s office is to curb prescription drug abuse without impacting legitimate medical practice and patient care. To achieve this goal, the Department of Justice (DOJ) provides physicians, pharmacists, and law enforcement officers with historical information about a patient’s access to controlled substances.
Each year, the DOJ receives more than 60,000 requests for information from patients’ controlled-substance records. These requests would historically be done via fax or phone and would often take several days to complete, leaving doctors unsure whether to write a prescription, and leaving law enforcement officers with unanswered questions about a person’s drug history.
The Solution
The AG’s office selected Delegata to develop a secure system which provides internet-based access to controlled substance information. Rather than submit a request and wait for a response, authorized physicians, pharmacists, and law enforcement officers can now instantly access a patient’s controlled substance history online. Additionally, they can use the system to enter new information about a patient’s prescriptions or about a law enforcement investigation.
The Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation (CURES) system manages more than 100 million entries related to controlled substances dispensed in California. It is one centralized repository for collecting and managing information which is invaluable to physicians and law enforcement.
The solution combined Delegata’s project expertise with the tools and technologies needed to both gather and deliver information online. Delegata’s customized solution, Deliver Data as a Service, was used to create a flexible, secure data repository that is architected to meet the needs of the AG both now and in the future.
The Benefits
BUSINESS BENEFITS
The CURES system allows doctors and pharmacists to recognize patients who may be prescription drug abusers, and therefore helps to prevent these abusers from “doctor shopping.” In addition, the CURES system helps law enforcement officers investigate potential drug abusers and those who may be diverting controlled substances. It gives officers the tools they need to obtain and analyze controlled substance data, and more effectively conduct their investigations. Ultimately, the CURES system helps to combat prescription drug abuse, saving lives and saving the state valuable resources.
TECHNICAL BENEFITS
This service-oriented architecture provides the DOJ with more flexible, scalable solutions. By creating separate, reusable services, applications can be assembled more quickly and reliably than in the past. A well-architected SOA framework serves as the basis for multiple applications, increasing consistency between systems and reducing the learning curve.
Enterprise Data Sharing – Enterprise Tables Project (ETP)
The Challenge
The California Department of Justice (DOJ) Hawkins Data Center provides operational services to DOJ and over 800 local criminal justice agencies throughout California. Critical criminal justice operations warranted an enterprise solution and information sharing model. The challenges that led to a transformative effort included:
- Enterprise data in silos
- Expiring application/vendor support
- High-level of data administration
The Solution
DOJ selected Delegata to manage, develop and implement the Enterprise Tables Project (ETP), a custom web-based application based on an “enterprise data model.” The model supports data as a service (in line with DOJ’s Service Oriented Architecture concept) for reusability on future operations. ETP enables DOJ to share enterprise and community master data with other entities such as Automated Criminal History System, Automated Fingerprint Identification System, California Law EnforcementWebs, Live Scan, Mental Health and more.
The Benefits
Delegata delivered a flexible architecture that enables DOJ to easily maintain their enterprise data. ETP interprets data models and enables business owners to define and enter business rules so when a new enterprise table is defined, it can be easily introduced to the system without changes to code.
Improved work-flow processes where data owners can easily add, review, approve and publish to other systems Enhanced security with role-based access Accurate and timely information based on elimination of data overlap Reduced and standardized business rules Enterprise data sharing with legacy systems Development of new enterprise tables without dedicated IT
In addition to managing and implementing ETP utilizing proven methodologies from Diamond and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), Delegata partnered with DOJ to conduct thorough knowledge transfer so that new processes and systems were effectively integrated into the DOJ team.
Delegata and DOJ received the 2008 Best Solutions Award at the Government Technology Conference (GTC) for the Enterprise Tables Project.
