Kitsap County went live on RiteTrack in January 2017. In this video clip, Michael Merringer, Director of the Kitsap County Juvenile Court Administration talks about the implementation of RiteTrack, it’s impact so far, and what it is like to work with Handel.
Many organizations and those working in them feel anxious when starting to evaluate or implement a technology project. This anxiety may center around implementing the new technology and ensuring that the day-to-day users will accept and use the technology. Technology should be selected and implemented to ultimately help improve services and efficiency for the organization.
I hosted a webinar during which I examined common issues that arise when implementing new technology and pointed out four main aspects that every organization should address when trying to help users or organizations embrace technology. It’s an important topic to evaluate when considering a new system.
The webinar provided valuable information that administrators can use to help alleviate any resistance they face. One of the most important points to remember is to involve the users, line staff, data entry specialists, or other integral parties in the implementation process. If administrators can get the staff to buy in and embrace the new technology, then the likelihood of a successful implementation and a positive experience is higher.
I am reminded of a saying “junk in will equal junk out.” Meaning if staff are not entering information into the system as it is designed, then the outcomes will not be what is expected. During the webcast, I provided practical steps every agency can use to overcome resistance to embracing technology and highlighted the benefits of incorporating technology into operations.
Please view the recorded webinar here to learn some practical steps and points that will assist you in embracing and successfully implementing technology in your organization.
Kitsap County Juvenile Family and Court Services went live on a RiteTrack system in January 1, 2017. This implementation represents the culmination of years of work and planning to create a system that spans data from three areas: juvenile detention, youth offenders, and non-offenders.
Juvenile detention cases encompass sentenced youth or youth brought in by law enforcement. Youth offender cases cover drug courts and diversion efforts while non-offender cases deal with children in need of services (CHINS), at-risk youth (ARY), child protective services (CPS), and truancies. With all of this juvenile case management information centralized, the ease that staff can provide services to has been bolstered.
The County signed a contract with Handel in April of 2016 and many of the staff worked diligently on defining the scope and working closely with the designated Project Manager to outline processes to incorporate into the system. Project Manager Ben McKay said “our success is based on our partners, and the dedication from Kitsap’s team helped ensure the successful implementation of this project.”
Kitsap County Juvenile Family and Court Services uses RiteTrack’s standard functionality and also configured the system to meet specific needs and create specialized reports. One of the most valuable reports is the juvenile year-over-year comparison that aggregates data from the system including the length of stay and demographics to provide a big picture of trending changes and generates data to submit to the state of Washington for reporting purposes.
In order to recognize the hard work and diligence that went into a successful project of this scope, the County held a celebration February 16, 2017. (Read our blog about it here) We’re so pleased to have developed a strong, working relationship with the leadership and staff at Kitsap County Juvenile Family and Court Services.
Kitsap County’s Juvenile Department/Superior Court is committed to providing innovative, comprehensive, and effective services to youth, families, schools and the community within a quality work environment, by professional, caring staff.
Handel creates RiteTrack, a web-based, centralized database, information management software that is used by juvenile justice agencies throughout the country. It provides the primary means for caseworkers, administrators and other professionals to manage their clients and caseloads and provides reliable reporting to generate reliable data.
It all began with a conference presentation on OneNote and a question.
“This could be described as a ‘textbook project,” said Bud Harris, Director, Information Services. “It began at the right place, the right time, with the right thought processes, and all the right people came together.”
The concept that grew into the Kitsap County Juvenile Family and Court Services RiteTrack Case Management System came from the question: what if involved youths’ records could be better managed and the information shared between programs?
Michael Merringer, Juvenile Court Administrator, became involved with probation in the 1990s and found that common practices for managing youth records created segregated, unreliable information. Every time a juvenile came into detention, they would make a new paper file for them that would include assessments, medical history, and recommended programming which could not be easily shared nor was it common to share cross-department.
However, following the seemingly commonplace OneNote presentation, Merringer had a flash of insight. Wouldn’t it be great if they operated with ONE file for ONE kid? All forms would be carried in that file, staff would have access, various people could contribute, and everyone would have access to the information they needed (subject to appropriate security restrictions) while keeping everything up-to-date.
This was the vision that blossomed into the carefully planned, meticulously implemented project with an overall goal of improving access, security and accuracy of client information, examining and improving internal processes, and providing reliable, statistical data.
Sometimes projects also provide unintended benefits. Merringer said the RiteTrack project had such a benefit: process improvement. The key philosophy applied in this project was to look at the process first before applying the technology. The staff improved processes during the mapping phase by cutting out redundant efforts and wasted activity. Mapping processes across multiple departments created a visual representation of how each department dealt with their processes and cases, and was valuable because it provided visuals of the processes to assist in directing the technology. Because of this project, the Department can monitor processes and continually improve them to better meet the needs of staff, too.
After defining many internal processes, the department went to look at available options for juvenile justice information management systems. As with most system explorations options included building in-house, buying off-the-shelf, or some combination thereof. To find how other jurisdictions managed their juvenile data they visited other counties in the state and kept hearing about the RiteTrack Juvenile Justice Software from Handel IT. Because they defined processes prior to searching for a solution, they were able to use them to match process flows with available offerings.
Following the review of available options, the Department found that RiteTrack offered the combination of an off-the-shelf solution paired with configuration capabilities that could create a solution to perfectly fit the diligently outlined processes. After a competitive bidding process in 2015, RiteTrack and Handel were chosen as the solution and vendor for this project.
“Over several years a group of dedicated individuals accepted the challenge of creating an electronic environment for case management for the Department. Members of the team came from every area of the County and Juvenile Department. Working together as a team, the successful development of the Juvenile Department’s RiteTrack Case Management System was realized,” the Department’s launch party invitation read.
Kitsap County went live on its new RiteTrack Juvenile Case Management system on January 1, 2017. A celebration of the successful implementation and go-live took place in the offices of the Kitsap County Juvenile Court Administration on February 16. Handel is pleased to partner with the Department and provide the tools to help create its ideal data management solution for its involved youth.
When reviewing DMC aspects, in my mind I kept coming back to the issue of how much needs to be encompassed when implementing and maintaining DMC standards into a juvenile justice program. These standards incorporate assessments, evaluation, and monitoring of juveniles in care. However, DMC doesn’t only apply to youth in detention. It really incorporates all areas of youth contact within the juvenile justice continuum of care.
Example of statistical report with DMC data.
Often DMC communities may have an alternative reporting center within it. I’m curious to see how information is communicated between one part in the juvenile justice continuum of care with another part. There is the potential for an enormous amount of time to be spent creating policies that address information sharing parameters, managing confidential information, and memorandums of understanding between these organizations. Even though data points like race, ethnicity, gender, geography, and offenses seem straightforward, these would likely need to be clearly defined with consensus from members of the continuum of care.
So how can organizations or programs in the juvenile justice continuum of care address information challenges like these? Using a web-based software like RiteTrack as the single-point-of-entry tool provides the framework from which programs can support the youth and the stakeholders.
Risk Assessment tool in the solution.
For a community to address DMC, there has to be involvement from shareholders in the community. There has to be planning and agreement on issues. Organizations must develop intervention that involves programming. Agencies need to evaluate whether the agreed upon plan is working. Finally, programs must be monitored to make sure that identified problems area continued to be addressed. Within all of these steps, the most important area may be the collection of data because youth data is pervasive in all these steps. RiteTrack collects data that occurs throughout all point of the juvenile justice continuum from first point-of-contact, risk assessment, community involvement, and if needed detention. In addition to extensive documentation, RiteTrack quickly generates reports and statistical data based on real-time data that is accurate and reliable. Implementing RiteTrack into operations is not just a procurement or download of another piece of software. It is a partnership with Handel IT to enhance and improve communities, not only by supporting a continuum of care, but also by creating a central point-of-entry to provide the framework to address DMC issues.
To see my most recent webcast reviewing DMC functionality and reporting in RiteTrack, click here and register to watch the recording.
Handel’s Vice President of Sales was selected to speak at this year’s National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) 35th Annual Protecting Our Children National American Indian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. Casey Bader will present to conference attendees on “Promoting Your Program—Marketing for Tribal Social Services.”
The presentation will focus on principles of marketing and applying those principles to tribal social services, avenues for promoting services, identifying the appropriate audience, evaluating promotion efforts, and creating a marketing plan for promoting services.
This year’s NICWA Conference workshop will explore how a common business tactic can be applied to highlight tribal social services for members, clients, volunteers, and funding sources and nonprofits. Participants will have the opportunity to develop a marketing template that they can take back and adjust to fit their Tribe’s needs.
Vice President Casey Bader has presented at numerous conferences including:
Casey has over 15 years of experience identifying barriers to evaluating and implementing complex software solutions for social service organizations. Past conference workshop topics have included engaging membership through technology, the White Earth Nation WE CARE service delivery model, and best practices for enterprise-wide software implementations.
Looking for a speaker on topics of Tribes and technology? Casey is available to present at conferences or trainings on a wide variety of topics including enterprise-wide software implementations, systems-of-care, case management models, and integrating data, among others.
The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Tribal TANF Program went live on a new RiteTrack TANF system on January 30, 2017. The Program contracted with Handel for the new system in November of 2016 and the fast execution of the contract speaks to Handel’s ability to quickly implement an enterprise-level information management system that manages a large amount of tribal TANF cases for multiple counties.
Their new RiteTrack Tribal TANF solution contains functionality specific to California Tribal TANF requirements, and Handel completed a data conversion for the program as well. Handel has standard data conversion tools and uses these when possible to convert existing data from legacy systems.
The Scotts Valley Tribal TANF Program and Handel enjoy a close working relationship, which contributes to creating the best possible solution for the Program and helping it better serve its clients.
The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians is the Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) designated social services provider for Contra Costa County and provides assistance under the Tribal TANF program to all eligible Native American Families residing in the county. The Program also serves enrolled members of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians who reside in Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino Counties and Big Valley Tribal Members residing on and off Big Valley Rancheria.
The mission of Scotts Valley Tribal TANF program is to provide culturally relevant social services with the goal of encouraging the formation and maintenance of healthy and self-sufficient Native American families, supporting the preservation of two-parent households, inspiring individual growth, and preserving positive cultural traditions within our Native American Communities.
Handel specializes in creating the best possible software solutions for American Indian service agencies. RiteTrack is software for tribal, state and county government. RiteTrack serves tribal nations throughout the country in nearly every tribal department. With the experience and accountability that Handel offers, RiteTrack is the trusted information solution that tribal social services can rely on.
Under the leadership of Casey Bader, employees from Handel, augmented by friends and family, formed another 12 person running team. Team Wyoming Endorfiends ran the 200 miles from Fort Collins, via Wyoming, to Steamboat, Colorado. Starting at 5:20 AM the morning of Friday, August 5th, the team finished in Steamboat about 32 hours later on Saturday afternoon.
This is the 6th time since we first did this in 2006 that Handel has formed a relay team. I find it to be a truly rewarding experience in so many ways, physically, beautiful scenery, social, and team building. Here is a video commemorating this year’s event.
RiteTrack facilitates easy navigation through hyperlinks.