New Offender Management Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Emerges from Public-Private Partnership

The state of Illinois had 49,000 inmates in its Department of Corrections (IDOC) facilities in 2010 and another 28,000 parolees. 

With an aging mainframe system and dozens of disparate PC-based applications to manage all these offenders, the IDOC knew needed a solution to improve public safety and criminal justice for the future. To add to the urgency, the department was facing a shrinking pool of IT professionals with the skills to support the old technology.

Working with US-based Microsoft Dynamics partner and Master VAR Tribridge, IDOC developed and implemented the solution that would become Offender360, a reusable, cloud-based criminal justice information system built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.  When the system is fully deployed in about a year, the system will give Illinois one of the most advanced criminal justice information systems in the country, save Illinois' taxpayers millions of dollars and increase public safety across the state, according to state officials.

The mainframe solution, past and present

In 2010, the state evaluated the technology the Illinois DOC was using to manage its 49,000 inmates and 28,000 parolees. As a result of the evaluation, Illinois decided to replace a 1980s mainframe system and 41 disparate offender management applications that had become outdated and costly to use and maintain.

"We had a mainframe and some other disparate PC-based applications to support the mainframe and when we looked at what we could get off the shelf, what's out there in terms of new technology language, it was [the state's] transportation division that introduced us to Dynamics CRM," said Gladyse Taylor, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Corrections. "The fact that it was relational management - could it be applicable in the corrections setting."