PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
The Western Australia Director of Public Prosecutions chose JustWare | Prosecutor to improve their justice processes for a community that spreads over 2.5 million square kilometers.
AGENCY IMPACT
When the Western Australia Director of Public Prosecutions began looking for a new case management software solution, they knew they needed to find a system that would benefit their unique community. “We cover a state that is 2.5 million square km (eight times the size of Texas) from one office, with prosecutors traveling out to remote locations for weeks at a time,” described Julian Williams, Manager of Prosecution Support for Western Australia. The extreme size of the jurisdiction and the traveling nature of their prosecutors created a need to find a solution that could give prosecutors access to criminal data from remote locations on the fly.
The ability to store and access materials in the JustWare filing cabinet, and therefore become less reliant on paper files, is a huge step forward for us. Prosecutors and paralegals can work on cases simultaneously and react much faster to incoming correspondence as it is scanned and dropped into the filing cabinet.
Julian Williams, Manager of Prosecution Support, Western Australia Director of Public Prosecutions
After evaluating alternatives, Western Australia chose JustWare | Prosecutor as its new case management software solution for its flexibility, web based designed and its ability to integrate with the agencies existing document management system – HP TRIM. The agency went live with JustWare in July 2010.
JustWare made an immediate impact on the lives of the prosecutors in Western Australia. “The ability to store and access materials in the JustWare filing cabinet, and therefore become less reliant on paper files, is a huge step forward for us,” explained Williams. “Prosecutors and paralegals can work on cases simultaneously and react much faster to incoming correspondence as it is scanned and dropped into the filing cabinet.”
“This will be particularly useful for prosecutors traveling to court in remote areas of the state,” continues Williams. “Some parts can be accessible only in small aircraft or by 4-wheel drive vehicles. They will no longer be restricted to just what they can carry.”
COMMUNITY IMPACT
Western Australia also looks ahead to other New Dawn products that will enable them to better serve their community. “We plan to explore JustWare API and JusticeWeb—New Dawn’s access to integration and access to justice solutions—as we hope to be able to exchange data with police, courts, and other agencies within the criminal justice system and reduce the amount of duplications in data and record keeping to a minimum,” said Williams. “We also have aspects of our business that we contract out, so to provide personalized portals to these people could improve our service enormously.”
With the international nature of the project, there were a few inherent bumps in the implementation, but the New Dawn staff worked hard to become part of Australia’s community. “The distance and time difference between Logan and Western Australia caused New Dawn staff to work some very late nights and clock up some serious air miles,” said Williams. “