A “PROMIS” for the future: County Council approves needed technology investment in Prosecutor’s Office

July 26, 2011

Summary

Allocates $1.5 million to replace outdated and inefficient case management system

Story

Yesterday, the Metropolitan King County Council unanimously approved $1.5 million to begin needed replacement of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office’s outmoded case management system known as “PROMIS.” Replacement of PROMIS—the Prosecutor Management Information System—will allow the Prosecutor’s Office to drastically improve efficiency in the administration of the more than 10,000 criminal cases filed each year.

“Just as our businesses cannot rely on fax machines in the age of email, nor can our Prosecutor continue to manage criminal prosecutions using 1980’s technology,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, sponsor of the ordinance and Chair of the Council’s Law, Justice, Health and Human Services Committee. “Put simply, PROMIS is broken and not up to the task of managing a modern Prosecutor’s office. This investment addresses a critical need in our criminal justice system.”

“There is no doubt we have gotten our money's worth out of the current case-tracking system installed 28 years ago. Investing in a new case management system for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office that takes advantage of modern technology will have a ripple-effect throughout each agency in the criminal justice system and result in a rapid gain of efficiencies,” said Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg. “The Council saw this opportunity and acted quickly to bring us off of the mainframe and into the cloud. As a result, we will move much closer to our goal of a paperless flow of information.”

“This one-time investment will bring a much-needed efficiency into our criminal justice system that will hold down costs and make this government more sustainable over time,” said Executive Dow Constantine. “I thank Councilmember Ferguson for championing this investment.”

Installed in 1984, the current PROMIS system is written in an archaic programming language that is no longer used. The original vendor no longer provides technical support and only a handful of County employees know how to keep the system running.

PROMIS cannot communicate with other criminal justice software systems, impairing the data sharing and slowing case processing time. It cannot provide the statistical data and analysis needed to support management and policy decisions. It cannot track the number of cases assigned to each prosecutor, nor can it aggregate information by type of case, such as car thefts. In addition, PROMIS cannot store or share records electronically, requiring the prosecutor to make hard copies of all case files and taking up significant space for document storage.

Ferguson sponsored the ordinance to invest in the new case management system after holding committee hearings and convening meetings with the Executive and Prosecuting Attorney’s Offices about how to move forward on replacing this system. Working collaboratively, County staff identified ways to cut the original $3 million price tag in half, bringing the replacement cost down to $1.5 million. By implementing the project in phases, the County anticipates improving business efficiency in the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office more quickly.

The funding for this technology investment was allocated from unexpected general fund balance that accrued to the County as a result of reducing costs in 2010 and 2011.