Within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, there has historically been an inconsistent understanding and implementation of Integrated Criminal Justice Information System (ICJIS).  The Commonwealth is committed to its stated ICJIS Mission and initiated some important efforts to overcome known deficiencies including the improvement of several critical agency systems and the establishment of the Integrated Criminal Justice Planning Council in 2006 to provide overall leadership, policy, and strategic decision making pertaining to integrated criminal justice.  

There was a general lack of planned electronic integration amongst the key agencies, jurisdictions, and systems that comprise ICJIS in the Commonwealth.  Many of the key information exchanges amongst ICJIS stakeholders continue to be marked by the prominence of paper- and phone-based information sharing. 

Because of the lack of automated information exchanges, decisions makers may be faced with incomplete or untimely information at critical points in the criminal justice process.  This lack of complete and timely information also adversely affects decision makers in many non-criminal justice processes that rely on ICJIS information, such as the hiring of individual to oversee vulnerable populations within the Commonwealth.

Key to achieving the vision of ICJIS is addressing the four primary deficiencies within the existing environment – the lack of fingerprint supported criminal history records, incomplete participation in national programs, critical infrastructure needs, and inter-agency coordination problems.

The key to achieving the vision of ICJIS was to address the four primary deficiencies within the existing environment – the lack of fingerprint supported criminal history records, incomplete participation in national programs, critical infrastructure, and inter-agency communication problems.

xFact worked with ICJIS to create a strategic roadmap and project execution process for the ongoing development of statewide criminal justice policies and information systems.

xFact created strategic implementation plan in 2006 that includes a series of critical path projects across governance, agency data sharing standards, technical infrastructure, application development, unification of disparate data sources, and ongoing support for criminal and non criminal justice business needs.

The implementation plan provided a guide to address ICJIS vision and address the four primary deficiencies the lack of fingerprint supported criminal history records, incomplete participation in national programs, critical infrastructure needs, and inter-agency coordination problems.