Software AG > Case Studies > Safer communities, better data: U.S. county improves public safety with webMethods

Safer communities, better data: U.S. county improves public safety with webMethods

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

webMethods

Tech Stack

API Integration
Real-time Data Aggregation

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Applicable Industries

Security & Public Safety

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Public Warning & Emergency Response

Services

System Integration
Software Design & Engineering Services

About The Customer

The customer is a county in the U.S. State of California, established in 1856. It is one of 58 counties in California and is home to 770,000 people. The county encompasses 20 cities and towns in the San Francisco Bay Area, including parts of Silicon Valley. The county government has more than 7,000 employees across 26 departments and had a 2019 budget of $3 billion. The county is a place defined by innovation, with a reputation for being home to budding startups and some of the world’s most powerful companies.

The Challenge

The county’s IT systems were outdated with applications used by 26 departments connected to a mainframe ERP of 1980s vintage. The county’s four organs of justice— the Sheriff's Office, District Attorney’s Office, Probation Department and Superior Court— maintained siloed operations and carried out many critical processes on paper. This led to inefficiencies such as delays in court dates, inmate transfers and the accessing of arrest data. The county needed a system where all departments could adopt best-of-breed applications and still be dialed into a common data source, one with a unified query and reporting system that was fast, easy to use and secure.

The Solution

The county partnered with Software AG and implemented its webMethods platform for integration. The Criminal Justice Integration (CJI) project unfolded in stages. After signing a deal with Software AG in 2014, county IT staff first turned to the Sheriff’s Office, which was adopting a new jail management system and was eager to migrate its data from the legacy ERP. webMethods promised the means to bridge existing applications and share data seamlessly. With the Sheriff's Office fully integrated, the county then turned to the Superior Court, District Attorney and Department of Probation; in March 2016, it officially unveiled its Criminal Justice Integration portal. Now, all four departments were connected through webMethods and had real-time access to each other’s data.

Operational Impact

The county’s newfound efficiency has most importantly led to better public safety.
The ability of different criminal justice bodies to work together seamlessly is also saving lives.
The webMethods-powered portal is also helping the county stay ahead of coming legislative changes.
The county is now working to integrate new APIs and applications that will enable its courts to flawlessly adapt—and perhaps serve as a model for other California jurisdictions.

Quantitative Benefit

Risk of cases being dropped, warrants elapsed, or dangerous individuals being wrongly released have plummeted.
The county’s 26 law enforcement agencies, managed by its cities and towns, could tap into the portal too.