MyDHR

• April 27th, 2015
• in

Comparable in many ways to MyAlabama, MyDHR.Alabama.gov was developed by CAPS as a Web-based food assistance application. This system enables potential or existing Food Assistance Program (FAP) recipients to initiate or continue the process of applying for benefits via the Internet.  Basic information is requested for each member of the household, and the data gathered are sent to the DHR Online Application Case Information System (OACIS) Intranet application and the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) system mainframe CICS system (SCI-II) in order to facilitate the process of generating and maintaining applications for benefits. 

MyDHR.Gov provides an easy-to-use front end for those applying for services, including:

• case status information
• allotment histories
• change reporting
• the ability to complete the simplified reporting forms

All of which is accessible without the need for direct contact with a caseworker. 

MyDHR.Alabama.gov’s function is to collect, validate and authenticate the pre-application data. It then forwards the application data to populate the appropriate application type. Some administrative information is maintained within MyDHR.gov at this point to assure overall information integrity and data security. It employs the same tight security, confidentiality and privacy features that have been realized in several other systems we recently developed (e.g., AlaCOP and LETS).

ASSURE

• April 27th, 2015
• in

The Alabama Secure Sharing Utility for Recidivism Elimination (ASSURE) system enables the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles (ABPP), the Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH) and the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) to share appropriate information rather than re-creating common data each time one of the agencies creates a new record.

When a person first comes into contact with any of these agencies, an intake process occurs that creates criminal history and demographic information (e.g., family, education and employment history) that remains relatively constant over time.  It may need to be verified, updated or supplemented as a person’s circumstances change, but for the most part it is wasteful to recreate this information from scratch. Typically this is followed by a series of questions about a person’s substance abuse and mental health history that is administered in order to make sure the person is placed in appropriate programming. ASSURE provides the authentication process to verify that only authorized personnel have access to this information.

The ASSURE web portal allows authorized personnel from ADMH, ABPP and ADOC to retrieve risk and needs assessments and supervision information regarding clients/inmates that have been collected by their sister agencies. This system eliminates a host of problems such as redundant information collection among various intake staff, inaccurate or incomplete self-reported information that might be provided by clients, and inconsistent client information stored within the different agency systems. This information assists case managers, probation officers and ADOC intake/classification personnel to appropriately refer clients to suitable programs designed to meet the needs of the affected individual. Many individuals move back and forth between these systems. Successfully treating substance abuse and mental health disorders for appropriate individuals is a key component to improving mental health and crime recidivism rates.

CAPS developed the ASSURE web portal and we will continue to enhance it as needs arise.

MyAlabama.gov

• April 27th, 2015
• in

MyAlabama.gov is a Web portal for the State of Alabama to support individual business transactions with state agencies/entities.

When initiated, MyAlabama impacted five agencies within Alabama: Medicaid, Children’s Rehabilitation, Human Resources, Industrial Relations, Public Health.

Prior to its development there was no single central portal for all benefit payments.  With each agency having its own web site there was high replication of development costs with little hope of providing the authentication and security services that can be obtained by a centralized system.

This problem was solved by the development of MyAlabama.gov which now provides a one-stop-shop to the large variety of state services that are participating. 

For example, services now exist so that Custodial parties can find child support payment information and Non-Custodial parents can find court order balances, bills and payment coupons. 

A major goal of MyAlabama.gov is to ensure that all citizens are aware of any services that may be available to them, and the plan is ultimately to make all Alabama e-government applications available through this site.

PerpSearch: An Integrated Crime Detection System

• June 8th, 2009
• in

This paper presents the first attempt to integrate four distinct approaches to solving crimes, all of which have proven their value when applied independently, namely: (1) geographic assessment, (2) social networking, (3) crime pattern analysis, and (4) physical description match. The system that integrates these four search techniques, called PerpSearch, takes a description of the crime, including its locations and all other known aspects (e.g., physical characteristics of suspects, vehicles, etc.), and runs it all through the PerpSearch engine components, where they are combined to produce a score for each potential suspect. By using past data on crimes prior to solution and comparing the results against the eventual known perpetrators, the system can be fine tuned and validated. A prototype has been implemented using current Alabama criminal and demographic databases.

IRAS: An Inmates’ Risk Assessment System

• June 1st, 2009
• in

This research had the goal of improving the classification of offenders into their different levels of risk in order to improve the decision-making process with regard to diversion programs (i.e., alternatives to incarceration). The system is based on an automated assessment of the likelihood of recidivism based on nine weighted attributes. The system can easily be tested by running it on past historical data and then comparing the results with the observation of more recent outcomes. This was pilot tested using data from Madison County, Alabama.

Analysis of the Wet vs. Dry Counties within Alabama

• January 31st, 2009
• in

CARE IMPACT analyses were performed to compare 13 dry counties with 13 wet counties over their various crash characteristics for a recent five-year (2003-2007) time period. The results fall into two logical categories: those that compare the demographics of the counties and those that compare the crash characteristics with regard to alcohol. A few of the nearly 200 attribute comparisons are presented in this report in order to guide the future direction of the research project.

Alcohol Age Crash Analysis – Projections of the Effect of Lowering the Legal Drinking Age in Alabama

• August 16th, 2008
• in

This report, and the Op Ed that follows it, is in response to a number of prominent college presidents who have recently come out in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18 years. The goal of the report is to project how many additional fatalities will be caused in Alabama should the law be change in Alabama.